Review: Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval "Hindu-Muslim" Encounter by Finbarr B. Flood

Abstract

Finbarr B. Flood . Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval Hindu-Muslim Encounter . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009, 424 pp., 178 b/w illus. $45 (cloth), ISBN 9780691125947 Objects of Translation is an extraordinary volume. Part of the challenge of reviewing it lies in choosing a starting point from among its rich contributions: the historical geography of the wider Indus basin from eastern Afghanistan to northern India in the eighth through thirteenth centuries; the cultural dynamics and political economies of this contact zone; the rigorous examination of objects ranging from coins to ivories and of that were created and circulated in that culture area and shaped by its dynamics; and the architectural analysis of successive enclosures of the Qutb mosque complex in Delhi. Each of these contributions is significant for the field of Indo-Islamic art and architectural history, but what gives them wider significance for readers of the JSAH and scholars in related fields are the ways the author weaves contemporary theory with rigorous art historical analysis. The richness of this text stems in part from Flood's narrative skill in linking, for example, the detailed description of a coin with its reflections in multiple scripts, invocations, and seemingly disjunctive images. These observations lead him to propositions about how medieval mercantile exchange, cultural dynamics, and identity formation can stimulate reflections about contemporary theory, for example, of cosmopolitanism, transculturation, iconoclasm, and exoticism. Just at the point where these theoretical associations would seem to reach their outer limits, the author cycles deftly back into the regional context, material objects, and primary historical evidence of Sultanate India with fresh insight and direction. This form of argument challenges the reader by interweaving scholarly command with theoretical imagination in stimulating ways. Flood is also a master story teller, for example, when he discusses the gifting and wearing of robes of honor ( khila c as a form …