Contested modernity : sectarianism, nationalism, and colonialism in Bahrain / Omar H. AlShehabi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shihābī, ʻUmar Hishām, author.

Series:

Radical histories of the Middle East

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Relations.

Ethnic relations.

Politics and government.

Bahrain--Politics and government.

Bahrain.

Bahrain--Ethnic relations.

Bahrain--Relations--Great Britain.

Great Britain--Relations--Bahrain.

Great Britain.

International relations.

Physical Description:

xiii, 274 pages ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

London : Oneworld, 2019.

Summary:

Discussion of the Arab world, particularly the Gulf States, increasingly focus on sectarianism and autocratic rule. These features are often attributed to the dominance of monarchs, Islamists, oil, and 'ancient hatreds'. To understand their rise, however, one has to turn to a largely forgotten but decisive episode with far-reaching repercussions - Bahrain under British colonial rule in the early twentieth century. Drawing on a wealth of previously unexamined Arabic literature as well as British archives, Omar AlShehabi details how sectarianism emerged as a modern phenomenon in Bahrain. He shows how absolutist rule was born in the Gulf, under the tutelage of the British Raj, to counter nationalist and anti-colonial movements tied to the al-Nahda renaissance in the wider Arab world. A groundbreaking work, Contested modernity challenges us to reconsider not only how we see the Gulf but the Middle East as a whole.

Contents:

Introduction: approaching absolution, nationalism, and sectarianism in the Gulf

The ethnosectarian gaze and divided rule, 1783-1900

Al-Nahda in Bahrain, 1875-1920

Contesting divided rule, 1900-1920

'Fitnah': ethnosectarianism meets al-Nahda, 1921-1923

Postscript: the rise of absolutism and nationalism, 1923-1979

Conclusion: state and society between sectarianism and nationalism.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-261) and index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781786072917

1786072912

OCLC:

1085198247

Publisher Number:

99980991172