What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to evaluate the origins and implications of Hodgson's terminology in Islamic studies.

February 8, 20260 citationsOpen Access

Hodgson’s Error or the Proliferation of Terminology

KVKees VersteeghRadboud University Nijmegen

Key Points

The aim is to evaluate the origins and implications of Hodgson's terminology in Islamic studies.
Critical analysis of Hodgson's works and terminology in historical context.
Comparison of the usage of terms in contemporary studies of Islam.
Examination of the influence of neologisms in academic discourse.
Identified the origins of key terms introduced by Hodgson.
Highlight the increased adoption of these terms in modern scholarship.
Discussed potential problems with the proliferation of terminology in the field.

Abstract

In his Venture of Islam, posthumously published in 1975, Marshall Hodgson presented a grandiose scheme of his view of the history of the Islamic world, in which he opposed the Eurocentric view of history in most contemporary studies of Islam. To support his novel approach he introduced a number of neologisms as technical terms, of which ‘Islamicate’ and ‘Persianate’ became widely known. In the present essay I investigate critically the provenance of this terminology and I take to issue the growing use and popularity of these and similar terms in contemporary studies of Islam.

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