Volume I, Issue 6--26 February 2005

This issue of World History To Go focuses on communication--the human web--in the Islamic world, with a special focus on music and dance. David Levinson has contributed a short introduction to The Golden Bough, one of the most important books about myth ever written, with some ideas about how to use it with students.

Islamic Perspectives

The Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History provides broad coverage of Islam, set in the context of world events and webs of communication and commerce. As Library Journal put it: "There is no Western bias; there are numerous articles on African and Asian kingdoms and biographies of world figures from ancient through modern times."

The Enduring Spread of Islam

One of the most remarkable features of Islam is that, with only one significant exception, all lands to which it spread remain primarily Muslim today. The spread of Islam from Arabia is so enduring that modern nations with the largest Muslim populations are not Arab nations. Instead, they are Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan in Southeast and South Asia. The single exception is Spain, where the long process of Christian reconquest (called the Reconquista) followed by the Spanish Inquisition systematically eradicated the Muslim population of Spain. Even so, when the edict for the final expulsion of Muslims and Jews was issued in 1619 CE, some two million Muslims fled the kingdom of Castile alone.

Communicating Across the Islamic World

Maintaining adherence to Islam--essential to sustaining unity across the vast expanse of the early Islamic world--required efficient communication. This was a time without electricity, telecommunications, cell phones, e-mail, and instant messaging. Nonetheless, the range and complexity of forms of communication were quite spectacular. Literature--poetry and prose, sacred and secular, popular and urbane--was an important means of communication, a way to share ideas and beliefs as well as history and specific knowledge.

Non-literary modes of communication were also important. Foremost were art and architecture, which express very concrete ideas about the world: about the patron who commissioned the work, about the political, religious and spiritual messages that the patron wished to communicate, and about the values and context of the civilization. Other notable forms of communication were music and dance, and there were also some types of specialized writing, such as imperial orders, legal documents (deeds, contracts, guardianship papers, and commercial receipts), and of course personal letters and diaries.

Music was an essential part of daily life across the Islamic world. It was used to celebrate births and marriages, public events, and private ceremonies. Elegies, works songs, lullabies, children's songs, wedding songs, and funeral dirges were handed down from one generation to another. The instruments were portable and light, easy to pack and unload by tribal people always on the move. The drum, the lute, and the double-reeded oboe-like shawn were all common to the Mediterranean. The lute is the forerunner of the guitar. The bagpipe and flute also come from the Middle East.

"A masterful title [the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History] that weaves together the social, scientific, anthropological, and geographical influences on world history, this set will be the benchmark against which future history encyclopedias are compared."--Booklist

Dance: The Sufi dhikr

Jalal al-Din Rumi, the great Sufi mystic, founded the famous order of the Whirling Dervishes. Rumi's Order of the Mawlawiya Sufis epitomizes the mystical tradition of dance in Islamic spiritual movements. Rumi began this order in Konya, Asia Minor (Turkey today) in the thirteenth century. In their dance, the members of the order spin, circling around their leader (shaykh), who represents the center of the universe. The dancers wear long, white costumes that flare out as they spin, and transforming each dancer into the axis of the world. The symbolism and the music work together to transform each dancer into a part of an ecstatic whole, representing the unity of creation and the centrality of God. This form of Sufi dancing is an expression of the dhikr, or the reminder of the name of God, which is central to the discipline of Sufi mysticism and is chanted during the dance.

Other Sufi groups and even members of guilds in cities and villages would parade on holy days and sing songs celebrating their beliefs and traditions. Such parades continue to this day. Another related tradition is the Shi'ite tradition of commemorating the martyrdom of Ali through dramatic recreations of the events that led to his death. This tradition is similar to the medieval passion plays characteristic of Christian Europe.

Teaching World History

As more and more teachers begin using the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History, it's clear we need to work with teachers to develop lesson plans, semantic web exercises, and project ideas that will help students get the most out of this rich resource. At Berkshire Publishing, we're in the process of choosing a small team of teachers to work with us, write with us, and help develop materials quickly. We are accepting applications and enquiries, and hope to hear from more experienced teachers with experience in writing curricula, a passion for world history, and the ability to develop lively materials to be used by others. We are also looking at online and multimedia publishing tools, so an interest in developing new approaches to teaching and learning is also welcome. Please write to Karen Christensen or David Levinson with some information about your school, experience, and current activities.

Review: The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion

The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer is one of the most influential anthropological works ever written. It is a comparative anthropological and historical survey of religion, magic, and folklore. First published in two volumes in 1890, it was expanded to 12 volumes in 1915 and then released in a single volume condensed edition in 1922. The 1922 edition remains in print and is available free online through the University of Virginia. The book has had an enormous influence on 20th century literary figures including James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, T. S. Eliot (see note below), Robert Graves, Sylvia Plath, and Joseph Campbell.

A dip into The Golden Bough is a useful exercise in increasing understanding of how social scientists in the 20th century came to see and explain the modern world. Frazer gathered information through surveys sent with world travelers and provides a vast amount of information about the cultures of the world. Especially relevant to world history teaching, Frazer was pathbreaking in his exploration of religion as a cultural institution. He compares different societies and different religions, and searched for commonalities across religions and cultures.

Not surprisingly, Frazer made many assumptions and came to conclusions now rejected by historians and anthropologists. These include his linear notion of progress, his occasional use of untrustworthy information, and his placing too much stress on similarities across cultures. Like many anthropologists (and other scholars!), he often found data that supported his preconceptions.

Chapter 3, on Sympathetic Magic, is especially useful. Students can quickly relate to Frazer’s conclusions, set out in the first few paragraphs, about behaviors we call “superstitions” today. This reading will help them develop an appreciation for a form of religious belief common to all peoples.

Note: teachers interested in literary history might like to read the story of Karen Christensen's work on the T. S. Eliot Letters, published in the London Guardian last month. Click here to read "Dear Mrs. Eliot...."

"Though attempting to cover as broad a subject as world history in five volumes seems impossible, the editors and their contributors have pulled the feat off with aplomb. No article runs more than approximately 10 pages, but each captures the essence of the topic being addressed as well as the distinct style of the contributor----. As McNeill states in his preface, the title is 'designed to help both beginners and experts to sample the best contemporary efforts to make sense of the human past by connecting particular and local histories with larger patterns of world history.' The encyclopedia succeeds admirably and belongs on the shelves of all high-school, public, and academic libraries. In short: buy it. Now."

Booklist Starred Review and Editors’ Choice selection

• Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History
• Five volumes, 2,500 pages
• Edited by W. H. McNeill, Jerry H. Bentley, David Christian, David Levinson, Heidi Roupp, and Judith P. Zinsser
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• US$575
• ISBN: 0-9743091-0-9 (hardcover: alk. paper)
Online: BerkshireWorldHistory.com

"The feathering of the arrow, which ensured the accuracy of the weapon, was possibly due to a purely magical identification of the arrow with the wings of a living bird. This is one of those cases in which magical thinking often misled men further by sometimes actually paying off."--Lewis Mumford, The Myth of the Machine.

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