ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

The Alchemy of Material and Economic Welfare: Scientific Knowledge in the Literary Record of the Arabic Revival in the Late 19th-Century

• In Event: Science and Literature

English Abstract

My paper explores scientific knowledge and material culture in the period of Arabic literary and cultural revival of the late 19th century, commonly known as the Nahda. Both the scientific and material realms of knowledge have not been adequately incorporated in the study of modern Arabic thought. During that time, the Ottoman Empire was under political and economic pressure from Europe, whose commodities, ideas, and military presence encroached, even if unequally, on the imperial territories, including the Arabic-speaking provinces. Ottoman Syrian journalists, intellectuals, university teachers and students, as well as entrepreneurs formulated discourses and envisioned projects to improve local economic and societal conditions and establish the foundations of modern civilization, similar to those manifested in Europe. In the process, a new culture of knowledge and practice emerged in the public sphere: it was based on modern scientific premises -often translated from European sources- that stipulated a rational worldview guided by experiments, innovation, and utility. It is in this context that my paper examines one strand of scientific literature that documented and popularized procedures to refine and improve material culture of quotidian life as well as the quality of economic production. Drawing on literary sources of the period, I trace the contours, contents, and role of this knowledge, mostly consisting of recipes and techniques to create, transform, preserve, clean, and improve materials. In recuperating this forgotten component of the Nahda, I shed light on the history of scientific knowledge and modernity as it transpired in seemingly alchemical processes.

Author

• Sarah Sabban