‘Based on exhaustive work in numerous archives and in several languages, Lorenzo Kamel has produc... more ‘Based on exhaustive work in numerous archives and in several languages, Lorenzo Kamel has produced what I think is one of the most definitive works on the transition from empire to nation-state. It is impressively ambitious and does what many major historians have been promising to do: to show how hard, Western conceptions of identity shaped and formed the thinking and decisions of statesmen and other political elites in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It also deals with the penetration of hard national categories among the various peoples of the empire. It is an authoritative book and will be very widely consulted.’ NICHOLAS DOUMANIS Author of Before the Nation and Professor, School of Humanities and Languages, The University of New South Wales – Sydney --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘This book will make an important mark on the field. From Empire to Sealed Identities shows the ways in which ethnic and other divisions were historically constructed in the Middle East under the influence of imperial powers. The work combines meticulous archival research in multiple languages with careful analysis of broader trends to map the transition from empire to homogenized nation-states. This ability to document with rich detail and at the same time be able to present the larger picture with great clarity is rare. The author pulls off the feat with great erudition.’ BETH BARON Distinguished Professor of History, The Graduate Center and City College, CUNY Past President, Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Director, Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘In this engaging revisionary study, Lorenzo Kamel shows how modern Western-ist intellectual prejudices have distorted our understanding of identity and conflict in the modern Middle East. Based on original archival research and an exhaustive survey of secondary literature, the author reveals a world that can only be characterized as “medieval” if one misunderstands the Middle Ages. Focussing on the long nineteenth century, the book provides a chronological continuation of much of the most interesting work being done in pre-modern Mediterranean Studies.’ BRIAN A. CATLOS Author of Muslims of Latin Christendom and Professor, Faculty of Religious Studies, University of Colorado Boulder --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘Lorenzo Kamel is a dedicated and meticulous scholar, extremely experienced and internationally recognized for his research methodology. His extensive archival work, which forms the basis of many of his most important publications, is impressive by any academic standard. His archival research, informed by exemplary linguistic skills, has, without question, created new understandings of the complex dynamics shaping our inquiry into modern European empires, and the history of the Middle East in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Middle East from Empire to Sealed Identities will continue this outstanding trend.’ SARA ROY Senior Research Scholar, Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES)
“In this passionate and timely book, Lorenzo Kamel threads the needle of articulating the contou... more “In this passionate and timely book, Lorenzo Kamel threads the needle of articulating the contours of historical epistemic justice while avoiding simplistic west/non-west binaries. Part history, part manifesto, History Below the Global is a tremendous achievement which reveals complexity and entanglement amid relations of domination. It is time, he urges, that western scholarship reflects this constitutive reality.” A. DIRK MOSES, City College of New York, author of The Problems of Genocide.
"Drawing on his splendid knowledge of diverse and rarely matched historiographies, as well as decades of first-hand historical research, Lorenzo Kamel sets out in this remarkable book to decipher the many ways in which the interpretive paradigms of colonisation have endured in the contemporary world. In so doing, he also lays the foundations for a collective stance that is likely to inspire a renewal of the profession of historian, based not only on a critical eye, but also on a method that is attentive to those whom history has too often forgotten or disdained." NORA LAFI, Université de Tunis and ZMO Berlin.
"A highly significant intervention that goes a long way in mitigating the dangers of ethnocentrism. History Below the Global provides a stimulating and provocative way to debate the hopes and challenges that characterize epistemologies among various people in the “North” and the “South”." OBERT BERNARD MLAMBO, University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe.
“Lorenzo Kamel’s History Below the Global recasts the very terms of our historicality in terms both real and present and yet to be fully grasped. He is calling for a leveling of the planetary field of reading the world that has long since lost its fictional center and defetishized its alienated peripheries. His is an inaugural prose where our future historiography has already started.” HAMID DABASHI, Columbia University, author of Europe and its Shadows.
Back Cover Endorsements:
‘A scholarly, original study that offers several new insights and a b... more Back Cover Endorsements:
‘A scholarly, original study that offers several new insights and a balanced criticism of British and Zionist perceptions of Palestinian history and society. For anyone with an interest in deconstructing the present of our region this book is a must.’
