UC Irvine

This thesis problematizes the capitulation tale of the Nahda by showing how Nahdawis in the earlier phase of the Arab Renaissance voiced autonomy, self assurance, and optimism. To strengthen its argument, the dissertation utilizes the example of Rifa’a Al Tahtawi who represented to some degree the wider attitude of Nahda’s 1st generation elites set against the Nahda of the later generation who voiced ambivalence and angst. Other presuppositions the essay challenges pertain to the outdated historical methodologies that are often laden in orientalist, Islamist and postcolonial literature.