Arab diasporas in Latin America

The expression “Arab community” in Latin America is, in itself, an umbrella that covers diverse stories. It brings together under one name migratory experiences that stem from distinct origins, carry multiple traditions, and undergo integration processes marked by political and social tensions.

To reduce Lebanese, Syrians, Palestinians, Egyptians, Jordanians, Moroccans, and Algerians to a unified identity is to ignore that each of these groups brought their own dialects, religions, daily practices, and historical memories. Still, in the Latin American continent, these flows ended up mixing, both through coexistence in new lands and how they were classified and perceived externally. Moreover, but not less importantly, because Latin America as a whole has been a cradle for immigrants and those fleeing from wars.

The first major migratory movement occurred between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, motivated by the political and economic collapse of the Ottoman Empire, by the agricultural crisis that hit the Mount Lebanon region, and by compulsory military recruitment that pushed young people out of their villages.

Many of the immigrants were Maronite and Orthodox Christians, but among this first wave were also Muslims, Druze, and Syrians from cities like Aleppo and Damascus. Upon arrival, they carried Ottoman passports and soon were nicknamed “Turks” in countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, a simplification that erased their origins and marked the popular imagination for decades.

With the advance of the 20th century, new flows reshaped this mosaic. In the 1920s, Palestinian farmers arrived in greater numbers, expelled from their lands by the British Mandate. In 1948, the Nakba caused a wave of massive exile, leading Palestinians to settle in places like Chile, Honduras, and El Salvador, where community networks already existed.

Syrians and Lebanese also continued to migrate, driven by political instability and the civil wars that followed in the Middle East. Beginning in the second half of the century, Egyptians, Jordanians, Tunisians, and Moroccans arrived, reinforcing the plurality that composed this field of experiences.

The beginning of these trajectories intertwined with street commerce. The newcomers, often with few resources, traveled through cities and towns selling fabrics, perfumes, household utensils, and products brought from Beirut or Alexandria. The image of the Arab peddler, of humble yet tireless origin, became common in Brazil and Argentina.

In the following decades, many of these merchants opened fixed stores, founded industries, and ascended socially, becoming part of the urban middle class. This rise, however, was not uniform; while in São Paulo and Buenos Aires, establishments emerged that became references, in more peripheral or rural regions, like the interior of northeastern Brazil or isolated areas of Central America, integration was slower and marked by the preservation of linguistic and religious customs.

The cultural heritage of Arab diasporas is today visible in various dimensions. In the gastronomic field, dishes like kibbeh, tabbouleh, and esfihas have ceased to be identified as “foreign” and have become part of popular repertoire at neighborhood festivals and street fairs. In the religious domain, mosques built in Foz do Iguaçu, Bogotá, and Santiago do Chile function not only as temples but as community centers, offering Arabic classes, history courses, and intergenerational meeting spaces.

Fashion has also received influences; Palestinian embroidery and geometric patterns merged with local fabrics, creating hybrid pieces that resonate both with tradition and the new Latin American environment.

The identities formed from these migrations are often tense. Children and grandchildren grew up in hybrid spaces, where the Arabic language was gradually replaced by Portuguese or Spanish outside the home, but in some cases resisted as a domestic or religious language. Wars in the Middle East, from the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1967 to the Syrian civil war in 2011, affected the social perception of these communities.

At certain moments, they reinforced local solidarities, while at other times, they fueled stigmas and prejudices, especially regarding Islam, particularly after September 11, 2001, when Latin American Muslims became targets of new layers of suspicion.

There are countries where these presences have become central. Chile now hosts the largest Palestinian community outside the Middle East, estimated at over half a million people.

There, institutions like the Club Deportivo Palestino and cultural associations keep traditions and political ties alive. In Brazil, Arab diversity is visible in cities like São Paulo, Belém, and Foz do Iguaçu, reaching spaces primarily of political power.

In Argentina, the Arab presence is also significant, and descendants have become protagonists in sectors of the economy and culture, helping to shape part of the national identity.

At the same time, coexistence among different communities has created a sort of shared Arab identity. Social clubs, cultural festivals, and associations reproduced the idea of a “being Arab” that did not exist in the same way in their countries of origin, where religious and regional borders were more defined.

The receiving society itself contributed to this, treating Lebanese, Palestinians, Syrians, and Egyptians as a single block, reinforcing a sense of unity that, in practice, is full of nuances and contradictions.

This history is also marked by disputes, a non-homogeneous integration, and differences in how each group managed to maintain or not cultural and political visibility. Religiosity, family customs, language, and even gastronomy have been reinterpreted according to local contexts.

The Arab diaspora in Latin America is a pure representation of how the soil in Latin America is fertile. A homogeneous community seeks refuge in this region that, in turn, constitutes a constantly moving mosaic, expanding local cultural diversity and the ethnic representation of this plural space that is the Americas.