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The modern vision of the world as one dominated by one or more superpowers begs the question of how best to understand the world-system that existed before the rise of the first modern powers.
Janet Abu-Lughod's solution to this problem, in this highly influential work, is that Before European Hegemony, a predominantly insular, agrarian world was dominated by groups of mercantile city-states that traded with one another on equal terms across a series of interlocking areas of influence. In this reading of history, China and Japan, the kingdoms of India, Muslim caliphates, the Byzantine Empire and European maritime republics alike enjoyed no absolute dominance over their neighbours and commercial partners - and the egalitarian international trading network that they built endured until European advances in weaponry and ship types introduced radical instability to the system.
Abu-Lughod's portrait of a more balanced world is a masterpiece of synthesis driven by one highly creative idea: her world system of interlocking spheres of influence quite literally connected masses of evidence together in new ways. A triumph of fine critical thinking.
List of contents
Ways In to the Text Who was Janet L. Abu-Lughod? What does
Before European Hegemony Say? Why does
Before European Hegemony Matter?
Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4
: The Author's Contribution
Section 2: Ideas Module 5
: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work
Section 3: Impact Module 9
: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited
About the author
Dr. William R. Day holds a PhD in Medieval Economic History from the University of Cambridge. He is currently a researcher at the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge, where he works on the Medieval European Coinage Project.
Summary
Abu-Lughod's portrait of a more balanced world is a masterpiece of synthesis driven by one highly creative idea: her world system of interlocking spheres of influence quite literally connected masses of evidence together in new ways. A triumph of fine critical thinking.
