The Epoch of Universalism. 1769–1989 L’époque de l’universalisme 1769–1989

251 Pages·2.568 MB·English

by  Franck Hofmann, Markus Messling

TheEpochofUniversalism1769–1989
L’époquedel’universalisme1769–1989
Beyond Universalism
Partager l’universel
|
Studies on the Contemporary
Études sur le contemporain
Edited by / Edité par
Markus Messling
EditorialBoard
SouleymaneBachirDiagne(ColumbiaUniversity,NY)
TammyLai-MingHo(HongKongBaptistUniversity)
ChristopherM.Hutton(UniversityofHongKong)
AnanyaJahanaraKabir(King’sCollegeLondon)
MohamedKerrou(UniversitédeTunisEl-Manar)
SoumayaMestiri(UniversitédeTunis)
OlivierRemaud(EHESSParis)
SergioUgaldeQuintana(ElColegiodeMéxico)
Volume 1
The Epoch of Universalism
1769–1989
L’époque de l’universalisme
1769–1989
|
Edited by
Franck Hofmann & Markus Messling
ThisprojecthasreceivedfundingfromtheEuropeanResearchCouncil(ERC)undertheEuropean
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Acknowledgements
Remerciements
2019 wasayearofoverlappingremembrances:Itpointed backtothe250th an-
niversaryofNapoleonBonaparte’sbirth,tothe230thanniversaryoftheFrenchRe-
volution,anditmarkedthe30thyearaftertwoverycontradictoryeventsofglobal
significance,themassacreofTiananmensquare,andthefalloftheBerlinWall.
Alloftheseremembrancesdostillplaytheirroleforourcontemporarycondition
andfortheattempttounderstandwhatisgoingonintheworldwelivein.Being
landmarksofacomplexhistoryofemancipatoryachievementsofmodernityon
theonehand,andofstructuresofdominanceandhegemonythatwentalongon
theother,theeventsarealsoturningpointsintheinterpretationandnarration
ofworldhistory.Whatthey areinscribedintoisanunderstandingoftheworld
inwhichthe‘West’wasnotonlythepointofcivilisationalreferencebutalsothe
placeofitsfulfilment–inthefollow-upofHegel’sUniversalHistorythisistobe
understoodinbothsenses,epistemologicalandethical.After1989,duetodiffer-
entchangesanddevelopments,itgetsevermoreclearthatthelegitimacyofthis
understanding, fixedbyan“-ism”asapowerfuldoctrine,butalsoofcriticism,
hascometoanend.So,whentogetherwithourinstitutionalpartnersfromMex-
ico,TunisandHongKong,weinvitedcolleaguestogatherinSeptember2019for
afirstcolloquiumrealisedinthecontextofourresearchproject“MinorUniver-
sality. NarrativeWorld ProductionAfter Western Universalism”,¹ funded by the
EuropeanResearchCouncil,inordertoreflectonafundamentalaspectintheun-
derstandingofmodernity,‘2019’seemedtobelikeanironicwinkofthehistorical
moment.Wewouldliketoexpressourgratitudetothethenpresentcolleagues
for thevividdiscussionsandthesubstantialcontributionsdocumented bythis
volume.
ThesymposiumtookplaceintheVillaEuropainSaarbrückentowhichthe
directoroftheInstitutFrançais,ValérieDeshoulières,kindlyopenedthedoors.
Weareverygratefulforherwelcomingreactionwhenwefirstpresentedtheidea
for the conference in a nutshell, for the practical and financial support, and,
aboveall,forthegeneroushospitalityattheVilla.Wearealsoveryindebtedto
theVillaEuropa-team,MarionBalay,SandraFuhrmann,Fatma-PiaHotait,and
DeniseRodriguez.
1 Seeformoreinformation:https://www.uni-saarland.de/forschen/minor-universality.html(15
June2020).
OpenAccess.©2021FranckHofmann&MarkusMessling ThisworkislicensedunderaCre-
ativeCommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-No-Derivatives4.0License.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110691504-201
VI | Acknowledgements/Remerciements
Hospitalityandsolidarityarecertainlyuniversalneedsandgifts,butascer-
tainasthisisthefactthatmanyEuropeansstrugglewiththemandhavetorelearn
themoftenenough,eyeswideopen,whentheycomearoundintheworld.How
muchthisfactislinkedtoauniversalistunderstandingofEurope,hasbeenrightly
andpainfullyexplainedbyAchilleMbembewhenhespeaksofwhatiscalledthe
‘Westernsociety’asa“societyofenmity”,ademocraticsocietythathaseversince
dialectically built on its “nocturnal body”, of those who were exploited by the
imperialpowerswhilstitsinhabitantsclaimedtorepresentthevaluesofliberty,
equalityandsolidarity.Therefore,aplacededicatedtothereflectiononEurope
seemedtofitverywellasaplacewheretolaunchaprojecton“minoruniversal-
ity”,onnew waysandhopes to experienceand reflect ashared humanity that
shallnomoresubsumeparticularities.“Isthereanythingthatrelatesustoothers
sothatwecansaythatweare?”,asksAchilleMbembe.Toapproachthisquestion,
astepbackseemsnecessarytowhatthatwas,WesternUniversalism,asamotor
foremancipatoryideas,andasanideologyofdominationatthesametime.
The conference held at the Villa Europa was the first one we organized at
