https://www.scribd.com/document/400397025/The-Arab-Mind-Raphael-Patai-2010
The Arab Mind Paperback – 1 May 2010
by Raphael Patai (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 89 ratings
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ONE OF THE GREAT LANDMARKS OF CULTURAL STUDIES
First published in 1973, revised in 1983, and now updated with new demographic information about the Arab world, The Arab Mind takes readers on a journey through the societies and peoples of a complex and volatile region. This sensitive study explores the historical origins of Arab nationalism, the distinctive rhetorical style of Arabic speakers and its effect on politics, traditional attitudes toward child-rearing practices, the status of women, the beauty of Arabic literature, and much more.
MORE RELEVANT NOW THAN EVER
Since September 11, the book s lessons have been misconstrued by some but have proven indispensable to those trying to truly understand the roots of the major political conflicts of our time. Patai s sympathetic but critical depiction of Arab culture explores the continuing role of the Bedouin values of honor and courage in modern Arab culture, inter-Arab conflict and the aspiration toward unity, and how anti-Western attitudes conflated with anti-modernization have led to stagnation in much of the Arab world.
DRAWS ON A LIFETIME OF EXPERTISE
Patai, a prominent anthropologist and historian, drew on both his research and his personal experience to produce this indispensable work in the field of Middle Eastern studies. With an updated foreword by Norvell B. DeAtkine, former director of Middle East Studies at the JFK Special Warfare School, The Arab Mind remains a relevant and crucial masterpiece of scholarship for anyone seeking to understand this multifaceted culture today.
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Review
"A classic . . .one of the best expositions on the Arab world and Islam." Jay Winik, best-selling author of April 1865: The Month that Saved America. --Review provided by reviewer<br /><br />"A quarter-century-old book that I took with me to Baghdad last month helped explain what I saw when I got there." James R. Pinkerton, Newsday. --Newsday<br /><br />"A sympathetic wide-ranging study." -- The New Yorker<br /><br />[A]n impressive spread of scholarship...a major contribution in an important field. --Publishers' Weekly
About the Author
Raphael Patai was the author of over 600 articles and more than twenty books, including The Jewish Mind, The Seed of Abraham, Jadid al-Islam: The Jewish New Muslims, Of Meshhed, and Arab Folktales from Palestine and Israel. A native of Hungary, he began studying Arabic at the age of nineteen. Before coming to the United States, he lived for fifteen years in Palestine. Director of the Syria-Lebanon-Joran Research Project of the Human Relations Area Files of New Haven, Connecticut, he taught at Princeton, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania. A prolific cultural anthropologist, historian, and biblical scholar, Dr. Patai died in 1996.
Norvell B. Tex De Atkine, Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired) served eight years in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt (in addition to combat service in Vietnam). A West Pointer, he holds a graduate degree in Arab studies from the American University of Beirut. After teaching for 18 years at the JFK Special Warfare School at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, he is now an independent Middle East consultant.
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Nicholas Sterling
4.0 out of 5 stars What makes arabs tickReviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 18 January 2020
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Eye opening on Arab development from childhood and customs and character and interactions within Arab and non Arab peoples. Recommended
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John B. Walters
5.0 out of 5 stars The Arab Mind by Raphael PataiReviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 30 October 2013
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====
The Arab Mind
By; Ralphael Patai
I sent a copy of my latest book to Jennifer Schneider. She responded by telling me of a book her father had written entitled "The Arab Mind". I immediately ordered a copy and just now after three weeks of tortuous reading I have finally finished reading. I say that, not to disparage her father but due to the overriding conclusion of how antiquated and stuck in time these people continue to be.
This book was originally printed in 1973. This newest edition was updated in 1983. Mr. Patai was an accomplished author with over 30 books written. He lived in Palestine for 15 years as a youth before immigrating to America. He died in 1996.
Chapters are devoted to every aspect of Arab life including music, arts, Arabic language and Bedouin values which were transformed by Islam.
Conflict, it appears, is a necessary ingredient for Arabs, whether tribal, countries or religions. The formation of the State of Israel in 1948 has become the unifying goal of all to erase this stain on what they consider to be their holy ground. Whatever their shortcomings are, Israel is blamed. Only destruction of the Jewish people will free them and allow them to succeed. They do acknowledge that Israel has been the winner of the three wars with Arab nations because of their intellectual prowess in all things of a science nature. Wouldn't you think they could be intelligent enough to understand and emulate their success themselves and thereby raise their standard of living comparable to Israel? Destroying Israel will only plunge the entire Middle East into a downward spiral even more than today (my comment).
