So Far from Allah, So Close to Mexico: Middle Eastern Immigrants in Modern Mexico/Another Arabesque: Syrian-Lebanese Ethnicity in Neoliberal Brazil

Teresa AlfaroVelcamp, So Far from Allah, So Close to Mexico: Middle Eastern Immigrants in Modern Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007. Maps, appendixes, bibliography, index, 272 pp.; paperback $24.95.

John Tofik Karam, Another Arabesque: Syrian-Lebanese Ethnicity in Neoliberal Brazil. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2007. Glossary, bibliography, 214 pp.; hardcover $68.50, paperback $24.95.

Teresa Alfaro-Velcamp introduces us to a world that is a bridge between the Middle East, Mexico, and the United States. Her book is the result not only of extensive research in official documents of the Archivo General de la Nacion but also of many interviews in different municipalities in Mexico, the United States, and even Lebanon, her native country. She also has consulted secondary archives, such as those in the Lebanese Emigration Research Center at Notre Dame University in Lebanon, one of the most important centers on the Lebanese diaspora in the world; and the archives of different families, municipalities, and libraries, such as that of Mexico's Universidad Iberoamericana.

It was not until 1926 that the process of registering immigrants started in Mexico, meaning that before that year the data from the secretaria de Gobernacion are not very reliable. Deceased immigrants before 1926 do not appear in the archive's documents, and many of the assimilated foreigners did not register when they were illegal. This explains the debate over who was the first Lebanese immigrant to come to Mexico. Alfaro-Velcamp sustains the well-known thesis of Father Boutros Rafoul (who does not appear in the foreigners' archives) as the beginner of Middle Eastern migration to Mexico in 1878. However, the name that appears in the archives is Antonio Budib, who arrived in Mexico the same year and who was not mentioned in previous work on the Lebanese in Mexico. Emphasizing the existence of the Rev. Boutros Rafoul largely reflects the knowledge that most of the Lebanese who came to Mexico were Christians. That a priest initiated the process therefore holds symbolic value.

So Far from Allah, So Close to Mexico offers very interesting insights into the history of meso-oriental migration to Mexico. Most of the published works on this topic are pamphlets or very subjective pieces that are limited in their exposition of the Lebanese migration, not scientific studies written under a rigorous methodological apparatus. Alfaro-Velcamp closes her work with an interesting double reflection related to the integration of the Arab community in Mexican society, using the examples of telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim HeIu and her own great-uncle. For Arabs integrated into the national elite, the reference to foreign origin is part of the successful model of the immigrant. This is why Slim HeIu emphasizes his Mexican-Lebanese origins. On the other hand, middleclass Arabs feel completely Mexican, a sentiment the author's great-uncle expresses with no reference to his Middle Eastern origin.

Alfaro-Velcamp's work does contain some mistakes. When she mentions that the Arabic used by nineteenth-century immigrants in their letters cannot be easily read using modern Arabic, she demonstrates some misunderstanding of the language. Unlike many Western languages, Arabic has not been modified in centuries. The language used currently in literary work is the same language in which the Quran was written. In relation to Mexico, the author mentions that the arrival and settlement of immigrants in Torreon stemmed from their interest in being near the Tarahumara zone for commercial purposes. However, La Laguna is far from the Sierra Tarahumara, which is located very near the state capital, Chihuahua. Also, the author mentions the "Tarahumaras and the Rarámuris" when the latter refers to the name Tarahumara; therefore it is the same group.

On the debate regarding the number of immigrants' letters found in the Archivo General, there is actually no great difference of opinion. Alfaro-Velcamp worked with 8,240 letters from immigrants who came from the Middle East (Lebanon, Palestine-Israel, Syria, Iran, the Ottoman Empire-Turkey, etc.). Other published works are based on the use of 7,533 letters from immigrants from all over the Middle East except Iran and Turkey (as they are not Arab countries) and the Palestinian population. Counting the 663 letters from Palestinians, there are really 8,196 letters, a number very close to the 8,240 Alfaro-Velcamp uses, which includes the Iranian and Turkish population.

The second debate is more methodological: the designation "Middle Easterners." Alfaro-Velcamp prefers the term Middle Easterners to avoid the word Arab, which has been the object of many prejudices since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. However, the term Middle Easterners does not seem very precise, as it includes Iran, Turkey, and the Arab Levant. When the author refers to Armenia, there seems to be a historical mistake: the population she describes could not have come from this country, because it did not exist at the time, but was part of Turkey. The Armenians' arrival after 1920 took place precisely after the massacres during the First World War.