Civility on the list

[Dominik Wujastyk]

On Fri, 6 Oct 2000, Valerie J Roebuck wrote:
> I was seeking to point out that these words have extremely
> powerful connotations for Europeans, which may give an impression entirely
> different from what the writer intended.

May I draw members' attention to the very interesting article by Antony
Black, "Decolonizing concepts" in the Journal of Early Modern studies 1
(1997): 55--69.  Black discusses a number of English language terms,
mainly in the context of their inappropriate application to Islamic
history and culture.  It is a good study of this issue.

Does anyone else with medievalist or Islamic studies colleagues find that
these communities use the term "pagan" rather freely?  I have heard it
used often, unreflectingly, and I'm always surprised.

Dominik