Saad Eddin Ibrahim - Cross-eyed Sociology

8/8/2019 Saad Eddin Ibrahim - Cross-eyed Sociology

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Featured Essays 54r7EGYPTCross-eyed Sociology in Egypt and the Arab World SAAD DDINBRAHIMIbn KhaldounCenter or DevelopmentStudies, Cairo

ibnkldon Ridscl gov.egThey encouragedEgyptianrulers to sendstudents o France,and returning raduatesensured continuouslowof knowledge f andinteraction ithFrenchntellectualebates ndinnovations. hus,whenComte 1798-1857),SaintSimon'secretarynddisciple, dvocatedin the 1840s a new discipline hat he called"sociology,"gyptiantudentsreturning romFrance opularizedhe idea.By he 1870s, gyptianndArab ntellectualshad been so impressed y the promiseof thesocial sciences in general for moving andtransforming their stagnant traditionalsocieties that some managed to convinceEgypt's iceroy Khedive)smael o announcea nationalprojectof "MakingEgyptPartofEurope"Hitti 1974:844).These ambitiousmodernization lans ofFrench aintSimonists,heirArab ounterparts,andsuccessiveEgyptianulerswere,however,

dealt a severe blow as European colonialdesignsunfolded:The BritishoccupiedEgyptin 1882; the Frenchoccupied Tunisia thatsameyearand Morocco n 1906;BritainandFranceoccupied he rest of the Arab East n1918. After the initialshock wore off, Arabintellectuals began to seek a more solidfoundationornation-building.n the absenceof an independent nation-state, theyestablished, amongother things, what wemight today call "nongovernmentalorganizations" (NGOs) or "civil societyorganizations"CSOs) o "educate,"liberate,"and "advance"heirpeoples.To "educate"nd"liberate" eant, n part,to dig deep in Arabhistoryand civilizationfor authenticrootsof progress. f sociologywereto become he new "positivist" ride, tshould not only be embracedby fledglingEgyptian nd Arabeducational nstitutionsbut it shouldalso be rooted in an authenticArabheritage. t was, ronically,n EuropehatEgyptian nd otherArab graduate tudentswould rediscoverIbn Khaldoun'swork intranslations y French,Gennan,and Englishorientalists.everalArab tudents' issertations,done at Europeanuniversities in the firstquarter f the twentiethcentury,were aboutthisor thataspectofKhaldoun'sbservations

BacligroundThe storyof sociology n the ArabWorldbegins n Egypt roundhe turnof the centuryand is similar to the story of the countryitself earlypromiseof a "modern ge" hatkindled high expectations, followed bydifficulties, unfulfilled hopes, and greatfrustrations. he substantivedetails of thatstorycould easilybe derived rom he threesuccessive editions ( 1977-1997)of Ibrahimand Hopkins'sArabociety.As a formal cademicdiscipline, ociologywas first offered in the newly established(1908) secularEgyptian niversityn 1913-only 20 yearsafter he University f Chicago(1892), 7 yearsafterthe Universityof Paris(1906), and 6 yearsafter he LondonSchoolof EconomicsandPoliticalScience. Indeed,Cairo's Egyptian University introducedacademic sociologyahead of most westernEuropean niversities,whichdidso onlyafterWorldWar I. Scandinavian niversities adno professorshipsof sociology until afterWorldWar II (Shils1989:809)Among the reasons or this earlystartofacademicociologynEgypt as tscentury-longtraditionof Saint Simonism,alongwith therediscoveryof the work of the fourteenth-centuryArab hinker-statesmanbnKhaldoun.Both French visionaryClaude Henri SaintSimon (1760-1825)and Abdel Rahman bnKhaldoun 1332-1406)are regarded y Arabintellectualsas precursors f sociology.Thisclaimto dual ancestry,Westernand Eastern,runs hrough he 100-yearmarchof sociologyin the Arab World causing tensions,contradictions,ccasionalrillianceut,always,a cross-eyedociological vision."Followersof Saint Simon first arrived nEgypt n the 1820s, believing that its newmodernizing ulers, ed by MohammedAli(1776-1849)wouldembrace aintSimonandAuguste Comte's ideas of"order" and"progress."n factthey did help the state toestablishgrandsystemsof irrigation, ublichealth,education, ndustry, ndthe military.Some of these SaintSimonists emained orthe rest of their lives,Arabized heir names,converted to Islam,and married"natives."


