The Language of the Nation: The Rise of Arabic among Jews and Christians (1900–1950)

Abstract

This essay explores the ways in which in the period following the First World War, non-Muslim communities participated in the establishment of Modern Standard Arabic as the foremost symbol of the new states that replaced the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire. A comparison of the sociolinguistic trajectories of Syriac Christians in North Iraq, Jews in Baghdad and Catholic Christians in Palestine suggests that Arabic’s function of undergirding the ‘Arab states’ thrived on earlier interpretations of Arabic as the language of interregional and interdenominational contacts and as the language of cultural, societal and political modernization rather than on exclusivist nationalist, ethnic or linguistic identifications. Put differently, the increased use of Arabic by those who also had other languages at their disposal resulted from the combination of pragmatism with commitment to societal modernization and inclusive nationalism. The linguistic trajectories of these three groups are analysed against the background of a rereading of George Antonius’ The Arab Awakening (1938) as a contemporary source for the rise of Arab nationalism among non-Muslim minorities.     

The Wingate Literature Revisited: The Sudan As Seen by Members of the Sudan Political Service during the Condominium: 1899–1956

The Literature of Ideas in Egypt, Pt. I, translated and introduced by Louis Awad. Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press (Arabic Writing Today, III), 1986. Pp.242.

All Fall Down: America's Fateful Encounter with Iran by Gary Sick. London: I. B. Tauris, 1985. pp.380. £16.50.

Iran Under the Ayatollahs by Dilip Hiro. London: Routledge &; Kegan Paul, pp.xv + 398 + index, £20.

Superpower Diplomacy in the Horn of Africa by Samuel M. Makinda. London and Sydney: Croom Helm, 1987. pp.242. £22.50.

Encyclopaedia Iranica. Volume I: Ab‐Anahid edited by Ehsan Yarshater. London: Routledge &; Kegan Paul, 1985. Pp. 1011, 41 plates. $360.     

Other publications received

(a 28‐page pamphlet, in the series Fifty Years of Soviet Oriental Studies, published in 1967 by Nauka Press for the Institute of the Peoples of Asia of the USSR Academy of Sciences).

N. A. Kuznyetsova and L. M. Kulagina, and entitled Iz istorii Sovyetskogo Vostokovyedyeniya 1917–1967

(From the History of Soviet Orientalism, 1917–1967),

(Moscow, Nauka Press for the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1970, 252 pp.).

Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 7, no. 3, October 1971, pp. 363–65

(see Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. VII, no. 2, May 1971, pp. 237–39).

V. V. Lyebyedyev's Pozdniy sryednyearabskiy yazik (XIII‐XVIII vv.)

(The Late Middle‐Arabic Language: The 13th‐18th Centuries), Moscow, Nauka Press, 1977; 92 pp.

A. A. Kovalyev and G. M. Gabuchan, was published by Moscow University Press in 1968 and comprises 208 pages.

V. S. Khrakovskiy's Ochyerki po obshchyemu i Arabskomu sintaksisu (Essays on General and Arabic Syntax), (Moscow, Nauka Press for the Institute of Linguistics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1973; 290 pp.).

V. M. Byelkin's Arabskaya Lyeksikologia (Arabic Lexicology), (Moscow University Press, 1975; 200 pp.).

F. L. Shapiro and edited by B. M. Grande, entitled Ivrit‐Russkiy slovar’ (Hebrew‐Russian Dictionary), (Moscow, Government Press for National and Foreign Dictionaries, 1963, 768 pp.).

B. M. Grande's Kurs Arabskoy grammatiki v Sravnityel'no‐istorichyeskom osvyeshchyenii (A Course of Arabic Grammar, From a Comparative Approach), (Moscow, Oriental Literature Press for the Institute of the Peoples of Asia of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1963, 596 pp.).

A. A. Kovalyev and G. Sh. Sharbatov, entitled Uchyebnik Arabskogo Yazika (Textbook for Learning Arabic), (Moscow, Nauka Press for the Institute of Oriental Languages at Moscow University, 1969, 688 pp.).

E. Dz. Myemmyedov's Al‐Lugha al‐'Arabiyya (The Arabic Language), (Baku, Ma'arif Press, 1971, 404 pp.).

G. V. Tsyeryetyeli, entitled Arabskaya Khryestomatiya (An Arabic Anthology), (Tiflis University Press, 1975; 107, 16pp.).