MOSHE MA'OZ, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
‘Based on meticulous and extensive archival work, Imperial Perceptions of Palestine is a powerful and truly illuminating study of Palestine’s history under British influence that will challenge common conceptions and understandings of that period.'
SARA ROY, Harvard University
‘This book offers important critical research about the roots of the conflict over Palestine. The author has made a thorough investigation based on a wide range of resources and documents, opening new avenues for re-reading a crucial period in the history of the Middle East.’
NAZMI JUBEH, Birzeit University, Ramallah
‘This is a truly outstanding academic work. It fills a gap in the literature on modern Palestine and, more generally, on the construction of the modern Middle East. It is based on a wide range of primary sources in six languages. It offers a comprehensive outlook on a wide number of issues such as cultural, social and spatial boundaries, local identities, land tenure, institutions, toponomy and borders.’
ILARIA PORCIANI, Bologna University
Il volume fa luce sulle origini più profonde di una disputa iniziata molto prima del 1947, l’anno... more Il volume fa luce sulle origini più profonde di una disputa iniziata molto prima del 1947, l’anno della partizione della Palestina da parte dell’ONU. Il ruolo delle religioni, lo sviluppo e la cristallizzazione delle identità, il possesso della terra, le strategie delle grandi potenze e quelle dei paesi arabi, l’antisemitismo e le discriminazioni, le prospettive dal basso degli abitanti che da oltre un secolo si contendono pochi chilometri quadrati: ognuno di questi tasselli è parte di un mosaico in cui spiccano le cicatrici della storia e vengono meno le verità assolute proprie di larga parte delle narrazioni correnti. Avere il controllo di questi luoghi millenari significa interpretarne il passato. È un aspetto che è rimasto costante nel corso dei secoli. Solo gli interpreti sono cambiati. - http://www.carocci.it/index.php?option=com_carocci&task=schedalibro&Itemid=72&isbn=9788829014507
This book looks at geographical, religious, gender and ethnical 'peripheries', conceptualizing pe... more This book looks at geographical, religious, gender and ethnical 'peripheries', conceptualizing periphery as a dynamic structure which can expand and contract. It provides an historical, social and political background to the dynamics at work in the Middle East and North Africa, and shows that the seeds for changing the face of politics and polities are within peripheries themselves. Focusing on the voices of peripheries can therefore be a powerful tool to ‘de-simplify’ the reading of the Arab Spring and to reshape the paradigmatic schemes through which to look at this part of the world.
Questo libro offre una prospettiva storica sulla circolazione di idee, culture, invenzioni, prati... more Questo libro offre una prospettiva storica sulla circolazione di idee, culture, invenzioni, pratiche e istituzioni tra Asia, Africa, Europa e Americhe. Decostruisce un ampio numero di percezioni e concetti, inclusa la diffusa tendenza a fare riferimento a una «tradizione ebraico-cristiana occidentale», una gabbia analitica che rischia di accentuare pericolosi antagonismi e fenomeni di rottura, a scapito di una maggiore comprensione legata al retaggio storico condiviso che sottende le tre maggiori religioni monoteistiche. Queste ultime, così come molti altri temi e aspetti menzionati nel volume, sono il frutto di un percorso all’insegna dell’accumulazione: un processo che sovente, soprattutto ai nostri giorni, non viene compreso nella sua complessità e nel potenziale che può esprimere. È tempo di porre anche gli ‘altri’ al centro della scena, per comprendere meglio noi stessi e il mondo in cui viviamo. - Link: https://www.mondadorieducation.it/catalogo/ripensare-la-storia-0066581/
Lorenzo Kamel
Introduction
--
Nader Hashemi
Chapter 1: From Sectarianization to De-Sectarianizati... more Lorenzo Kamel Introduction -- Nader Hashemi Chapter 1: From Sectarianization to De-Sectarianization: How to Advance Human Security in the Middle East -- Coralie Pison Hindawi Chapter 2: Selective Arms Flows and Arms Control: Producing Insecurity in the Middle East … and Beyond -- Waleed Hazbun Chapter 3: Insecurity, Order and Pluralism in the Middle East: An Agenda for a Critical Approach to Security Studies -- Elijah J. Magnier Chapter 4: Beyond Security and Stability -- Arshin Adib-Moghaddam Chapter 5: Contra-Identity: Psycho-Nationalism After the ‘Middle East’ -- Abdullah Al-Arian Chapter 6: Islamists and the Arab Counter-Revolutions -- Youssef Cherif Chapter 7: Dahlan vs Belhaj: The Maghreb in the Arab War of Narratives -- Morten Valbjørn Chapter 8: Dialogues in New Middle Eastern Politics: On (the Limits of) Making Historical Analogies to the Classic Arab Cold War in a Sectarianized New Middle East -- Lorenzo Kamel Chapter 9: Whose Stability? Assessing the ‘Iranian Threat’ through History --- In this edited book, several leading scholars address a number of security-related issues, all connected to one main research question: What (in)security means from the perspective of people living in the Middle East and North Africa? In doing so, the contributors shed light on the contours of a stable and legitimate order that responds to the needs of the peoples in the region, on what history tells us about the ongoing debates on security and stability in the region, and, last but not least, on "human security", which encompasses the dimension of human rights, political rights and social-economic security. https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/71741
In libreria dal 18 marzo 2025 con Giulio Einaudi editore.
