I have to disagree with your claims of cultural “imperialism,” a term that is ill-defined, regardless.

A quick aside: it’s interesting how many Lebanese bloggers have connections to Africa: you, me, and two people at the Lebanese Bloggers grew up or have lived there.

regarding l.p’s quick aside: do people who visit africa count too ??
if yes, then i’m in.

Have you ever read that book, I forgot the name of the author of market dominant minorities, she cited the lebanese in west africa? Very interesting and disturbing.

“World On Fire” by Amy Chua. Great read!

Mustapha

You said we have been along for the last 120 years.Well here is something that will astonish you all.Last year,I watched a documentary on the Discovery Channel about the civilizations in the black African continent(excluding North Africa).Untill recently it was thought that there was an ancient civilization that dwelled somewhere in the southern part of Africa centuries ago. This was mainly because there were ancient “stone” ruins(remenants of an ancient city)and wall that was discovered in the early 1900’s by a German explorer.These ruins are on the northern frontiers of South Africa.Africans of that region were so happy with this discovery as it suggested that they too had at one time a civilization similar to Indians,Egyptians,Incas,etc…Infact they were so proud that they decided to call the country were the ruins were found by the name of those ruins,Zimbabwe.HOWEVER,according to recent research,traces of cedar wood were found in these ruins.Discovery Channel is suggesting that the people who built that formidable stone structure were no other than the Phoneacians!It might have been one of there trading posts or colonies or settlements…
Well,if that is true,then the Lebanese have certainly been around in Africa longer,much longer than anybody could have thought!

As for Lebanese food,Mustapha i have met some South Americans here in London that told me that Kebab shops and Falafel and Hoummous are in abundance everywhere in their countries.Here in England you can find our food in abundance as well.You can find Hoummos in every supermarket,but they call it Greek :( Last sunday,i went to the river side in Kingston to have some good meal in one of the many restaurants there.There was a reputable and expensive French restaurant there that was serving Tabboule as part of the course of the day.Too bad it was beyond my budget :(
Also,if you go to Takoradi oneday,you will be surprised by the number of Ghanian restaurants that serve Lebanese dishes.I’m not sure if that is cultural imperialism,but I’m sure i shows how much the Lebanese are spread.

AbdelKarim

They are living and born in Libera, that’s not imperialism, that’s human rights! I have a lot of relatives living in Senegal with Senegalese citizenship. I would hope they can vote. I can’t see it as imperialism.

Nouri

You know, Brazil has something like 6 million people of Lebanese blood and they have more ethnic ARrabs (mostly Syrians and Lebanese) than any country outside the Middle East.

http://www.lgic.org/en/lebanese_americans.php

This site has a lot of info about Lebanese in the US, Canada, and South America.