The Construction of Syrian-American Identity in Abraham Rihbany's A Far Journey and Other Writings
Hazen, Jake
Advisor: Kitroeff, Alexander
Department: Haverford College. Department of History
Subject: Rihbany, Abraham Mitrie, 1869-1944. Far journey
Rihbany, Abraham Mitrie, 1869-1944. Works. Selections
Rihbany, Abraham Mitrie, 1869-1944 -- Criticism and interpretation
Syrian Americans
Access Restrictions: Open Access
Terms of Use: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/
Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10066/17681
This thesis examines A Far Journey (1914), the autobiography by Syrian-American pastor Abraham Mitrie Rihbany, and parses its relationship and reaction to American nativism and to the growing Syrian-American community. A Far Journey is more than an autobiography, it serves as an appeal to Rihbany's American readership for the assimilation and acceptance of the Syrian immigrant. Rihbany strategically constructs a view of Syria and of the United States within the framework of American conceptions of the Holy Land and of the American nation in order to win the ear of his American reader and promote the Syrian as an appropriate candidate for Americanization. This thesis reads A Far Journey, and several other of Rihbany's works, and broadens the context through a reading of Syrian history, American history, and immigration in the early 20th century. Abraham Rihbany's A Far Journey is a response to American nativism, Syrian-American efforts for naturalization and acceptance, and an appeal written to Americans, within an American understanding and discourse, for the assimilation and fair Americanization of Syrian migrants.
Name: 2015HazenJ.pdf
Description: Thesis
Name: 2015HazenJ_release.pdf
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