Programme of the panel “Slavery and Covert Unfreedom in Mediaeval Islamic Societies” at the international conference “Medieval Unfreedoms: Slavery, Servitude, and Trafficking in Humans before the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade,” held at Binghamton University, N.Y., 19–20 October 2018
While mediaeval Islamic societies acknowledged ownership of slaves in bald and precise legal term... more While mediaeval Islamic societies acknowledged ownership of slaves in bald and precise legal terms, and also actively carried on long-range slave trade, any form of unfreedom other than slavery was ruled out. Man, it was conceived, is in principle free and the only lawful violation of this is by enslavement, the admissibility of which was strictly regularized and limited. From the eighth century on, the possibility of servitude or any like condition that would infringe upon man's assumed basic freedom was ignored.
Conversely, this panel undertakes to explore complex phenomena of human status in Islamic history that either were tagged slavery in the sources but intersected with other factors such as consanguinity or the cultural appreciation of different sorts of slave labour (Urban, Moukheiber), or on the other hand remained outside slavery but exhibited dependence and constraint, e.g. the indentured labour of formally free persons or forced immobility (Franz).
The topics discussed in this panel span diverse spheres of society. They include overt cases settled within the social elite-the richly documented harem of 'Abbasid caliphs or well-to-do households as occur in biographical collections-and covert cases that involve lower strata of society and have rather indirect evidence to them. The instances under discussion range from ninth-century 'Abbasid Iraq to fifteenth-century Mamluk Syria and Egypt.
The contributions to this panel likewise make it clear that it is vital to grasp the interplay of slavery and non-slavery conditions if the conceptional blind spots that Islam's binarity of freedom and slavery has imposed on historical study shall be put into perspective. The study of such "grey areas" of slavery has most recently received fresh impulses (Franz 2017; Gordon and Hain, eds, 2017). 1 Interrogating the transitions between slavery and conditions of unfreedom has a potential to connect the study of Islamic history to the mediaevalist study of other parts of the world and facilitate cross-cultural comparison.
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Books by Kurt Franz
The research focus is directed primarily to the conditions in which nomad power developed in the context of interrelated nomadic and sedentary ways of life. These interrelationships have been an essential aspect of the Collaborative Research Centre “Difference and Integration” (SFB 586) project from which this volume emerges. As Iran and the adjacent areas have historically been characterized by a complex geo-spatial environment of mobile and sedentary groups and political associations, they are especially suited to enquiry in this context.
Questions are particularly asked as to the circumstances, development patterns and effects of political and military alliances between nomadic and sedentary leaders or groups. Could nomad military power be enlisted in the strategies of sedentary rulers? What objectives did nomad allies pursue in these circumstances and with what, partly unexpected, results?
The volume also investigates the transformations that took place in states that emerged from nomad conquests. What political and military roles did rulers of ‘post-nomadic’ sedentary states assign to the descendants of nomad conquerors? What roles did these groups claim for themselves? And did nomadic traditions linger on in these states?
As well as the history of events and structures, contemporary conceptual approaches to nomad power and the visual representation of nomadic warfare in Persian miniature painting are also examined.
The anthology thus sheds light on an important aspect of the history of Iran and neighbouring countries that has so far not been examined systematically. It will be of interest to specialists in Islamic history, particularly in Iran and Central Asia, and to any historian looking for a transregional perspective on mediaeval and early modern military history.
Kurt Franz gibt erstmals Antwort auf die seit langem offene Frage, ob und inwiefern Syrien und Mesopotamien zu jener Zeit einem Prozess der Beduinisierung unterlagen. Er konzentriert sich auf die beduinische Sichtweise und unterscheidet zwei Expansionsformen. So strebten einige Gruppen nach institutioneller Verstetigung durch dynastische Territorialherrschaften, andere wiederum hielten an mobiler Beutewirtschaft im Rahmen eines rudimentären tribalen Regimes fest. Die Beduinenemirate gehen dabei nicht, wie bisher angenommen, auf frühismailitische und bahrainqarmatische Aufstandsimpulse zurück. Vielmehr erwuchsen sie aus der Wiederbelebung der beduinischen Heeresfolge gegenüber sesshaften Lebensformen.
