Subversive Philology? : Prosopography as a Relational and Corpus-Based Approach to Early Islamic History

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Leube, Georg:
Subversive Philology? : Prosopography as a Relational and Corpus-Based Approach to Early Islamic History.
In: Aghdassi, Abbas ; Hughes, Aaron W. (Hrsg.): New Methods in the Study of Islam. - Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press , 2022 . - S. 44-69 . - (Advances in the Study of Islam ; 1 )
ISBN 9781399503495

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Abstract

This contribution suggests prosopographic engagement with the formative period of Islam as a systematic and corpus-based approach that enables the 'falsifiable' development of interpretative frameworks on a relational basis. This systematization of engagement with early Islamic history is crucial to overcome the influence of substantializing and frequently colonialist and (self-)orientalizing paradigms in academic research. At the same time, the importance of early Islamic history as the communal memory and 'resonating body' grounding the negotiation of Islamic normativities and public perceptions of Islam until today imbues this field of Islamic history with additional importance. This contribution sets out with an introduction to early Islamic history as a contested cultural memory and a review of prosopographical engagements with this period, suggesting prosopography or 'the study of an internally linked group of individuals' as an emic epistemological category in Arabic-Islamic scholarly traditions. I then suggest some pragmatic 'lessons learned' while engaging in a prosopographic case-study centered on individuals and groups affiliated to the Arab 'tribe' (qabīla) of Kinda. Subsequently, I present two examples of how the systematized engagement with early Islamic history through the prosopographical database of Kinda suggests innovative interpretations of the 'factual' history of events, as well as of the narrative dynamics that shaped the extant reports during the process of transmission.