https://www.einaudi.it/autori/lorenzo-... more In libreria dal 18 marzo 2025 con Giulio Einaudi editore.
https://www.einaudi.it/autori/lorenzo-kamel/
Come recita un antico detto spagnolo, quando si verifica un'inondazione - di informazioni, nel nostro caso - la prima cosa che manca è l'acqua potabile. Per farsi un'idea sulle grandi questioni del nostro tempo, molti ricorrono a Wikipedia, alla televisione o a instant book come quelli pubblicati nei mesi seguiti al 7 ottobre 2023: testi spesso scritti da giornalisti o studiosi che non conoscono le lingue locali, non hanno mai lavorato su fonti primarie del Mediterraneo orientale o vissuto nei luoghi di cui scrivono, né hanno mai neanche visitato - fosse anche per qualche ora - Gaza. Al contrario, in modo accessibile, ma senza rinunciare al metodo storico, all'esperienza sul campo e alle fonti, questo volume risponde ai temi cardine legati al conflitto piú lungo della storia contemporanea: il primo "anti - instant book" sulla questione israelo-palestinese, dalla fondazione di Uru-Shalem (Gerusalemme), oltre 5000 anni fa, a oggi.
Attraverso un’analisi sostenuta da fonti d’archivio reperite in Inghilterra, Turchia, Israele e t... more Attraverso un’analisi sostenuta da fonti d’archivio reperite in Inghilterra, Turchia, Israele e territori palestinesi, "Dalle profezie all’impero" si concentra sulle dinamiche che resero possibile la penetrazione dalle potenze europee nel Mediterraneo orientale (1798-1878). Un’attenzione particolare è rivolta alla Gran Bretagna e al ruolo nevralgico svolto in tale processo dalla componente ebraica della popolazione presente sul posto. Lo studio di questi aspetti consente di vedere sotto una nuova luce le strategie applicate nella regione dalle cancellerie occidentali. Rappresenta al contempo un tassello importante, benché poco indagato, per comprendere lo sviluppo storico moderno – e di riflesso il presente – di una delle aree più conflittuali del pianeta.
Governance failures, combined with 21st-century social, economic, environmental and demographic c... more Governance failures, combined with 21st-century social, economic, environmental and demographic conditions, have all contributed to paving the way for the rise of highly heterogeneous non-state and quasi-state actors in the Middle East. Has the state, then, been irremediably under-mined, or will the current transition lead to the emergence of new state entities? How can the crumbling of states and the redrawing of borders be reconciled with the exacerbation of traditional inter-state competition, including through proxy wars? How can a new potential regional order be framed and imagined? This edited book provides a historical-analytical background and policy answers to these and a number of other related questions, analysing developments in the region from the standpoint of the interplay between disintegration and polarization.
