2025/07/11 by Barbara Henning · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Historical and Linguistic Studies #Islamic Studies and History #Islamic Thought and Society Studies
paper · doi:10.1163/23519924-11020005
openalex publication_date 2025/07/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Abstract Drawing on three personal narratives authored by descendants of the Prophet Muhammad in the post-Ottoman Middle East, the article explores how members of this once very privileged status group navigated and later described the far-reaching socio-political and economic shifts that they experienced during the early twentieth century, and that put considerable strain on their social standing, networks and access to resources. Asking about individual and collective strategies of resilience during the post-imperial transition, the cross-reading of narratives underscores the importance of education and transregional networking, along with the ability to reinterpret and translate knowledge about status, property arrangements and genealogical connections into new contexts of emerging nation states. These personal narratives offer insights into the complex interplay of knowledge production, mobility and physical displacement, and shifting epistemic environments. Exploring these constellations through the framework of ‘epistemic displacements’ allows us to perceive economic, spatial and sociocultural shifts as intertwined and mutually constitutive.