Cultural Brokerage in Premodern Islamic Societies

Presents the first comprehensive and systematic account of the crucial role cultural brokers played in shaping Islamic societies Develops a theory of cultural brokerage informed by recent scholarship Applies concepts of cultural brokerage to a series of original historical case studies from China, Mongolia, Central Asia, Byzantium, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula Includes critical responses from leading historians and anthropologists Ranges from the seventh to the fifteenth century, and across domains such as theology, medicine and the arts When we speak of ‘Islamic societies’ or ‘Islamic civilisation’, we often imply that there is something distinctive about cultures wherever Islam is prominent. Yet historians have rarely examined in detail how these cultures that we call ‘Islamic’ were formed in relation to neighbouring ones. This volume addresses that gap by focusing on cultural brokerage: the process by which an individual mediates between different cultural spheres, transferring and translating ideas, practices and institutions across boundaries, often with lasting effects. The collection proposes a robust, historically grounded theory of cultural brokerage and demonstrates its significance for understanding the formation and evolution of culture in Islamic societies. It illustrates this theory with empirical case studies that range from early Islamic Egypt to early modern China, and from spheres as diverse as medicine, theology and art.