The ages old tradition of demeaning women is thoroughly documented from the practice of cutting them as young girls to decrease their pleasure of sex acts, to rejoicing over a male birth and irritation over a female, to the preferential rearing of males and ignoring the needs of girls, to deny women and girls the right to education, to forcing them to cover themselves with burkas, to keep them in the home unless accompanied by a male relative, to divorcing by just saying "I divorce you". Until they finally realize what a precious source of wisdom and input women can make they will forever be a lost culture. It can't be ignorance as the West has clearly shown how productive women can be. I don't even accept that Islam is the cause. It is not religion; it is that the men are not willing to share their power equally, what a tragedy that today in the 21st Century barbaric behavior continues, and in effect making slaves of females.
After the Yon Kipper war in 1973 the Arab world declared victory. They had been thoroughly beaten by Israel but would not admit it. The hostilities were ended by both sides accepting the United Nations edict. Israel gave back the Sinai and bits and pieces of the Golan Heights. The Arab victory came afterward with the oil embargo on Western nations and then the huge increase in the cost of OPEC oil. All of this caused havoc for the West. It took a long time to recover. In the decades to follow the tremendous influx of wealth changed the Arab world dramatically. In some countries great structures were built, health and education became free for the citizens. Others used their wealth to promote terrorist groups. (I particularly single out Saudi Arabia as the most dangerous). Our government continues to assert our friendship in spite of the fact that 16 of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudis.
An interesting male Arab attribute is the aversion to getting their hands dirty. They have no problem with women working. With the new wealth they could hire all types of foreign men to operate their oil processes, build their skyscrapers and do all sort of menial work while they drink their coffee.
Nothing in this book changed my negative thinking in regard to Arabs and Islam. They will continue their destructive ways until such time as they are confronted and re-educated.
I will conclude this with the author's final paragraph.
"At the same time Arab nationalism became tainted by a strong anti-Western streak. While it had to be recognized that the West was the prime mover in bringing about the Arab awakening, in introducing sanitation, general education and other mass benefits into the Arab world, the West assumed for the Arab mind the character of a sinister jinni, a hateful enemy and a convenient whipping boy who could be blamed for all the problems that beset the Arabs. The encounter with the West produced a disturbing inferiority complex in the Arab mind which in itself made it more difficult to shake off the shackles of stagnation. The next challenge the Arab mind must meet is to cease measuring Arab achievements with Western yardsticks and to work for a regeneration of the Arab world by building on its own, by no means negligible, capabilities".
Jack B. Walters
October 26, 2013
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8 people found this helpfulReport
Phyllis Antebi Ph.D
5.0 out of 5 stars It's All about Context: the Middle Eastern ContextReviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 6 August 2012
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"The Arab Mind" is about the personality traits of a people whose history does not include what we have come to term, "Western" thought. Patai tells us from the beginning that the extremes in weather and terrain as well as the hardships incurred from changing conditions, political, social, and economic, have had their effect on the creation of a mind or personality structure, unlike our own. "The Middle East" is a culturally clearly definable area which lies geographically between Europe, Black Africa, and Central and Southeast Asia (p.10). People who may find it difficult to fathom the concept of a modal personality may find this book difficult to digest. But, within the context of the Middle Eastern culture, I believe Patai has it right. He is not alone in his emphasis on the concept of modal personality or personality models. I have recently read Bradd Shore's book, 'Culture in Mind:Cognition, Culture and the Roots of Meaning'. This book was published in 1998. Shore suggests that culture is to be referred to as an 'intrinsic component of the human mind'. He adds, that culture's intrinsic role is more relevant and 'to a greater degree than most psychologists and even many anthropologists have not recognized'. "The Arab Mind" testifies to the scope and range of the Arab mentality with broad sweeps of the pen and minute and subtle detail to provide an in depth study for students and scholars, alike. This book's relevance is easily demonstrated by the current, that is 2013, so called "Arab Spring". It has not taken long for us to view, right before our eyes, the "Spring" become a living nightmare. Decency and sanity disappear into thin air. I recommend "Muslim women", by Noni Darwish. This book documents first hand accounts of mothers selling their daughters to any man willing to pay the "right" price. The heartache of domestic terrorism should not fall on deaf American' ears. We remain in denial and psychologically asleep if we deny that there is anything but depth and authenticity in Patai's remarkable work. I come from an American family of Middle Eastern descent. This fact has enabled me to testify to the impact of culture on personality. The emotionality that pervades the daily dialogue of husband, wife, children etc. is often characteristically abrasive. There is often tension between men and women which goes beyond conventional understanding. I do not believe the Arab mind is typically self-reflective, as their self image is often on the most precarious ground. Those sudden flare ups, out of nowhere, leave emotional scars it is our burden to heal. Don't expect to find objective evidence that Patai is being open minded. Rather consider the Western saying, "You never know what goes on behind closed doors". Only in the Middle East will you find that a husband sliced off the whole of his wife's nose because, he said, her beauty offended him. Only in the Middle East will you find mothers force feeding their daughters in the hope of finding them a husband. The pull of the unconscious is so powerful that brutality can and often does become one's second nature in the Middle Eastern Personality. This truth can be confirmed within the context of the Middle East because it is culturally acceptable. This is the place where reason cannot control passion. This is the environment in which tragedy is pervasive. Oppressors and oppressed, those on top and those underneath reflects the structure of a primitive society and of primitive social forces, like those in the Middle East. In conclusion, Patai provides a sympathetic, balanced, authentic, and coherent articulation of those cultural factors most relevant and pervasive, that to dispute his findings would be difficult.