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5428 Featured Essayson Medieval Arab society and theirapplicabilityn contemporaryrab ife (Zayed1995: 2-70;AbuZeid1997).His dentificationof the three basic modesof living in Arabsociety (desert tribal, ruralpeasant, andurban), their characteristics, and theirconflictual nteractionswerethe foundationof Ibn Khaldoun'sheoryof power, he rise,decline,and fallof Arabdynasties.His acuteobservations in t he "Muqaddimah"orProlegomenaand seven other volumes of"Kitabal 'Ibar" Bookof Examplesnd theCollectiorlfOriglnsf e Historyf theArabs rldBerbers), ave remained omplexsourcesofknowledge and testable hypotheses forcontemporaryrab ociologistsIbnKhaldoun1400 [1858]).These twin sources of sociologicalknowledge,one external/Europeannd theotherauthentic/Arab, ouldcontinue or herestofthe twentieth entury. omeearlyArabsociologistsmerged hemcreativelye.g.,TahaHussain,and A. A. Wafi);othersoptedforone or the other; and some distortedbothaltogether.Overall, this dualityhas led topassionatedebatesabout he valueor utilityof Western sociological paradigms forunderstandingnon-Westernsocieties and,conversely,boutwhether n ndigenous rabsociologyould merge. similarlympassioneddebate had raged in midcenturybetweensociologists and nonsociologists over the"scientific"laimsof the field.A thirddebateamongEgyptian ndotherArabsociologistshasfocusedon theirroles n policymakingndtheir relationswith policymakers.And, ofcourse, herearethe ongoingdebatesamongsociologistsover ideologiesand intellectualand academic approaches in theory andpractice Ibrahim 988).Meanwhile,henumber f universitieshathave at least one sociologydepartment asgrown (Ain Shamshas three), as have thenumberof Ph.D.'sin sociology, he annualnumber f graduates,nd he number f fieldsin which they work in Egyptand the ArabWorld.Yet hereareproblemsnd rustrations:Some are related o the growth n numbers,others to the stagnation or even thedeteriorationf quality.We shall beginwith an overviewof theevolutionof the fieldof sociology n Egypt,where t started arly n thecentury ndfromwhich it spread,n midcentury,o therestofthe ArabWorld.Thiswillbe followedby an

overview of the research agendas andpublishing ctivitiesof Arabsociologistsandtheirsubregionalariationsrom he Gulf toMorocco. We then discuss some of theproblemsfArab ociologistsnd, inally, ffera few reflections n the future.From Advocacy to Oversellirlg:Sociology from the 1920s to the 1950sIf the current generation of Arabsociologistseelsundervaluedypolicymakersor laymen,their unease may be traced toearliergenerationsof well-intentionedbutnaive sociologistswho first advocated, henoverstated, and ultimately oversold thediscipline.By 1922, ollowinghe 1919popular evoltagainsthe British ccupation,Egypthadwonan ndependencefsortsandbegun o displaythetrappingsf sovereignty,.g.,it had oinedthe newly reatedLeague f Nations,andhadaconstitution, parliament, new flag,and anational nthem.One signofsovereigntywasa modern tate university.nsteadof buildinganew, hegovernmentookovertheEgyptianUniversity,enamedt KingFouad University(KFU),andexpandedts faculties.Sociologyjoinedthe department f philosophy n thefaculty f arts.New graduatesweresent abroad,mainlyto France, or doctorates.Between1925 and1955 a numberof Egyptianand EuropeansociologistsoinedKFU a name hatchanged,again, in 1953, to Cairo University). InAlexandria,King FaroukUniversity(laterAlexandriaUniversity)was establishedin1941. In 1951, a third Egyptian secularuniversitywas established, irst as IbrahimPasha and later (1953) as Ain ShamsUniversity (ASU). In addition, HigherTeachers'TrainingInstitute (HTTI) andSocialWork nstitutesSWI)wereestablishedinCairo ndAlexandrian the late1930s,withsociologyourses rominentlyeaturedntheircurricula.Elsewheren the ArabWorld,theAmerican University of Beirut (AUB),foundedin 1866 as the SyrianProtestantCollege,beganto offersociologycourses ntheinterwar eriod.With theindependence fIraq 1930)andSyria (1946), both Baghdadand Damascusestablisheduniversitiesthat followed theCairoUniversitymodel,combiningociologywith philosophy in one department andborrowingeavilybothfacultyandsociology