Kritisch setzt sich Franz mit den Kräfteverhältnissen von Nomaden und Sesshaften zwischen 889 und 1029 auseinander und bewertet sie neu. Er zeigt auf, wie sich die Wechselbeziehungen von Nomaden und Sesshaften von einem Randaspekt imperialer Staatlichkeit zum Angelpunkt kleinräumlicher politischer Organisation entwickelte. Aus der herkömmlichen beduinischen Schutzherrschaft (himaya) entstand ein neues Modell indigener Herrschaft, das Steppe, Stadt und Kulturland einschloss. Unter anderen Vorzeichen als der saldjuqischen Eroberung hätte es eine regionale Alternative zur Herrschaft nichtarabischer Militärs und Militärsklaven eröffnen können.
Das lange Jahrhundert des beduinischen Aufstiegs bis zur Errichtung des letzten Emirates bildet den ersten Schwerpunkt dieser auf zwei Bände angelegten Untersuchung.
Papers by Kurt Franz
The research focus is directed primarily to the conditions in which nomad power developed in the context of interrelated nomadic and sedentary ways of life. These interrelationships have been an essential aspect of the Collaborative Research Centre “Difference and Integration” (SFB 586) project from which this volume emerges. As Iran and the adjacent areas have historically been characterized by a complex geo-spatial environment of mobile and sedentary groups and political associations, they are especially suited to enquiry in this context.
Questions are particularly asked as to the circumstances, development patterns and effects of political and military alliances between nomadic and sedentary leaders or groups. Could nomad military power be enlisted in the strategies of sedentary rulers? What objectives did nomad allies pursue in these circumstances and with what, partly unexpected, results?
The volume also investigates the transformations that took place in states that emerged from nomad conquests. What political and military roles did rulers of ‘post-nomadic’ sedentary states assign to the descendants of nomad conquerors? What roles did these groups claim for themselves? And did nomadic traditions linger on in these states?
As well as the history of events and structures, contemporary conceptual approaches to nomad power and the visual representation of nomadic warfare in Persian miniature painting are also examined.
The anthology thus sheds light on an important aspect of the history of Iran and neighbouring countries that has so far not been examined systematically. It will be of interest to specialists in Islamic history, particularly in Iran and Central Asia, and to any historian looking for a transregional perspective on mediaeval and early modern military history.
Kurt Franz gibt erstmals Antwort auf die seit langem offene Frage, ob und inwiefern Syrien und Mesopotamien zu jener Zeit einem Prozess der Beduinisierung unterlagen. Er konzentriert sich auf die beduinische Sichtweise und unterscheidet zwei Expansionsformen. So strebten einige Gruppen nach institutioneller Verstetigung durch dynastische Territorialherrschaften, andere wiederum hielten an mobiler Beutewirtschaft im Rahmen eines rudimentären tribalen Regimes fest. Die Beduinenemirate gehen dabei nicht, wie bisher angenommen, auf frühismailitische und bahrainqarmatische Aufstandsimpulse zurück. Vielmehr erwuchsen sie aus der Wiederbelebung der beduinischen Heeresfolge gegenüber sesshaften Lebensformen.
Kritisch setzt sich Franz mit den Kräfteverhältnissen von Nomaden und Sesshaften zwischen 889 und 1029 auseinander und bewertet sie neu. Er zeigt auf, wie sich die Wechselbeziehungen von Nomaden und Sesshaften von einem Randaspekt imperialer Staatlichkeit zum Angelpunkt kleinräumlicher politischer Organisation entwickelte. Aus der herkömmlichen beduinischen Schutzherrschaft (himaya) entstand ein neues Modell indigener Herrschaft, das Steppe, Stadt und Kulturland einschloss. Unter anderen Vorzeichen als der saldjuqischen Eroberung hätte es eine regionale Alternative zur Herrschaft nichtarabischer Militärs und Militärsklaven eröffnen können.
Das lange Jahrhundert des beduinischen Aufstiegs bis zur Errichtung des letzten Emirates bildet den ersten Schwerpunkt dieser auf zwei Bände angelegten Untersuchung.
