Across and beyond the Islamic Mediterranean. Bausani’s concepts of ‘Islamic languages’ and ‘Islamic literature’ and their relevance in times of global studies

Abstract

This article discusses the present relevance and recent revival of an ambitious, pioneering project launched more than half a century ago by the distinguished Italian Islamicist Alessandro Bausani (1921-88), namely his case for a comparative literature of Islamic languages. After examining the meanings and implications of these concepts, I address some of the criticisms they have attracted, including charges of essentialism and culturalism. Their current relevance is further discussed with regard to both premodern and contemporary Islam, by considering some of the recent developments and readjustments of this theoretical framework by scholars working in the footsteps of Bausani. Special attention is devoted to studies focusing on the emic dimension of Islamic languages and literatures or, in other words, on the presence of similar notions in the linguistic imagination and ideologies of both premodern and contemporary Muslims.