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Featured Essays 54r9curricula from Egyptian universities apattern followedfor five decadesby everynewlyestablishedArabuniversity.EminentWestern ocial cientistsaughtnthe newlyestablishedociologydepartments:British ocial anthropologist vans-Pritchard(1902-73) spent the early 1930s at CairoUniversity teaching what was called"comparativeociology";is mentorRadcliffe-Brown1881-1995) aught ocialanthropologyin the late1940satAlexandria'sigh nstituteof SocialSciences.However,twas he Frenchschool of Emile Durkheim hat dominatedsociologyn Egypt nd the ArabWorld n thefirsthalfof the twentieth entury.All the earlyArab Ph.D.'s in sociologywereobtained nFranceby students tudying nderDurkheimor trained yhisnephewMarcelMauss 1872-1950),whohimselfaughtn Cairon the 1930s.With the exception of AUB and AUC,Americannfluencen thoseearlydecadeswasminimal.t wasallEuropean: omte,Spenser,Marx,Durkheim,and Weber.In the 1950sseveralEnglish-trainedociologistsnd socialanthropologistseturned,oiningAlexandriaUniversitye.g.,AhmedAbu-Zeid, li Issa, ndAbdel-MoezNasr), Ain ShamsUniversity(HamedAmmar ndHassan aaty),BaghdadUniversityAlial-Wardi),nd, oa lesser xtent,CairoUniversity Ahmedal-Khashab). heFrench choolof sociologyontinuednto the1950s ograduatemoreArabPh.D.'shan heothers e.g., Al-Yaffin Damascus, alaat ssain Cairo, ndHassan aafan nAin Shams.Duringhat irsthalf-century,ociologywasrepresented as an exciting, intellectualenterprise.This perception eganwith a firstgeneration f socially ommittedntellectualsand scholarswho were not formallyrained(1900-1925),and t continuedwith a secondgeneration f academicallyrainedociologists(1925-1945). They succeeded in gainingrecognitionorsociology ndadmissiono theacademic anks,oftenas "j niorpartners"ndepartments e.g., with economics,politics,or philosophy)and sometimesas equal orsenior partners (e.g., with psychology,anthropology,ocialwork,andeducation.).

The 1940sand1950switnessed gradualshift of Arabsociologistsrom"advocacy"o"overstating"nd "overselling"heirdiscipline.Coinciding with independence and theformation of new Arab states, the thirdgeneration xaggeratedhe valueof sociologyin the state-building rocess.Sociologywas

marketedas more "scientific" han otherhumanand socialdisciplines,more capableof treatingsocial problems left over fromcolonialism,and more able to bring about"integratedevelopment"sopposed o "crasseconomicgrowth."Perhaps he second andthirdgenerationsof Arab sociologiststrulybelieved hat the disciplinecould deliverontheirpromises. uttheiraggressivemarketingcould also be attributed to a desire foracademic independence from the olderdisciplineswithwhich heysharedpublicandphysical space as if the lack of absoluteautonomytunted heir ability o "give."Fromhe mid-19SOsn, mostolder ociologyunitsbecamendependentepartmentsn thethree secular Egyptianuniversities(Cairo,Alexandria,ndAinShams). ewer epartmentswere"born ree"n the Egyptian niversitiesestablishedn the 1960s and 1970s (Assyut,Menia,Mansura,Zagazig,Tanta, Helwan)>Outside Egypt, the 30-odd new Arabuniversitiesoundedbetweenthe mid-1950sand the mid-1980s all had independentsociologydepartments.By the 1960s, thediscipline, ts institutionalntegrity,and itsautonomywere well established.In Egyptalone,the numberof full-timePh.D. facultygrew rom 12 in threedepartmentsn 1955,to 81 in ten departmentsn 1975, to 150 in1985,and to over200 by themid-1990s.Thenumberof students majoring n sociologyincreasedrom ewer han 400 to morethan3,000during he sameperiod.Also significantwas the founding, n 1959, of the NationalCenterfor Sociologicaland CriminologicalResearch(NCSC) as an independentstateinstitution to promotepolicy and action-orientedresearch.The NCSCemployed hebest and brightestgraduatesin the socialsciences, speciallyociologymajors. tsstatusand salary caleswere amongthe highestinEgypt Megahed1995).The late 1950s and the 1960s alsowitnessed,or hefirst ime, heexportofArabPh.D. tudents othe UnitedStates (e.g.,BadrE. Ali,EzzatHegazy,Abdel BassetHassan,S.E. Ibrahim,amirNa'im,Khaldounl-Naquib,A. BakiHermassi).These U.S.-trainedArabsociologists,alongwith the British-trainedcadreof a decade earlier, undertookmoreempiricalesearchhanhad hetwoprecedinggenerations.They,with theirlocallytrainedstudents,would dominate the field in the1970s and ben,rond.heir rise reflects the


