form and ideology

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Form and Ideology: Arabic Sociolinguistics and beyondAuthor(s): Niloofar HaeriSource:

Annual Review of Anthropology,

Vol. 29, (2000), pp. 61-87Published by: Annual ReviewsStable URL:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/223415

Accessed: 10/04/2008 21:25

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FORM

ANDIDEOLOGY:

ArabicSociolinguistics

andBeyond

NiloofarHaeri

DepartmentofAnthropology,JohnsHopkins University,Baltimore,Maryland21218;e-mail:haeri@jhu.edu

KeyWordspoliticsoflanguage,anthropologyf the Arabworld,Islam,gender,genre*Abstract Theaim of thisreviewsto contributeo adialoguebetweenanthro-pologistsandsociolinguistswho workon the Arabworld. Oneof themostdistinctivefeatures f theArabworld s thatClassicalArabico-existswithnational ernacularssuch asEgyptian,Syrian,Jordanian,nd so on. The first s thelanguageofwriting,education,andadministration,hereasthe latterarethe media of oralexchanges,nonprintmedia,poetry,andplays.Theproximityrdistancebetween he"Classical"and the"colloquials,"whether helatterare also "Arabic" r havebeen soaccept-ingofforeign borrowingshattheyceased to beso,whetherheyarelanguagesor"inferiordialects"are allcontentious ssues that continue o bedebatedwithin theArabworld. Infact,such debateshavebecomenseparablerom he central oncernsanddilemmasofsocialand ntellectualmovements nthiscentury.Afterprovidingbroadoutlineof work nArabicociolinguistics,he reviewmovestothe literatureneducation.Debatesoneducation rentimatelyinkedwithargerquestions egardingcolonialism,nationalism,ndmodernization.Thelastpartof thereview is devotedtoanthropologicalorks on theregion.Thecomplexitiesofthesociolinguisticet-tingsinthe Arabworldprovidepromisingandchallenginggroundsorcontributionstoanthropologicalheory.

INTRODUCTION

The aim ofthisreview istocontributeto adialoguebetweenanthropologistsconcernedwith theArabworld,linguisticanthropologists xploringtherelationsbetween formandideology,andsociolinguistswho work on theArabicanguage.Anumberofanthropologicaltudieshave madesignificantcontributions o ourunderstandingfthe relationsbetweenlanguage,culture,andpoliticsintheArabworld.However,onthewhole,themany implicationsofthelanguagesituationshavenot beensystematicallypursued.Assuch,a series of basic andimportantquestionsremainsunposed.

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62HAERIGeertz(1968, 1973)arguedexpresslyfora semioticapproachotheinterpreta-tion ofcultures.Buthis work onMoroccanculturessurprisinglyilent abouttherole oflanguagein thepossibilitiesofinterpretationnd thickdescription.Withaverydifferentapproach,Gellner(1969, 1981)discusses Muslimsocieties andtheirpoliticalstructures,nationalism,andmodernity,butagainthere isnoexplo-rationof theimplicationsofthe fact that Islam andClassical Arabic aremutuallyconstitutive,hat the latter s alsothelanguageofthe state inthe Arabworld,orthatlanguage playsa centralandcomplexroleindifferentkindsofnationalismswithin theregion(Khalidiet al1991,Suleiman1994).Said(1978)gavea fa-mously devastatingcritiqueofOrientalistscholarshipand itsexclusivelytextualapproacho the"Orient."The influence of thatworkontheanthropologyof theArabworld seems to havebeenanunwittingreinforcementof thefield's over-whelmingfocusonsmall,tribalcommunitieswhosemembersapparentlyneverread,write,performreligiousrituals,oracquirepostsin thecivil service(Shyrock1997:51).FromSaid'swork,weunderstandarbettertherelationshipsbetweencolonialism,Orientalism,and the texts out ofwhich local communitieswerefash-ioned. But we understandess abouthoweliteandnonelite Arabsview andcontesttherelationshipsbetweentheircommunitiesand the texts thatare,inways yettobesatisfactorilydefined,apartof theirpastandpresent.With the aim ofadialogueinmind,this is a critical rather han an exhaustivereview.Inorderoarticulate ome of thewaysinwhichlanguagescentrallyn-volvedinthehistories,cultures,andpoliticsof theregion,Iuse anumberof reviewessaystoselectquestionsandcritiqueshat are centralboth to culturalanthropol-ogyasawholeand to theanthropologyof theregion.The reviewbeginswith abriefsectionon themajorkind ofresearch thatprecededsociolinguisticwork.Fromtheret movestoArabicsociolinguistics,and then to researchon education.The literatureoneducationallowsdiscussion of a numberoftopicsofinteresttoanthropologists,uchasideology,nationalism,andmodernity.Havingprovidedabroadoutlineofsociolinguisticworks,Ithenturntoanumberof anthropologicalcritiquesofresearchon theArabworld.Although broadlydefined,all researchthatexamineslanguagein its socioculturalcontextcan becategorizedaseither"sociolinguistics"or"linguisticanthropology,"erms thatintheNorthAmericanacademyaregenerallydistinguishedromeachother;linguisticanthropologistscarryoutethnographiesGumperz&Hymes1972),whereassociolinguists relyontape-recordednterviews,quantitativeechniques,and anecdotalobservations(Labov1972).Abriefgeneralbackgroundectionsbeprovidedbelowtofacilitatefollowingthevariousdiscussionsandcontroversiespresented.Whathascometo beknownas"Arabicociolinguistics"emergednthemid-1970s.It aroseasaconsequenceofthepioneeringworksof WeinreichandLabov,whichinaugurateduantitativeociolinguistics(Labov 1966).In1959,anumberof worksbyCharlesFergusonseeFerguson1996;1997a,b)hadlaunchedasurgeof researchonArabic,particularlyfterhiscontroversialrticleon"diglossia"seeFerguson1996).Bothframeworksallunder thetermsociolinguisticsandbothled to aseries ofnewandproductivequestions.Werevieweachinsome detail.