Peter Gran Livres

Using the frameworks of Gramsci and Foucault, the author presents a new perspective on world history, questioning traditional narratives that focus solely on totalitarian or democratic state functions. By exploring various national contexts, he examines the dynamics of authority and resistance, offering a more nuanced understanding of historical relationships.

The book explores the origins of capitalism in Egypt, asserting that it was Muslim merchants and Mamluk rulers in the 18th century who initiated this economic transformation, rather than European influence. By challenging ethnocentric views, it provides a fresh perspective on the development of capitalist economies in peripheral states, highlighting the significant role of local actors in shaping economic systems.

The book examines the 1798 Napoleonic invasion of Egypt, often viewed as a pivotal moment marking the transition from premodern to modern in Middle Eastern history. It critiques the enduring narrative that frames the West as a savior of the static East, despite decades of scholarship challenging such binaries. Peter Gran explores the origins of this dominant paradigm and analyzes how academic scholarship continues to uphold these perspectives, making it a significant work in understanding Orientalism's persistence in contemporary discourse.

Why is the 1798 Napoleonic invasion of Egypt routinely accepted as a watershed moment between premodern and modern in general histories on the Middle East? Although decades of scholarship, most-notably Edward Said’s Orientalism, have critiqued traditional binaries of developed and undeveloped in Arab studies, the narrative of 1798 symbolizing the coming of the modern west to the rescue of the static east endures. Peter Gran’s The Persistence of Orientalism is the first book to take stock of this dominant paradigm, interrogating its origins and the ways in which scholarship is produced to perpetuate it. Gran surveys the history of American studies of Modern Egypt, examining three central issues: the periodization of modern professional knowledge in the US in the 1890s, the contemporary identity of orientalism and its critique, and the close connection between Oriental Despotism and the dominant formulation of American identity found in American Studies and in American life. Reinvigorating the conversation on the historiography of modern Egypt, this volume will influence a new generation of scholars studying the Middle East and beyond.