Beyond Exception: New Interpretations of the Arabian Peninsula

by Ahmed Kanna, Amélie Le Renard, Neha Vora

Over the nearly two decades that they have each been conducting fieldwork in the Arabian Peninsula, Ahmed Kanna, Amélie Le Renard, and Neha Vora have regularly encountered exoticizing and exceptionalist discourses about the region and its people, political systems, and prevalent cultural practices. These persistent encounters became the springboard for this book, a reflection on conducting fieldwork within a "field" that is marked by such representations. The three focus on deconstructing the exceptionalist representations that circulate about the Arabian Peninsula. They analyze what exceptionalism does, how it is used by various people, and how it helps shape power relations in the societies they study. They propose ways that this analysis of exceptionalism provides tools for rethinking the concepts that have become commonplace, structuring narratives and analytical frameworks within fieldwork in and on the Arabian Peninsula. They ask: What would not only Middle East studies, but studies of postcolonial societies and global capitalism in other parts of the world look like if the Arabian Peninsula was central rather than peripheral or exceptional to ongoing sociohistorical processes and representational practices? The authors explore how the exceptionalizing discourses that permeate Arabian Peninsula studies spring from colonialist discourses still operative in anthropology and sociology more generally, and suggest that de-exceptionalizing the region within their disciplines can offer opportunities for decolonized knowledge production.

Genres: Middle East, Anthropology

156 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2020

About the author

Ahmed Kanna ,teaches anthropology and human geography in the School of International Studies, University of the Pacific. His Main area of study is the politics of globalization, urbanism, and cultural and national identity in the Arab/Persian Gulf region

Reviews

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book very thought-provoking and extremely clear in its ideas. Thank you to the authors for these important reflections