The Social History Of Labor In The Middle East

The social history of labor in the Middle East emerged in the 1980s as a major area of research, as historians sought to uncover the roots of working-class organizing. This volume, the first in an important new series, presents a broad overview of recent literature on the history of workers in the Middle East since 1800 in a bold effort to bring together new directions in research and to reexamine the relevance of established ones. Taken together the essays provide a historically grounded context for viewing the shifting relationship between states and the world economy as well as between particular states and classes.

Once considered of little import, the social history of labor in the Middle East emerged in the 1980s as a major area of research, as historians sought to uncover the roots of working-class organizing. This volume, the first in an important new series, presents a broad overview of recent literature on the history of workers in the Middle East since 1800 in a bold effort to bring together new directions in research and to reexamine the relevance of established ones. Contributors explore the history of labor by situating state-led industrialization within the context of older artisanal social communities. They examine how industrialization enhanced government control over the economy as a whole and analyze the public's reaction to centralized economic authority. They also explain the longevity of social coalitions supporting state industrial monopolies and examine their breakdown, along with the emergence of Islamist and other oppositional movements. Taken together the essays provide a historically grounded context for viewing the shifting relationship between states and the world economy as well as between particular states and classes and form a rich synthesis of current interdisciplinary literature on work and workers in the region.

This book brings together for the first time the work of many of the leading scholars in the field of Middle East working-class history. Using historical material from nineteenth-century Syria, late Ottoman Anatolia, republican Turkey, Egypt from the late nineteenth century through the Sadat period, Iran before and after the overthrow of the Shah, and Ba`thist Iraq, the authors explore different forms and interpretations of working-class identity, action, and organization as expressed in language, culture, and behavior. In addition, they examine different narratives of labor history and the place of workers in their respective national histories. Included are articles by Feroz Ahmad, Assef Bayat, Joel Beinin, Edmund Burke III, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Eric Davis, Ellis Goldberg, Kristin Koptiuch, Zachary Lockman, Marsha Pripstein Posusney, Donald Quataert, and Sherry Vatter. The book provides not only an introduction to the "state of the field" in Middle East working-class history but also demonstrates how that field is being influenced by the new paradigms which are transforming labor history and social history more broadly worldwide. It also opens the way for fruitful comparisons among Middle Eastern countries and between the Middle East and other parts of the world.

The great cities of the Middle East and North Africa have long attracted the attention and interest of historians. With the discovery and wider use over the last few decades of Islamic court records and Ottoman administrative documents, our knowledge of Middle Eastern cities between the seventeenth and early twentieth centuries has vastly expanded. Drawing upon a treasure trove of documents and using a variety of methodologies, the contributors succeed in providing a significant overview of the ways in which Middle Eastern cities can be studied, as well as an excellent introduction to current literature in the field.

This volume examines the social history of oil workers and investigates how labor relations have shaped the global oil industry during the twentieth century and today. It brings together the work of scholars from a range of disciplines, approaching the social, political, economic and cultural dimensions of oil. The contributors analyze a number of key oil producing regions, including the Americas, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Europe and Africa.

Synthesizing the results of the extensive research on women and gender done over the last twenty years, Margaret L. Meriwether and Judith E. Tucker provide an accessible overview of the scholarship on women and gender in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Middle East. The book is organized along thematic lines that reflect major focuses of research in this area—gender and work, gender and the state, gender and law, gender and religion, and feminist movements—and each chapter is written by a scholar who has done original research on the topic.

This volume examines the social history of oil workers and investigates how labor relations have shaped the global oil industry during the twentieth century and today. It brings together the work of scholars from a range of disciplines, approaching the social, political, economic and cultural dimensions of oil. The contributors analyze a number of key oil producing regions, including the Americas, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Europe and Africa.

As was the case in many other countries, it was only in the early years of this century that Greek and Turkish labour historians began to systematically look beyond national borders to investigate their intricately interrelated histories. The studies in Working in Greece and Turkey provide an overdue exploration of labour history on both sides of the Aegean, before as well as after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Deploying the approaches of global labour history as a framework, this volume presents transnational, transcontinental, and diachronic comparisons that illuminate the shared history of Greece and Turkey.