Description
Book SynopsisElizabeth Suzanne Kassab offers a groundbreaking analysis of Egyptian and Syrian debates over enlightenment and their import for the 2011 uprisings.
Enlightenment on the Eve of Revolution is the first book to document these debates for the Anglophone audience and to analyze their importance for contemporary intellectual life and politics.
Trade ReviewIn
Enlightenment on the Eve of Revolution, Elizabeth Suzanne Kassab does what we always needed but lacked in our understanding of the transnational uprisings the world has known as the 'Arab Spring.' She gives eloquent and precise voice to the revolutionary reasons behind the dramatic euphoria of those massive revolts. In doing so she does more than just being a responsible and deeply informed historian of ideas. She critically pushes those ideas toward the distant boundaries of their next epistemic breakthroughs. This is a work of profound intellectual integrity by a leading Arab thinker of her generation. -- Hamid Dabashi, author of
The Arab Spring: The End of PostcolonialityKassab uncovers a rich and varied debate taking place in Arabic starting in the 1990s and centered on notions of
tanwir (Enlightenment) that provides important context for understanding the Arab uprisings, particularly in Egypt and Syria, as well as for gauging their inherent possibilities, even as their full outcome yet remains unknown. -- Michaelle Browers, author of
Political Ideology in the Arab World: Accommodation and TransformationElizabeth Suzanne Kassab, a leading expert on contemporary Arab thought, invites us on an extraordinary journey into the inner intellectual life of a generation on the eve of revolution. Lucid, powerful, and essential. -- Yoav Di-Capua, author of
No Exit: Arab Existentialism, Jean-Paul Sartre, and DecolonizationEnlightenment on the Eve of Revolution is an indispensable addition to the literature about the Arab Spring. Tackling immensely important, previously unanswered questions regarding the modern Arab world, Elizabeth Suzanne Kassab gives intellectual and cultural context to new Arab movements. -- Orit Bashkin, author of
The Other Iraq: Pluralism and Culture in Hashemite IraqA valuable study of the intellectual history of contemporary Egypt and Syria, which documents for English-speaking readers the two decades before the Arab Spring. It is a must-read for scholars and students of history, Middle East studies, political science and cultural studies. * Arab Studies Quarterly *
Kassab's approach to the emergence of tanwir discourse is comparative and contextual. * The Middle East Journal *
An intellectually rich corpus of Arabic critiques of both Islamism and authoritarianism that are as philosophically adept as they are sociologically shrewd.
Enlightenment on the Eve of Revolution: The Egyptian and Syrian Debates is a philosopher’s testament to intellectual courage and a persuasive reminder of the universality of reason. * Los Angeles Review of Books *
Studying these intellectual debates is a fascinating way to move beyond the day-to-day challenges that both countries have faced over recent decades...[the book] captures the essence of some of its fundamental questions. * International Affairs *
A useful addition to the literature about the Arab revolutions and the intellectual history of the region. * H-Socialism *
Enlightenment on the Eve of the Revolution: The Egyptian and Syrian Debates is a valuable study of the intellectual history of contemporary Egypt and Syria. It is a must-read for scholars and students of history, Middle East studies, political science and cultural studies. * Arab Studies Quarterly *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. Cairo1. Secularist, Governmental, and Islamist Tanwir Debates in Egypt in the 1990s
2. The Deconstruction of the 1990s Egyptian Tanwir Debates by Egyptian Critics at the Turn of the Millennium
Part II. Damascus3. Tanwir Debates in Syria in the 1990s: The Sisyphean Moment
4. Tanwir and the Damascus Spring at the Turn of the Millennium: The Promethean Moment
Conclusion: Tanwir as Political Humanism
Notes
Bibliography
Index
