Language, identity, modernity: the Arabic study circle of Durban

The Arabic Study Circle, established in the 1950s, has had an enduring impact on linguistic, religious and cultural politics in the South African port city of Durban. This book provides a micro-history of a middle-class community through a study of this ‘Indian’ Muslim association.

By drawing on oral histories, the author combines thematic coverage and a narrative approach, to provide insights into:
•a whole subculture of this organisation and its peculiarities in a minority situation
•the extended conflicts over doctrine, sometimes intricate and obscure, often expressed noisily in the public sphere in ‘pamphlet wars’ between opposing parties
•hybrid organisational methods, often mixing modernist forms and particularistic sympathies
•the larger world of organised Islam in one city, an how it is linked with transnational ramifications linking South Asia, the Middle East and the West.

In sum, the book provides a historical perspective of the ethos and practices of civil society among South Africa’s communities, not only its religious minorities.