In the wake of recent upheavals across the Arab world, a simplistic media portrayal of the region as essentially homogenous has given way to a new though equally shallow portrayal, casting it as deeply divided along ethnic, linguistic, and religious lines. The essays gathered in Minorities and the Modern Arab World seek to challenge this representation with a nuanced exploration of the ways in which ethnic, religious, and linguistic commitments have intersected to create -minority- communities in the modern era. Bringing together the fields of history, political science,...
In the wake of recent upheavals across the Arab world, a simplistic media portrayal of the region as essentially homogenous has given way to a new ...
Challenging the ethnocentric notion that a capitalist economy could only be transferred to the peripheral states through contact with Europe, this text argues that the capitalist transformation of the Egyptian economy was begun by Muslim merchants and Mamluk rulers in the 18th century.
Challenging the ethnocentric notion that a capitalist economy could only be transferred to the peripheral states through contact with Europe, this tex...
This text examines the re-emergence of the economic sector in Cairo during the 17th century, and its complex influences on social conditions. It traces the relationship between economic activities and culture through examining the life and work of Isma'il Abu Taqiyya - an Egyptian merchant.
This text examines the re-emergence of the economic sector in Cairo during the 17th century, and its complex influences on social conditions. It trace...
This study of modern Egypt aims to open the debate regarding new terms and methods for understanding the Middle East and Islamic societies. Sonbol shows continuity in the division of Egyptian society into two groups: the Khassa which tried to impose a hegemonic culture, and the opposing Amma.
This study of modern Egypt aims to open the debate regarding new terms and methods for understanding the Middle East and Islamic societies. Sonbol sho...
This book challenges prevailing assumptions about family, courts of law, and the nature of modernity in Muslim societies against the backdrop of Haifa and Jaffa during "the long nineteenth century". The popular image of the family and the court of law in Muslim societies is one of traditional, unchanging social frameworks. Iris Agmon suggests an entirely different view, grounded in a detailed study of nineteenth-century Ottoman court records from the flourishing Palestinian port cities of Haifa and Jaffa. She depicts the Sharia Muslim court of law as a dynamic institution, capable of adapting...
This book challenges prevailing assumptions about family, courts of law, and the nature of modernity in Muslim societies against the backdrop of Haifa...
With extensive new material, this classic book - now in a second edition - challenges the current paradigm of the societal decline as inadequate for understanding the Ottoman society and state during this period. Rifa'at 'Ali Abou-El-Haj reevaluates the established historical view of the Ottoman Empire as an Eastern despotic nation-state in decline and instead analyzes it as a modern state comparable to contemporary states in Europe and Asia.
With extensive new material, this classic book - now in a second edition - challenges the current paradigm of the societal decline as inadequate for u...
Steven Salaita's ambitious and thought-provoking work draws a comparison between the dynamics of settler colonialism in the United States in regard to Native Americans and Israel in regard to the Palestinians, revealing the way in which politics influences literary production. The author's nuanced analysis is not based on similarities between the two disparate settler regions, but rather on similarities between the rhetoric employed by early colonialists in North America and that employed by Zionist immigrants in Palestine. Meticulously examining histories, theories, and literary depictions...
Steven Salaita's ambitious and thought-provoking work draws a comparison between the dynamics of settler colonialism in the United States in regard to...
In Pragmatism in Islamic Law, Ibrahim presents a detailed history of Sunni legal pluralism and the ways in which it was employed to accommodate the changing needs of society. Since the formative period of Islamic law, jurists have debated whether it is acceptable for a law to be selected based on its utility, rather than weighing conflicting articulations of the law to determine the most likely expression of the divine will. Virtually unanimous opposition to the utilitarian approach, referred to as "pragmatic eclecticism," emerged among early Islamic jurists. However, due to a host...
In Pragmatism in Islamic Law, Ibrahim presents a detailed history of Sunni legal pluralism and the ways in which it was employed to accommo...
The complex history of Lebanese Shi ites has traditionally been portrayed as rooted in religious and sectarian forces. The Abisaabs uncover a more nuanced account in which colonialism, the modern state, social class, and provincial politics profoundly shaped Shi i society. The authors trace the sociopolitical, economic, and intellectual transformation of the Shi ites of Lebanon from 1920 during the French colonial period until the late twentieth century. They shed light on the relationship of contemporary Islamic militancy with traditions of religious modernism and leftism in both...
The complex history of Lebanese Shi ites has traditionally been portrayed as rooted in religious and sectarian forces. The Abisaabs uncover a more ...
