Arab Marxism and National Liberation Selected Writings of Mahdi Amel (Historical Materialism Book)

Mahdi Amel (1936–87) was a prominent Arab Marxist thinker and Lebanese Communist Party member. For the first time in English, this collection makes available lengthy excerpts from six major works by Mahdi Amel. These include the two founding texts on colonialism and underdevelopment in which Amel began to grapple with the question of dependency, his treatise on sectarianism and the state, his critique of Edward Said’s analysis of Marx, his exposure of emerging Islamised bourgeois trends of thought as part of a broader critique of everyday thought, and his reflection on cultural heritage as perceived by Arab bourgeoisie. Amel’s writings serve as a reminder of the need to renew Marxist thought based on concrete and particular social realities, like colonialism. Le site de l'éditeur indique : "Mahdi Amel (1936-87) was a prominent Arab Marxist thinker and Lebanese Communist Party member. This collection brings for the first time to an English audience lengthy excerpts from six major works by Mahdi Amel. These include the two founding texts on colonialism and underdevelopment in which Amel began to grapple with the question of dependency, his treatise on sectarianism and the state, his critique of Edward Said's analysis of Marx, his exposure of emerging Islamised bourgeois trends of thought as part of a broader critique of everyday thought, and his reflection on cultural heritage as perceived by Arab bourgeoisie. Amel's writings serve as a reminder of the need to renew Marxist thought based on the concrete and particular social realities like colonialism." "Mahdi Amel (1936-87) was a prominent Arab Marxist thinker and Lebanese Communist Party member. This collection brings for the first time to an English audience lengthy excerpts from six major works by Amel. These include the two founding texts on colonialism and underdevelopment in which Amel began to grapple with the question of dependency, his treatise on sectarianism and the state, his critique of Edward Said's analysis of Marx, his exposure of emerging Islamised bourgeois trends of thought as part of a broader critique of everyday thought, and his reflection on cultural heritage as perceived by Arab bourgeoisie. Amel's writings serve as a reminder of the need to renew Marxist thought based on the concrete and particular social realities of today"-- Provided by publisher Dedication 6 Contents 8 Foreword • Gilbert Achcar 10 Acknowledgements 13 Note on Translation 15 Part 1: Remembering Amel 18 1 Introduction: The Anti-colonial Intellectual • Hicham Safieddine 20 2 Biographical Note: The Martyr Intellectual • Hicham Safieddine 27 Part 2: Selected Writings 30 3 Colonialism and Underdevelopment I: An Attempt to Understand the Colonial Relation 32 4 Colonialism and Underdevelopment II: On the Colonial Mode of Production 65 5 On the Sectarian State 101 6 Marx in the Orientalism of Edward Said 116 7 The Islamised Bourgeois Trend 128 8 The Problem of Cultural Heritage 137 List of Amel’s Published Books 144 Bibliography 146 Index 148