O. B. Frolova's Mi govorim po‐Arabskiy (We speak Arabic), (Moscow, Nauka Press for the Oriental Faculty of Leningrad University and for the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1972, 303 pp.).

I. S. Danilov, V. I. Ridzkov and M. G. Anisimov, entitled Arabsko‐Russkiy i Russko‐Arabskiy voyenniy slovar’ (Arabic‐Russian and Russian‐Arabic Dictionary of Military Terms), (Moscow, USSR Ministry of Defence Press, 1965, 704 pp.).

Kh. K. Baranov's Arabsko‐Russkiy slovar’ (Arabic‐Russian Dictionary), (2nd edition, Moscow, Government Press for Foreign and National Dictionaries, 1958, 1189 pp.)

T. A. al‐Farhi and V. N. Krasnovskiy, entitled Karmanniy Russko‐Arabskiy slovar’ (Pocket Russian‐Arabic Dictionary), (Moscow, Government Press for Foreign and National Dictionaries, 1959, 695 pp.).

G. Sh. Sharbatov's Russko‐Arabskiy uchyebniy slovar’ (A Russian‐Arabic school dictionary), (Moscow, The Soviet Encyclopaedia Press, 1964, 1056, 140 pp.).

V. M. Borisov's Russko‐Arabskiy slovar’ (Russian‐Arabic Dictionary), (Moscow, The Soviet Encyclopaedia Press, 1967, 1120 pp.).     

General Maps of Persia: 1477–1925

The Modern Arabic Short Story: Shahrazad Returns by Mohammad Shaheen. London: Macmillan Press Ltd., 1989. Pp.viii + 158. Glossary, bibliography, index.

The Cambridge Atlas of the Middle East and North Africa by Gerald Blake, John Dewdney, Jonathan Mitchell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. 58 Maps, 9 Figures, 26 Tables.

In Search of Arab Unity 1930–1945 by Yehoshua Porath. London: Frank Cass &; Co. Ltd., 1986. Pp.376.

International Proposals to Transfer Arabs from Palestine, 1895–1947: A Historical Survey by Chaim Simons. Hoboken, New Jersey: Ktav, 1988. Pp.254.

Ideology and Power in the Middle East: Studies in Honor of George Lenczowski Edited by Peter J. Chelkowski and Robert J. Pranger. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1988. Pp.xii + 530.

Saudi Arabia: Technocrats in a Traditional Society by Henry H. Albers. New York, Bern, Frankfurt am Main and Paris: Peter Lang, 1989. Pp.xii + 230, index. Cloth.

Heirs of the Greek Catastrophe: the Social Life of Asia Minor Refugees in Piraeus by R. Hirschon. Oxford University Press, 1989.     

Book notes

An Awakening: The Arab Campaign 1917–18 by Sir Alec Kirkbride. Pp. vi + 134, illustrations, appendices, index. University Press of Arabia, 1 West Street, Tavistock, Devon.

Revolutions and Military Rule in the Middle East: The Arab States. Part II: Egypt, The Sudan, Yemen and Libya by George M. Haddad. New York: Robert Speller and Sons, 1973, Pp. x + 454, illustrations, appendix, bibliography, index; $12.50.

Arab Culture and Society in Change: A Partially Annotated Biblography of Books and Articles in English, French, German and Italian, compiled by the Staff of The Centre d'Etudes pour le Monde Arabe Moderne, St. Joseph's University, Beirut. Beirut: Dar El‐Mashreq, Pp. xli + 318; $15.00.

The Arab Israeli Conflict: A Bibliography of Arabic Books and Publications, compiled and edited by Naim Shahrabani. Jerusalem: Mount Scopus Center for Research on the Palestinian Arabs and Arab‐Israeli Relations. Pp. 301; n.

American and British Doctoral Dissertations on Israel and Palestine in Modern Times, compiled and edited by Frank Joseph Shulman. Ann Arbor: Xerox University Microfilms. Pp. vii + 25; n.p.

Bibliotheca Cisorientalia: An Annotated Checklist of Early English Travel Books on the Near and Middle East, compiled and edited by Richard Bevis. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co. Pp. xviii + 317; U.S.: $29.50, elsewhere: $32.45.

