Middle Eastern and North African Studies Colloquium Series

Arab Family Narratives: Death, Graves, and Obituaries in Amin Maalouf’s Origins with Dr. Salah D. Hassan

Abstract: Documenting the lives of Arab immigrants to the Americas in the 1880-1920 period is a vexed affair. Often Arabs who left villages in Ottoman-ruled Syria disappear into the masses, leaving behind few traces. In other cases, Arab immigrants participated prominently, producing an abundance of records attesting to their presence. Even when there is an archive, the lives of Arab immigrants remain a mystery. In Origins, Amin Maalouf, the French Lebanese…