Vol. 2 No. 003 (2016): Issue 003

غلاف العدد 3 من دورية أسطور

Issue 3 of Ostour for Historical Studies (2016) includes the following studies and articles: “Lecture” (Hichem Djait); “Observations on the Climate of the Ancient Maghreb” (Samir Ait Oumghar); “The Constitution of Medina: The History of the Reception of a Text” (Amr Osman); “Units of Measurement in Islamic Societies: The Finger, the Fist, and Large and Small Spans” (Mohammed Amrani Zerrifi); “Urban Space Management in Cordoba” (Youssef Ngadi); “Wheat and Mohammad Ali Pasha's Independence Project during the Continental Blockade Crisis (1807-1815)” (Nasser Ahmed Ibrahim); “Subaltern Studies and Postcolonial Historiography” (Dipesh Chakrabarty); “The Uses of Biography” (Giovanni Levi); “Ottoman Census of Damascus in the Year 1086 Hijri (1675-1676)” (Mustafa Öztürk, Suheil Saban); “Periodization in Arab Islamic History” (Ostour Editorial Commitee); “Masarat: Arab Scholars and their Contributions to the Writing of History A Conversation with Egyptian Historian Mahmoud Isma” (Ostour Editorial Commitee); “The Justice Discourse in Sultanic Literature by Ibrahim Al-Qadri Boutshish (Book Review)” (Chamseddin Alkilani); “Prison and Prisoners: Examples from the Middle Ages in the Maghreb by Mustafa Nashat (Book Review)” (Yehya Boulehya); “When a Nation Awakens by Sadek Hadjeres (Book Review)” (Noureddine Teniou); “The Birth Pangs of Ottoman Rule in Arab Lands at the End of the Reign of Sulieman the Magnificent” (Abderrahim Benhadda).

Published: 2016-01-01

Studies

  • Lecture

    Author: Hichem Djait
    40-50

    This text is the summary of a lecture titled "The History of Islamic Civilization: Orientalism versus the View from Within", delivered by noted Arab historian Hichem Djaiet on the sidelines of...

  • Observations on the Climate of the Ancient Maghreb

    Author: Samir Ait Oumghar
    52-66

    Research on climatic history has gained increased attention lately, and fits into an overall trend which sees "microhistory" and social history replace an older, Rankian-empirical school which...

  • The Constitution of Medina: The History of the Reception of a Text

    Author: Amr Osman
    67-93

    This study concerns the history of a document (Sahifat al-Madinah) that was often cited in Islamic works during the early and middle periods. Modern and contemporary writers, Muslims and...

  • Units of Measurement in Islamic Societies: The Finger, the Fist, and Large and Small Spans

    Author: Mohammed Amrani Zerrifi
    95-115

    An understanding of the measurement units used in Islamic societies in the medieval era would provide an insight to the distances travelled in the middle ages and the volume of trade in their...

  • Urban Space Management in Cordoba

    Author: Youssef Ngadi
    116-129

    Islamic theological works have not traditionally been reliable resources for research on the architecture and urban development of Andalusian cities. In this paper, a number of these books have...

  • Wheat and Mohammad Ali Pasha's Independence Project during the Continental Blockade Crisis (1807-1815)

    Author: Nasser Ahmed Ibrahim
    130-154

    Napoleonic France established a continental blockade on the British economy at the end of 1806, before expanding that blockade to maritime lanes the following year, whence ships were prevented...

Documents and Texts

  • Ottoman Census of Damascus in the Year 1086 Hijri (1675-1676)

    Author: Mustafa Öztürk
    191-219

    This document presents a translation of “Records of a Syrian Household”, with a Foreword by Mustafa Öztürk and which appeared in Turkish in 2004. “Records of a Syrian Household” investigates an...

Translations

  • Subaltern Studies and Postcolonial Historiography

    Author: Dipesh Chakrabarty
    7-23

    The author focuses on Subaltern Studies, and pays particular attention to Neo-Marxist Ranajit Guha, widely credited wish establishing this field. The author further argues that subaltern studies...

  • The Uses of Biography

    Author: Giovanni Levi
    25-38

    Biography shares a number of the same pressing, essential methodological questions which are raised in contemporary historiography. These questions concern its relations with social sciences,...

Book Reviews

  • The Justice Discourse in Sultanic Literature by Ibrahim Al-Qadri Boutshish (Book Review)

    Author: Chamseddin Alkilani
    157-165

    The author explores the concept of justice in the "literature of sultanic ethics" (adaab sultania), writings which reflect the political views of the political structures that governed Muslim...

  • Prison and Prisoners: Examples from the Middle Ages in the Maghreb by Mustafa Nashat (Book Review)

    Author: Yehya Boulehya
    166-175

    This is a critique of Prison and Prisoners: Examples from the Middle Ages in the Maghreb by Mustafa Nashat. It introduces the book, discusses its major areas of focus, and presents its academic...

  • When a Nation Awakens by Sadek Hadjeres (Book Review)

    Author: Noureddine Teniou
    176-180

    The memoirs of Sadek Hadjeres have long been awaited, not only for what they reveal about his life and the history of Algeria, but also for the ability of the author, one of the authors of the...

  • The Birth Pangs of Ottoman Rule in Arab Lands at the End of the Reign of Sulieman the Magnificent

    Author: Abderrahim Benhadda
    182-187

    This review aims to provide an overview of a series of documents which were released as part of a publications series by the Istanbul Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture,...

Ostour Symposium

  • Periodization in Arab Islamic History

    Author: Ostour Editorial Commitee
    221-292

    Periodization is central to the social sciences and humanities, where it is often the cite of multidisciplinary debate. Interest in the question of periodization among Western academics predates...

Trajectories

  • Masarat: Arab Scholars and their Contributions to the Writing of History A Conversation with Egyptian Historian Mahmoud Isma

    Author: Ostour Editorial Commitee
    295-301

    Masarat introduces Arab scholars who have made distinguished contributions through their historical writings, and reveals their relationships with their subjects as well as the material,...