Papers by Rana Issa
Contemporary Levant
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Journal of Semitic Studies, 2017
Over centuries, Arabic lexicography had operated under a solid myth of pure linguistic origins ro... more Over centuries, Arabic lexicography had operated under a solid myth of pure linguistic origins rooted in the terra prima of the Arabian Desert. Buṭrus al-bustānīʾs Muḥīṭ al-Muḥīṭ is the earliest Arabic lexicon that breaks with this tradition. In this modern lexicon, al-Bustānī recollected the biblical origins of key Arabic words. By introducing the Bible into the Lexicon, al-Bustānī revolutionized some conventions of Arabic lexicography which usually operated under a solid — mainly Quranic — notion of what constitutes a legitimate source for lexical elaboration. The inclusion of the Bible competitively decentred the foundational texts of the classical lexicon. Although al-Bustānī relied on conventional methodologies in his approach to lexicography, he succeeded in constructing an alternative, rival narrative about the biblical origins of the civilization of the Arabs. These changes went in tandem with al-Bustānīʾs contribution to the Christianization of Syro-Lebanese national identity in the nineteenth century.
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After France got the famous Egyptian, “Luxor” obelisk at Place de Concorde in the centre of Paris... more After France got the famous Egyptian, “Luxor” obelisk at Place de Concorde in the centre of Paris, in 1833, some forty years later, a similar edifice of Pharaonic architecture landed in London to great pomp and circumstance. The obelisk which was a gift from Egypt’s ruler Muhammad Ali was testimony to the Imperial power of Britain. There was great cost involved in moving the piece, which required innovative and highly skilled marine engineers to build a special vessel that could handle the staggering size of the monument. The obelisk which today stands by the Victoria Embankment is at about twenty-one meters high, weighs about 224 tons and when it finally arrived to London, it made headlines.1 Official guests and bureaucrats from London’s diplomatic, com- mercial, and academic institutions, from the various outposts of the Empire, both at home and abroad were present, among them the British Bible Society, who were personally invited by the supervising engineer, John Dixon. They brought with them samples of the Bible in several languages to be buried in a time capsule underneath the great stone. The invitation of the British mission- ary body to the party was a symbolic acknowledgement of their contributions to the Empire. William Canton, the official historian of the missionary move- ment in Britain, provided this token description of the contents of the time capsule. He wrote:
[T]he British and Foreign Bible Society had deposited various copies of the Scriptures – the Bible in English and in French, the Pentateuch in Hebrew, Genesis in Arabic, and the sixteenth verse of the third chapter of St John in two hundred and fifteen languages.2
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Translated by Rana Issa
To Samira, My absent Imam, always present.*
No special excuse is needed... more Translated by Rana Issa
To Samira, My absent Imam, always present.*
No special excuse is needed to engage the concept of freedom. Yet, it is not an evident concept or an ahistorical human faculty, or a universal political demand without contradictions. Freedom is an act of coming out, of cleavage and conflict; and it may be tragic. This text is a free reflection on freedom, closer to a tale written with abstract concepts, a story of adventure and a confrontation with all kinds of dangers.
It is a story that one writes to be rewritten.
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In al-Haj Saleh’s continued reminder of the importance of speech in political life, he has made i... more In al-Haj Saleh’s continued reminder of the importance of speech in political life, he has made it impossible to go backwards in time to a pre-revolutionary and silent Syria. His commitment to a more talkative Syria has embodied a principled position of liberal political thinking, as ancient as it is fragile. His position on speech recollects Hannah Arendt’s basic definition of politics, especially in her work on revolution. For Arendt, politics exists in the space between men. It consists of an “argumentative and talkative interest in the world.” Yet, whereas al-Haj Saleh has acted as a crucial figure in fostering such talkativeness, his self-reflexive position on intellectual power remains significantly radical. For him, the intellectual vocation does not rise above its function in the division of labor.
