Imagining the Arabs: Arab Identity and the Rise of Islam (Music and the Moving Image) - Softcover

Webb, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1474426433 ISBN 13: 9781474426435

Verlag: Edinburgh University Press, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

Who are the Arabs? When did people begin calling themselves Arabs? And what was the Arabs’ role in the rise of Islam? Investigating these core questions about Arab identity and history by marshalling the widest array of Arabic sources employed hitherto, and by closely interpreting the evidence with theories of identity and ethnicity, Imagining the Arabs proposes new answers to the riddle of Arab origins and fundamental reinterpretations of early Islamic history. This book reveals that the time-honoured stereotypes which depict Arabs as ancient Arabian Bedouin are entirely misleading because the essence of Arab identity was in fact devised by Muslims during the first centuries of Islam. Arab identity emerged and evolved as groups imagined new notions of community to suit the radically changing circumstances of life in the early Caliphate. The idea of ‘the Arab’ was a device which Muslims utilised to articulate their communal identity, to negotiate post-Conquest power relations, and to explain the rise of Islam. Over Islam’s first four centuries, political elites, genealogists, poetry collectors, historians and grammarians all participated in a vibrant process of imagining and re-imagining Arab identity and history, and the sum of their works established a powerful tradition that influences Middle Eastern communities to the present day.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Peter Webb is University Lecturer in Arabic literature and culture at Leiden University.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

A new interpretation of Arab origins and the historical roots of Arab identityWho are the Arabs? When did people begin calling themselves Arabs? And what was the Arabs’ role in the rise of Islam? Investigating these core questions about Arab identity and history – through interpretation of both the pre-Islamic evidence and Arabic literature in tandem with theories of identity and ethnicity – prompts new answers to the riddle of Arab origins and fundamental reinterpretations of early Islamic history.Imagining the Arabs reveals that the time-honoured stereotypes depicting Arabs as ancient Arabian Bedouin are entirely misleading: the essence of Arab identity was in fact devised by Muslims during the first centuries of Islam. Arab identity emerged and evolved as groups imagined new notions of community to suit the radically changing circumstances of life in the early Caliphate. The idea of ‘the Arab’ was a device used by Muslims to articulate their communal identity, to negotiate post-Conquest power relations, and to explain the rise of Islam.Over Islam’s first four centuries, political elites, genealogists, poetry collectors, historians and grammarians all participated in a vibrant process of imagining and re-imagining Arab identity and history, and the sum of their works established a powerful tradition that influences Middle Eastern communities to the present day.Peter Webb is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow (2015-18) at SOAS, University of London.Cover image: © Peter WebbCover design:[EUP logo]edinburghuniversitypress.com [please note new web address]ISBN 978-1-4744-0826-4Barcode

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Edinburgh University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2017
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1474426433
• ISBN 13: 9781474426435
• Einband: Tapa blanda
• Anzahl der Seiten: 416
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar