DS63.1.P37

Introduction: whose ‘modern times’? 1 Theories of modernization 2 Alternative views? 9 1 The political and economic background 17 Political developments 17 The economic background 42 2 The rural history of the Middle East in the twentieth century 61 The fast pace of change: the end of self- subsistence and autonomy 63 The colonial invasion of rural space 71 Under the yoke or blessing of independence 77 The anatomy of failure 79 The balance sheet of the Green Revolution 90 The slow pace of history: recurring patterns of rural and tribal life 95 The history of the clan and the family 95 Ruralization versus urbanization: the transformation of values, hierarchies and social structures 99 The case of Shaykh Ahmad al- Alawi 100 The transformation of tribal space in the twentieth century 102 The ambivalent history of tribalism and kinship 107 Conclusions 112 3 Urban history 115 Questions of categorization 117 The demographic factor 119 The working class and labour 124 Contents vi contents The history of trade unionism and communism: the fi rst half of the twentieth century 126 The Egyptian case 128 The unique case of Iraq 129 Missed opportunities in Palestine 132 Trade unionism under independence: the case of North Africa 133 The politics of the marketpace 135 The historiographical debate over trade unionism 136 The history of the urban middle class: the late nineteenth century 137 The politicization of the notables and middle class: effendiyya and pashas 138 A changing political culture: the loss of the multicultural city 142 Urban political culture under independence 144 New faces of the Middle Eastern city 147 The preoccupation with security 150 Living under the threat of nationalization 154 Survival mechanisms and networks 157 The new face of the city: the history of the unemployed 159 4 Popular culture: music, dance and arts 165 Music in the twentieth century 167 The Egyptian trio 169 The Ra’i heritage 175 The modern history of the ud 177 Dancing with the living and the dead 179 On stage and screen 182 5 The history of the written word 197 The press revolution, 1815–1900 198 The novel: early beginnings 201 The place of Naguib Mahfouz 203 The short novel 206 Motifs of the twentieth century 207 Freedom of speech and writing 212 The language of culture 216 The poetics of the century 220 6 Histories of Middle Eastern women 225 An overview 227 The construction of an autonomous space 229 Legal reformers in the service of women 237 ‘Women worthies’ 245 Nationalism and feminism 250 vii contents Women and political Islam 260 Economic change and the position of women 268 7 The many faces of religion in the twenty-fi rst century 275 Political Islam as an intellectual discourse 277 The personal space of Islamic traditions 288 Iran: the exception or the rule? 292 Christianity in the modern Middle East 295 8 The new media revolution 301 The advent of the electronic media 301 Satellite television 304 The Internet revolution 307 9 The globalized Middle East in the twenty-fi rst century: three fi nal aspects 313 Prospects for a new economic future? 313 The perils of over- urbanization: the basis for future unrest and revolutions? 315 The struggle for the soul: the new media and the challenge of political Islam 318 The future: saints, libraries and satellites 321 10 The ‘Arab Spring’: a defi ning moment for Middle Eastern scholars 325 Reappraisal and dissent: past debates 328 The regional expert’s search for universalism 331 The emotional and engaged scholar: a recipe for the future?