Assaf

9 thoughts on “Assaf”

1. The life of Assaf, a Lebanese silk producer who migrated to South America, was greatly impacted by physical geography. Assaf was a silk producer, however, due to mechanization, quality control problems and silkworm disease, he could no longer make a living off of silk production.

   The physical geography of where Assaf originally lived, prohibited him from being able to support himself as the land prevented bountiful crop growth. As a result, Assaf had to relocate to South America in order to find a new way of providing for him and his family.

   Before moving, the class system was also influenced by physical geography. The wealthy peasants lived in the northeastern end of the village, the middle class peasants in the southwest, and the poorer ones in between.

2. Growing up at a time when the Middle East was being incorporated into the world economy, Assaf faced a number of limitations and opportunities largely defined by physical geography. The physical geography of Mount Lebanon (unsuitable for most food crops) necessitated interactions with outsiders for trade and contributed to the economic vulnerability of the people of Lehfed, who depended on the stability of the silk market for their livelihood. It was largely for this reason that Assaf decided to seek employment elsewhere, first in the gendarmes and later in South America, as price instability and fluctuations in the demand for silk made the opportunities in Lehfed all the less attractive. Physical geography also restricted Assaf's options for alternative employment insofar as the friction of distance made continuing his education too great a cost for his family to bear. Later, however, owing in part to the development of new transportation technologies, Assaf was able to travel considerably farther to seek out new opportunities in South America. The introduction of steamboats and railroads linking nearby Beirut with Europe and Damascus allowed for greater and more efficient flows of people, technology, ideas, money, and goods between Mount Lebanon and the rest of the world. While this contributed to an increase in the standard of living in Lehfed (and a relative decrease in the living standard of Assaf's family), it also allowed emigrants' accounts of prosperity and new life to bridge the barrier of physical geography and pull Assaf toward a foreign land. At the same time, constraints caused by the physical geography of Lehfed served to push Assaf onto the freighter to Uruguay. Despite new communication and transportation technologies, however, the costs of the distance Assaf's decision put between him and his family prove that physical geography still had a powerful impact on his life.

3. Physical geography definitely had an impact on Assaf’s life. Growing up in a rural area in Lebanon meant hard work for the inhabitants there, and dealing with farms, animals, and physical labor was a part of daily life. At the same time, the location of his home prevented him from going up in status, until later on in his life when he had gone through alot.
   Further into the story, he goes to South America, which is another type of geography, different from that of Lebanon. His surroundings in this area allow him to go around selling items he collects, as a merchant.
   However, I believe the aspect affected more than anything else was his family. Due to his need to leave his town or country in order to make any profit, or with any hope of success, he loses ties and bonds with his family. This is a side effect to his way of life, which is almost predestined for him because of where he was born and who his parents were, in addition to the physical geography of his birthplace.

4. Physical geography is of utmost importance to all residents of the Middle East. For people of the countries surrounding the Arabian Gulf, millions of years of carbon deposits have left billions of dollars of petroleum under the sand. In the Levant (aka the Fertile Crescent), the Tigris and Euphrates rivers have brought thousands of years of life – and conflict. In Egypt, the Nile hydrated one of the world’s earliest civilizations. On the Arabian Peninsula and in the Sahara, the harsh desert climate sculpted Bedouin and other nomadic cultures. Along the Mediterranean coast, moisture from the sea has brought the region the ability to grow crops through rainfall (and even occasional snowfall – Mount Hermon, straddling the borders between Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, has a ski resort!). This was clearly of utmost importance to Assaf. He was able to grow citrus crops. Unfortunately, the climate was (and still is) highly variable, so some years were worse than others. The unpredictability drove him to emigrate to Uruguay, where the flat plains seemed to scream of a better life to thousands of Lebanese immigrants. The sheer expanse of the Atlantic Ocean affected numerous of his fellow travellers, and some did not make it to South America.

   Civilizations all over the world are affected by physical geography, but in the Middle East, it is everything.

5. I would agree with the last post in the sense that as the World Economy began to grow, physical geography became important for any individual working in trade and especially trade within the Middle East. As we have discussed in class on many occasions, the location of the Middle East lends itself to excessive trade routes, both on water and land. Also, the physical geography of the terrain that made up where Assaf was trying to create this lifestyle limited his overall success.

   Not only did he depend on the land for his well being, the physical geography made it difficult for him, at the time he was living, to just pick up and find a new profession. It mentioned that as he traveled from Lebanon, the waterways and ferry transportation were infested with disease and the travel was disastrous. The author made it seem like he was almost lucky to survive the trip. I think while a lot of attention can be promoted towards the silk trade he had been a part of in terms of the impact of physical geography, the transportation from place to place was vital as well and interconnected.