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550 Featured Essaysascendancyf Americanociologyn thepost-WorldWarII period,especiallyn the 1960s.Bythe late 1960s, ociologistsn Egypt ndthe rest of the ArabWorldhad much, f notall, of what they had strivenfor in the firsthalf of the century:recognition,academicacceptance, institutional autonomy,goodsalaries, ndprestige.Whatremainedwas orthem to deliver.A SIixed XIativestAbdel Aziz Ezzat, a leading Egyptiansociologist in the l950s and 1960s, onceclaimedthat the goalof his writingswastoestablisha mobilizingdeology hat wouldbeat once "ethical, scientific, reformative,industrial, ndArabsocialist"Saafan,1970:21-22). At a time when Nasser's "ArabSocialism" as nvogue,Ezzat's ords learlyimplied hat he, the distinguished rofessor,couldprovidea sociologicalpanacea(Ezzat1961).He dedicated isbook o Nasser. evenyears arlier,Ezzat adpublishedUruty,Order,and Action e arly s ogans of Egypts 1952Revolution. That book he dedicated toGeneral MohammedNaguib, Egypt's irstleader,whowas toppledbyNasser.Different as they were, the two booksattempted to prove that what therevolutionaryfficerswereadvocating asnotonlycommendable ut alsoin linewith themostadvanced sociologicalrinciples"Ezzat1957, 1961). Both books were blatantattempts to market sociology and/or topromote he authorvis-a-vis he new youngrevolutionaryeader.SeveralEgyptianandArabsociologistsollowedEzzat'sead.ThusAhmed El-Khashab, another prominentsociologist,asserted he importance f Arabsocial theory for leading the socialistcooperativedemocratic evolutiondowntherightpath: "ArabSocial Theory shouldbeeffectivelypracticaln transformingheArabexistence throughthe creationof a radicalArab social philosophy.This will lead theArabs o developspiritually, sychologically,and socially nto renovatedhumanbeings"(quotedn Zayed,1995:5X, romEl-Khashab,1970: 12)Nearly very ociologistwished, t thetime,tobecome he ideologist r adviser f thenewruling lite andpossiblyo join ts ranks. ntheprocess, he credibility f sociologists ndtheirdisciplinewas boundto erode,at leastin the eyes of the largereducatedpublic.

