[47] Tim Mackintosh-Smith: Being Arab Throughout History and Ibn Khaldoun

As a scholar of Arabic language and literature, Tim has made classic Arabic literature his life’s work, and has lived in Yemen until 2019. His special interest at the moment is the great scholar Ibn Khaldoun, who lived in the 14th century and who was one of the great thinkers about power, society, and, yes, being Arab, a concept linked to language more than to territory or ethnicity — or even religion. Ibn Khaldoun created an analytical lens through which societal dynamics and turning points become very clear. So, what does being Arab really mean, what did it mean at the time of the writing of the Quran, and what does it mean today? How did the love of the language influence the confrontation with new technologies such as printing with moveable type, and, lately, social media? What did it mean to be Arab for the demonstrators of the Arab Spring, and what can it mean in a time when language is so much shaped by social media?