Read less
11 people found this helpfulReport
Luksy Ann
4.0 out of 5 stars Not flattering, but realisticReviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 3 June 2020
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The Arab Mind, initially published before the dominance of political correctness, does not pull its punches and is accordingly not a a particularly flattering portrait of the Arab people. (A Guardian review of 2014 finds the book 'offensive', but that's no more than you'd expect of a publication with such tender sensibilities.) While the author finds some qualities to praise, he is not slow to highlight the hyperbolic nature of Arab rhetoric, the tendency to blame failings on Israel and the West, a persistent tribal mentality, and a stagnation on all fronts which set in during the Middle Ages and was only addressed by some Arab thinkers in the twentieth century.
Some have criticised the book for an undue concern with sexuality, though I think the accusation groundless. One of the book's sixteen chapters is concerned with the said topic, and there are other references here and there, which stops some way short of the preoccupation with Arab sexuality that has been alleged.
The writing is lucid, accessible and unpretentious, which should attract many laymen readers, while remaining cogent in its arguments. As someone who has taught students from the Gulf States I find the observations of the Arab perception of time (and punctuality) and the preference for short spells of work followed by lengthy periods of inactivity, resonate with me!
2 people found this helpfulReport
observer100
5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely valuableReviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 23 February 2009
Verified Purchase
Mutual misunderstanding between Arabs and Europeans despite courteous initial contacts is legendary. Too many Europeans are plagued by romanticised images ultimately based on fiction or a naive view of Arabs as Europeans in different dress, a description which vast numbers of Arabs would find insulting. For years I avoided this book because to me its title suggested a simplistic mass categorisation. I was wrong. Patai explains meticulously that although minds vary in any human group, the minds of two groups will display differences just as the minds of individuals do. These differences are based on early upbringing and other influences and Patai presents a great deal of information which helps Westerners to understand the Arab ways of doing things. He is quite clear that he is not alone in his observations and quotes many Arab scholars positively. I am aware that he has been criticised by more recent workers as is the normal course of things in Western intellectual life, but I would still regard this highly readable book as necessary reading for someone who has to work in the Arab world or wants to understand it better. At the same time I would caution against allowing book-knowledge, especially from a somewhat popular book like this, to support a kind of bigotry. An enquiring rather than a dogmatic approach, 'standing on the shoulders of others' will avoid injustice and provide better understanding than the book alone.
9 people found this helpfulReport
Eric Vought
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, but Kindle ed special character problemsReviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 18 February 2017
Verified Purchase
This classic and informative book delves deeply into Middle-Eastern culture and thinking, including effects of the structure of Arabic on representation of concepts which can otherwise be traps to a western thinker. This is a must read for anyone attempting to understand communication gaps between East and West, and Arab behavior which may otherwise seem inexplicable. At the same time, the author is careful to distinguish social norms and tendencies from individual and local variations.
The Kindle edition, with its easy portability and convenient annotation, comes with a downside, at least in the Android Kindle app: special characters, especially in transliteration of foreign characters is *maddening*, with currency symbols and other random artifacts spattering Arabic words and names. The author, unfortunately, does not use one of the later pure-ASCII transliteration schemes, and the electronic version seems to have had poor Unicode character conversion. This would be an annoyance only, except it often breaks search within the book and copy-and-search *outside* the book, as well as making note-taking non-trivial. Bringing the content into electronic firm is appreciated, but *needs work*.
