The Evolution of Arab Historiography: Modern Trends and Methodological Shifts

The second half of the twentieth century witnessed significant transformation in Arab historiography, marked by expanded scope and evolving content. Scholars moved beyond political narratives to incorporate deeper analyses of social history, economic structures, and cultural dynamics. Concurrently, the field became more attuned to global contexts, examining the Arab world's connections with both Western nations and the Third World. This professionalization, rooted in the interwar period, accelerated after 1945 as newly independent states sought to construct modern national identities through revised historical education.

This chapter surveys principal developments from 1945 onward, divided into two distinct periods. The first, from 1945 to 1970, was dominated by the intertwined discourses of Arab nationalism and socialism. Historical writing often served to anchor the nation within a framework of collective achievement, though with a pronounced shift toward socio-economic analysis. While not all works fit these paradigms, they were the predominant trends shaping the treatment of interrelated issues. This era also saw the emergence of feminist voices influencing historical narration and increased attention to studies of culture, economies, and minorities. The overarching methodological direction can be termed secularism, albeit redefined within its specific Middle Eastern context.

The second period involves concerted attempts to decolonize and rewrite history across the Arab world. This phase saw a rising religious discourse challenging earlier secular trends within historical writing. The conflict between this discourse, with its emphasis on authenticity, and the secular Arab state had widespread repercussions. It introduced new analytical categories into historical narratives, including democracy, civil society, citizenship, and women’s rights. The state's relative success in holding its ground against this ideological onslaught partly explains the intensified confrontation between Islamic and Western spheres in recent decades.

Professional Arab historiography was institutionalized primarily in Egypt and Lebanon between the world wars, at centers like Fuad I University in Cairo and the American University of Beirut. After 1945, this professionalism spread as other nations gained independence and overhauled their education systems. Syria and Iraq became key subsequent centers, with their elites emphasizing the Islamic heritage and the Arab role in its dissemination. In Syria, professional foundations were laid with the 1948 establishment of the History Department at Damascus University, spearheaded by scholars like Qustantin Zurayq and Darwish al-Miqdadi.

Early Syrian professional historians, such as Muhammad Dahman, Jamil Saliba, and Kamil Ayyad, began by editing classical Arab manuscripts. The field diversified with specialists like Ahmad Tarabayn on Arab unification and Khayriah Qasimyiah on nationalist movements. A significant methodological shift was led by Abd al-Karim Rafeq, a social historian trained at the University of London. His pioneering use of Ottoman court records reconstructed the social life of Arab provinces during Ottoman rule, moving historiography beyond political chronicles.

Iraq similarly pursued professionalization after the early 1940s. Pioneers like Abd al-Aziz al-Duri and Ahmad Salih al-Ali, both trained in London, inaugurated a new Iraqi school emphasizing socio-economic dimensions. Al-Ali's 1953 work on the socio-economic structures of Basra in the first Islamic century was seminal. Al-Duri played a crucial role in introducing economic history as an academic discipline, producing influential studies on the classical Islamic period and Arab historiography.

Another influential figure, the American-trained sociologist Ali al-Wardi, analyzed modern Iraqi history through the lens of an endemic conflict between nomadism and urbanism. His work argued that nomadic culture exerted a hegemonic influence, leaving modern Iraq torn between inherited values and modernity. Following the Baath Party's rise in 1968 and increased oil revenues, Iraq aimed to become a pan-Arab cultural center, founding the Union of Arab Historians in Baghdad in 1973. The subsequent 2003 invasion devastated Iraq's historical infrastructure, leading to the loss of priceless manuscripts and a brain drain of academics, though scholars like Abdul Jabbar Naji continue their work.

In Lebanon, historiography evolved distinctively after 1945, moving beyond primarily Maronite narratives. A new generation of academic historians, including Kamal Salibi, Adel Ismail, and Wajih Kawtharani, emerged. Ismail pioneered the use of French and British diplomatic archives, while Kawtharani applied the methodologies of the French Annales School. Historians like Waddah Sharara and Massoud Dahir employed neo-Marxist and classical Marxist frameworks, respectively, to analyze Lebanon's socio-economic history and the role of confessionalism.

The French-educated historian Ahmad Beydoun made a critical contribution by analyzing how a historian's sectarian identity shapes their interpretation of Lebanon's past. He noted that events were often treated as embodiments of a priori essences like geography or fixed identity, overshadowing the dimension of change over time. Prior to the 1975 civil war, Kamal Salibi's work promoted an image of Lebanon as a stable, consensual republic. Post-war, his approach became more critical, and scholars like Sharara reframed Maronite ascendancy as a result of 19th-century capitalist integration with Europe, not mere foreign conspiracy.

Since the civil war's end in 1990, Lebanese historiography has fragmented into sectarian and local narratives. Despite this fragmentation, Lebanese scholars continue to produce valuable work on broader Arab and Middle Eastern history. Across the region, the trajectory of Arab historiography reflects a continuous tension between constructing a unifying national past and engaging with complex social realities, between secular methodologies and rising religious discourses, and between academic professionalism and the pressing political demands of the post-colonial state. This dynamic field remains central to understanding the evolving intellectual and identity landscapes of the modern Arab world.