| This dissertation is concerned with the Chinese Muslim literati elite of the early modern period. Through examination of the literatures put forth by this elite over the course of a century and a half (roughly 1600–1750) it demonstrates that the Chinese Muslim scholarly community was far-flung, well organized, and prolific. Most centrally, the study argues that the Chinese Muslim scholarly community of this period viewed itself specifically as consisting of “literati,” as that term was understood and deployed by dominant (i.e., Confucian) culture. Through study of the literatures of this elite—literatures that collectively are termed the “Han Kitab,” or “Chinese Books”—the dissertation thus puts forth two central claims. The first is that the Chinese Muslim scholarly community grew out of a systematized network of education, one that was spread throughout eastern China. The second is that the Chinese Muslim literati with which the study is concerned made use of—and expanded—the categories of dominant Chinese culture to make sense of themselves and their mission vis-a-vis that culture.; The dissertation argues that the educational network was the crucible and the clearinghouse for the formation of one specific and distinct form of Chinese literati identity in the early modern period. Contra much traditional historiography on Chinese elites, this study suggests that highly-educated Chinese Muslims, like their Confucian counterparts, shared the dominant values of Chinese society at the time: dedication to tradition, devotion to one's sagely forebears, and commitment to the propagation and dissemination of scholarly knowledge. Through analysis of the vocabulary with which Chinese Muslim scholars configured Islam (by describing it as a “dao,” for example, and by understanding the prophet Muhammad as a “sage”), the dissertation highlights the ways in which the dominant categories of Chinese society were available and meaningful to Chinese Muslim scholars. |
PDF Full Text Request