5 people found this helpfulReport
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Conflict, it appears, is a necessary ingredient for Arabs, whether tribal, countries or religions. The formation of the State of Israel in 1948 has become the unifying goal of all to erase this stain on what they consider to be their holy ground. Whatever their shortcomings are, Israel is blamed. Only destruction of the Jewish people will free them and allow them to succeed. They do acknowledge that Israel has been the winner of the three wars with Arab nations because of their intellectual prowess in all things of a science nature. Wouldn't you think they could be intelligent enough to understand and emulate their success themselves and thereby raise their standard of living comparable to Israel? Destroying Israel will only plunge the entire Middle East into a downward spiral even more than today (my comment).
The ages old tradition of demeaning women is thoroughly documented from the practice of cutting them as young girls to decrease their pleasure of sex acts, to rejoicing over a male birth and irritation over a female, to the preferential rearing of males and ignoring the needs of girls, to deny women and girls the right to education, to forcing them to cover themselves with burkas, to keep them in the home unless accompanied by a male relative, to divorcing by just saying "I divorce you". Until they finally realize what a precious source of wisdom and input women can make they will forever be a lost culture. It can't be ignorance as the West has clearly shown how productive women can be. I don't even accept that Islam is the cause. It is not religion; it is that the men are not willing to share their power equally, what a tragedy that today in the 21st Century barbaric behavior continues, and in effect making slaves of females.
After the Yon Kipper war in 1973 the Arab world declared victory. They had been thoroughly beaten by Israel but would not admit it. The hostilities were ended by both sides accepting the United Nations edict. Israel gave back the Sinai and bits and pieces of the Golan Heights. The Arab victory came afterward with the oil embargo on Western nations and then the huge increase in the cost of OPEC oil. All of this caused havoc for the West. It took a long time to recover. In the decades to follow the tremendous influx of wealth changed the Arab world dramatically. In some countries great structures were built, health and education became free for the citizens. Others used their wealth to promote terrorist groups. (I particularly single out Saudi Arabia as the most dangerous). Our government continues to assert our friendship in spite of the fact that 16 of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudis.
An interesting male Arab attribute is the aversion to getting their hands dirty. They have no problem with women working. With the new wealth they could hire all types of foreign men to operate their oil processes, build their skyscrapers and do all sort of menial work while they drink their coffee.
Nothing in this book changed my negative thinking in regard to Arabs and Islam. They will continue their destructive ways until such time as they are confronted and re-educated.
I will conclude this with the author's final paragraph.
"At the same time Arab nationalism became tainted by a strong anti-Western streak. While it had to be recognized that the West was the prime mover in bringing about the Arab awakening, in introducing sanitation, general education and other mass benefits into the Arab world, the West assumed for the Arab mind the character of a sinister jinni, a hateful enemy and a convenient whipping boy who could be blamed for all the problems that beset the Arabs. The encounter with the West produced a disturbing inferiority complex in the Arab mind which in itself made it more difficult to shake off the shackles of stagnation. The next challenge the Arab mind must meet is to cease measuring Arab achievements with Western yardsticks and to work for a regeneration of the Arab world by building on its own, by no means negligible, capabilities".
Jack B. Walters
October 26, 2013
Read less
8 people found this helpfulReport
Phyllis Antebi Ph.D
5.0 out of 5 stars It's All about Context: the Middle Eastern ContextReviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 6 August 2012
Verified Purchase
"The Arab Mind" is about the personality traits of a people whose history does not include what we have come to term, "Western" thought. Patai tells us from the beginning that the extremes in weather and terrain as well as the hardships incurred from changing conditions, political, social, and economic, have had their effect on the creation of a mind or personality structure, unlike our own. "The Middle East" is a culturally clearly definable area which lies geographically between Europe, Black Africa, and Central and Southeast Asia (p.10). People who may find it difficult to fathom the concept of a modal personality may find this book difficult to digest. But, within the context of the Middle Eastern culture, I believe Patai has it right. He is not alone in his emphasis on the concept of modal personality or personality models. I have recently read Bradd Shore's book, 'Culture in Mind:Cognition, Culture and the Roots of Meaning'. This book was published in 1998. Shore suggests that culture is to be referred to as an 'intrinsic component of the human mind'. He adds, that culture's intrinsic role is more relevant and 'to a greater degree than most psychologists and even many anthropologists have not recognized'. "The Arab Mind" testifies to the scope and range of the Arab mentality with broad sweeps of the pen and minute and subtle detail to provide an in depth study for students and scholars, alike. This book's relevance is easily demonstrated by the current, that is 2013, so called "Arab Spring". It has not taken long for us to view, right before our eyes, the "Spring" become a living