Posts Tagged ‘Ibn Khaldun’

Ibn Khaldûn – Reception at the rim of contemporary German sociology.

Wednesday, June 21st, 2006

Coming back from Algiers, I just realized that I haven’t yet put the abstract for my presentation in Algiers online.

Germany’s colonial history is often neglected and the ties between Germany and the Maghreb, the former Ottoman Empire and the Arab world in general seem to have faded out of the academic disciplines that are not explicitly dealing with either the Islam, North Africa or the arab-speaking countries. References to classic non-western scholars are rarely found and if people talk or write about them their value
sometimes seems to be only anecdotal. This talk will focus on the places and persons who bring Ibn Khaldûn into German sociological discourse. The obstacles that have to be overcome while carrying Ibn Khaldûn into the realms of accepted academia are manifold: the ignorance of non-western academic traditions has already been mentioned, knowledge about the history of the Maghreb cannot be expected from German students, the two German translations of the Muqaddimah are incomplete and out of print (one of them has been published in 1992), the established canon of sociological works tends to start with Auguste Comte, and including an Arab scholar into a syllabus might be regarded as irritating or even suspect. However, there are also several factors that make Ibn Khaldûn a compelling subject for sociological study in Germany: general interest in the Arab world seems to be rising, the number of people with an Arab background or of Islamic confession who find their way into academia
is growing, and post-modernist theory may have strengthened the position of “alternative voices” in sociological discourse. How do protagonists of Ibn Khaldûn cope with these obstacles, what are their resources and why do actually take the step and include Ibn Khaldûn? Based on German texts on Ibn Khaldûn and interviews with
several sociologists, this talk will analyze the images and usages of Ibn Khaldun and trace the ways in which German sociologists appropriate Ibn Khaldûn.

Some more information may be necessary: Three days ago I presented a paper on the international conference called Figures d’Ibn Khaldûn – Appropriation, usages (Arguments). The conference was sponsored by the Algerian Ministry of Culture, and the opening speech was held by the Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika himself. I will post another entry soon – the conference was very interesting and it was my first stay in the Arab-speaking world!>

Seeds becoming sprouts.

Wednesday, December 7th, 2005

Slowly, slowly the tender cultivating of this website produces the first tendrils of plants that are to grow in size, develop leaves, blossoms, and with a bit of luck, further seeds. Two new sprouts have been observed this week.

Yesterday, Michael Guggenheim contacted me asking if I would like to organize a workshop in next year’s easst conference together with him. Of course I do! Today, we wrote the call for papers on the topic Technology, buildings and interaction. (This was the first time that I used SubEthaEdit for scientific writing and I must say that it worked out really well. We completed the call in just about two hours, both writing in one text document at the same time, connected over the internet. Most excellent.) I really want to thank Michael for his initiative and for contacting me about this.
While I was editing around in the call, a mail arrived in my inbox, which I first ignored because we wanted to get the call done as soon as possible. When I finally read the mail I was taken by – pleasant – surprise. The editorial board for the 2nd edition of the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (Macmillan) contacted me, asking if I would contribute an entry on Ibn Khaldun. That I will very gladly do. It is excellent to see that Ibn Khaldun‘s contributions to the social sciences will be acknowledged in the encyclopedia.

The gardener is happy, I have to say. Caring for this website will continue in the hope that further germs develop into plants. I am excited about what kind of sprout we see popping through the surface next.