Ignaz Goldziher and Gesture Studies: From Periphery to Center?

Abstract

Ignaz Goldziher (d. 1921), the illustrious Jewish Hungarian scholar, is widely recognized as a key figure in the development of Arabic and Islamic studies. His groundbreaking contributions in Hadith, Qur’an exegesis, and Islamic theology have garnered considerable acclaim and are studied to date. However, a substantial portion of his work, which holds promise for further insights into the Arabic cultures and literatures, remains undiscovered. This lecture unveils an unknown facet of Goldziher’s work: his profound interest in gestures in the Arabic written sources and oral traditions. Goldziher was trained as a philologist, but since the early stages of his studies he was more inclined to study the elusive connection between language, religion, and culture. He therefore harnessed the traditional tools of classical philology to serve the overall theory of Völkerpsychologie (developed by Heymann Steinthal, d. 1899, and Moritz Lazarus, d. 1903). Among the fruits of his bold move are two articles that are the harbingers of the study of gestures within Arabic and Islamic studies. While Goldziher’s contemporaries and the subsequent generation of Arabic philologists and orientalists were aware of his work on gestures, they showed little interest, if any, in his findings, which were perceived as marginal and anecdotal. Goldziher’s work on gestures had some impact in Jewish studies, but as a rule, here too, his studies on gestures were neglected and almost completely forgotten. The following lecture therefore presents the secrets of gestures that Goldziher revealed through his laborious readings in the gigantic corpus of the Arabic sources and highlights the impact of Goldziher’s work on gestures in various fields. Finally, this lecture articulates the value of Goldziher’s findings on gestures for future research, aiming to elevate this peripheral topic to the forefront of Islamic and Arabic studies.

^{The seminar is part of the program "Religion, Center, and Periphery: The Orient in Europe, Europe in the Orient" of the Center for the Study of Religions, supported by the Scientific Research Fund of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski in 2023.}