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Periodization and the political: Abdallah Laroui's analysis of temporalities in a postcolonial context
[working paper]
Corporate Editor
Zentrum Moderner Orient
Abstract This paper challenges the common opposition between periodizations as a heuristic means for historians, on the one hand, and as a political element in narratives of groups and origins on the other. It conceives periodizations as elements within wider social uses of time and, thus, the symbolic produ... view more
This paper challenges the common opposition between periodizations as a heuristic means for historians, on the one hand, and as a political element in narratives of groups and origins on the other. It conceives periodizations as elements within wider social uses of time and, thus, the symbolic production of the political. I demonstrate this by analysing the works of the Moroccan historian and intellectual Abdallah Laroui (*1933) on modernity, historical representation, time and difference. First, I look at how Laroui spells out the relation of particular and general periodizations. Then I compare his approach to Dipesh Chakrabarty’s in his book Provincializing Europe. I interpret their discussion of time and temporalities as a response to a general problem in the theory of history, as well as an expression of a certain way of experiencing a globalised modernity in (post)colonial contexts. I argue that the core of their critique is the challenging of hegemonic representations of time and the breaking up of unified time into multiple temporalities. Finally, I look closer at the various articulations of this Denkfigur (figure of thought), especially regarding the postcolonial context and Walter Benjamin’s notion of empty, homogenous time.... view less
Keywords
political factors; Morocco; conception of history; post-colonialism; historiography; historical development; periodization; India
Classification
General History
Free Keywords
Abdallah Laroui; Dipesh Chakrabarty; Walter Benjamin
Document language
English
Publication Year
2012
City
Berlin
Page/Pages
24 p.
Series
ZMO Working Papers, 6
ISSN
2191-3897
Status
Published Version; reviewed
Licence
Deposit Licence - No Redistribution, No Modifications