A Khaldunian Perspective on the Dynamics of Asiatic Societies

Alatas, Syed Farid

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2650607

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…For these exceptions, see Lacoste (1966Lacoste ( , 1984, Gellner (1981: Ch. 1), Djeghloul (1983, Michaud (1981), Carre (1988) and Alatas (1990Alatas ( , 1993 as well as others referred to later in this article. 7.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 80%

The Historical Sociology of Muslim Societies

Alatas

2007

International Sociology

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This article argues that the theoretical perspective on the rise and decline of states developed by 'Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldiin (723-808 AH/1332-1406 AD) should not be confined to historical interest but is of relevance for the study of various aspects of the history of Muslim societies. The reasons for the relative neglect or marginalization of Ibn Khaldun as a source of theory to be applied to definite historical empirical situations is partly due to the predominance of Eurocentrism in the social sciences. The manner in which Eurocentrism has defined Khaldunian studies is discussed, but the main focus of this article is the possibilities of a Khaldunian historical sociology of Muslim societies that is founded on a non-Eurocentric approach to his work. The article specifies what is meant by non-Eurocentric readings and applications of Ibn Khaldun's theory. Several illustrations of these applications are provided. The serious consideration of Ibn Khaldun's status as a founder or precursor of sociology would require such theoretical applications. Ibn Khaldun's work should no longer be regarded as a mere source of historical data or an outdated perspective.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 80%

The Historical Sociology of Muslim Societies

Alatas

2007

International Sociology

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“…Alatas' interest in applying the Khaldunian framework to empirical cases starts early on in his academic career when he examined the Ottoman and Safavid societies from a Khaldunian perspective (see Alatas and respectively; see below for a brief review). Since then he has published several articles on the pre‐modern (particularly Ottoman) and modern (particularly Western) receptions of Ibn Khaldun by different scholarly traditions as well as on how to apply the Khaldunian framework to the history of Muslim societies (e.g.…”

Section: Alatas' Work On Ibn Khaldunmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In examining the Safavid case, the author covers both its rise and fall from a Khaldunian perspective focusing on ‘ asabiyya , religious fervor and military superiority as the central factors, which are again complemented by a combination of petty commodity, pastoral‐nomadic, Asiatic and prebendal‐feudal modes of production (pp. 112–129; this chapter was adapted from the Alatas, article).…”

Section: Alatas' Work On Ibn Khaldunmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The problem essentially stems from the fact that many of the book's chapters had previously been published as independent articles during the 1990s and 2000s. (In addition to the two articles cited above [Alatas and ] as the main sources for Chapters 6 and 7, two other previously published articles [Alatas and ] were also incorporated into the book (Introduction, Chapters 3 and 4). Thus, the chapters could have been better integrated with each other and with the general argument of the book.…”

Section: Alatas' Work On Ibn Khaldunmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Khaldunian studies today: The contributions of Syed Farid Alatas

Ardıç

2017

J Historical Sociology

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The growing interest in the 14 th -century Muslim scholar IbnKhaldun's ideas and his essentially historical-sociological perspective implies a promise of a critical appraisal of the Eurocentric nature of the classical and contemporary social theory. An important role is played in this endeavor by Syed Farid Alatas whose work has been important not only in terms of further introducing Ibn Khaldun's theory to the Western audience but also making it more relevant to the contemporary theoretical debates and historical sociology.This article reviews Alatas' work on Ibn Khaldun with a view to demonstrate that his contributions to the Khaldunian studies today take at least five different forms: a critical examination of Ibn Khaldun's theory in general, and reconstruction of it as a theory of the state, and of religious revival in particular; demonstrating its significance for the modern social sciences; its application to a number of premodern and modern empirical cases; and a theoretical integration of his model with some modern Western theories, which is a rare occurrence in both Khaldunian studies and sociology in general. | INTRODUCTIONThe scholarly literature on the 14 th -century Arab-Muslim thinker 'Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun (732-808 AH/1332-1406 CE) entails different attitudes toward his work, presenting him from different angles using a diverse set of adjectives. For some he is a typical Aristotelian philosopher with no original contribution to philosophy or the study of history (e.g. Mahdi, 1957) or a typical historian of his own time offering no insights for today (Al-Azmeh, 1982;Gibb, 1933) -while others see him as an unusually "modern" or "secular" thinker that (surprisingly) emerged from the premodern Islamic world, finding his Muqaddima (Prolegomenon) fascinating (e.g. Nicholson, 1966;Ortega y Gasset, 1934). Still others claim he is an original philosopher and even the pioneer of the modern social science, and sociology in particular (e.g. Baali, 1988;Ben Salem, 1996;Bouthoul, 1930;Cheddadi, 2006;Conyers, 1972;Dhaouadi, 1990;Şentürk, 2016;Simon, 1959;Wafi, 1962 Spengler, 1963-64, Talbi, 1967, Baali, 1992, Cheddadi, 2006, Tomar, 2006 economy, methodology, etc. (e.g. 'Izzat, 1952;Baali & Price, 1982;Gellner, 1975;Goodman, 1972;Laroui, 1987). Still others focus on Ibn Khaldun's methodological perspective, often trying to re-articulate it in a manner that is compatible with modern debates or in a comparative fashion with a Western figure (e.g. Ahmad, 2003;Al-Marzouki, 2006;Ardıç, 2008;Dale, 2006;Hourani, 1982;Mahdi, 1957;Meuleman, 1991;Oumlil, 1982). Analyses and critical evaluations of Ibn Khaldun's concepts and view of society and the state also constitute a significant portion of the existing literature on the Khaldunian thought (e.g. Cheddadi, 1980;Hannoum, 2003;Hussein, 1917;Lacoste, 1984;Rabiʿ, 1967;Rosenthal, 1979;Stowasser, 1983;Von Sivers, 1980;Walzer, 1963). Very few, however, attempt at an application of his theoretical ideas and/or concepts to historical or contemporary empirical cases...

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“…For example, both the creative application of Marx's theory of the Asiatic mode of production (Wiegersma, 1982) and a Khaldunian theory of social change (Alatas, 1993b) to the study of Asian history should be seen as part of endogenous intellectual creativity as the "endogenous" here is "understood as referring to the effort at intellectual creativity rather than to the constituent elements of the accomplished result" or the material used (Alatas, 1981:462). The selective assimilation of exogenous elements should be considered as a part of endogenous activity as both the exogenous and the endogenous are required in the effort to address the problem of irrelevancy.…”

Section: The Decolonization Of the Social Sciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Theme of “Relevance” in Third World Human Sciences

Alatas

1995

Singap J Trop Geogr

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The fact that the humanities and social sciences in developing societies generally originated in the West has raised the issue of the relevance of these arts and sciences to the needs and problems of Third World societies. This questioning of relevance has led, in turn, to the call for the indigenisation of knowledge in developing societies. While there has been a great deal of discussion on indigenisation, there has been little practice of indigenised humanities and social science. As a result, there are few examples of what indigenous knowledge constitutes from theoretical, methodological and empirical points of view. This paper is directed towards arriving at some conception of what indigenised knowledge is, the various forms that it takes, and its rationale.

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A Khaldunian Perspective on the Dynamics of Asiatic Societies

Cited by 6 publications

References 40 publications

The Historical Sociology of Muslim Societies

The Historical Sociology of Muslim Societies

Khaldunian studies today: The contributions of Syed Farid Alatas

The Theme of “Relevance” in Third World Human Sciences

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