Bidwell's Guide to Government Ministers: Volume 2 : The Arab World 1900–1972, compiled and edited by Robin Bidwell. London: Frank Cass and Co., 1974. Pp. xi + 124; £9.     

Transformations of a Memory of Tyranny in Syria: From Jamal Pasha to ‘Id al-Shuhada’, 1914–2000

Islam. By L. I. Klimovich, Moscow, 1965.

Arabic Classical Literature. By I. M. Fil'shtinskiy, Moscow, 1965.     

PHOTOS OF THE HASHEMITES

East is West. By Freya Stark. Pp. 213. John Murray, 12s. 6d.

Irrigation in Iraq : its History and Development. By Ahmed Sousa, B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D. The New Publishers, Iraq. Luzac and Co. 1945. 54 pp. 8d.

The Hindiyah Barrage: its History, Design and Function. By Ahmed Sousa, B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D., Irrigation Engineer, Irrigation Directorate‐General. Government Press, Baghdad. 1945. Xv and 99 pp.; 17 maps.

Ikhwan us‐Safa. Dr. Phil. Omar A. Farrukh. Beirut. 1945. (Arabic text.)

lbn Bajja (Avempace) and the Philosophy in the Moslem West. Dr. Phil. Omar A. Farrukh. Beirut. 1945. (Arabic text.)

A Complete English‐Turkish Dictionary. By K. M. Vasif Okcugil.

The Geography of World Air Transport. By J. Parker van Zandt. Published by the Brookings Institution. Faber and Faber, London. 5s.

Morning Will Come. By Gordon Waterfield. Published by John Murray. Pp. 194; 31 illustrations.

The Future of India. By Penderel Moon. Pilot Press. 5s..

Maria Murder and Suicide. By Verrier Elwin. Oxford University Press, Bombay.

Beyond the Chindwin. By Bernard Fergusson. Collins. 10s. 6d.

Burma Pamphlets: No. 4 Burma Rice, 32 pp. No. 5, The Forests of Burma, by F. T. Morehead, 67 pp. No. 6, The Hill Peoples of Burma, by H. N. C. Stevenson, 50 pp. Illustrations and sketch maps. Luzac and Co. 6d. each.

Beyond the Burma Road. By Alan Houghton Brodrick. Published by Hutchinson. 16s.

England and the English. Amin Mumayiz. Baghdad. 1944. (Arabic text.)     

Identity,Politics and Nation: Algerian Nationalism and the ‘Berberist Crisis’ of 1949

Abstract

Between the 1940s and the 1950s, a crucial period of change for Algerian nationalism and state formation, Berber activists within the anti-colonial nationalist movement challenged the political line of the nationalist party, the Mouvement pour le Triomphe des Libertés Démocratiques. This opposition focused on the need to redefine the concept of identity: activists did not reject either Arabic or Islam—the dual linguistic-religious core of national identity for Algerian nationalists—but they identified with a broader idea of an ‘Algerian Algeria’ that could incorporate various components of society.

Through the study of archival sources, this paper analyses the origins and consequences of the 1949 controversy within Algerian nationalism known as the ‘Berberist crisis’. Particular attention is paid to the idea of the nation proposed, assessing whether and how Berber activists participated in the political debate and state-building.     

A letter from Iraq: the writing of Iraqi correspondents in al-ʿAlam al-ʾIsraʾili and Israʾil

The most extensive participation of Jews in the literary Arabic revival (The Nahda) was in monarchial Iraq. Jewish Intellectuals had contributed to the development of national Iraqi culture. These intellectuals have been studied in the context of the non-Jewish Iraqi intellectuals, focusing on their national and cultural integration in the new Iraqi state. This article observes the participation of those intellectuals in two non-Iraqi Jewish journals which were published in literary Arabic, Isra?il, published in Cairo, and al-?Alam al-Isra?ili, published in Beirut. By changing the point of view from Iraqi Jews in the non-Jewish Iraqi cultural sphere to Iraqi Jews in a non-Iraqi Jewish cultural sphere, the article examines their relation between Iraqi identity and the national Jewish identity.     

The reflection of a political conflict in mapping: The case of Israel's borders and frontiers

Studii de istorie (Studies of History), Bucharest, published by the Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania, 1968; 171 pp.

The Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania, vol. 27, no. 6, November‐December 1976,

La pensée philosophique et sociale dans l'empire ottoman aux XIVe‐XVe siècles’ (vol. 6, nos. 1–2, 1968, pp. 76–102).

Bucharest at the Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania, 1974; 215 pp.,

N. p. (Bucharest ?), Youth Publications’ Press, 1965; 240 pp.

C. Giurescu's Amintiri (Memoirs), of which the first volume appeared in Bucharest, Sport and Tourism Press, 1976; 340 pp. Giurescu, who died in 1977,

Ghid de conversatie romdn‐turc (Romanian‐Turkish Conversation Handbook), Bucharest, Scientific Press, 1974; 245 pp

A. Baubec and F. Ismail's Mic dicfionar turc‐romdn (A Small Turkish‐Romanian Dictionary), announced for publication by Bucharest's Sport and Tourism Press for 1978; 300 pp.

Antologie de texte din literatura araba moderna (An Anthology of Texts From Modern Arabic Literature), The University of Bucharest, 1972; 687 pp.,

Antologie de texte din literatura araba clasica (An Anthology of Texts From Classical Arabic Literature), The University of Bucharest, 1974; 336 pp.

Curs de sintaxa a limbei arabe moderne (A Syntax Course For Modern Arabic), The University of Bucharest, 1973; 326 pp.

Nicolae Dobri?an's Curs de fonetica si morfologia limbei arabe literare contemporane (A Course For the Phonetics and Morphology of Contemporary Literary Arabic), The University of Bucharest, 1975; 608 pp.

Daniel's Orientalia Mirabilia, vol. I, Bucharest, Scientific and Encyclopaedic Press, 1976; 292 pp.

Relatiile romdno‐egiptene in epoca moderna si contemporana (Romanian‐Egyptian Relations in the Modern and Contemporary Era), Bucharest, Scientific Press, 1974; 304 pp.

Nicolae lorga — A Romanian Historian of the Ottoman Empire, Bucharest, The Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania ('Bibliotheca Historica Romaniae’ series), 1972; 191

Istoria lui Mihai Voda Viteazul Domnul Tarii Române?ti (The History of the Voievod Michael the Brave, the Domn [= Ruler] of Walachia) was reissued, with minor changes, in Bucharest, Facia Press, 1976; 567 pp.

Mouvements nationaux et sociaux roumains au XIXe siècle, Bucharest, The Academy of the Socialist Republic of omania ('Bibliotheca Historica Romaniae’ series), 1971; 335 pp.

Paleografia ?i diplomatica turco‐osmana.‐ studiu ?i album (Ottoman‐ Turkish Paleography and Diplomacy: A Study and an Album), The Academy of the Romanian People's Republic, 1958, 359 pp.

Catalogul documentelor turce?ti (The Catalogue of Turkish Documents), vol. I, Bucharest, The General Directorate of the State Archives of the Romanian People's Republic, 1960; 683 pp.+ 40 pp.

Documente turcesti privind istoria Romdniei, vol. I: 1455—1774 (Turkish Documents Regarding the History of Romania, vol. I: 1455–1774).

Istoria Turcilor (The History of the Turks), Bucharest, Scientific and Encyclopaedic Press, 1976; 448 pp.     

Tracing the movement of the blood vengeance theme within Arabic poetry: from the classical poetic tradition to the present

ABSTRACT

Blood vengeance is a popular literary theme in classical Arabic poetry, particularly in elegies which lament a fallen hero and in the poetic cycles of folkloric epics. The poetic model for blood vengeance was established at least 1500 years ago, and persists to the present day. In this article, I focus upon the role that language plays in such rituals and, specifically, how the poetic speech act shapes memory and conditions behaviour. More recently, modern jihadist movements provide a political backdrop for newer poems, from across the Arab world, which contain the old blood vengeance message. My research traces the migration of this code through examination of a cross-section of Arabic poetry. Poetry belongs to a ritual complex, whereby a hymn of incitement provides an imperative for a bloody act. Moreover, rituals are legitimized by ancient myth, which not only ennobles blood lust, but is perpetuated by their repetition or reinterpreted over time.     

Fifteen guns

Food Planning for Four Hundred Millions. By Radhakamal Mukerjee, Ph.D. 8 3/4” x 5 3/4”. Pp. xx+268. London: Macmillan. 1938. 7s. 6d.

