Missions, Powers and Arabization: Introduction

Studies on the ‘Arabisation’ of missionary work have often stressed either the growing intention within missionary societies of delegating responsibilities to the local clergy trained by them or, conversely, the appropriation of the mission by Arab missionaries. They have stressed the conflicts arising between foreign and local missionaries in the process. This special issue widens the circle, including other, non-missionary actors with a stake in the Arabisation process, administrative and political authorities, from the mukhtar of the neighbourhood to the governor or high commissioner of the territory or local consular personnel.
Considering the various patterns of relations between missionaries and local authorities and the broader processes and projects of nation-building and nationalisation of local communities, Arabisation was dialectically associated with territorialisation. Language choice, much guided by response to local concerns, became more complicated and language came to be seen as a tool for unification and strengthening of the newly conceptualised ‘nation’. Varying linguistic norms could easily be interpreted as undermining nationalist unity. Therefore, pragmatic language choices became increasingly imbued with political meaning.