Push for Terminology Change: Middle East
Image Source: Wikipedia
Definition and the Problem
In other posts of this series, the issue with a certain term concerns the term’s connotation or origin. For “Middle East,” its very definition is part of the problem. Most people have a vague idea of where the Middle East is and what area it encompasses, but when one thinks of the specific countries included in the Middle East, then you realize the extent of the issue.
Ask yourself: What countries are in the Middle East? Did you struggle with some? If you compared your answer to someone else’s, would they be the same? “Middle East” as a geographic term is ambiguous; it varies depending on the individual and the time period. Everyone agrees that the Levant, Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and the Arab Peninsula are a part of the Middle East. Some people include Egypt and other North African countries; some don’t include Afghanistan or other neighboring Asian countries.
During the 19th century, Europeans categorized Asia as having three general regions: the Near East, the Middle East, and the Far East. We don’t hear “Near East” and “Far East” a lot anymore, and as Mounir Ajam rightly points out: “If Far and Near East are not being used anymore, why do we still use ‘Middle East’? Why [does] this term persist?” It is even more fascinating that a term that clearly shows an outside perspective (colonial “West” or “Occident” looking at the colonized “East” or “Orient”) was adopted largely by the rest of the world and has lasted until today.
In Arabic, الشرق الأوسط (“Middle East”) is widely used today, but according to many historians, that term was not used until after 1902, when an American naval officer used the term while distinguishing the Arab Peninsula from India. Although, there are a few who state that الشرق الأوسط began to be used after the peace treaty between Russia and the Ottoman Empire was signed in 1774. Unfortunately, there are not many corpora that I can search and examine the usage of الشرق الأوسط to determine exactly how it was used in Arabic. I did a few searches for the terms on the Ngram Viewer and Google Trends. In any case, there is a clear consensus that the term “Middle East” (or الشرق الأوسط) was not used by people in the region until after it was used by American and European powers.
Here are a series of links if you’d like to see (and play around with) comparisons of different term usage in English and Arabic with the Ngram Viewer and Google Trends:
Middle East vs. Arab World vs. Southwest Asia vs. West Asia (Ngram Viewer)
Middle East vs. Southwest Asia vs. West Asia (Google Trends)
It is clear that the term originated in “the West” (another geographically ambiguous term) and was initially perpetuated by colonial powers. Many intellectuals and liberals want to decolonize how we refer to the region and its peoples; they want a neutral term. One of the Arabic resources below asks if “Middle East” is an ‘innocent’ term. Many rightly argue: Over time, “Middle East” has become associated with archaic and modern stereotypes and has certain political connotations. Today, it is hard to separate the term from these stereotypes and connotations.
There is also the accurate point that almost every large region in the world uses cardinal relations to name it: North America, Western Europe, Southeast Asia, East Africa, etc. So why can’t we replace “Middle East” with a neutral geographical alternative?
I ran a couple polls on my social media accounts to see what people from various places and areas of expertise prefer: almost all preferred “Middle East.” Then again, I’m not very popular: only 26 people answered. Given the Ngram Viewer and Google Trends results, there are obviously many people who have accepted the use of “Middle East” and changing the terminology depends on the convictions of those who accept and those who oppose “Middle East.”
Possible Alternatives
As translators (and interpreters), we are sometimes bound by guidelines or client requirements to use certain terms, that’s just a fact of our profession. Yet we also have the power to change the way we discuss an issue in our target language. We can advise or suggest, or even insist, our clients use terms that better reflect the feelings, representation, or cause involved. This blog series isn’t meant to disparage the usage of a certain term; it’s meant to present terms that (many) people find problematic and some potential alternatives.
There are many alternatives for those who dislike using the term “Middle East,” the most popular is Southwest Asia (in conjunction with North Africa) or West Asia because they are geographically accurate and specific terms that encompass the same region. These terms are gaining traction in academic and liberal spaces and other organizations like the UN. Though I will note that Southwest Asia is usually used in conjunction with North Africa to make the acronym SWANA, while West Asia is used by itself. I think it’s probably because WANA would make an awkward acronym haha
Another alternative is to narrow down what region you’re talking about and use them in conjunction with each other. Let me explain. One misconception about the Middle East and North Africa is that it is a monolith: all the places and all the people are the same. This is the farthest from the truth: there is great ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity in the region, and even within each country. Just think of how different each state in the US (or even how different each region of a state) is from another.
Unless the work is for or in collaboration with a non-Arab entity, many Arabic sources—original content written by Arabic speakers for Arabic speakers—don’t generalize the region as a whole with “Middle East” or “North Africa.” The term “Arab World” has become more popular to refer to this region because of the ethnic and linguistic majority (Arabic-speaking Arabs), though this excludes Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, etc. Because this region is so diverse, it may be prudent to narrow down regions even further with established terms already used by the people who live there:
Maghreb (المغرب - “the West”): this region refers to Northwestern Africa and encompasses Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Western Sahara, and the two Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
Mashreq (المشرق – “the East”): this region refers to Egypt, Iraq, and the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine).
Khaleej (الخليج – “the Gulf”): this region refers to the Persian Gulf and encompasses Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Oman, and Bahrain. Yemen isn’t technically considered a Khaleeji country because it doesn’t actually touch the Persian Gulf. Iran sometimes is included in the list but not many.
Al-Sham (الشام – “the Levant”): this region is also called “Greater Syria” and refers to the Eastern Mediterranean area of West Asia. It encompasses Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine.