Item Details
Skip Navigation Links
   ActiveUsers:2281Hits:20994244Skip Navigation Links
Show My Basket
Contact Us
IDSA Web Site
Ask Us
Today's News
HelpExpand Help
Advanced search

In Basket
  Article   Article
 

ID140359
Title ProperPositioning the watch hand Ulama and the practice of Mechanical timekeeping in Cairo, 1713-1874
LanguageENG
AuthorStolz , Daniel A
Summary / Abstract (Note)This article explores the role of the ʿulamaʾ in shaping the use of mechanical timepieces in Cairo in the 18th and 19th centuries. Ottoman interest in new technologies in this period is often understood in relation to the emergence of modernization projects and new scientifically trained actors, with a corresponding decline in the status of the ʿulamaʾ. However, the vogue of mechanical timepieces in Cairo allowed ʿulamaʾ trained in the very old tradition of mīqāt (astronomical timekeeping) to make their knowledge speak in new ways to new audiences. Based on several manuals and tables that such scholars wrote “on the position of the watch hand,” this article shows how ʿulamaʾ not only facilitated distinctively Ottoman timekeeping conventions, but also furthered an understanding of watches as instruments of precision. The article builds on a growing literature on Ottoman temporality, while expanding our historical view of ʿulamaʾ and their authority, of the material culture of Cairo, and of science and technology in an Islamic context.
`In' analytical NoteInternational Journal of Middle East Studies Vol. 47, No.3; Aug 2015: p.489-510
Journal SourceInternational Journal of Middle East Studies 2015-09 47, 3
Key WordsUlama ;  Cairo ;  Watch Hand ;  Mechnical Timekeeping ;  1737-1874