Archaeology of Babel

For more than three decades, preeminent scholars in comparative literature and postcolonial studies have called for a return to philology as the indispensable basis of critical method in the humanities. Against such calls, this book argues that the privilege philology has always enjoyed within the m...

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Prif Awdur: Ahmed, Siraj
Fformat: Online
Iaith:Saesneg
Cyhoeddwyd: Stanford University Press 2025
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Mynediad Ar-lein:OCN: 1004769898
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author Ahmed, Siraj
author_browse Ahmed, Siraj
author_facet Ahmed, Siraj
author_sort Ahmed, Siraj
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description For more than three decades, preeminent scholars in comparative literature and postcolonial studies have called for a return to philology as the indispensable basis of critical method in the humanities. Against such calls, this book argues that the privilege philology has always enjoyed within the modern humanities silently reinforces a colonial hierarchy. In fact, each of philology's foundational innovations originally served British rule in India. Tracing an unacknowledged history that extends from British Orientalist Sir William Jones to Palestinian American intellectual Edward Said and beyond, Archaeology of Babel excavates the epistemic transformation that was engendered on a global scale by the colonial reconstruction of native languages, literatures, and law. In the process, it reveals the extent to which even postcolonial studies and European philosophy—not to mention discourses as disparate as Islamic fundamentalism, Hindu nationalism, and global environmentalism—are the progeny of colonial rule. Going further, it unearths the alternate concepts of language and literature that were lost along the way and issues its own call for humanists to reckon with the politics of the philological practices to which they now return.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1502112025-03-20T21:03:42Z Archaeology of Babel Ahmed, Siraj Sir William Jones;comparative literature;World Literature;philology;colonial law;Islam;Hinduism;British India;critical method;historicism For more than three decades, preeminent scholars in comparative literature and postcolonial studies have called for a return to philology as the indispensable basis of critical method in the humanities. Against such calls, this book argues that the privilege philology has always enjoyed within the modern humanities silently reinforces a colonial hierarchy. In fact, each of philology's foundational innovations originally served British rule in India. Tracing an unacknowledged history that extends from British Orientalist Sir William Jones to Palestinian American intellectual Edward Said and beyond, Archaeology of Babel excavates the epistemic transformation that was engendered on a global scale by the colonial reconstruction of native languages, literatures, and law. In the process, it reveals the extent to which even postcolonial studies and European philosophy—not to mention discourses as disparate as Islamic fundamentalism, Hindu nationalism, and global environmentalism—are the progeny of colonial rule. Going further, it unearths the alternate concepts of language and literature that were lost along the way and issues its own call for humanists to reckon with the politics of the philological practices to which they now return. 2025-01-21T22:35:06Z 2025-01-21T22:35:06Z 2023-10-11T08:26:55Z 2018 book OCN: 1004769898 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/76669 9780804785297 9781503604025 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/150211 eng open access image/png image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/76669/2/9781503604049.epub https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/76669/1/9781503604049.pdf Stanford University Press e1c5a643-9287-4a26-84e2-83547f3c823b 9780804785297 9781503604025 281 Stanford open access
spellingShingle Sir William Jones;comparative literature;World Literature;philology;colonial law;Islam;Hinduism;British India;critical method;historicism
Ahmed, Siraj
Archaeology of Babel
title Archaeology of Babel
title_full Archaeology of Babel
title_fullStr Archaeology of Babel
title_full_unstemmed Archaeology of Babel
title_short Archaeology of Babel
title_sort archaeology of babel
topic Sir William Jones;comparative literature;World Literature;philology;colonial law;Islam;Hinduism;British India;critical method;historicism
topic_facet Sir William Jones;comparative literature;World Literature;philology;colonial law;Islam;Hinduism;British India;critical method;historicism
url OCN: 1004769898
work_keys_str_mv AT ahmedsiraj archaeologyofbabel