Ed. by Lorenzo Kamel Chapters by Rami G. Khouri, Francesco Cavatorta, Florence Gaub, Kristina Kausch, Waleed Hazbun, Raffaele Marchetti, Yahya Al Zahrani, Lorenzo Kamel http://www.iai.it/en/pubblicazioni/frailty-authority
This edited volume has been written with the aim to foster both the academic and the policy debat... more This edited volume has been written with the aim to foster both the academic and the policy debate on the changing migratory scenarios in and around the Mediterranean. It looks at the evolution of human mobility towards Mediterranean Europe over the past decades and analyses the historical, demographic, social, psycho-social, economic, and political dimensions of these phenomena. The concluding chapters assess the role of the EU and advances proposals for a long-term European migration policy.
L'equilibrio con il quale l'autore ripercorre gli eventi mediorientali contribuisce a scardinare ... more L'equilibrio con il quale l'autore ripercorre gli eventi mediorientali contribuisce a scardinare le convinzioni del lettore e a considerare nuovamente la storia alla luce della sua interpretazione, frutto di un genuino lavoro di ricerca in numerosi archivi e biblioteche del Medio Oriente, dell'Europa e degli Stati Uniti».
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Books by Lorenzo Kamel
NICHOLAS DOUMANIS
Author of Before the Nation and Professor, School of Humanities and Languages, The University of New South Wales – Sydney
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
‘This book will make an important mark on the field. From Empire to Sealed Identities shows the ways in which ethnic and other divisions were historically constructed in the Middle East under the influence of imperial powers. The work combines meticulous archival research in multiple languages with careful analysis of broader trends to map the transition from empire to homogenized nation-states. This ability to document with rich detail and at the same time be able to present the larger picture with great clarity is rare. The author pulls off the feat with great erudition.’
BETH BARON
Distinguished Professor of History, The Graduate Center and City College, CUNY
Past President, Middle East Studies Association (MESA)
Director, Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
‘In this engaging revisionary study, Lorenzo Kamel shows how modern Western-ist intellectual prejudices have distorted our understanding of identity and conflict in the modern Middle East. Based on original archival research and an exhaustive survey of secondary literature, the author reveals a world that can only be characterized as “medieval” if one misunderstands the Middle Ages. Focussing on the long nineteenth century, the book provides a chronological continuation of much of the most interesting work being done in pre-modern Mediterranean Studies.’
BRIAN A. CATLOS
Author of Muslims of Latin Christendom and Professor, Faculty of Religious Studies, University of Colorado Boulder
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
‘Lorenzo Kamel is a dedicated and meticulous scholar, extremely experienced and internationally recognized for his research methodology. His extensive archival work, which forms the basis of many of his most important publications, is impressive by any academic standard. His archival research, informed by exemplary linguistic skills, has, without question, created new understandings of the complex dynamics shaping our inquiry into modern European empires, and the history of the Middle East in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Middle East from Empire to Sealed Identities will continue this outstanding trend.’
SARA ROY
Senior Research Scholar, Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES)
A. DIRK MOSES, City College of New York, author of The Problems of Genocide.
"Drawing on his splendid knowledge of diverse and rarely matched historiographies, as well as decades of first-hand historical research, Lorenzo Kamel sets out in this remarkable book to decipher the many ways in which the interpretive paradigms of colonisation have endured in the contemporary world. In so doing, he also lays the foundations for a collective stance that is likely to inspire a renewal of the profession of historian, based not only on a critical eye, but also on a method that is attentive to those whom history has too often forgotten or disdained."
NORA LAFI, Université de Tunis and ZMO Berlin.
"A highly significant intervention that goes a long way in mitigating the dangers of ethnocentrism. History Below the Global provides a stimulating and provocative way to debate the hopes and challenges that characterize epistemologies among various people in the “North” and the “South”."
OBERT BERNARD MLAMBO, University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe.
“Lorenzo Kamel’s History Below the Global recasts the very terms of our historicality in terms both real and present and yet to be fully grasped. He is calling for a leveling of the planetary field of reading the world that has long since lost its fictional center and defetishized its alienated peripheries. His is an inaugural prose where our future historiography has already started.”
HAMID DABASHI, Columbia University, author of Europe and its Shadows.
‘A scholarly, original study that offers several new insights and a balanced criticism of British and Zionist perceptions of Palestinian history and society. For anyone with an interest in deconstructing the present of our region this book is a must.’
