The St. Andrews Qur’an
© St Andrews University Library Special Collections, ms19(o)
Abdallah Laroui’s Contemporary Arab Ideology (1967): Postcolonial social criticism and situated universalism in Morocco
Ever since it was first published in 1967, the essay Contemporary Arab Ideology by Moroccan historian, intellectual and writer Abdallah Laroui (*1933) has been regarded as a high-water mark in Arab intellectual debate around modernization and decolonization.
Tonight’s lecture explores in detail how Laroui responded to the experience of Western modernism and colonialism by developing an approach which Riecken describes as situated universalism. This form of postcolonial, dialectic social criticism enabled Laroui to interpret core concepts of Moroccan and Arab debates such as Islam, modernization, history and identity beyond the confines of particularism and abstract, liberal universalism.
The lecture will be delivered by Dr. Nils Riecken (Ruhr University Bochum) as part of the series Foundations of Islam: Books, organized by the Munich Middle Eastern-Mediterranean-Central Asian Center (4MZ).
The event will be held in German. You can find more information on the 4MZ website.