Reconsidering Marshall Hodgson

Professor Edmund Burke III (UC Santa Cruz) gives a talk for the Middle East Studies Centre. Who was Marshall Hodgson and should he have a claim on our attention today? In a moment of populist nationalisms and deepening Islamophobia, Hodgson’s humanistic vision is once again of interest. Primarily known as the author of the innovative three volume textbook, The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization (Chicago, 1974), Hodgson proposes a vision of the unfolding of Islam that seeks to elude civilizationist essentialisms by inserting Islamic history into the larger history of humanity. Essays in Islam and World History: The Ventures of Marshall Hodgson (Chicago 2018) provide the first critical reassessment of his life and work, while grounding it in the post-World War II efforts by global scholars to devise a new framework for a new post-colonial world.