Writing Social Theory in Arabic: Alternatives or Entanglements?
Sociology & Anthropology Seminar Series
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Writing Social Theory in Arabic: Alternatives or Entanglements?
Since Edward Said published Orientalism in 1978, “Western” social theory and its claim to universal analytical validity has been exposed to severe criticism. Scholars from the field of postcolonial studies were most vocal in criticizing the Eurocentric nature of the conceptual apparatus of the social sciences. There is no doubt that contemporary social theory almost exclusively refers to the historical experiences of Western Europe and North America. Yet what is the alternative to these Eurocentric frameworks? This lecture tries to answer this question in looking closer at the writing of social theory in Arabic. In which ways do Arab social theorists provide us with alternatives to the conceptual apparatuses employed by so-called Western social theory? The lecture presents the results of a collective research endeavor to identifying the concepts, themes, and narratives in contemporary Arab social sciences.
By Professor Dietrich Jung
Middle East & Islamic Studies at University of Southern Denmark & an Adjunct Professor at the Department for Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen.
About the Speaker
Dietrich Jung is a Professor in Middle East and Islamic Studies at University of Southern Denmark and an Adjunct Professor at the Department for Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen. His main fields of research have been wars and conflicts in the Middle East, the political and cultural history of Turkey, and modern Muslim subjectivities. His most recent book publication is Islamic Modernities in World Society. The Rise, Spread, and Fragmentation of a Hegemonic Idea, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.