The Wheel of Health. By G. T. Wrench, M.D. (Lond.). London: The C. W. Daniel Company, Ltd. No date. Pp. 146. Frontispiece. Price 6s.

The Mediterranean in Politics. By Elizabeth Monroe. 9"x6”. Pp. ix+ 259. Oxford University Press. 1938. 10s.

Foreign Affairs, 1919 to 1937. By E. L. Hasluck. Cambridge University Press. 8s. 6d. net.

Kamal Atatuf k's Land. The Evolution of Modern Turkey. By August Ritter von Krai. Translated by Kenneth Benton, published by Wilhelm Braunmuller, Universitats‐Verlagsbuchhandlung, Wien‐Leipzig. 1938.

Anglo‐Russian Relations Concerning Afghanistan 1837–1907. By William Habberton. Illinois Studies in die Social Sciences. Vol. XXI. No. 4. Published by the University of Illinois at Urbana, 1937. Paper covers. Price $1.50. Pp. 102. Two maps.

Q.V.O. Corps of Guides. The History of the Guides, 1846–1922. Gale and Polden.

The Greeks in Bactria and India. By W. W. Tarn, Litt.D. 9 1/2” x 6 1/2”. Pp. xxiv+540. Plate and three maps. Cambridge University Press. 1938. 30s.

The Valley of Flowers. (The Bhyundar Valley, Kamet Massif.) By Frank S. Smythe. 9” x 6”. Pp. xiv + 322. Sixteen coloured photographs. Two maps. Hodder and Stoughton. 18s.

Black River of Tibet. By John Hanbury‐Tracy. 8 3/4” x 5 3/4”. Pp. xiv + 305. 1938. Frederick Muller, Ltd. 12s. 6d. net.

Studien zur arabischen Musik auf Grund gegen wärtigen Theorie und Praxis in Ägypten von Alfred Berner. Schriftenreihe des Staatlichen Instituts fur Deutsche Musikforschung, II. 10” x 7”. Pp. 71 letterpress, 46 music, 3 addenda. Leipzig: Kister u. Siegel. RM. 4.

The Spoken Arabic of Iraq. By John Van Ess. Second edition. 7 1/4” x 4 1/4”. Pp. 280. Oxford University Press. 1938.

Other Ranks of Kut. By P. W. Long, M.M., Flight‐Sergeant, R.A.F.

L'Evolution Politique de 1'Iran. By M. Nakhai. Preface by M. H. Gregoire. 8 1/2” x 6 1/2”. Pp. xiv+158. Edition J. Felix. Brussels. 1938.

Silvestre de Sacy: ses Contemporains et ses Disciples. By Henri Deherain. Paul Geuthner. Paris. 150 francs.

Les Tribus Montagnardes de L'Asie Antérieure. Quelques aspects sociaux des populations Kurdes et Assyriennes. Par P. Rondot. Bulletin d'Etudes Orientates. Annee, 1936.

Week‐end Caravan. Compiled and edited by S. Hillelson. 61” x 51”. Pp. 352. Illustrated. Edinburgh: William Hodge. 7s. 6d. net.

The Message of the Gita, as Interpreted by Sri Aurobindo. Edited by Anilbaran Roy. 9 1/2” x 6 1/2”. Pp. xiv+281. Allen and Unwin. Agents in India: Allied Publishers and Stationery Manufacturers, Ltd. 1938. 7s. 6d. or Rs. 5 net.

Himalayas of the Soul: Translations from the Sanskrit of the principal Upanishads. By J. Mascaro, M.A. Cantab., Reader of English, University of Barcelona. Preface by Sir S. Radhakrishnan. Foreword by E. J. Thomas, M.A., Litt.D. Wisdom of the East Series. 6 1/2” x 5”. Pp. 93. John Murray. 1938. 3s. 6d. net.

The Psalm of Peace. An English translation of Guru Arjun's "Sukh‐mani.” By Teja Singh, M.A. With a Foreword by Nicholas Roérich. 7 1/2 x 5”. Pp. xviii + 122. Oxford University Press. 3s.

A History of Chinese Philosophy. The Period of the Philosophers. By Fung Yu‐lan, Ph.D. Translated by Derk Bodde, with Introduction, Notes, Bibliography and Index. Peiping: Henri Vetch. London: George Allen and Unwin. 1937. £15s.

