Mediterraneans: North Africa and Europe in an Age of Migration, c. 1800–1900 (California World History Library Book 15)

Today labor migrants mostly move south to north across the Mediterranean. Yet in the nineteenth century thousands of Europeans and others moved south to North Africa, Egypt, and the Levant. This study of a dynamic borderland, the Tunis region, offers the fullest picture to date of the Mediterranean before, and during, French colonialism. In a vibrant examination of people in motion, Julia A. Clancy-Smith tells the story of countless migrants, travelers, and adventurers who traversed the Mediterranean, changing it forever. Who were they? Why did they leave home? What awaited them in North Africa? And most importantly, how did an Arab-Muslim state and society make room for the newcomers? Combining fleeting facts, tales of success and failure, and vivid cameos, the book gives a groundbreaking view of one of the principal ways that the Mediterranean became modern. Today labor migrants mostly move south to north across the Mediterranean. Yet in the nineteenth century thousands of Europeans and others, some of bourgeois status but many impoverished, moved south to North Africa, Egypt, and the Levant. This extraordinary study of a dynamic borderland, the Tunis region, forged by diverse kinds of migrants and mobilities offers the fullest picture to date of the Mediterranean before, and during, French colonialism. In a vibrant examination of people in motion, Clancy-Smith tells the story of countless migrants, travelers, and adventurers who traversed the Mediterranean, changing it forever. Who were they? Why did they leave home? What awaited them in North Africa? And most importantly, how did an Arab-Muslim state and society make room for the newcomers? Combining fleeting facts, tales of success and failure, and vivid cameos, Clancy-Smith explores questions raised by migrations: women and gender, legal pluralism, finding work, informal sector economies, missionaries, and Islamic reform. With vivid details and broad geographical and historical sweep, the book gives a groundbreaking view of one of the principal ways that the Mediterranean became modern. Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration Introduction: Peoplings 1. Arrival: Tunis the “Well-Protected” 2. Detours: Migrations in a Mobile World 3. Making a Living: Domestic Service and Other Forms of Employment 4. Making a Living: Petty Commerce, Places of Sociability, and the Down-and-Out 5.Making a Living: The Sea, Contraband, and Other Illicit Activities 6. From Protection to Protectorate: Justice, Order, and Legal Pluralism 7. Muslim Princes and Trans-Mediterranean Missionaries 8. Where Elites Meet: Households, Harim Visits, and Sea Bathing 9. Khayr al-Din al-Tunisi and a Mediterranean Community of Thought Epilogue: Fetched Up on the Maghrib’s Shores Notes Glossary Select Bibliography Index 'Mediterraneans' offers an account of migration from Southern Europe to North Africa during the 19th century, especially to what became Tunisia