Arabic Thought Against the Authoritarian Age : Towards an Intellectual History of the Present

In the wake of the Arab uprisings, the Middle East descended into a frenzy of political turmoil and unprecedented human tragedy which reinforced regrettable stereotypes about the moribund state of Arab intellectual and cultural life. This volume sheds important light on diverse facets of the post-war Arab world and its vibrant intellectual, literary and political history. Cutting-edge research is presented on such wide-ranging topics as poetry, intellectual history, political philosophy, and religious reform and cultural resilience all across the length and breadth of the Arab world, from Morocco to the Gulf States. This is an important statement of new directions in Middle East studies that challenges conventional thinking and has added relevance to the study of global intellectual history more broadly. Introduction: Towards A Postwar Intellectual History Of The Arab World / Max Weiss And Jens Hanssen -- Changing The Arab Intellectual Guard: On The Fall Of The Udaba,1940 -1960 / Yoav Di Capua, University Of Texas, Austin -- Arabic Thought In The Radical Age: Emile Habibi, The Israeli Communist Party And The Production Of Arab Jewish Radicalism, 1946-1961 / Orit Bashkin, University Of Chicago -- Political Praxis In The Gulf: Ahmad Al-khatib And The Movement Of Arab Nationalists, 1948-1969 -- Abdel Razzaq Takriti, University Of Houston -- Modernism In Translation: Poetry And Intellectual History In Beirut -- Robyn Creswell, Yale University -- Regional Specificities Of Modern Arab Thought: Morocco Since The Liberal Age / Hosam Aboul-ela, University Of Houston -- Sidelining Ideology: Arab Theory In The Metropole And Periphery, Circa 1977 / Fadi Bardawil, University Of Chicago --^ Mosaic, Melting Pot, Pressure Cooker: The Religious, The Secular, And The Sectarian In Twentieth-century Syrian Social Thought / Max Weiss, Princeton University -- Looking For The Women Question In Algeria And Tunisia: Ideas, Political Language And Female Actors Before And After Independence / Natalya Vince, University Of Portsmouth -- Egyptian Workers In The Liberal Age And Beyond -- Joel Beinin, Stanford University -- The Redemption Of Women's Liberation: Reviving Qasim Amin In Contemporary Egypt -- Ellen Mclarney, Duke University -- Turath As Critique: Hassan Hanafi And The Political Subject In Modern Arabic Thought / Yasmeen Daifallah, University Of Massachusetts, Amherst -- Summoning The Spirit Of Taha Husayn's Enlightenment Project: The Nahda Revival Of Qadaya Wa-shahadat In The 1990s / Suzanne Kassab, University Of Bonn -- Revolution As Ready-made: Art, Aesthetics, Arab Uprisings / Negar Azimi, Bidoun Magazine --^ For A Third Nahda / Elias Khoury (translated By Max Weiss, With Jens Hanssen) -- Where Are The Intellectuals In The Syrian Revolution? / Rosa Yasin Hasan (translated By Max Weiss) -- The Intellectuals And The Revolution In Syria -- Yasin Al-hajj Salih (translated By Max Weiss). Edited By Jens Hanssen, University Of Toronto ; Max Weiss, Princeton University. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 380-427) And Index. The Middle East is often depicted as a landscape of war, authoritarianism, and social unrest. This book, full of cutting-edge scholarship, illuminates underappreciated aspects of the intellectual and cultural history of the post-war Arab world and explores the contributions of Arab writers, poets, and intellectuals to politics, culture and social change.