"In this innovative combination of anthropology, history, and postmodern theory, Brinkley Messick examines the changing relation of writing and authority in a Muslim society from the late nineteenth century to the present. The creation and interpretation of texts, from sacred scriptures to administrative and legal contracts, are among the fundamental ways that authority is established and maintained in a complex state. Yet few scholars have explored this process and the ways in which it changes, especially outside the Western world. -- Messick brings together intensive ethnography and textual analysis from a wealth of material: Islamic jurisprudence, Yemeni histories, local documents. In exploring the structure and transformation of literacy, law, and statecraft in Yemen, he raises important issues that are of comparative significance for understanding political life in other Muslim and nonwestern states as well."
Previews available in: English
Subjects
Places
Times
| Edition | Availability |
|---|---|
1
The calligraphic state: textual domination and history in a Muslim society
1993, University of California Press
in English
0520076052 9780520076051
|
aaaa
|
Book Details
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references (p. 317-331) and index.
A digital reproduction is available from E-Editions, a collaboration of the University of California Press and the California Digital Library's eScholarship program.
Classifications
The Physical Object
Edition Identifiers
Work Identifiers
Source records
- Scriblio MARC record
- Library of Congress MARC record
- OpenLibraries-Trent-MARCs record
- Internet Archive item record
- Better World Books record
- Library of Congress MARC record
- Internet Archive item record
- Promise Item
- marc_columbia MARC record
- marc_columbia MARC record
- Harvard University record
- Harvard University record
Community Reviews (0)
Lists