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aljumhuriya.net, 2016
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I chose to read Edward Said’s memoir Out of Place expecting to find an alternative history of Pal... more I chose to read Edward Said’s memoir Out of Place expecting to find an alternative history of Palestine from one of the most ferocious fighters for the Palestinian cause. I did not find much of Palestine, but I did read an intimate narrative of an Arab boy’s coming of age. Said’s focus on his family was a deliberate opening up of the structure of the Arab household, as he attests in the preface to the Arabic translation of the book. This gesture resonated deeply with my own feminist political position on existing family structures as oppressive units that attempt to control and undermine women’s roles in society. Said’s focus on his gendered identity in Out of Place nuanced my understanding of the hegemonic structure of the institutions of patriarchy, and I came to see that patriarchy could be equally dislocating to its male subjects as it is for women. In this paper, I will limit my analysis of Said’s attack on patriarchy by discussing his representation of his mother. Through such an examination of the character of Hilda, I attempt to delineate Said’s ambivalent relationship towards feminist politics. Such ambivalence is well documented by many feminist readers of Said, such as Gayatri Spivak (1982), Leela Gandhi (1998), and Susan Fraiman (1995), among others. This memoir marks the only serious and detailed examination of gender issues by Said in his entire oeuvre; it thus provides the reader with an opportunity to analyze in detail Said’s position vis-à-vis feminism. His representation of his mother reveals the deep paradoxes and troubled relationship that Said has primarily with her but also with feminism. In the following reading, I aim to argue that although Said inches close to an understanding of the otherness of his mother in the household, this closeness fails to translate into political alliance with her against patriarchal authority.
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Edited Volumes by Rana Issa
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Brill, 2017
Senses of Scripture, Treasures of Tradition offers recent findings on the reception, translation ... more Senses of Scripture, Treasures of Tradition offers recent findings on the reception, translation and use of the Bible in Arabic among Jews, Samaritans, Christians and Muslims from the early Islamic era to the present day. In this volume, edited by Miriam L. Hjälm, scholars from different fields have joined forces to illuminate various aspects of the Bible in Arabic: it depicts the characteristics of this abundant and diverse textual heritage, describes how the biblical message was made relevant for communities in the Near East and makes hitherto unpublished Arabic texts available. It also shows how various communities interacted in their choice of shared terminology and topics, and how Arabic Bible translations moved from one religious community to another.
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Teaching Documents by Rana Issa
What are the origins of the Arabic language, and what are its foundational texts? Most writers of... more What are the origins of the Arabic language, and what are its foundational texts? Most writers of lexicons of the Arabic language center the Arabian peninsula and the Quran. In this episode, we discuss an alternative narrative put forth in the nineteenth century by an Arab Christian writer, Buṭrus al-Bustānī. Rana Issa explores the passages in al-Bustānī's lexicon of the Arabic language, Muḥīṭ al-Muḥīṭ, in which he offers biblical origins for many Arabic words. Though his lexicon drew on conventional methodologies, it offered a history of Arabic tied closely to Christianity and the Levant. Issa explains how al-Bustānī contributed to Christianizing the Syro-Lebanese national identity, and the Arabic language, in the wake of the Mount Lebanon Civil War.
See more at www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2018/02/ar…eland.html
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Syro-Lebanese encyclopedist, writer, educator and translator Buţrus al-Bustānī was a foundational... more Syro-Lebanese encyclopedist, writer, educator and translator Buţrus al-Bustānī was a foundational figure of the Arab nahḑah (meaning awakening or renaissance). He was a Christian: a Maronite Christian by birth, he converted to Protestantism as a young man following his move to Beirut, where he began to interact closely with American missionaries. Many consider al-Bustānī one of the leading figures of nationalist and secular thought in what is now Lebanon, while his wife and children were also active educators and literati in their own right. His multilingual talents and wide-ranging literary and pedagogical interests materialized into many contributions and innovations in the Arabic genres of the nineteenth century. He was a literary entrepreneur who fully utilized the possibilities inherent in the new print revolution and managed to go beyond his minority status to become widely influential. Like the other Christian writers who became renowned during this formative modern period of Beirut’s history, al-Bustānī’s works remain relevant documents for Arabic belles lettres and Arab history. Al-Bustānī distinguished himself from his peers by capitalizing on the pedagogical possibilities of print. He produced a series of reference works from textbooks to encyclopedias that would eventually earn him the title of muʾallim (teacher). His concepts and methodologies, as well as his defense of key causes such as nationalism, women’s education, and study of the humanities, became the paradigms that defined key pedagogical and cultural, as well as political debates in the nineteenth century.
