The Problem of Employing Anthropological Concepts in the Study of Arab Societies

Abstract

This research aims to raise the issue of employing anthropological concepts in the study of Arab societies, which is an issue that involves problematic elements related to the axis of "concepts", and this is done by reading examples of those concepts included in the anthropological studies conducted by some Western researchers on Arab societies. It is worth noting that the dominance of Western centralism associated with the contexts for the completion of anthropological studies and research has affected the directing of visions, perceptions and ideas related to local cultures, as well as the process of employing and transferring them to the researcher’s language, which led to the adaptation of those anthropological studies in a way that conforms to the cultural pattern to which the Western researcher belongs. This led to the overthrow and imposition of arbitrary concepts derived from the culture of anthropology, and not from the culture of the studied society, which clearly appears in many places and evidence from studies carried out by Western researchers on Arab societies, and in particular within the axes related to social and cultural specifics.