nightmare. Decency and sanity disappear into thin air. I recommend "Muslim women", by Noni Darwish. This book documents first hand accounts of mothers selling their daughters to any man willing to pay the "right" price. The heartache of domestic terrorism should not fall on deaf American' ears. We remain in denial and psychologically asleep if we deny that there is anything but depth and authenticity in Patai's remarkable work. I come from an American family of Middle Eastern descent. This fact has enabled me to testify to the impact of culture on personality. The emotionality that pervades the daily dialogue of husband, wife, children etc. is often characteristically abrasive. There is often tension between men and women which goes beyond conventional understanding. I do not believe the Arab mind is typically self-reflective, as their self image is often on the most precarious ground. Those sudden flare ups, out of nowhere, leave emotional scars it is our burden to heal. Don't expect to find objective evidence that Patai is being open minded. Rather consider the Western saying, "You never know what goes on behind closed doors". Only in the Middle East will you find that a husband sliced off the whole of his wife's nose because, he said, her beauty offended him. Only in the Middle East will you find mothers force feeding their daughters in the hope of finding them a husband. The pull of the unconscious is so powerful that brutality can and often does become one's second nature in the Middle Eastern Personality. This truth can be confirmed within the context of the Middle East because it is culturally acceptable. This is the place where reason cannot control passion. This is the environment in which tragedy is pervasive. Oppressors and oppressed, those on top and those underneath reflects the structure of a primitive society and of primitive social forces, like those in the Middle East. In conclusion, Patai provides a sympathetic, balanced, authentic, and coherent articulation of those cultural factors most relevant and pervasive, that to dispute his findings would be difficult.
Read less
11 people found this helpfulReport
Luksy Ann
4.0 out of 5 stars Not flattering, but realisticReviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 3 June 2020
Verified Purchase
The Arab Mind, initially published before the dominance of political correctness, does not pull its punches and is accordingly not a a particularly flattering portrait of the Arab people. (A Guardian review of 2014 finds the book 'offensive', but that's no more than you'd expect of a publication with such tender sensibilities.) While the author finds some qualities to praise, he is not slow to highlight the hyperbolic nature of Arab rhetoric, the tendency to blame failings on Israel and the West, a persistent tribal mentality, and a stagnation on all fronts which set in during the Middle Ages and was only addressed by some Arab thinkers in the twentieth century.
Some have criticised the book for an undue concern with sexuality, though I think the accusation groundless. One of the book's sixteen chapters is concerned with the said topic, and there are other references here and there, which stops some way short of the preoccupation with Arab sexuality that has been alleged.
The writing is lucid, accessible and unpretentious, which should attract many laymen readers, while remaining cogent in its arguments. As someone who has taught students from the Gulf States I find the observations of the Arab perception of time (and punctuality) and the preference for short spells of work followed by lengthy periods of inactivity, resonate with me!
2 people found this helpfulReport
observer100
5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely valuableReviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 23 February 2009
Verified Purchase
Mutual misunderstanding between Arabs and Europeans despite courteous initial contacts is legendary. Too many Europeans are plagued by romanticised images ultimately based on fiction or a naive view of Arabs as Europeans in different dress, a description which vast numbers of Arabs would find insulting. For years I avoided this book because to me its title suggested a simplistic mass categorisation. I was wrong. Patai explains meticulously that although minds vary in any human group, the minds of two groups will display differences just as the minds of individuals do. These differences are based on early upbringing and other influences and Patai presents a great deal of information which helps Westerners to understand the Arab ways of doing things. He is quite clear that he is not alone in his observations and quotes many Arab scholars positively. I am aware that he has been criticised by more recent workers as is the normal course of things in Western intellectual life, but I would still regard this highly readable book as necessary reading for someone who has to work in the Arab world or wants to understand it better. At the same time I would caution against allowing book-knowledge, especially from a somewhat popular book like this, to support a kind of bigotry. An enquiring rather than a dogmatic approach, 'standing on the shoulders of others' will avoid injustice and provide better understanding than the book alone.
9 people found this helpfulReport
Eric Vought
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, but Kindle ed special character problemsReviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 18 February 2017
Verified Purchase
This classic and informative book delves deeply into Middle-Eastern culture and thinking, including effects of the structure of Arabic on representation of concepts which can otherwise be traps to a western thinker. This is a must read for anyone attempting to understand communication gaps between East and West, and Arab behavior which may otherwise seem inexplicable. At the same time, the author is careful to distinguish social norms and tendencies from individual and local variations.
