Arab Rediscovery of Europe

Ibrahim Abu-Lughod (1929-2001) was an American-Palestinian academic, writer and editor. He taught at Smith College, Massachusetts, McGill University, Montreal, and then spent 34 years at Northwestern University, Illinois, where he founded the Institute of African Studies. He founded the Association of Arab-American University Graduates in 1968 and the journal Arab Studies Quarterly in 1978, and held two UNESCO posts. He later became a professor and vice-president of Bir Zeit University in the West Bank. Introduction by Rashid Khalidi: Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University. He is the director of the Middle East Institute of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. His publications include The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood (2007).

'Palestine's foremost academic and intellectual' Edward Said, Guardian 'One of the first Arab-American scholars to have a really serious effect on the way the Middle East is portrayed in political science and in America.' Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University 'A significant contribution to the study of Arab adjustment to the modern age. Abu-Lughod has combined insight and careful interpretation with thorough scholarship.' C. F. Dawn, University of Illinois

• Preface v Introduction: The Setting of Westernization 3 I Arab Awareness of the West: Modern Beginnings 11 The Napoleonic Proclamations * The Arab Chroniclers of the French Expedition II The Development of the Translation Movement 28 Unorganized Official Interpreting * Random Translation * Organized Period of Official Translation * The Decline of Official Translation * The Revival of the Translation Movement III The Nature of the Translated Material 46 Translations Undertaken * List of Translations * Content of the Translations * Other Translators of the Nineteenth Century * A Digression on Ninth and Nineteenth-Century Translation * Justifications for the Translations * Impact of Translations on Arab Intellectual Development IV Arab Travellers to Europe 66 Pre-Nineteenth-Century Travellers * Nineteenth- Century Travellers * Travel Accounts * The Subject Matter of Travel Books * Impact of the Travels V Travellers' Views of Europe: Political and Social Organization 86 The Political Organization of the State * Private Organizations VI Travellers' Views of Europe: The Educational 115 System and the Social Order Education and Learning * Miscellaneous Sociological Observations VII Arab Attitudes and Reactions to Western 135 Achievements Statements of Individual Writers * Reactions to th Invidious Comparisons VIII Conclusions and Subsequent Developments 155 Bibliography 169 Index 181