MACMILLAN Minorities and State-Building in the Middle East: The Case of Jordan (Minorities in West Asia and North Africa)

This book offers fresh insights to enhance and diversify our understanding of the modern history of the state and societies in today’s Jordan, while also providing examples of why and how scholars can challenge the static and discursively government-minded approaches to minorities and minoritisation – especially the traditional emphasis on demographic balances. Despite its small size and initial appearance of homogeneity, Jordan provides an excellent case of a dynamic, relational, historically contingent and fluid approach to ethnic, political and religious minorities in the context of the imposition of a modern state system on complex and varied traditional societies. The editors and contributors present dynamic and relational perspectives on the status of and historical processes involved in the creation and absorption of minority groups within Jordan. Review “Maggiolini and Ouahes have brought together an innovative group of scholars to examine Jordan’s other minorities and challenge official views of a unified and harmonious ‘Hashemite family.’ The book will be a standard reference on Jordan, providing a welcome antidote to a conventional wisdom that views Jordan as a fractured polity divided between ‘tribal’ East Bankers and a homogeneous block of Palestinian refugees.” (Tariq Tell, American University of Beirut, Lebanon) “This volume presents cutting-edge research on the ethnic, religious and ideological diversity in Jordan, covering a century of Hashemite state-minority relations. At the same time, it is much more than a study of Jordan. With its focus on minoritisation, rather than fixed minority categories, it provides broader lessons for debates in Anthropology, History, Literary Studies, Political Science as well as Citizenship and Migration Studies.” (André Bank, GIGA Institute of Middle East Studies, Hamburg, Germany) “This book explores in great detail state-making in (Trans)Jordan through a theoretically sophisticated and empirically grounded approach, outlining the way in which the state both excludes and incorporates religious, ethnic and political minorities. It is a must-read for anyone interested in minority studies in the region.” (Francesco Cavatorta, Laval University, Québec, Canada) From the Back Cover This book offers fresh insights to enhance and diversify our understanding of the modern history of the state and societies in today’s Jordan, while also providing examples of why and how scholars can challenge the static and discursively government-minded approaches to minorities and minoritisation – especially the traditional emphasis on demographic balances. Despite its small size and initial appearance of homogeneity, Jordan provides an excellent case of a dynamic, relational, historically contingent and fluid approach to ethnic, political and religious minorities in the context of the imposition of a modern state system on complex and varied traditional societies. The editors and contributors present dynamic and relational perspectives on the status of and historical processes involved in the creation and absorption of minority groups within Jordan. Paolo Maggiolini is a Research Fellow at the Catholic University of Milan, Italy. Idir Ouahes is a researcher of the colonial Middle East and North Africa based at Marbella International University Centre (MIUC), Spain. About the Author Paolo Maggiolini is a Research Fellow at the Catholic University of Milan, Italy. Idir Ouahes is a researcher of the colonial Middle East and North Africa based at Marbella International University Centre (MIUC), Spain.