Comptes‐rendus de Onze Années (1923–1933) de Séjour et d'Ex‐ploration dans le Bassin du Fleuve Jaune, du Pai Ho et des autres Tributaires du Golfe du Pei Tcheuly. Par Emile Licent, S.J. Tome III. (1930–1933) and Tables. Tientsin, China: Mission de Sienhsien. Agent de Vente, Henri Vetch, French Bookstore, Peking. 1936.

Affairs of China. By Sir Eric Teichman. Methuen and Co., Ltd. 12s. 6d.

Japan the Hungry Guest. By G. C. Allen. Allen and Unwin. 10s. 6d.

Japan's Gamble in China. By Freda Utlcy. Seeker and Warburg. 6s.

Sunburst. By Lorol Schofflocher. 8 3/4” x 5 1/2”. Pp. 320. Nineteen illustrations. London: Rider and Co. 1937.

Mi Fu on Ink‐Stones. A Study of the Yen‐shih. With Introduction and Notes by R. H. Van Gulik. Pp. xii+72. Illustrations and map of stone sites. Peking: Henri Vetch. 13s. 6d.

Buried Bethlehem. By D. R. Chalmers‐Hunt. 9 1/2” x 6 1/4”. Pp. vi + 46./ Historical Research Publishing Co. 1938. 5s.

The Antiquities of South Arabia. Being a translation from the Arabic, with Linguistic, Geographic and Historic Notes of the Eighth Book of Al‐Hamdani's Al‐Iklil. By Nabih Amin Faris. Pp. 119. One map. Princeton University Press, Princeton. Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press. 1938. English price us. 6d.

Ostturkistan Zwischen den Grossmächten. Ein Beitrag zur Wirtschafts‐kunde Ostturkistans. By Dr. Fuad Kazak. From Osteuropaische Forschun‐gen, Vol. XXIII. Pp. 160. Prussia: Osteuropa‐Verlag, Königsberg. 1937. M. 7.50.

The Russian Workers’ Own Story. By Boris Silver. 7 1/2 x 5 1/4” . Pp.iv + 251. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. 1938. 7s. 6d.

Women in the Soviet East. By Fannina W. Halle. Translated from the German by Margaret M. Green. Pp. 351; bibliography and index. Seventy‐seven plates in half‐tone and sketch‐map. 8vo. Martin Seeker and Warburg, Ltd. 1938.

Assignment in Utopia. By Eugene Lyons. 1937.     

Celal Nuri's concepts of Westernization and religion

The Great Church in Captivity: A Study of the Patriarchate of Constantinople from the Eve of the Turkish Conquest to the Greek War of Independence. By Steven Runciman. Pp. x, 455. London: Cambridge University Press, £3.

L'Islam dans le Miroir de l'Occident. By Jean‐Jacques Waardenburg. Third edition, revised; pp. xi, 381. The Hague: Mouton. 45 Guilders.

Idéologie et Renaissance Nationale: l'Egypte Moderne. By Anouar Abdel‐Malek. Paris: Editions Anthropos.

Egypt and Cromer: A Study in Anglo‐Egyptian Relations. By Afaf Lutfi al Sayyid. Pp. 256. London: John Murray. £2.25.

The Modern History of Egypt .By P. J. Vatikiotis. Pp. 528. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. £3.15.

Jewish Population Studies, 1961–1968. Edited by U. O. Schmelz and P. Glikson. Pp. 174. Jerusalem: Institute of Contemporary Jewry; London: Institute of Jewish Affairs, £1·05.

Cotton and the Egyptian Economy, 1820–1914: A Study in Trade and Development. By E. R. J. Owen. Pp. xxvi, 416, appendices, bibliography, glossary, index. London: Clarendon Press: Oxford University Press, £4.20.

David's Sling: The Arming of Israel. By Simon Peres. Pp. 320. London: Weiden‐feld &; Nicolson, £3.

Asian and African Studies. Vol. 3. Edited by Gabriel Baer. Pp. 166. The Israel Oriental Society.     

Learned journals and scholarly reviewing: a correspondence

The Face of Defeat: Palestinian Refugees and Guerillas by David Pryce‐Jones. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1972. Pp. 179, 2 maps; £2.95.

