Darwin in Arabic | Marwa Elshakry

E140 | Historians have begun to explore the paradox of the identification of a would-be universal form of rational knowledge known as science with the particular historical experience of Europe. This begs the question: how have new forms of scientific knowledge been translated, received, assimilated, and engaged outside of the cultural contexts within which they were produced? In this episode, Marwa Elshakry examines the case of Arab engagement with and translation of Darwin's theory of evolution, which is the subject of her recently published book entitled Reading Darwin in Arabic, 1860-1950. More at: http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2014/01/darwin-evolution-arabic-translation.html Marwa Elshakry is Associate Professor of History at Columbia University. Chris Gratien is a doctoral candidate at Georgetown University studying the social and environmental history of the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East.