The Kindle edition, with its easy portability and convenient annotation, comes with a downside, at least in the Android Kindle app: special characters, especially in transliteration of foreign characters is *maddening*, with currency symbols and other random artifacts spattering Arabic words and names. The author, unfortunately, does not use one of the later pure-ASCII transliteration schemes, and the electronic version seems to have had poor Unicode character conversion. This would be an annoyance only, except it often breaks search within the book and copy-and-search *outside* the book, as well as making note-taking non-trivial. Bringing the content into electronic firm is appreciated, but *needs work*.
5 people found this helpfulReport
See more reviews
The Arab Mind
The Arab Mind is a non-fiction cultural psychology book by Hungarian-born, Jewish cultural anthropologist and Orientalist Raphael Patai. He also wrote The Jewish Mind. The book advocates a tribal-group-survival explanation for the driving factors behind Arab culture. It was first published in 1973, and later revised in 1983. A 2007 reprint was further "updated with new demographic information about the Arab world".[1]
Contents[edit]
In describing his interest in his subject, Patai writes in the original preface to his book: "When it comes to the Arabs, I must admit to an incurable romanticism; nay more than that: to having had a life-long attachment to Araby."
Along with prefaces, a conclusion, and a postscript, the book contains 16 chapters, including on Arab child-rearing practices, three chapters on Bedouin influences and values, Arab language, Arab art, sexual honor/repression, freedom/hospitality/outlets, Islam's impact, unity and conflict and conflict resolution, and Westernization. A four-page comparison to Spanish America is made in Appendix II. The Foreword is by Norvell B. DeAtkine, Director of Middle East Studies at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg.
Public reception[edit]
The book came to public attention in 2004, after investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, writing for The New Yorker, reported that an academic told him the book was "the bible of the neocons on Arab behavior." Hersh reported: "The notion that Arabs are particularly vulnerable to sexual humiliation became a talking point among pro-war Washington conservatives in the months before the March, 2003, invasion of Iraq. One book that was frequently cited was The Arab Mind.”[2]
Not only was the book a point of discussion among politicians and policy-makers, but it was actively distributed by the Pentagon to the U.S. Armed Forces as a purported pedagogical tool during the U.S. War on Terror.[3]
Criticism[edit]
Patai is criticized at several points in Edward Said's book Orientalism; he writes that the book functions:
Other scholars describe the book as simplistic, reductionist, stereotyping, generic, racist, essentialist, outdated, superseded, flawed, unscientific, coldhearted, and even intellectually dishonest.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] [14] The book has been compared to Fouad Ajami's The Arab Predicament (1992) and Hilal Khashan's Arabs at the Crossroads (2000).[13] It is worth noting that some other scholars, including Arab scholars such as Mohammad Al-Jabri, used the concept of "Arab mind" or "Arab reason" to different effect.[15][16]
Scholar Fouad M. Moughrabi observed that this book is not an isolated incident, but rather part of a wider pseudo-intellectual trend, writing:
The Racism Watch organisation reported in June 2004 that Manning Marable, Columbia University director of African American Studies, had called for immediate action to be taken to end the U.S. military's use of the book. This was followed by a surge of media interest in the book during the summer of 2004.[17]
The book was described by The Guardian correspondent Brian Whitaker as one that presents "an overwhelmingly negative picture of the Arabs."[18] According to a 2004 Boston Globe article by Emram Qureshi, the book's methodology is "emblematic of a bygone era of scholarship focused on the notion of a 'national character,' or personality archetype".[19]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ # Recovery Resources Press, ISBN 978-0-9672015-5-9.
- ^ "The Gray Zone" by Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker.
- ^ Moughrabi, Fouad (2009). "Moving Toward a Knowledge Society in the Arab World". Arab Studies Quarterly. 31 (4): 17–31. ISSN 0271-3519. JSTOR 41858593.
- ^ W., Said, Edward (2019). Orientalism. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-118742-6. OCLC 1200830761.
- ^ Labelle, Maurice Jr (2019-04-01). "Empathy and the Lebanese Civil War of 1958 in the USA". Arab Studies Quarterly. 41 (2). doi:10.13169/arabstudquar.41.2.0172. ISSN 0271-3519. S2CID 198619477.
