The Contemporary Arab Contribution to World Culture: An Arab-Western Dialogue

This book comprises a selection of papers delivered at a research meeting of the International Association of Intercultural Studies (IAIS) which took place in Paris in March, 2009. As suggested by its title, it addresses prejudices prevailing not only in Western societies, but also in marginalized ones, especially among their Western-oriented intelligentsia. It is often claimed that there exists no ‘serious’ contribution to world culture that is not based on the Western models that prevail worldwide, especially in the aftermath of globalization. This book challenges the projected image of a dominant West serving as a necessary and indispensable model for a dependent, receptive ‘rest of the world.’ It can be read as a necessary decolonization of today’s human knowledge in all disciplines by taking as an example recent Arab contributions in many areas of human knowledge, from the natural sciences to the political economy or architecture. Other marginalized socio-cultures worldwide, like those of Africa, India, Thailand, Persia, and Ireland, should follow suit in presenting an alternative to the extant globalization of Western norms, by offering a truly equal open exchange of human inventions on a world scale.