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Notes and Comments
The following is written with a dual purpose: to respond to Bruce Masters' review of my recently published monograph, Muslim-Christian Relations in Late-Ottoman Palestine; but more importantly, to suggest that it might be time that Middle East historians reevaluate the manner of our assessment of the value and proper use of "Western" (i.e., nonindigenous) sources in researching and writing about the region's history.
In his review, Masters asserts that I rely entirely on Western sources, and thus perpetuate Orientalist stereotypes of the Middle East. Putting aside for a moment that it would be fairer to contend that I overrely on Western sources (inasmuch as I do make use of indigenous sources as well), at no point does Masters point to any specific example of Orientalism, either by way of stereotyping or misrepresenting Muslim-Christian relations in 19th-century Palestine. Rather it seems that the charge of Orientalism is levied solely based on my supposed over-reliance on nonindigenous sources, particularly given that Masters appears to mostly concur with the broader contours of my book, even if omitting much of the nuance. (I'm not sure, for instance, that I ever "hint" that differing conceptions of Arab national identity between Christian and Muslim Arabs reflected a perception that Arab nationalism was little more than a...