- ^ S. M. Stern (ed.), Ignác Goldziher, Muslim Studies, Transaction 2006, ISBN 0-202-30778-6 p. LXXXVI;
Abdeslam M. Maghraoui: Liberalism Without Democracy: Nationhood and Citizenship in Egypt, 1922-1936, Duke University Press 2006, ISBN 0-8223-3838-6, p. 11;
Michael Hudson: The Political Culture Approach to Arab Democratization. In: Rex Brynen, Baghat Korany, Paul Noble (eds.), Political Liberalization and Democratization in the Arab World, Lynne Rienner 1995, ISBN 1-55587-579-3, p. 66;
Fouad M. Moughrabi, The Arab Basic Personality: A Critical Survey of the Literature. In: International Journal of Middle East Studies, 9.1 (January 1978), Cambridge University Press, pp. 99–112;
Ibrahim Abhukattala, The New Bogeyman Under the Bed: Image Formation of Islam in the Western School Curriculum and Media. In: Joe L. Kincheloe, Shirley R. Steinberg (eds.), The Miseducation of the West: How Schools and the Media Distort Our Understanding of the Islamic World, Praeger 2004, ISBN 0-275-98160-6, p. 167. - ^ a b Moughrabi, Fouad M. (1978). "The Arab Basic Personality: A Critical Survey of the Literature". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 9 (1): 99–112. doi:10.1017/S0020743800051722. ISSN 0020-7438. JSTOR 162628. S2CID 143599329.
- ^ Davis, Eric (2008). "Pensée 3: A Sectarian Middle East?". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 40 (4): 555–558. doi:10.1017/S0020743808081476. ISSN 0020-7438. JSTOR 40206006. S2CID 153808981.
- ^ Zayani, Mohamed (2008). "Courting and Containing the Arab Street: Arab Public Opinion, the Middle East and U.S. Public Diplomacy". Arab Studies Quarterly. 30 (2): 48. ISSN 0271-3519. JSTOR 41858543.
- ^ فندي, ﻣﺄمون (1996). "«حتى لا نقع في الفخ܃ حدوتة «العقل العربي". The Arab Studies Journal. 4 (1): 17–21. ISSN 1083-4753. JSTOR 27933688.
- ^ Turki, Fawaz (1975). "The Palestinian Estranged". Journal of Palestine Studies. 5 (1/2): 82–96. doi:10.2307/2535684. ISSN 0377-919X. JSTOR 2535684.
- ^ Aruri, Naseer H. (1989). "The Recolonization of the Arab World". Arab Studies Quarterly. 11 (2/3): 273–286. ISSN 0271-3519. JSTOR 41859072.
- ^ a b AbuKhalil, As'ad (2001). "Recent Books: Arabs at the Crossroads". Journal of Palestine Studies. 30 (2): 115. doi:10.1525/jps.2001.30.2.108. ISSN 0377-919X. JSTOR 10.1525/jps.2001.30.2.108.
- ^ Strindberg, Anders; Wärn, Mats (2005). "Realities of Resistance: Hizballah, the Palestinian Rejectionists, and al-Qa'ida Compared". Journal of Palestine Studies. 34 (3): 23–41. doi:10.1525/jps.2005.34.3.23. ISSN 0377-919X. JSTOR 10.1525/jps.2005.34.3.23.
- ^ "Mohammed Abed Al-Jabri. The Formation of Arab Reason: Text, Tradition and the Construction of Modernity in the Arab World. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, in association with The Centre for Arab Unity Studies, 2011. x+462 pages. Cloth US$90.00 ISBN 978-1-84885-061-3". Review of Middle East Studies. 46 (2): 234–236. 2012. doi:10.1017/S2151348100003451. ISSN 2151-3481.
- ^ Esposito, John L., ed. (2003-01-01). "Jabiri, Muhammad Abid al-". The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-512558-0.
- ^ PCDC Edu - 2004 Racism Watch Calls for Action to End Use of Anti-Arab Books by the U.S. Government Archived 2010-08-30 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Its best use is as a doorstop" by Brian Whitaker, The Guardian.
- ^ Emram Qureshi (May 30, 2004). "Misreading 'The Arab Mind'". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on February 23, 2006.
External links[edit]
- "The Arab Mind Revisited" by Col. Norvell B. De Atkine (ret.), an updated foreword to the book
- "The Arab Mind" - book review of the 1976 edition - by Douglas Vos
- "Inside The Arab Mind" by Lee Smith, Slate (magazine)
- “Culture Knowledge” and the Violence of Imperialism: Revisiting the Arab Mind by Frances S. Hasso (Oberlin College), The MIT Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies, Spring 2007 (PDF).
- "The Arab Mind by Raphael Patai. Book review by Lloyd F. Jordan"
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Raphael Patai, 85, a Scholar of Jewish and Arab Cultures
By Robert Mcg. Thomas Jr.
July 25, 1996
===
Raphael Patai, a cultural anthropologist who turned the stories of the Jewish people into the story of his life as a preeminent scholar of Jewish and Middle Eastern studies, died on Saturday at the home of a daughter in Tucson, Ariz. He was 85.