Die Ringvorlesung will die kulturelle Vielfalt von Orientierungsweisen zeigen. An europäischen wie außereuropäischen Beispielen von der Antike bis in die Gegenwart wird untersucht, wie sich der Mensch im Raum bewegt, welche kognitiven Prozesse dem zugrunde liegen und welche gesellschaftlichen und politischen Wirkungen davon ausgehen können. Historische Orientierungskulturen und ihre schriftlichen, bildlichen und ideellen Zeugnisse werden ebenso behandelt wie Kognitionsmuster aus geographischer, medizinischer und medienwissenschaftlicher Sicht.
Die Reihe verbindet drei Themenkreise:
· Historische Orientierungspraktiken, Semantik des Raumes und Kartenkulturen
· Räumliche Kognition als neurologische und psychische Leistung
· Gegenwärtige Digitalisierung der Raumkognition und ihre Folgen
Conversely, this panel undertakes to explore complex phenomena of human status in Islamic history that either were tagged slavery in the sources but intersected with other factors such as consanguinity or the cultural appreciation of different sorts of slave labour (Urban, Moukheiber), or on the other hand remained outside slavery but exhibited dependence and constraint, e.g. the indentured labour of formally free persons or forced immobility (Franz).
The topics discussed in this panel span diverse spheres of society. They include overt cases settled within the social elite-the richly documented harem of 'Abbasid caliphs or well-to-do households as occur in biographical collections-and covert cases that involve lower strata of society and have rather indirect evidence to them. The instances under discussion range from ninth-century 'Abbasid Iraq to fifteenth-century Mamluk Syria and Egypt.
The contributions to this panel likewise make it clear that it is vital to grasp the interplay of slavery and non-slavery conditions if the conceptional blind spots that Islam's binarity of freedom and slavery has imposed on historical study shall be put into perspective. The study of such "grey areas" of slavery has most recently received fresh impulses (Franz 2017; Gordon and Hain, eds, 2017). 1 Interrogating the transitions between slavery and conditions of unfreedom has a potential to connect the study of Islamic history to the mediaevalist study of other parts of the world and facilitate cross-cultural comparison.
The aim of this conference is to explore these developments further, with special emphasis on the fol-lowing four interrelated categories:
1. GENRE: Is genre a useful concept for understanding spatial thought in this period? For in-stance, do works of geography have anything in common with urban topographies or religious treatises? Can we meaningfully speak of the development of an intellectual field with specific methods or standards for criticism? How do images and maps relate to questions of genre? How did literary traditions combine with formal and thematic innovation? What role did geogra-phy play in encyclopedic literature?
2. AUTHORSHIP: Who composed spatially-oriented texts and from which intellectual or profes-sional backgrounds? What motivated them to do so? How can we discern and describe bound-aries or transitions between collectively transmitted knowledge and individual contributions? Was there a direct relationship between the “state” and the composition of such texts? In what times and places did they proliferate? Who designed or drew maps? Is there any indication that authors thought of themselves as a group?
3. THEME: How do we understand space and place through texts? Can we detect thematic pat-terns across genres? How do conceptions and descriptions in the texts respond to each other? What is the relationship between a written text and its accompanying images or maps? What is the relationship between the materiality of a place and its representation in a text? What is the relationship between travel and text? To what degree do thematic patterns correspond with so-cial and political change?
4. RECEPTION: Who was the audience for spatially-oriented texts and images? Where, by whom, and for whom were they copied over the centuries? How were they transformed in their copy-ing? Can we reconstruct reception histories for these texts or detect the uses to which they were put? Did spatially-oriented texts and images matter?
In addition to exchange on historical issues, we hope the conference will be an opportunity to discuss directions for future research. What is the state of our knowledge about the manuscript heritage? Are cataloguing, digitizing, (re-)editing, and translating pressing tasks? Which tools do we lack that are available in neighbouring fields of study? How can the advance of digital humanities be made fruitful? How can we develop the “spatial turn” in medieval Islamicate history?
Since so far the vast majority of research on these topics has stopped with al-Muqaddasi at around the year 1000, we encourage presentations that approach spatial thought from any part of the Islami-cate world within the loose parameters of 1000–1600 CE.