Dolce far niente in Arabia

Sofia Haggman, Heikki Palva, Kaj Ohrnberg, Jaakko Hameen-Anttila, Patricia Berg

ISBN 10: 8763543044 / ISBN 13: 9788763543040

Edité par Museum Tusculanum Press, DK, 2014

A propos de cet article

In the 1840s the Finnish Orientalist Georg August Wallin travelled in the Middle East, where he collected material on Arabic dialects. In order to make contact with the local inhabitants he assumed a Muslim identity and disguised himself as the physician 'Abd al-Wali from Central Asia. As an observer he was both inquisitive and sharp-eyed, and therefore well able to document daily life among the urban dwellers of Cairo and the Bedouin of the northern Arabian Peninsula. His unique material is preserved in diaries and letters which he wrote in his native language, Swedish -- sometimes, however, with Arabic script to evade detection. By his contemporaries he was considered an eminent scholar, but he died shortly after his seven-year journey, and was therefore able to publish only a fraction of his material, which was subsequently obscured from the international research community by the language barrier. Wallin's life and travels in Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula and Persia are described here by four scholars of Middle Eastern culture and history. They also highlight Wallin's importance as an ethnographic observer and linguistic researcher.

N° de réf. du vendeur LU-9788763543040

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Dolce far niente in Arabia
• Éditeur: Museum Tusculanum Press, DK
• Date de parution: 2014
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 8763543044
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9788763543040
• Reliure: Paperback
• État de l'article: New
• Poids: 255 grammes

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

In the 1840s the Finnish orientalist Georg August Wallin traveled in the Middle East, where he collected material on Arabic dialects. Considered an eminent scholar by his contemporaries, he died an untimely death shortly after his seven-year journey and was therefore able to publish only a fraction of his material. Gathering together what we know of Wallin's work, the scholars in this book tell the fascinating story of his life and travels in Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, and Persia.

In order to make contact with local inhabitants, Wallin assumed a Muslim identity and disguised himself as the physician 'Abd al-Wali from Central Asia. Inquisitive and sharp-eyed, he was able to document daily life among the urban dwellers of Cairo and the Bedouin of the northern Arabian Peninsula, preserving his unique material in letters and diaries written in his native language--Swedish--but, interestingly, sometimes rendered in the Arabic alphabet. Recounting his adventures through the ancient and holy lands of the Middle East, the authors here also highlight Wallin's importance as a pathbreaking ethnographer and linguistic researcher.

À propos des auteurs

Patricia Berg is an Egyptologist at the University of Helsinki.


Sofia Häggman is the curator of the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm.

Kaj Öhrnberg is an Arabist at the University of Helsinki.

Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila is professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Helsinki.

Heikki Palva is professor emeritus of Arabic language and Islamic studies at the University of Helsinki.