Youngergenerationsof sociologistsin the1970sand 1980s(i.e., the fourthgeneration)seemeddisillusionedomparedo theireldersin sociology, as well as to the populistrevolutionaryulers.Thisdisillusionmentperationalizedtselfin wholesale ejection f the professional ndthe scholarlypracticesof oldersociologists.Attemptsto evolve a more authentic andrespectableArabsociologymultipliedn the1980s.Two elaborate eminarsbearingthesame name, "Towardan Arab Sociology,"were ndependentlyrganizedn 1983 n Abu-Dhabi (Saleh 1983) and in 1986 in Tunis(Zayed 994).Reviewinghepapers fthe twoseminars and those of a third on "ArabIntelligentsia and Power, " which wasconvened n Cairo n 1987 (Ibrahim1988),one senses he tremendous isappointmentfearlier generations in their distortedimportationof both "functionalism"and"Marxism,"s wellasa profound esentmentfueled by their scramblefor power,whichthey did not get anyhow. Whilescramblersor quickfameandfortunestillexist in the fourth generation of Arabsociologists, the majorityare developingmorerealistic viewsof their disciplineandhave refrainedfrom"oversell."Manyareengaged in serious research, publishingsand applied project implementation.Muchof the sociological esearch n the1960swason decolonizationBen-Jelloun974),the impactof landreform, ndustrialization,urbanization,nd bureaucratizationIbrahimand Hopkins 1977). In the 1970s Arabsociologicalresearch ocusedon oil-relatedphenomena e.g., inter-Arababormigration,rapid evelopmentn desert ommunities,ndconsumerismHopkins ndIbrahim 985).Inthe 1980s, the researchfocus was on theproblems,mpediments,ndconsequences f"failed evelopment,"failedtate,"ethnicandcivilstrife, ocialmovements,slamic ctivism,andother orms f socialunrest Hopkins ndIbrahim997).The 1990s esearch genda asexpanded to include civil society,democratization,nvironment,population,gender, uman ights,he impactof economicreformandstructural djustment ERSAP),andglobalizationAbu-Zeid 997).Some600newbooks n sociologyhavebeenpublishedin Arabicbetween1955and1995,aboutone-thirdof them basedon empiricalresearch(Ibrahimand Hopkins 1977; Hopkinsand


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Featured Essays 551eatured Essays 551

SENEGALScholarship and Societies in Senegal: A Survey MoMAr OUMBAIovlnstitut FondamentalD'AfriqueNoireCheikhAnta Diop, [email protected]

EBA SALLCODESRXACouncilfor theDeveZopment f Social ScienceResearch [email protected] rallslatedby NathalieGoubet

SENEGALScholarship and Societies in Senegal: A Survey MoMAr OUMBAIovlnstitut FondamentalD'AfriqueNoireCheikhAnta Diop, [email protected]

EBA SALLCODESRXACouncilfor theDeveZopment f Social ScienceResearch [email protected] rallslatedby NathalieGoubet

Ibrahim1985; Hopkinsand Ibrahim1997)ArabMaghreb NorthAfrican)sociologistshave tilted their research toward Arabmigrants n Europe;Arab Gulfsociologiststoward heimpact f Asianmigrationn theirsocieties; and Palestinian and Lebanesesociologistsowardpostwarandpostcolonialreconstruction.ConclusionTheresentment ndrejection fsociologistsincurredby theiroverselling n the middlegeneration1950sand1960s)have eftsomeofthe newergenerationwithoutpositive rolemodels.Although heirnumbers regrowingall over the ArabWorld,manyof the 2,000sociologistsn themid-1990s eem eaderless,without professional oci, and plagued byindividualand collective self-doubt.Threenational,regional,andglobaldevelopmentshavecontributedo thedemoralizationf Arabsociologists in the 1990s: the collapse ordeclineof the so-called revolutionaryocialiststateprojects"n severalmajorArab ountries(e.g., Egypt,Algeria, Yemen,Tunisia, andIraq); he collapseordeclineof theso-called"socialistbloc" ed by the formerUSSR, onwhich many leftist Arab sociologists hadpinned their ideological hopes; and thedisastrousSecond GulfWar (1990-1991),whichbitterly ividedandweakened oth heArabWorldandArabntellectuals,ncluding,inparticular,ociologists. hesedeepdivisionshave, since 1991,prevented he few extantpan-Arab and national sociologicalassociationsrom onvening egularmeetings.SomeArab ociologists averetreatedntoreligion both professionally e.g., writing

Ibrahim1985; Hopkinsand Ibrahim1997)ArabMaghreb NorthAfrican)sociologistshave tilted their research toward Arabmigrants n Europe;Arab Gulfsociologiststoward heimpact f Asianmigrationn theirsocieties; and Palestinian and Lebanesesociologistsowardpostwarandpostcolonialreconstruction.ConclusionTheresentment ndrejection fsociologistsincurredby theiroverselling n the middlegeneration1950sand1960s)have eftsomeofthe newergenerationwithoutpositive rolemodels.Although heirnumbers regrowingall over the ArabWorld,manyof the 2,000sociologistsn themid-1990s eem eaderless,without professional oci, and plagued byindividualand collective self-doubt.Threenational,regional,andglobaldevelopmentshavecontributedo thedemoralizationf Arabsociologists in the 1990s: the collapse ordeclineof the so-called revolutionaryocialiststateprojects"n severalmajorArab ountries(e.g., Egypt,Algeria, Yemen,Tunisia, andIraq); he collapseordeclineof theso-called"socialistbloc" ed by the formerUSSR, onwhich many leftist Arab sociologists hadpinned their ideological hopes; and thedisastrousSecond GulfWar (1990-1991),whichbitterly ividedandweakened oth heArabWorldandArabntellectuals,ncluding,inparticular,ociologists. hesedeepdivisionshave, since 1991,prevented he few extantpan-Arab and national sociologicalassociationsrom onvening egularmeetings.SomeArab ociologists averetreatedntoreligion both professionally e.g., writing