Arab Socialism by Abdel Moghny Said, with a section by Samir Ahmed, Blandford Press, London, 1972, 137 pp., index.

The Making of an Arab Nationalist, Ottomanism and Arabism in the Life and thought of Sati'al‐Husri, by William I. Cleveland, Princeton University Press: London: Oxford University Press 1971, pp. xvi, 211, bibl., index, £4.00.

Bright Levant by Laurence Grafftey‐Smith. Pp. xll + 295 illustrations, index. John Murray. £3.00.

Foreign Service Farewell: My Years in the Near East by J. Rives Childs. Pp. 192, illustrations, index. The University Press of Virginia. $6.00.

Hankey Man of Secrets Volume II 1919‐1931 by Stephen Roskill. Pp. 608, illustrations, index. Collins. £5.00.     

Seyyid Bey and the Abolition of the Caliphate

The Gentile Zionists: A Study in Anglo‐Zionist Diplomacy, 1929–1939 by N. A. Rose. London, Frank Cass. Pp 242, £3.75

The Egyptian Economy, 1952–1972 by Robert Mabro, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1974, pp. xii + 254, Bibliography, index, £1.50.

From Encroachment to Involvement: A Documentary Study of Soviet Policy in the Middle East, 1945 – 1973 by Yaacov Ro'i. John Wiley and Sons New York, Toronto. Israel Universities Press, Jerusalem. 1974. Pp. xxxix + 616

Oil and World Power by Peter Odell. Harmondsworth, Penguin, Pp. 233, 95p.

The Western European Energy Economy: Challenges and Opportunities (Stamp Memorial Lecture) by Peter Odell. London, Athlone Press, Pp. 40, 90p.

The Mahdist State of the Sudan, 1881–1898, by P.M. Holt, Second Edition. Pp. xvi + 295. Maps. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970. £2.75.

Iraq and Syria 1941 by Geoffrey Warner. London: Davis‐Poynter, 1974; Pp. 180, map, bibliography, index; £3.50     

Landmine clearance and land resettlement in Cambodia: Agents of rural development

Max Boot, War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today. New York: Gotham Books, 2006. Paperback, ISBN: 9781592403158, 640 pages.

Ramachandra Guha, India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy. UK, US: Macmillan, 2007. Hardcover, ISBN: 9780230016545, 871 pages.

Tim Jeal, Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer. London: Faber and Faber, 2007. Hardcover, ISBN: 0571221025, 496 pages.

Alex Thomson, An Introduction to African Politics (second edition). London: Routledge, 2004. Paperback, ISBN: 9780415282611, 284 pages.

Lorna Lloyd, Diplomacy with a Difference: The Commonwealth Office of High Commissioner, 1880–2006. Leiden and Boston: Marinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007. Hardcover, ISBN: 9789004154971, 353 pages.

Ali A Allawi, The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. Hardcover, ISBN: 9780300136142, 518 pages.

Paul Bremer with Malcolm McConnell, My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope. New York: Threshold Editions, 2006. Hardcover, ISBN: 9781416540588, 419 pages.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone. Toronto: Alfred A Knopf, 2006. Hardcover, ISBN: 9781400044870, 320 page's.

Larry Diamond, Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq. New York: Owl Books, 2006. Hardcover, ISBN: 0805080082, 384 pages.

George Packer, The Assassin's Gate: America in Iraq. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. Hardcover, ISBN: 0374299633, 481 pages.     

Imagining modernity: the language and genealogy of modernity in nineteenth-century Arabic

This article employs the methodology of conceptual history to contest two of the most common theoretical approaches dominating our understanding of modernity in the field of Middle Eastern studies. The first approach relies on the assumption of incompatibility between modernity and Islam and captures Arab modernity using concepts such as ‘adoption’. The second understands Arab modernity through concepts such as ‘imitation’, contending that it is a legacy of Western imperialism. This article challenges both theories by examining the genealogy of tamaddun (civilization, being civilized), a pivotal concept used in nineteenth-century Arabic to imagine modernity. The genealogy of tamaddun elucidates that medieval paradigms derived from the concept of madina (polity) were rediscovered, reimagined, and reused in the context of the rise of the nation-state and the challenge of Western imperialism. The article suggests understanding Arab modernity and its critique from within, rather than outside of, the temporality of the historical condition.