[Bilimsel Haber] Call for Papers: The Diplomatic Conventions in the
Islamic World: To share the Umma (1258-1517) [Marie Favereau]
Sule Tarakcioglu
suletar at kulturad.org
Thu Apr 20 09:23:32 EEST 2006
From: Mehmet Tutuncu <m.tutuncu at QUICKNET.NL>
Please for contributions contact Marie Faverau directly.
eemailadress: mariefavereau at hotmail.com
Call for Papers: The Diplomatic Conventions in the Islamic World:
To share the Umma (1258-1517)
Annales Islamologiques no 41 (June 2007)
A special issue of Annales Islamologiques will be edited in June 2007
dedicated to The Diplomatic Conventions in the Islamic World. Sylvie Denoix,
Director of the Studies at IFAO (French Institute of Oriental Archaeology),
delegates Marie Favereau-Doumenjou, member of the Arabic scientific
board, to
coordinate this issue. The researchers are kindly invited to submit their
proposals for articles (title and maximum one page summary) by e-mail to
mfavereau at ifao.egnet.net until June 15th, 2006. They will be informed before
June 30th, 2006 whether their paper is accepted (or not). The completed
articles should be written in French, Arabic or English and have to be
transmitted to the coordinator October 1st, 2006 at the latest. A committee,
should the occasion arise, will ask the authors for modifications.
The Diplomatic Conventions in the Islamic World:
To share the Umma
(1258-1517)
After the Mongol conquest, countries of ancient Islamic traditions are
suddenly confronted with new social codes. They have to submit to an unknown
power and its own non-islamic symbolical structures. For the first time, a
non-Islamic authority rules over numerous Muslim populations. Dâr
al-islâm is
about to turn Dâr al-harb.
However, in a short time, new rulers convert to Islâm, as well as their
courts
and their peoples, which arrived with the Turkic-Mongol armies. At the
XVth c.,
only 150 years after the gengiskhanid conquest, the territories ruled by the
Mongols returned to Dâr al-islâm and, moreover, new converted peoples start
playing an active role in the revival of the Islamic culture and its
diffusion.
A great majority of those populations come from east and south-east Asia:
Turkic- and Mongol-speaking natives from Baikal Lake, as well as Malaysian,
Indonesian and Indian peoples.
At the beginning of the XVIth, Islam has reached a new dimension,
becoming an
uncontested world reality. Contacts between new and ancient Muslim
populations
are increasing. Peoples� movements for commercial, religious or
political matters, lead to exchanges of knowledge and practices. Historians
agree to recognize the fundamental role of Sufism and merchants
organizations
in propagation of faith, Arabic language and the traditions of classical
Islam.
The existence of a supra-linguistic and overstate culture, as a complex
interlacing between Malaysia, China, Iran, Yemen, Bengal, Anatolia,
North-Africa...is also attested in historiographical literature.
On the one hand, we can perceive those mutual influences through sources,
on the other hand, we cannot deny the extreme diversity of cultural,
administrative and political centers in the islamic world between the
XIIIth c.
and the XVIth c.
So, what could be the reality of these relationships between the states,
which
are united only by the idea of being a part of the same community of faith?
Could we perceive, through the variety of practices and discourses, the
transcendence of the Umma?
To develop this matter, we suggest to start with a common discussion on the
communication between the states of the Dâr al-islâm and their diplomatic
conventions which allow such exchanges. Our interest is to survey the
numerous
kinds of sources: manuscripts (treaties, commercial concessions, diplomatic
letters�); coins and archaeological material (reception places,
gifts of
honor, ceremonial objects�).
Even if we find specific studies on administrative or diplomatic documents,
historic researches suffer from a lack of coordination. For that reason, the
project intends to put together common researches and results. Our
purpose is
to collect works on Persian, Malaysian, Arabic, Turkic and Turkish
manuscripts
in order to make a synthesis. We must particularly gather all documents
written
on rotulus/volumen (to distinguish from codex), which were the typical
form of
the diplomatic letter. Our only way to overcome the gaps, as a result of
vanished archives, is to collect and confront those types of documents. This
will lead
us to draw some valuable historic conclusions and to establish a helpful
synthesis based on the archives contents.
Furthermore, we choose to focus our research on a period, which is, too
often,
neglected, being considered as a transition between two ages: the end of
the �classical Islamic times� with the rise of the
Seldjukid and
crusader �threats� (from XIth c. until the Mongol conquest of
Baghdad) and the time of the Ottoman hegemony (from the conquest of the
Mamluk
Sultanate in 1516-1517).
The centuries in between, which means the period from the Mongol invasion
to the end of the Mamluk power, can square in a very interesting way
with the
thematic we intend to develop. At that time, Muslim populations are, in
majority, not Arabic. Languages and cultures in the Umma have never been so
diverse. Dâr al-islâm has grown considerably and the ways of
communication are
extending from China to Spain. Furthermore, the overlapping of Dâr
al-harb/Dâr
al-islâm, which is then in a decisive process, will have deep consequences
upon Muslim society and will influence the discourse of the intellectual
elites.
A reflection on �diplomatic conventions� can be a way to
understand
situations of tension, conciliation or political negotiations. It
permits us to
discuss specific topics about chancery�s practices and techniques
like
the decisive question of the administrative languages.
We will have to identify why and when the Arabic language is used, what
have been the standard diplomatic expressions and the most recurrent coranic
formulas. We will deal with written languages (scriptures, styles,
alphabets)
as well as spoken languages, with original texts and translations. Did
ambassadors have to carry on two messages: a written one and a spoken
one? In
that case, did they need translators? How can we perceive the oral
character of
some diplomatic matters? Do we have sources on that topic?
All these subjects lead to one very important question: the idea of
�authenticity� which is a fundamental point in diplomacy,
especially during wars.
What were the main factors they took into account to authenticate a letter
or an embassy? To answer this question, we have to study papers, inks,
seals�their supply, their making and, a fortiori, the
revolutionary use
of watermarks. This explains the necessity to confront our sources and work
together to establish a common corpus.
This subject concerns also some larger fields, like the question of social
consensus at a state level. Can we perceive an �Islamic
reality�
through the multiplicity of practices and discourses of the diplomatic
exchanges? What can be the foundations of a war decision between two Muslim
States? Can we find �diplomatic patterns� through diplomatic
practices? How to recognize at that time the existence of a real political
thought in foreign affairs? What
was the role of Arabic language in public manifestations? We must discuss
the questionable existence of a standard diplomatic language (sort of lingua
franca) between Muslim States. Do we have to consider this, or most
probably,
these �inter-languages� like �mixed idioms�
or like
�autonomous linguistic units�? These languages, which are not
mother tongues and seem to belong to every one, are mostly used by travelers
and expatriated communities. Can they
become a source of identity between Muslims of different States, countries
and cultures?
To the idea of a decadent and suffering Umma, held by some scholars focused
on the so-called �golden age of Islam�, we prefer the
hypothesis
of a �sharing
Umma�. Difference of cultures, like a mirror of identity, induces
crystallizing and liberating process in societies. By studying the
�diplomatic conventions� we will learn more about the
link, which
joins and reconciles two positions within Dâr al-Islâm: to confront
tensions and
open conflicts, but also to find a common Islamic discourse, which can
afford an
Umma stretched from Grenada to
Malacca.
Turkistan Bulteni ISSN:1386-6265
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