Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Calligraphic State: Textual Domination and History in a Muslim Society Volume 16

The Calligraphic State: Textual Domination and History in a Muslim Society Volume 16

Messick, Brinkley

Paperback

Series: Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies, Book 16

AnthropologyGeneral Middle Eastern History

ISBN10: 0520205154
ISBN13: 9780520205154
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: Jun 16 1996
Pages: 324
Weight: 1.09
Height: 0.85 Width: 6.05 Depth: 8.99
Language: English
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.

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