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Book Reviews by Rana Issa
Bidayyat, 2017
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Talks by Rana Issa
Corrective Language Ideologies in the Nahda
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Hva er universalisme i 2014? Avsluttende debatt med Ola Mestad, Helge Jordheim, Rana Issa, Hannah... more Hva er universalisme i 2014? Avsluttende debatt med Ola Mestad, Helge Jordheim, Rana Issa, Hannah Helseth og Marte Michelet, 12. desember 2014. Fra Litteraturhuset i Oslo.
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Papers by Rana Issa
[T]he British and Foreign Bible Society had deposited various copies of the Scriptures – the Bible in English and in French, the Pentateuch in Hebrew, Genesis in Arabic, and the sixteenth verse of the third chapter of St John in two hundred and fifteen languages.2
To Samira, My absent Imam, always present.*
No special excuse is needed to engage the concept of freedom. Yet, it is not an evident concept or an ahistorical human faculty, or a universal political demand without contradictions. Freedom is an act of coming out, of cleavage and conflict; and it may be tragic. This text is a free reflection on freedom, closer to a tale written with abstract concepts, a story of adventure and a confrontation with all kinds of dangers.
It is a story that one writes to be rewritten.
Edited Volumes by Rana Issa
Teaching Documents by Rana Issa
See more at www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2018/02/ar…eland.html
Book Reviews by Rana Issa
Talks by Rana Issa
[T]he British and Foreign Bible Society had deposited various copies of the Scriptures – the Bible in English and in French, the Pentateuch in Hebrew, Genesis in Arabic, and the sixteenth verse of the third chapter of St John in two hundred and fifteen languages.2
To Samira, My absent Imam, always present.*
No special excuse is needed to engage the concept of freedom. Yet, it is not an evident concept or an ahistorical human faculty, or a universal political demand without contradictions. Freedom is an act of coming out, of cleavage and conflict; and it may be tragic. This text is a free reflection on freedom, closer to a tale written with abstract concepts, a story of adventure and a confrontation with all kinds of dangers.
It is a story that one writes to be rewritten.
See more at www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2018/02/ar…eland.html
Dokumentaren Shadow in Baghdad handler om Linda Abdul Aziz, som unnslipper opprørene i Irak tidlig på 1970-tallet, og faren hennes, som forsvant kort tid etterpå. Som voksen, bosatt i Israel, kontaktes Linda av en irakisk journalist, og sammen begynner de å undersøke hva som egentlig skjedde den gangen faren ble borte.
Det handler om et Irak i opprør og å søke i politiske hemmeligheter. Jo nærmere de kommer sannheten om hva som skjedde med faren, jo varmere skildres også det jødiske Bagdad – disse gatene og områdene som jødene forlot, og en kultur som ble utradert med etableringen av Israel og den parallelt framvoksende irakiske nasjonalismen. Etter å ha levd jødiske liv i over to tusen år på irakisk jord var det ikke lenger plass til dem da det moderne Irak vokste fram. Filmen er lagd av den prisbelønte israelske filmskaperen Duki Dror. Filmen introduseres av Rana Hisham Issa, stipendiat ved Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk, Universitetet i Oslo.
Engelsk tekst, 70 min.