Symbols and narratives of Europe: Three tropes

Throughout history, attempts have been made to identify Europe as a geographical, political, social, and cultural entity. Recent efforts to establish key symbols and narratives of Europe have focused on a set of central signifying elements, even if there is a wide and contradictory range of ways to define, structure, and interpret them. An introductory remark on the current debate on the need for renewed European self-reflection paves the way for some conceptual clarifications of my approach to concepts like culture, meaning, identity and mediation. A methodological reflection accompanies this on how to use semiotic tools in cultural studies based on critical hermeneutics. The concept of culture used here is based on the signifying practice of mediating meaning-making, linking imagination to communication in a triangular dynamic between texts, subjects, and contexts. Examples are given from two research projects on a broad and diverse range of European symbols and narratives, illustrating such interpretive research results. European identifications are crystallized and spun around three dominant tropes: supreme universality, resurrection from division, and communicative mobility. Their intricate tensions and interrelations attest to how deeply Europe remains a highly contested and dynamic meaning cluster.

Kitab al-Muzhir of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti: A Critical Edition and Translation of Section Twenty on Islamic Terms

This article is a philological study of al-Muzhir, an encyclopedic work of a prominent Egyptian scholar Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911/1505) which has significant contribution in the study of Arabic linguistics. The book is particularly al-Suyuti's own compilation of works of earlier philologists. Due to its importance, it is necessary to study the book in a proper way by deciphering its manuscripts. Studying a book from its manuscripts provides us with much indirect information -which has great value for scholarship- to trace back the history of the book before the printing period. Apart from the text itself, manuscripts generally contain the owner's seal, introductory remark, colophon, certificate and commentaries. Through examining these additional elements, we may be able to acquire the information about the distribution and public demand of the book, the scribes and days of copying, and the authorization of its manuscripts. This paper will discuss al-Muzhir by analyzing a number of manuscripts written several decades after the death of the author. It will then focus on the authorization of the manuscripts, a sample of critical edition of the book, and a discussion of section twenty on Islamic terms.