TY  - BOOK
AU  - Chamberlain,Michael
TI  - Knowledge and social practice in medieval Damascus, 1190-1350
SN  - 0521525942
AV  - DS99.D3 C48 2002
U1  - 956.914402 21
PY  - 2002///
CY  - Cambridge
PB  - Cambridge University Press
KW  - Learning and scholarship
KW  - History
KW  - Medieval, 500-1500
KW  - Elite (Social sciences)
KW  - Syria
KW  - Damascus
KW  - Social history
KW  - Savoir et erudition
KW  - Histoire
KW  - 500-1500 (Moyen Age)
KW  - Elite (Sciences sociales)
KW  - Syrie
KW  - Damas
KW  - Histoire sociale
KW  - Intellectual life
KW  - Medieval
KW  - Politics and government
KW  - Damascus (Syria)
N1  - Includes bibliographical references and index
N2  - Michael Chamberlain focuses on medieval Damascus to develop a new approach to the relationship between the society and culture of the Middle East. The author argues that historians have long imposed European strictures onto societies to which they were alien. Western concepts of legitimate order were inappropriate to medieval Muslim society where social advancement was dependent upon the production of knowledge and religious patronage, and it was the household, rather than the state agency or corporation, that held political and social power. A parallel is drawn between the learned elite and the warriors of Damascus who, through similar strategies, acquired status and power and passed them on in their households
ER  -