This book develops academic understanding of Muslim urban space by pursuing the structural logic of the premodern Arab-Muslim city; or medina. With particular reference to The Book of Walls; an historical discourse of Islamic law whose primary subject is the wall; the book determines the meaning of a wall and then uses it to analyze the space of Fez. One of a growing number of studies to address space as a category of critical analysis; the book makes the following contributions to scholarship. Methodologically; it breaks with the tradition of viewing Islamic architecture as a well-defined object observed by a specialist at an aesthetically directed distance; rather; it inhabits the logic of this architecture by rethinking it discursively from within the culture that produced it. Hermeneutically; it sheds new light on one of North Africas oldest medinas; and thereby illuminates a type of environment still common to much of the Arab-Muslim world. Empirically; it brings to the attention of mainstream scholarship a legal discourse and aesthetic that contributed to the form and longevity of this type of environment; and it exposes a preoccupation with walls and other limits in premodern urban Arab-Muslim culture; and a mythical paradigm informing the foundation narratives of a number of historic medinas.Presenting a fresh perspective for the understanding of Muslim urban society and thought; this innovative study will be of interest to students and researchers of Islamic studies; architecture and sociology.
#3218089 in eBooks 2007-08-09 2007-08-09File Name: B000SMA5E6
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A tedious read. Written as an academic research paper on ...By E3A tedious read. Written as an academic research paper on the whereabouts and activities of da Vinci based upon historical documents. Spends a great deal of words citing Codice Atlantico; et al. and often concluding that the evidence is insufficient to say with reasonably certainty whether da Vinci was or was not at some geographic locale on a particular date.0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy emmarqThis is a fine book and should be read by anyone who is interested in DiVinci and art.0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Customerarrived fine and on time.