Envisioning the Past: Arabic Perspectives On History
- Course Code:
- 15PHIH005
- Status:
- Course Not Running 2012/2013
- Unit value:
- 0.5
- Year of study:
- Any
- Taught in:
- Term 1
The course examines Arabic historiographical texts in translation from the early Islamic period until c. 1500. Due to the low number of documentary materials until the 14th and 15th centuries, such texts are often the exclusive venue for comprehending pre-modern history. Consequently, an understanding of the structure and function of historical writing and its genres is crucial for the study of Middle Eastern history. But even for the periods that are better documented by materials such as court documents and endowment records, historical writing constitutes one of the dominant sources. It remained the preferred way of developing an image of one’s own as well as of the Others’ past and of debating contemporary issues.
The course fits into the MA History: Asia/Africa by supplementing the existing regional focus Near and Middle East and the thematic focus History of Islam. It is designed to get both students with a first degree in ‘conventional’ Western history and those with a first degree in African and Asian History engaged with the topic. The course’s second strand, approaches to historiography, reflects the School’s emphasis on research and should be of interest for students proceeding to a research degree. In this sense the course fits also into the MA in Historical Research Methods.
Objectives and learning outcomes of the course
At the end of the course the students:
- will have a firm knowledge of the main authors and texts of premodern Arabic historiography,
- will have acquired a strong understanding of the varying genres of premodern historiographical texts and the factors that influenced the development of these genres
- will be able to critically assess the prevailing approaches to premodern Arabic historiography and
- will be able to write a competent well-structured essay making substantial use of primary materials.
The objectives of this course are reflected in the arrangement of the sessions that focus alternately on specific authors and their texts on the one hand, and on approaches to this material on the other hand. The first strand of sessions makes the students familiar with the material by treating typical representatives of different genres such as at-Tabari’s universal chronicle History of the Prophets and Kings, Ibn al-Qalanisi’s local chronicle on Damascus and Ibn Khallikan’s biographical dictionary The Obituaries of Eminent Men. These author-focused sessions are closely connected to the second strand that introduces the students to the various approaches that have been applied to this material, such as Noth/Conrad’s topoi approach, el-Hibri’s literary analysis and Khalidi’s social contextualisation. The alternation of these two strands allows the students to get acquainted with the primary material and to set it into wider perspectives of historical inquiry.
The chronological arrangement of the course from the early Islamic period to c. 1500 allows for a clear understanding of the development of Arabic historiography, by dealing with issues such as shifting thematic interests and varying genres. Necessarily, the sessions will also deal with the history of the periods in which the texts were produced and subsequently transmitted, reused or forgotten. While this aspect cannot form a substantial part of the course, it enables students to gain an understanding of chosen periods of pre-modern Arabic history.
Suggested reading
- Al-Azmeh, A. (1982): Ibn Khaldun, an Essay in Reinterpretation, London;
- Donner, F.M. (1998): Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing, Princeton;
- Guo, L. (1998): Early Mamluk Syrian Historiography. Al-Yunini’s Dhayl mir’at al-zaman, Leiden/Boston/Köln;
- El-Hibri, T. (1999): Reinterpreting Islamic Historiography. Harun al-Rashid and the Narrative of the ‘Abbasid Caliphate, Cambridge/New York;
- Günther, S. (ed.) (2005): Ideas, Images, and Methods of Portrayal: Insights into Classical Arabic Literature and Islam, Leiden;
- Hirschler, K. (2006): Medieval Arabic Historiography. Authors as Actors, London;
- Humphreys, R.S. (1995): Islamic History. A Framework for Inquiry, London/New York.;
- Kennedy, H. (ed.) (2001): The Historiography of Islamic Egypt (C. 950-1800), Leiden/Boston/Köln;
- Khalidi, T. (1975): Islamic Historiography. The Histories of al-Mas’udi, Albany;
- Khalidi, T. (1994): Arabic Historical Thought in the Classical Period, Cambridge;
- Lewis, B./P.M. Holt (ed.) (1962): Historians of the Middle East, London;
- Little, D.P. (1970): An Introduction to Mamluk Historiography. An Analysis of Arabic Annalistic and Biographical Sources for the Reign of al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qala’un, Wiesbaden;
- Morgan, D.O. (ed.) (1982): Medieval Historical Writing in the Christian and the Islamic Worlds, London;
- Morray, D. (1994): An Ayyubid Notable and His World. Ibn al-‘Adim and Aleppo as Portrayed in His Biographical Dictionary of People Associated with the City, Leiden/New York/Köln;
- Noth, A./ L.I. Conrad (1994): The Early Arabic Historical Tradition. A Source-Critical Study, Princeton;
- Robinson, C. (2003): Islamic Historiography, Cambridge;
- Rosenthal, F. (19682): A History of Muslim Historiography, Leiden;
- Sartain, E.M. (1975): Jalal al-Dun Suyuti, Bd. 1: Biography and Background, Cambridge;
- Shboul, A.M.H. (1979): al-Mas’udi and his World. A Muslim Humanist and his Interest in Non-Muslims, London.
- Shoshan, Boaz (2004): Poetics of Islamic Historiography: Deconstructing Tabari’s History, Leiden.