MOSHE MA'OZ, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
‘Based on meticulous and extensive archival work, Imperial Perceptions of Palestine is a powerful and truly illuminating study of Palestine’s history under British influence that will challenge common conceptions and understandings of that period.'
SARA ROY, Harvard University
‘This book offers important critical research about the roots of the conflict over Palestine. The author has made a thorough investigation based on a wide range of resources and documents, opening new avenues for re-reading a crucial period in the history of the Middle East.’
NAZMI JUBEH, Birzeit University, Ramallah
‘This is a truly outstanding academic work. It fills a gap in the literature on modern Palestine and, more generally, on the construction of the modern Middle East. It is based on a wide range of primary sources in six languages. It offers a comprehensive outlook on a wide number of issues such as cultural, social and spatial boundaries, local identities, land tenure, institutions, toponomy and borders.’
ILARIA PORCIANI, Bologna University
-
http://www.carocci.it/index.php?option=com_carocci&task=schedalibro&Itemid=72&isbn=9788829014507
-
Link: https://www.mondadorieducation.it/catalogo/ripensare-la-storia-0066581/
Introduction
--
Nader Hashemi
Chapter 1: From Sectarianization to De-Sectarianization: How to Advance Human Security in the Middle East
--
Coralie Pison Hindawi
Chapter 2: Selective Arms Flows and Arms Control: Producing Insecurity in the Middle East … and Beyond
--
Waleed Hazbun
Chapter 3: Insecurity, Order and Pluralism in the Middle East: An Agenda for a Critical Approach to Security Studies
--
Elijah J. Magnier
Chapter 4: Beyond Security and Stability
--
Arshin Adib-Moghaddam
Chapter 5: Contra-Identity: Psycho-Nationalism After the ‘Middle East’
--
Abdullah Al-Arian
Chapter 6: Islamists and the Arab Counter-Revolutions
--
Youssef Cherif
Chapter 7: Dahlan vs Belhaj: The Maghreb in the Arab War of Narratives
--
Morten Valbjørn
Chapter 8: Dialogues in New Middle Eastern Politics: On (the Limits of) Making Historical Analogies to the Classic Arab Cold War in a Sectarianized New Middle East
--
Lorenzo Kamel
Chapter 9: Whose Stability? Assessing the ‘Iranian Threat’ through History
---
In this edited book, several leading scholars address a number of security-related issues, all connected to one main research question: What (in)security means from the perspective of people living in the Middle East and North Africa? In doing so, the contributors shed light on the contours of a stable and legitimate order that responds to the needs of the peoples in the region, on what history tells us about the ongoing debates on security and stability in the region, and, last but not least, on "human security", which encompasses the dimension of human rights, political rights and social-economic security.
https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/71741
https://www.einaudi.it/autori/lorenzo-kamel/
Come recita un antico detto spagnolo, quando si verifica un'inondazione - di informazioni, nel nostro caso - la prima cosa che manca è l'acqua potabile. Per farsi un'idea sulle grandi questioni del nostro tempo, molti ricorrono a Wikipedia, alla televisione o a instant book come quelli pubblicati nei mesi seguiti al 7 ottobre 2023: testi spesso scritti da giornalisti o studiosi che non conoscono le lingue locali, non hanno mai lavorato su fonti primarie del Mediterraneo orientale o vissuto nei luoghi di cui scrivono, né hanno mai neanche visitato - fosse anche per qualche ora - Gaza. Al contrario, in modo accessibile, ma senza rinunciare al metodo storico, all'esperienza sul campo e alle fonti, questo volume risponde ai temi cardine legati al conflitto piú lungo della storia contemporanea: il primo "anti - instant book" sulla questione israelo-palestinese, dalla fondazione di Uru-Shalem (Gerusalemme), oltre 5000 anni fa, a oggi.
Ed. by Lorenzo Kamel
Chapters by Rami G. Khouri, Francesco Cavatorta, Florence Gaub, Kristina Kausch, Waleed Hazbun, Raffaele Marchetti, Yahya Al Zahrani, Lorenzo Kamel
http://www.iai.it/en/pubblicazioni/frailty-authority