Comparative Empire Studies: 'Categories of Exclusion and Inclusion In the Islamic Middle Ages'
Professor Nina Berman’s talk explores the dynamics between cultural textual archives (such as travel writings, folk tales and geographical and anthropological texts) and data about social, economic and political practices (such as marriage, conversion, war, trade and taxes).
She discusses mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion operative in textual representations from the medieval Islamic period and uses observations gained from this analysis to shed light on comparative cases of imperial discourses.
She argues that only careful contextualization and comparative inquiry facilitate an understanding of the political role played by literary and cultural discourses.
This event is co-sponsored by the ASU Council for Arabic and Islamic Studies and the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.