Butrus al-Bustani was a nineteenth century Ottoman Arab educator and public intellectual regarded by many as the first Syrian nationalist due to publication of
Nafir Suriyya following the 1860 communal disturbances in Mt. Lebanon and Damascus.
Jens Hanssen is Associate Professor of Arab Civilization, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean history at the University of Toronto. He is author of
Fin de Siècle Beirut and coeditor of
Arabic Thought Beyond the Liberal Age and
Arabic Thought Against the Authoritarian Age.
Hicham Safieddine is Assistant Professor of History of the Modern Middle East at King's College, London. He is co-founder and translation editor of e-publications
Al-Akhbar English and
The Legal Agenda English Edition.