Frames of Time: Periodization and Universals in the Works of Abdallah Laroui
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Nils Riecken
Abstract: A major point of critique in contemporary debates on universals is that a particular history – a “Western” one – is falsely represented as universal. This problem also underlies Dipesh Chakrabarty’s widely discussed call for “provincializing Europe.” In this article, I discuss the relationship between universals and practices of periodization, i. e., certain ways of shaping time, in the works of the Moroccan historian and intellectual Abdallah Laroui (*1933). I present Laroui’s contribution to this debate by focusing on how his approach makes possible to historicize representations of time from a universalist, dialectical, and post-foundationalist perspective. I discuss how he develops a distinction between time and temporalities in relation to forms of historiography and how he distinguishes between the preservation of memory and tradition as a process of canonization on the one hand and analytic critique and profane politics on the other hand. I argue that by spelling out these temporal presuppositions, Laroui effectively opens up a post-foundationalist view of the social and concepts such as Islam and modernity. I conclude with a brief observation of how Laroui’s account of multiple temporalities challenges ahistorical representations of “the human.”
© De Gruyter 2014
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Nachruf auf Ernst J. Grube (1932–2011)
- Introduction – What is in a Period? Arabic Historiography and Periodization
- Periodization as a Tool of the Historian with Special Reference to Islamic History
- Vanishing Syria: Periodization and Power in Early Islam
- Al-Jāhiliyya: Uncertain Times of Uncertain Meanings
- Dynastic Periodization and its Limits: Historiography in Contemporary Arab Monarchies
- Frames of Time: Periodization and Universals in the Works of Abdallah Laroui
- Silence and Nostalgia: Periodizing the Past in an Algiers Neighborhood
- Reviews
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Nachruf auf Ernst J. Grube (1932–2011)
- Introduction – What is in a Period? Arabic Historiography and Periodization
- Periodization as a Tool of the Historian with Special Reference to Islamic History
- Vanishing Syria: Periodization and Power in Early Islam
- Al-Jāhiliyya: Uncertain Times of Uncertain Meanings
- Dynastic Periodization and its Limits: Historiography in Contemporary Arab Monarchies
- Frames of Time: Periodization and Universals in the Works of Abdallah Laroui
- Silence and Nostalgia: Periodizing the Past in an Algiers Neighborhood
- Reviews
