A Muslim Jamboree: Scouting and Youth Culture in Lebanon under the French Mandate/Un jamboree musulman: Le scoutisme et la culture de la jeunesse au Liban a l'epoque du Mandat francais

This article deals with the role of Islam in the formation and evolution of a Muslim scout movement in Lebanon under the French Mandate. Scouting was imported into the Middle East from Europe just before World War I and was quickly appropriated by Arab societies. In the 1930s it gained significance not only as a social phenomenon but also as a forum for political expression. The Mandate administration initially sought to use scouting to expand France's cultural and political foothold in the region. Quickly, however, Lebanese leaders imbued scouting with their own distinctive ethos, which frequently opposed French interests. This process is especially interesting owing to the cross-pollination of ideological and cultural forces that nourished the burgeoning scout associations, including not only Islam and French scout methods but also Arab and Lebanese nationalism, fascism, and Anglo-Saxon political and cultural objectives in the Middle East. The discussion here addresses how Islam intertwined with these diverse influences and how this ideological conglomeration affected and reflected Franco-Muslim relations in Lebanon. Cet article traite du role que joua l'Islam dans la formation et l'evolution du scoutisme musulman au Liban a l'epoque du mandat francais. Institution europeenne, le scoutisme s'implanta au Moyen-Orient a l'aube de la Premiere Guerre mondiale et s'integra rapidement dans la societe arabe. Pendant les annees 1930, ce phenomene acquiert de l'importance non seulement dans le domaine social, mais egalement comme moyen d'action politique. L'autorite mandataire espera exploiter le scoutime pour renforcer sa presence politique et culturelle dans la region. Or, des le depart, les dirigeants musulmans libanais s'emparerent du mouvement et l'impregnerent d'un esprit anticolonial et anti-francais. Ce processus s'avera plus interessant a etudier car les associations scoutes au Liban furent influencees par divers mouvements ideologiques et politiques, non seulement par l'Islam et la methodologie du scoutisme francais, mais aussi par les nationalismes arabe et libanais, le fascisme et les ambitions anglo-saxonnes en pays arabes. L'auteur se penche ici sur la maniere dont l'Islam se mela a ces tendances multiples, et se demande comment ce melange ideologique influa sur les relations franco-musulmanes au Liban.