sociologyof Islam andpersonally-e.g., byparticipatingnsocialmovements Said1980;Samelouty1980; Radwan 1982; Fayyoumi197 7) This group appears increasinglyalienatedfrom and hostile to the West ingeneral and Western social science inparticular. Thus, the "cross-eyed"Arabsociologyof the earlytwentiethcentury isbecomingmore ike"split ision" oragrowingnumber of Arab sociologists. Some havegrowndeeply nvolved nbusiness onsultingand marketsurveyresearchor have startedprivate esearch irms.Othershave migratedoutside heArabWorldaltogether.Even heirpassionate artisanship,heirdisposition ordebating hebig ssues, eem to havepaledormarkedlydeclined. The state of mind andstate of affairsof Arabsociologistsalmostsurely reflects a wider, deeper, and moregeneralArabmalaise n the 1990s.Arab ociologists avebeenhumbled, venhumiliated, ythe limitedyield of earlierbigpromises. hisnewhumility as nspired fewyoung ociologists oproduce olidworkwithlittle fanfare.These arethe men andwomenwhopromise oemergeasrolemodels o leadafifthgeneration f Arab ociologistsnto thetwenty-firstentury.

Youmay equestopiesfthe eferencesor is essayfrome Contemporaryociology ffice yemail(consoc(Rsadri.umass.edu),hone413-545-5987),or regularmail (ContemporarySociology,MachmerHall, University f Massachusetts,Arnherst, A01003)

sociologyof Islam andpersonally-e.g., byparticipatingnsocialmovements Said1980;Samelouty1980; Radwan 1982; Fayyoumi197 7) This group appears increasinglyalienatedfrom and hostile to the West ingeneral and Western social science inparticular. Thus, the "cross-eyed"Arabsociologyof the earlytwentiethcentury isbecomingmore ike"split ision" oragrowingnumber of Arab sociologists. Some havegrowndeeply nvolved nbusiness onsultingand marketsurveyresearchor have startedprivate esearch irms.Othershave migratedoutside heArabWorldaltogether.Even heirpassionate artisanship,heirdisposition ordebating hebig ssues, eem to havepaledormarkedlydeclined. The state of mind andstate of affairsof Arabsociologistsalmostsurely reflects a wider, deeper, and moregeneralArabmalaise n the 1990s.Arab ociologists avebeenhumbled, venhumiliated, ythe limitedyield of earlierbigpromises. hisnewhumility as nspired fewyoung ociologists oproduce olidworkwithlittle fanfare.These arethe men andwomenwhopromise oemergeasrolemodels o leadafifthgeneration f Arab ociologistsnto thetwenty-firstentury.

Youmay equestopiesfthe eferencesor is essayfrome Contemporaryociology ffice yemail(consoc(Rsadri.umass.edu),hone413-545-5987),or regularmail (ContemporarySociology,MachmerHall, University f Massachusetts,Arnherst, A01003)

IntroductionWe hope that the analysis hat followswill,despite imitations f space,contributeo theconstructionof a sociologyof knowledge fIntroductionWe hope that the analysis hat followswill,despite imitations f space,contributeo theconstructionof a sociologyof knowledge f

Senegal. We shall try to focus on theinnovativeaspects of some works and onruptures n the cycle of the productionofknowledge.Becauseof the multidisciplinarySenegal. We shall try to focus on theinnovativeaspects of some works and onruptures n the cycle of the productionofknowledge.Becauseof the multidisciplinary

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Saad Eddin Ibrahim - Cross-eyed Sociology