User:Tiamut/St H Stephan

Stephan Hanna Stephan (1894-1949), also St H Stephan, was a Christian Arab Palestinian of Syrian Orthodox faith, and a writer, translator and radio broadcaster of history and folklore in Palestine. Educated at the Schneller School (Syrian Orphanage) in Lifta, Jerusalem, he worked for the Mandatory Palestine authorities, first in the Treasury, and then in the Department of Antiquities,

The earliest of Stephan's works, "The Palestinian Parallels to the Song of Songs" (1922) was featured in the The Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society (JPOS), as well as his article "Lunacy in Palestinian Folklore" (1925). William Foxwell Albright called Stephan "a young man of promise", and he was part of a loose school of "nativist" ethnographers, most prominent among them Tawfiq Canaan, who published their works at JPOS. The research and contributions of these mostly Jerusalemite Palestinians was motivated by their belief that the "native culture of Palestine", was best represented in the traditions of the fellaheen, and that this ancient "living heritage" had to be urgently documented in the face of encroaching "colonialism and modernity".

Besides his original articles, Stephan also undertook several translations, utilizing his fluency in Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, Syriac, English and German. The American Journal of Archaeology noted his work translating Mamluk and Ottoman documents in 1934 as an important contribution.

From the 17th century ten-volume Ottoman travelogue of the Seyahatname (Book of Travels), by Evliya Çelebi, Stephan translated the rare Palestine section. Published in six parts from 1935 to 1942 as "Evliya Tshelebi's Travels in Palestine (1648-50), Leo Aryeh Mayer also contributed annotations and translations for the first four parts, though Stefan completed translation of the last two sections alone. Perhaps the 1936 revolt made collaboration with Mayer, a Zionist, increasingly untenable to Stephan (and/or vice versa).

While working at the Department of Antiquities, he co-authored papers with Dimitri Baramki, and published articles in their Quarterly. The biases of the colonial administration against advancing the situation of Palestinian Arab scholars likely impeded his advancement there and it is wondered whether his signing of articles under the European sounding name of "St H Stephan" was a deliberate nod to those circumstances.

Stefan engaged in many other collaborations and correspondances with Palestinian, Arab and European writers. In correspondances with Hilma Granqvist, there is familiarity and respect expressed, passing on greetings from 'Sitt Louisa' (Louise Baldensperger, 1862-1938), and offering critiques of Arabic translations and transliterations in Granqvist's work. In a letter from 1932, he describes Granqvist's work as an "important work on Palestine", implying the import of both Palestine and ethnography to him and the struggle.

Beginning in 1936, Stefan was also a broadcaster on the Palestine Government radio station's Arab Hour, where he shared much of his interest in ethnography and history with the Arabic speaking population of Palestine. Radios were not widely available at the time, but locals would hear broadcasts in village cafes, and Stefan's broadcasts celebrated and valued Palestinian folk traditions and culture, and brought the nation's rich history to the attention of the masses.

After attending the founding of the Palestine Archaeological Museum in the 1930s, with his Armenian wife, Arasky Keshishian, he went on to work as assistant librarian at the Museum. Throughout the 1940s there he worked on a project to make handwritten and photostatic copies of manuscripts in private libraries in Jerusalem, including the Khalidi Library from 1941-1948, and these are some of the only remaining copies of these works (now at Rockefeller Museum). He was promoted from librarian to Archeological Officer in 1945-6.

Stefan was still working for the Department of Antiquities in 1947, this time on missions to Cyprus, deciphering early Islamic inscriptions. With the Nakba of 1948, he, his wife and two sons, Arthur and Angelo, ended up Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. His work in Cyprus, still held as a British colony, was set to continue, but he died in 1949. His wife and sons leaving thereafter to Brazil.

Journals & academic translations

 * "Palestinian Parallels to the Song of Songs" (1922). Journal of Palestine Studies (JPOS).
 * "Al-Mar'a (Woman)" (January 1922). Sarkis.
 * "Lunacy in Palestinian Folklore" (1925). JPOS.
 * "Post-war Bibliographies of Near Eastern Mandates" Stuart C. Dodd, ed. (1930s). Collection of publications on scoial sciences in the Middle East.
 * Evliya Tshelebi's Travels in Palestine (1648-1650, as translator

Radio Broadcasts

 * “Wit and Wisdom in Arabic Folksongs” (13 December 1936)
 * “Forgotten Trades of Palestine” (29 January 1937)
 * “Turkish Monuments in Palestine” (1 April 1937)
 * “Libraries of the Umayyads” (7 November 1938)
 * History of Palestine series, including the Stone Age, the “Nomadic” age, and under the rule of the Pharaohs, Assyrians, and Greeks (November-December 1938)
 * “The festival of Nebi Rubeen in Southern Palestine" (28 August 1938)

Phrasebooks & travel guides

 * Arabic Self-Taught: A Primer (1935), Steimatsky, (English)
 * Leitfaden für den Selbstunterricht in der arabischen Sprache (with an accompanying Sprachführer, or phrasebook), 1934, Steimatsky (German)
 * This is Palestine: A Concise Guide to the Important Sites in Palestine, Transjordan and Syria, (1942, 2nd edition 1947), Bayt-ul-Makdes Press
 * Palestine by Road and Rail: A Concise Guide to the Important Sites in Palestine and Syria (1942), Jerusalem
 * This is Palestine & Palestine by Road and Rail are credited to St. H. Stephan and Boulos ‘Afif, a Jerusalem-based photographer.