Book Review: "Making Do in Damascus: Navigating a Generation of Change in Family and Work," by Sally K. Gallagher

Access provided by University of Toronto Library (11 May 2013 11:45 GMT) MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL M 323 a state cannot be governed by the telephone. There is no unitary political line, yet. But there must [become] only one state, which must rule everything” (pp. 109–110). Paradoxically, such a highly disciplined apparatus was not created by the radical Ba‘thi leadership, but blossomed instead under President Hafiz al-Asad in the 1970s, who was in fact famous for checking up on subordinates by telephone. The groundwork for the new order got laid in 1968–69, as East German advisers managed to put in place a collection of new agencies and procedures, even as the radical and pragmatic (Trentin calls it “nationalist”) wings of the Ba‘th Party wrestled for control over policy-making. The DDR technical mission’s primary adversary in the months surrounding the 1970 coup d’état turned out to be one of al-Asad’s key allies, Minister of the Economy ‘Abd al-Halim Khaddam, who “staunchly advocated [closer] relations with Western states” (p. 132). Trentin bases his account on a close and extensive reading of the German archives — both East and West, as well as on interviews with participants and an impressive range of secondary literature in German, French and English. His prose is cogent and spare, even elegant, which makes for fluid reading and quick comprehension. One comes away wishing he had included a bit more detail, and perhaps greater density, to the story. But as an initial foray into a previously overlooked aspect of the evolution of Ba‘thi Syria, Engineers of Modern Development is most satisfying. Fred H. Lawson, Mills College Making Do in Damascus: Navigating a Generation of Change in Family and Work, by Sally K. Gallagher. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2012. 335 pages. $45. Reviewed by Edith Szanto With her third book, Making Do in Damascus: Navigating a Generation of Change in Family and Work, Sally Gallagher fills an important void in the study of the modern Middle East. Her thorough work carefully examines Damascene women’s familial re- lationships and labor strategies. Gallagher’s other works have focused on thematically similar topics (i.e., family, relationships, labor, and piety), though none examined these in the Middle East. As a sociologist, the corpus of theory she draws on may be more salient to other sociologists, though her accessible writing style invites Middle East experts, as well as non-specialists. The book is divided into eight chapters, including the introduction and conclusion. Gallagher discusses women’s issues through ethnographic narratives grouped by class. She divides her informants into three economic groups: the wealthy, the middle class, and the working class. While this set-up is helpful in providing an overview to outsiders, it overlooks important differences such as rural/urban divides, as well as sectarian identities. Though Gallagher only mentioned Sunni Islam explicitly, it is likely that she spoke to non-Sunnis as well. The first chapter introduces the three economic groups and outlines her research question which examines the intersection of class, labor rights, marital practices, and family relations. The second chapter provides readers with a historic overview of Syria. The author briefly comments on the Arab Spring. In the third chapter, Gallagher looks at women’s education, their expectations, and their opportunities. She reports that the wealthy have the most access, the poor have the least. “It is among families in the middle that we see the most tension and the potential for the most change” (p. 101). The fourth chapter consists of stories about arranged marriages. It discusses religion mainly with regard to regimes of modesty and virginity. In chapter five, Gallagher relates women’s anxieties about divorce, polygamy, and temporary marriages and looks at instances of violence and honor killings. Chapter six lays out how women convinced their husbands to allow them to go to work and how they managed. Chapter seven focuses on the impact of technology with regard to national discourses around security and questions of social change. It ties back to chapter two by emphasizing historical changes wrought by what she identifies as four stages of technological development: fax, phone, email, and the internet. The last 324 M MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL chapter is a summary wherein the author speaks to the literature about women in the region (particularly Lebanon and Turkey). Gallagher’s relative lack of Arabic terms and academic disciplinary jargon makes her book widely accessible at a time when Syria dominates the news. These qualities, and the inclusion of a thorough history in chapters two and seven, make the book useful to undergraduates interested in the Arab family. It may even be useful as a reading in a class on women and the family in the Middle East. For graduate students and Syria-specialists the book is interesting because of its rich and detailed stories. Edith Szanto is an Assistant Professor in Social Sciences at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani. MEDIA Real-Time Diplomacy: Politics and Power in the Social Media Era, by Philip Sieb. New York: Palgrave Macmillian, 2012. 199 pages. $25. Reviewed by Courtney C. Radsch The 2011 Arab uprisings took the US foreign policy establishment by surprise because they were not paying attention to social media and their decision-making processes could not keep pace with the changes taking place. Had they been, it would have revealed deep-seated discontent with the political status quo,1 and diplomats might not have been so far “behind the curve” (p. 2). Seib’s Real-Time Diplomacy is an engaging introduction to some of the most memorable developments in the growth of the internet and social media in the Middle East. Although an expert would find many of the examples familiar, anyone interested in learning more about how new media 1. Courtney Radsch, “Blogosphere and Social Media,” in Ellen Laipson, ed., Seismic Shift: Understanding Change in the Middle East (Washington, DC: Stimson Center, 2011), pp. 57–70. technologies have influenced the practice of Western diplomacy in the modern era will find this book provides a good overview. The book touches upon several important themes that have redefined the nature and practice of public diplomacy in the contemporary era: the recalibration of time and speed brought on by digital communication networks, the reordering of relationships between policymakers and the public, and the lack of confidentiality. As media have proliferated and journalism accelerated, diplomacy had to keep pace. He highlights the era of diplomacy before it happened in “real time” with a few choice historical examples, ranging from the American Revolution to World War II to the Vietnam War. One of the most interesting examples is the US response when the Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall: news footage did not air until for three days later and barely registered during the press briefing the next day, allowing the Kennedy Administration time for a measured response. Nor is the space of trust afforded by confidentiality. Seib argues that WikiLeaks and the insatiable 24/7 news cycle, the everpresent mobile phone cameras and social media, have punctured traditional diplomacy’s “cushion of time” (p. 67). Indeed, his examples underscore that one of the main differences between real-time diplomacy and diplomacy of a prior age is the compression of time and distance, which changes response time and the traditional senderreceiver relationship. One of his underlying themes is the intractable relationship between media and diplomacy, and thus he focuses on the relationship between “traditional” and “new” media. The thesis of Real-Time Diplomacy, is his encapsulation: “At the heart of the changes in the conduct of foreign policy is not technology per se, but rather the expanded role of a public that can gather more information from more sources than ever before” (p. 105). Thus it is not only the writing but also the reading that matters, as together they create the potential for liberated political speech that can change the world, according to Seib’s formulation. This empowerment of previously disengaged citizens is what is fundamentally at the heart of the