An Open Discussion with Peter Gran at Sinnari House
Posted on
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is organizing an open discussion with Prof. Peter Gran, the renowned American historian and thinker, on Wednesday, 17 May 2023, at the BA Sinnari House in Cairo.
Dr. Ahmed Zayed, Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, stated that the open discussion will be attended by several Egyptian intellectuals and historians, and will address a wide range of issues on Egypt's modern history and touch upon Gran's own books. He added that the open discussion will be followed by an artistic evening delivered by the Al- Tannoura troupe at the Sinnari House Theater.
Peter Gran is a professor of modern Egyptian history at Temple University and one of its most prominent thinkers. Many of his books have been linked to the history of Arab and Islamic culture, the most important of which is his book Islamic Roots of Capitalism: Egypt, 1760-1840, a book that caused a stir and an intellectual controversy when it was published in the mid-eighties (it was translated at the time by the great historian Dr. Raouf Abbas Hamed). Gran has a different vision of writing history, away from the Orientalist approach used to interpret world history. He visited Egypt several times and lectured at the National Center for Translation and the Supreme Council of Culture, and many of his works have been translated into Arabic, including his book The Rise of the Rich: A New View of Modern World History.