%0 Journal Article
%T What do we mean when we say ¡°Islamic art¡±? A plea for a critical rewriting of the history of the arts of Islam
%A Avinoam Shalem
%J Journal of Art Historiography
%D 2012
%I 
%X This essay seeks to open discussion on the history of Islamic art and artistic production within the critical framework of colonial and postcolonial studies; and, at the same time, to contribute to the ongoing discourse surrounding the creation and definition of the term ¡®Islamic art history¡¯ as a scientific field within the wider discipline of art history. Arguing for the urgent need for a large-scale and methodical critical reconsideration of the field, the article exposes and explores a number of problematic paradigms that have been embedded in the field of Islamic art history from the period of its founding, many of them springing directly from the ¡®imagined Islam¡¯ that remains the field¡¯s point of definition. The imposition of universalism, cosmopolitanism and medievalism upon Islamic art, the persistent models of Classicism and degeneracy, and anxieties relating to terminology and the ¡®spiritualization¡¯ of Islam are among the key concepts questioned, with the ultimate aim of generating new pathways for research into the visual culture of the Islamic world.
%K Islamic art history
%K Orientalism
%K Edward Said
%K Hegel
%K ¡®Unity in Diversity¡¯
%K Eurocentrism
%K modernity
%U http://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/shalem.pdf