Palestine Across Millennia A History of Literacy, Learning and Educational Revolutions
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Professor Nur Masalha is a Palestinian writer, historian and academic. He is a member of the Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS, University of London, UK, and editor of Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies. His books include Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History (2018), An Oral History of the Palestinian Nakba (with Nahla Abdo, 2018), The Palestine Nakba (2012) and The Bible and Zionism (2007).âTaking us through a tour du force of 4000 years of Palestine he reveals to the reader a rich and multi-layered history of literacy, learning and education embedded in a fabric of culturally and religiously diverse society. Nurâs exploration of this rich history reveals to us the wealth and complexity of the culture of Palestine and reclaims its history as an al-Andalusian model of cultural and religious Convivencia.â
Yosefa Loshitzky, SOAS, University of London, UK
"This is a truly magnificent and revealing work. It will hopefully destroy once and for all the inane myths about literacies and education intended to belittle Palestinian millennial achievements in these fields. In reminding us of these achievements, debunking suspect 'regimes of truth' and unearthing subjugated (deliberately?) knowledge, the book is an exercise in cognitive justice on behalf of an oppressed people...genealogically sound and convincing."
Peter Mayo, University of Malta, Malta
<p>'In this ground-breaking study, Nur Masalha brilliantly traces the pedagogical and intellectual beginnings, evolution and multifaceted histories of Palestinian learning, literacy and education. Masalhaâs exciting book deepens and broadens our understanding of oral representation, textuality and written literacy in modern and ancient Palestine. Drawing on a rigorous intellectual and historical framework, Masalha dismantles mainstream Zionist propaganda and its patronizing myths of cultural and educational superiority.'</p>
Tayseer Abu Odeh, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Jordan
In this magisterial cultural history of the Palestinians, Nur Masalha illuminates the entire history of Palestinian learning with specific reference to writing, education, literary production and the intellectual revolutions in the country. The book introduces this long cultural heritage to demonstrate that Palestine was not just a âholy landâ for the four monotheistic religions â Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Samaritanism â rather, the country evolved to become a major international site of classical education and knowledge production in multiple languages including Sumerian, Proto-Canaanite, Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew and Latin. The cultural saturation of the country is found then, not solely in landmark mosques, churches and synagogues, but in scholarship, historic schools, colleges, famous international libraries and archival centres.
This unique book unites these renowned institutions, movements and multiple historical periods for the first time, presenting them as part of a cumulative and incremental intellectual advancement rather than disconnected periods of educational excellence. In doing so, this multifaceted intellectual history transforms the orientations of scholarly research on Palestine and propels current historical knowledge on education and literacy in Palestine to new heights.
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter One: Literacy and Functionality: The Scribal Schools of Ancient Palestine
Chapter Two: Cities of Learning: The Intellectual Revolutions of Byzantine Palestine (3rd-early 7th Centuries)
Chapter Three: Greek and Syriac into Arabic and the Palestineâs Translation Movement under Islam: Monasteries of Learning, Mar Saba and Arabic belles lettres (8th -11th Centuries)
Chapter Four: Latin Learning and the Crusader Kingdoms of Palestine: The Library of Nazareth
Chapter Five: The Golden Age of the Islamic Law Colleges of Jerusalem:The Palestinian Madrasas under the Ayyubids and Mamluks (1187-1517)
Chapter Six: Legal Pluralism and the Social World of Palestine in the 17th Century: The Azhar College of Cairo and Palestinian Muslim Scholars
Chapter Seven: The âAzharâ of Palestine. The Ahmadiyya Seminary of Acre (1782-1948)
Chapter Eight: Modernity, the Printing Press and Mass Literacy: The Educational Revolution of Late Ottoman Palestine and the Mandatory Period (1860s-1948)
Chapter Nine: Humanism and Arab Nahda Education: Khalil Sakakini and Reforming Palestinian Education
Chapter Ten: Learning From Below:The Kuttab Schools in Palestine (Muslim, Jewish and Christian)
Chapter Eleven: Between Professionalism and Cultural Nationalism: Palestinian Education in Mandatory Palestine (1918-1948)
Epilogue: The Libraries, Archival Collections and Sharia Courtsâ Records of Modern Palestine
Bibliography