Counter-Narratives - by M Al-Rasheed & R Vitalis (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Saudi Arabia and Yemen are two countries of crucial importance in the Middle East and yet our knowledge about them is highly limited, while typical ways of looking at the histories of these countries have impeded understanding. Counter-Narratives brings together a group of leading scholars of the Middle East using new theoretical and methodological approaches to cross-examine standard stories, whether as told by Westerners or by Saudis and Yemenis, and these are found wanting. The authors assess how grand historical narratives such as those produced by states and colonial powers are currently challenged by multiple historical actors, a process which generates alternative narratives about identity, the state and society.

Review Quotes

"This volume is an important step in the effort to bring the study of the politics of the Arabian Peninsula into the mainstream of scholarship and to bring the full range of scholarly approaches to the study of the Peninsula. It breaks new ground on both empirical and interpretative levels." - F. Gregory Gause, III, Director of the Middle East Studies Program, University of Vermont

"Counter-Narratives brings together some of the finest new scholarship on the Arabian Peninsula. The contributors offer a rich analysis of social identity, political belonging, and historical transformation in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The book illuminates the differing roles of imperial powers, local hierarchies, intellectual reformers, oil companies, and other actors in shaping the region's modern politics. Conventional images of a world of tribes, rulers, and oilmen give way to finely textured interpretations of one of the most critically important areas of the contemporary world." - Timothy Mitchell. Professor of Politics, New York University

About the Author

SHEILA CARAPICO University of Richmond, Virginia, USA ABDULAZIZ H. AL-FAHAD Attorney affiliated with Akin, Gump, USA GUIDO WALTER STEINBERG Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany ISA BLUMI New York University, USA JOHN MATTHEW WILLIS New York University, USA GWENN OKRUHLIK University of Arkansas, USA GABRIELE VOM BRUCK University of Edinburgh, UK