| dc.description.abstract | This thesis examines the Arabic literary-scientific periodical al-Muqtataf during its formative years in Beirut, 1876-1885, focusing on its role in shaping a concept of progressive historical time. Historical time, the idea that the past progresses via the present and into the future, may seem like a stable configuration that frames the human experience, but it is an epistemic construct subjected to historical transformation. Therefore, it is also an object for empirical analysis. This thesis enters the ongoing debates on modern temporal configurations by investigating how time regimes can be assembled through concrete practices and material infrastructure. The purpose of this thesis is to show how al-Muqtataf gave the vague notions on progress that permeated the late Ottoman-Arab discourse a legible form. It did this by way of its circulation and periodical issuing, which attuned its readership to a rhythm dictated by historical events rather than seasonal or natural cycles. Furthermore, its editors’ methods for inscribing natural phenomena into graphs, diagrams, and tables made them into educational objects, creating an imperative for “the Arabs” to “enter the historical stage” as modern, scientifically minded individuals. The journal format, a result of the newly available printing press, created new visual preferences for collage-like layouts, spacious fonts, and naturalistic lithographs, which aligned al-Muqtataf to similar international publications. Moreover, the editors applied a simpler style of Arabic and rapidly introduced foreign terminology to ease the process of acquiring knowledge. This thesis concludes that the journal helped synchronize the late-nineteenth century Arab to a process-oriented temporal regime informed by notions of speed and forward-movement. Taking seriously the material circumstances of knowledge production assists the debunking of orientalist and Eurocentric myths by showing how knowledge is always locally situated and crafted. | eng |