A History of the Encyclopaedia of Islam. By Peri Bearman. Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2018. Pp. xvi, 299, 26 unnumbered pages of plates, illustrations. $49.95 (paperback). ISBN: 9781948488044.
Few projects in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies deserve the adjective “monumental” more than the Encyclopaedia of Islam. Currently in its third edition, the Encyclopaedia has become one of the core reference works for generations of scholars. Despite its centrality to the field, the project’s (or rather projects’) long history has received very little attention. In her richly detailed A History of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, Peri Bearman, who served on the editorial board of the Encyclopaedia’s second edition (from 1999 to 2006), sets out to the fill in the gap. The book focuses on the first two editions, as they were, unlike the third edition, initiated by scholars (the Encyclopaedia’s third edition was initiated by the publisher).
Although the title refers to the Encyclopaedia of Islam as a single project, given the Encyclopaedia’s multiple editions in numerous languages and its long history, Bearman’s study raises questions about the ability to talk about a single, coherent Encyclopaedia of Islam. The coherence of the Encyclopaedia project, as the book clearly demonstrates, stems from the ongoing commitment of a scholarly community to this project in its different manifestations.
Over 4 chapters and 3 appendices, Bearman tells the history of the Encyclopaedia of Islam from its early beginnings in the late nineteenth century to the completion of the second edition in 2006. Indeed, through the history of the Encyclopaedia, she explores key issues in the history of Oriental and, later, Islamic Studies and, importantly, draws attention to actors who rarely receive the attention they deserve in traditional histories of the discipline, such as editors and publishers. Moreover, by looking at the history of the first two editions of the Encyclopaedia, Bearman succeeds in shedding light on the complex and nuanced history of Orientalism as a field of knowledge in the long twentieth century.
The first two chapters of Bearman’s account tell the history of the first (Chapter 1) and second (Chapter 2) editions of the Encyclopaedia. Readers who are interested in the history of the Orientalism, primarily but not exclusively in Europe, will find numerous gems in those chapters: each of these chapters is inhabited by dozens of better- and less-known scholars and dwells in great detail on debates among members of the editorial boards and between the boards and other scholars concerning the nature of the Encyclopaedia and the selection of entries. The chapters pay an equal amount of attention to the scholarly content and to the logistical hurdles the editorial boards and the publisher had to overcome.
The third and fourth chapters are more thematic. Chapter 3 deals with the history of E.J. Brill, one of the leading publishers in Islamic Studies and the publisher of the Encyclopaedia, and its contribution to the success of the Encyclopaedia (the contribution evidently paid off, as the Encyclopaedia, according to Bearman, is responsible for large percentage of Brill’s income). Of particular interest is Bearman’s discussion of the transition to new formats and media since the late 1990s, when the digital editions of the Encyclopaedia appeared, and the impact of this transition on the editorial workflows. The fourth and last chapter turns to political and intellectual developments that shaped the history and the contents of the Encyclopaedia project over the century, from the political and military conflicts that tormented Europe in the first half of the twentieth century to Edward Said and his critique of Orientalism.
Bearman’s book fills in a major gap in the history of the discipline of Islamic Studies in general and the history of the reference works and scholarly practices that contributed to its emergence as an increasingly coherent discipline. While it is quite obvious that reference works, like any other text, have their own agendas and blind spots, Bearman’s detailed study demonstrate how these agendas have been at play over a century in the production of the Encyclopaedia.
Finally, as the Encyclopaedia of Islam is an ongoing project (currently in its third edition), Bearman’s History will be of interest to new and seasoned editors, contributors, and readers of the Encyclopaedia. Moreover, since the Encyclopaedia is a multigenerational project and a product of multiple editorial boards, Bearman’s insightful study can inform a better, more careful use of the Encyclopaedia. It is hoped that Bearman’s study will inspire others to cast new light on other reference works and monumental projects that shaped the disciplines of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies.
Guy Burak
New York University