6. From birth to death, physical geography seemed to rule Assaf's life. Living in Lehfed, silk was one of the few cash crops that could be worked with on their land. Being in a mountainous area, the soil was not rich enough to grow other crops. When the Lebanese silk market fell, Assaf was left having to find another way to make a living. It was clear to him that if he stayed in his village, he would remain a poor peasant forever. Opportunities for wealth laid elsewhere. Assaf's journey to Uraguay proved to be both a blessing and a burden to him and his family. Being in Uraguay gave him the opportunities to gain wealth as a merchant. The geographical barrier between him and his family, however, destroyed his relationship with his wife and children. It was a tradeoff that in the end let Assaf die as a "rich peasant."

7. Edward Said’s interpretation of “Orientalism”is a critique of the huge canon of European-produced literature on the non-European world; his interpretation assumes this framework of thought to be inferior. Does this mean the European written historical interpretations of the Middle East should be ignored? Furthermore, should Said’s argument, if adopted personally, imply that one should actively reject the opinions of such thinkers as Samuel Huntington? Is this not a form of ignorance, the very same ignorance that Said speaks of?

   Within the context of our in-class discussion, and simply the way we have presented Said’s Orientalism argument directly against Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” in our course syllabus, one feels compelled to choose one side, and defend it ardently. If one is to side with Said and support a reconsideration of the way we characterize and “otherize” different cultures, it seems that many people also believe they should actively reject the position of Huntington. In order to dismantle a supposedly incorrect system of thought, it should be understood from the inside. A point-blank refusal to even consider Huntington’s “Clash of Civilization” argument is not proof of true understanding.

   I am partial towards Said’s argument. I am convinced that conflicts arise from mutual misunderstandings, and that seemingly disparate cultures like the West and “the Orient” ARE able to understand one another. I disagree with Huntington’s theory, but this disagreement should not give me cause to ignore his arguments. Prominent modern thinkers, who are well-versed in world history, social movements and cultural clash, DO find agreement with Huntington. There is no reason to dismiss his theory completely.

8. Chronologically speaking, the physical geography of the environment in which Assaf found himself over the year played a pivotal role in the decisions he made and actions he took.

   Assaf begins his narrative with an explanation of the silkworm raising and harvesting business from which his family derived it’s main source of income. Had the climate and other physical factors not been conducive to this trade, production would have been impossible.
   Economic influence of the physical geography is arguably the easiest type of influence to understand. Later, Assaf resorts to farming the land he has acquired as a way of earning a living once the silk trade falls through.
   However, it is important to recognize the social and cultural impacts of the physical geography on Assaf’s life as well. Quoting directly from the book, Assaf’s “efforts to break his complete dependence on the land reflected the general mood of the peasant population of Mount Lebanon” (pg 45). This demonstrates a certain reluctance in the continuation of a practice (farming) which had been in place for thousands of years. This shift in preferences demonstrates cultural undertones from the West (the want for a better standard of living, which could not be satisfied with a merely agriculture based lifestyle) influencing life in the Middle East.
   An example of the political influence of geography can be found in Assaf’s mention of his niece being influence by the French colonization of Lebanon. The physical location of Lebanon on the outer, European edge of the core Middle Eastern region certainly had an influence on it’s preference as a colonial nation.

9. The Middle East at the time was ever changing during Assad’s life. The border lines were fluctuating from the time of the Ottoman Empire to the French colonization. As greater powers took control of the region they brought along their expansionist views and ultimately power seeking attitude that only ended in the degradation of the natives within those man-made divides. These divisions were not caused by mother nature or physical geography such as fault lines and earthquake zones, yet they served the same purpose.

   Assad no longer had much land to call his own and his silk business had gone ill so he had to find a way to escape the self-regulating forces in his life that would not let him prosper or explore new land. This was when he decided to leave his hometown of Mount Lebanon behind and head over to South America, which at the time was seen as a land full of opportunities. A haven for the persecuted, weak and poor where they could completely turn their lives around as a result of hard work and dedication working the flatlands of the region. Assad left the rocky and hilly geography of his homeland for a flat prairie like Pampas region which not only served as solid ground but also the idea of there being unlimited amounts of land out there for grabs, made possibilities endless for any merchant or businessman. As a result, physical geography had a paramount effect on Assad’s life; it changed his life dramatically, from a rocky start to solid grounds.

Comments are closed.