The cause was cancer, said his daughter, Dr. Jennifer Schneider. Her father, a long-time resident of Forest Hills, Queens, had come to Tucson a week earlier, she said.
A native of Budapest whose father was a prominent scholar, writer and Zionist, Mr. Patai was so fascinated with the folk tales his father helped record and publish that he made the study of folklore the centerpiece of his life as a scholar.
Mr. Patai ranged far afield, specializing in both the life of the ancient Jewish people and the culture of the modern Middle East. He was the author of more than three dozen books on Jewish and Arab culture, history, politics, psychology and folklore.
Among his titles are "Golden River to Golden Road: Society, Culture and Change in the Middle East" (1962), "Myth and Legend of Ancient Israel" (1966), "The Myth of the Jewish Race" (1975), written with his daughter, then Jennifer Wing; "The Arab Mind" (1976), "The Jewish Mind" (1977), "The Seed of Abraham: Jews and Arabs in Contact and Conflict" (1983) and "The Jews of Hungary: History, Culture, Psychology," published this year.
As a scholar, Mr. Patai, whose name rhymes with Hawaii, was well prepared. After studying at the University of Breslau Rabbinical Seminary and receiving a doctorate and a rabbinical diploma from the University of Budapest, he followed his own Zionist impulses and studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he received the university's first doctorate, in 1936.
He did his initial work in Palestine. But when the war that led to Israel's founding made it difficult for a pioneering anthropologist to find support for his research, he came to the United States, in 1947. He held a series of academic posts, teaching first at the old Dropsie College in Philadelphia and later at the Herzel Institute in New York and Fairleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford, N.J.
Although he was a thoroughgoing scholar whose idea of a vacation in Paris was to hole up in the French national library, Mr. Patai was a storyteller at heart. In his books he told and retold the ancient tales, using the interpretive techniques of modern scholarship to illuminate the lives of ancient Jews.
If some see the stories of the Old Testament, for example, as the literal historical truth and others perceive them as religious parables, Mr. Patai tended to see them as windows into the everyday, often roiling and rollicking life, culture and psychology of an ancient people.
Raphael Patai, 85, a Scholar of Jewish and Arab Cultures
By Robert Mcg. Thomas Jr.
July 25, 1996
===
Raphael Patai, a cultural anthropologist who turned the stories of the Jewish people into the story of his life as a preeminent scholar of Jewish and Middle Eastern studies, died on Saturday at the home of a daughter in Tucson, Ariz. He was 85.
The cause was cancer, said his daughter, Dr. Jennifer Schneider. Her father, a long-time resident of Forest Hills, Queens, had come to Tucson a week earlier, she said.
A native of Budapest whose father was a prominent scholar, writer and Zionist, Mr. Patai was so fascinated with the folk tales his father helped record and publish that he made the study of folklore the centerpiece of his life as a scholar.
Mr. Patai ranged far afield, specializing in both the life of the ancient Jewish people and the culture of the modern Middle East. He was the author of more than three dozen books on Jewish and Arab culture, history, politics, psychology and folklore.
Among his titles are "Golden River to Golden Road: Society, Culture and Change in the Middle East" (1962), "Myth and Legend of Ancient Israel" (1966), "The Myth of the Jewish Race" (1975), written with his daughter, then Jennifer Wing; "The Arab Mind" (1976), "The Jewish Mind" (1977), "The Seed of Abraham: Jews and Arabs in Contact and Conflict" (1983) and "The Jews of Hungary: History, Culture, Psychology," published this year.
As a scholar, Mr. Patai, whose name rhymes with Hawaii, was well prepared. After studying at the University of Breslau Rabbinical Seminary and receiving a doctorate and a rabbinical diploma from the University of Budapest, he followed his own Zionist impulses and studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he received the university's first doctorate, in 1936.
He did his initial work in Palestine. But when the war that led to Israel's founding made it difficult for a pioneering anthropologist to find support for his research, he came to the United States, in 1947. He held a series of academic posts, teaching first at the old Dropsie College in Philadelphia and later at the Herzel Institute in New York and Fairleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford, N.J.
Although he was a thoroughgoing scholar whose idea of a vacation in Paris was to hole up in the French national library, Mr. Patai was a storyteller at heart. In his books he told and retold the ancient tales, using the interpretive techniques of modern scholarship to illuminate the lives of ancient Jews.
If some see the stories of the Old Testament, for example, as the literal historical truth and others perceive them as religious parables, Mr. Patai tended to see them as windows into the everyday, often roiling and rollicking life, culture and psychology of an ancient people.
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