Abstract
The latest book of Lebanese-American historian Ussama Makdisi, Age of Coexistence: The Ecumenical Frame and the Making of the Modern Arab World, published in 2019 by the University of California Press, contributes to the growing literature on non- or anti-sectarian movements and builds upon the anti-primordialist arguments he formulated in his first book. In The Culture of Sectarianism (2000), Makdisi argued that sectarianism is a distinctly modern phenomenon born largely from the politicization and instrumentalization of religious identities by imperial actors in late nineteenth century Mount Lebanon. In this latest book, he goes a step further by identifying an actual but ignored history of anti-sectarianism in the Levant, during that same time period. In line with the abundant scholarship that unpacks essentialist understandings and stereotypes about the region and its people, Makdisi’s book offers readers a nuanced articulation of the Mashriq’s modern history through the lens of religious coexistence – or what he conceptualizes as the ecumenical frame – avoiding orientalist and defeatist tropes or the romanticization of cross-sectarian dynamics.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.