Saarbrückencontinuingyearsofsharedactivitieson“experiencesoftheglobal”
atCentreMarcBlochinBerlin.Thisistheoccasiontothankthecolleagueswho
havesharedthoughts withusthroughoutmanyyearsandthushelped shaping
the“MinorUniversality”project.OurspecialgratitudegoestoWolfgangAsholt,
MartinBauer,AlbrechtBuschmann,RaffaeleCarbone,LeylaDakhli,IslamDayeh,
EmmanuelDroit,KazuoFujino,MoritzEpple,OttmarEtte,ThierryFabre,Gunter
Gebauer, Wolfgang Knöbl, Teresa Koloma Beck, Marcel Lepper, Giovanni Levi,
AviLifschitz,TanjaMichalsky,SargaMoussa,GesineMüller,RukminiBhayaNair,
PascaleRabault-Feuerhahn,OlivierRemaud,BénédicteSavoy,CamilledeToledo,
JürgenTrabant,andMichaelWerner.
We are very grateful to Saarland University for the generous institutional
and financial support that helped realising this first international conference
with ease. A particular word of gratitude goes to Patricia Oster-Stierle, former
Presidentofthe Franco-GermanUniversity based atSaarbrücken,andmember
oftheAcademicSenate,whonotonly acceptedtowelcomeusonbehalfofthe
University, butwho hadalready enabled cooperationbefore and opened up so
manyopportunities.Inreverse,thisbookalsoexpressesourwilltoinscribeour
activitiesintotheinitiativefornewperspectivesonEuropeatSaarlandUniversity,
whereaclusterforreflectiononEurope’schallengeswithinachangingworldis
underwayofbeingbuildup.
This book is a starting point in yet another sense. It opens the new series
BeyondUniversalism–Partagerl’universelthatwillhopefullycontributetoabet-
terunderstandingofourcontemporary.Ifglobalisationdoesnotnecessarilyen-
tail a universal awareness, we rather witness a wide array of cultural, relativ-
Acknowledgements/Remerciements | VII
istic,andracistcontestations ofacommonworld.Buthowcanuniversality be
addressedafterthenecessaryepistemicandethiccritiqueofWesternuniversal-
ism?Buildingonthe importanceofsuchconceptsasconcreteness and repara-
tion,narrationandtranslation,thisnewseriesseekstounderstandhowanew
consciousnessofuniversalityisunderwayofbeingproduced.Itswantstoenlarge
our understanding ofhow contemporary culturaland socialpracticesopenup
concretesettingssoastocreateexperiences,reflectionsandagenciesofashared
humanity.
WearegratefultoWalterdeGruyterpublishersforhostingthisseries.Aspe-
cialthanksgoestotheresponsibleeditorsUlrikeKraußandAnjaMichalsky,as
wellastotheprojecteditorGabrielleCornefertwhohasbeenaccompanyingthis
firstvolumefromtheverystarttoitspublication.Aseriescanonlybeasuccess
if it is lively and if it covers a wide array of perspectives and positions. There-
fore,wearedelightedthatsuchnotablecolleaguesasSouleymaneBachirDiagne,
TammyLai-MingHo,ChristopherM.Hutton,AnanyaJahanaraKabir,Mohamed
Kerrou,SoumayaMestiri,OlivierRemaud,andSergioUgaldehaveacceptedtobe
amemberoftheboardoftheseries.Weareverygratefulfortherichexchanges
withthem.Theydonotonlythemselvescontributethroughtheirworkstodebates
related to the questions raised by the series, butthey alsogather different dis-
ciplines,theoreticalunderstandings,andmethodologicalapproachesstemming
frommanydifferentcontexts.Maytheirworkofferdifferentpointsofcontactto
theseries,becausethatiswhatitmainlywantstostandfor:atransdisciplinary,
transnationalunderstanding ofhumanity intimes when borders, physicaland
ideological,arebuiltupeverywherewithstunningrapidityandforce.
Agreat thanks for formatting and indexing, whichisa huge pieceofwork
in a bilingual book, goes to Silvia Becker, Annalena Böke, Antonia Schmidt,
and, especially, Azyza Deiab. And last but not least, we would like to express
thehighestgratitudetoourcolleaguesMarioLaarmann,CarlaSeemann,Hélène
Thiérard,andJonasTinius,whoallpursueresearchwithinorinthecontextofthe
ERC“MinorUniversality”projectandtowhomwefeelhighlyindebtedbytheir
intellectualremarksandlinguisticrevisionofthetexts.
FranckHofmann&MarkusMessling
Saarbrücken/Berlin,15June2020

Contents
Table des matières
Acknowledgements/Remerciements|V
FranckHofmann&MarkusMessling
Ontheendsofuniversalism|1
PartI: Histories
Premièrepartie:Histoires
LeylaDakhli
Napoléona-t-ilréveillélemondearabe?|43
Hans-JürgenLüsebrink
UniversalismedesLumièresetimpérialismecolonial|55
AviLifschitz
Unculteuniversalistedelaraison?|71
SargaMoussa
Suez1869:uncosmopolitismeeurocentré?|85
PartII: GlobalPerspectives
Deuxièmepartie:Miseenperspectivesmondiale
ChristopherM.Hutton
Linguisticsandtheintellectualchallengeofdiversity|105
SergioUgaldeQuintana
Littérature,culturenationaleetguerre|125
TammyLai-MingHo
Trans-culturalandtrans-temporaltranslations|141
EmmanuelDroit
Writingaglobalhistoryof1989|157