Gobineau and Orientalism1

Comte de Gobineau and Orientalism: Selected Eastern Writings makes available sizeable extracts from two of Joseph Arthur de Gobineau’s most important works: Trois ans en Asie and Les religions et philosophies dans l’Asie central. Part 1, featuring selections from the first work, includes chapters on “The Nation,” “Religion,” “The Sufis,” “The Condition of Individuals,” “Characters and Social Relations,” and “Probable Results of Relations between Europe and Asia.” Part 2, featuring selections from the second work, includes chapters on “The Religious and Moral Character of Asiatics,” “The Faith of the Arabs: Origin and Development of Shi‘ism,” “Beginnings of Babism,” “The Development of Babism,” “Battles and Successes of the Babis in Mazandaran,” “Fall of the Castle of Shaykh Tabarsi,” and “Insurrection in Zanjan,” as well as “Attempt on the King”s Life.” Although these studies are well-known to specialists, they were previously unavailable in English. As such, O’Donoghue’s translation makes an important contribution to scholarship.

Although described as “brilliant” in the blurb, O’Donoghue’s translation would best be described as competent. As the translator notes, “I have endeavored to translate Gobineau as accurately as possible with regard to style and word choice. This had led to a certain amount of obscure vocabulary and idiosyncratic syntax…and some very long sentences containing many subordinate clauses (viii). Still, if Tim Mackintosh-Smith could render the long-winded narrative style of Ibn Battutah’s Travels into clear, concise, and readable modern English, the same should be expected of any translator.

If the translation is valuable, the editorial notes by Geoffrey Nash are of little consequence. Since several of the studies attempt to trace the original and early development of Shi‘ism, the dearth of primary Shi‘ite sources in his bibliography pose a serious problem. Virtually every work he cites was produced by an orientalist and his main source of information on Shi‘ism derives from An Introduction to Shi‘i Islam, the work of Moojan Momen. Due to his shortage of scholarly sources, Nash simply reiterates the many mistakes made by Momen. For example, he reiterates the outdated and duly debunked claim that ‘Abd Allah ibn Saba is the source of Shi‘a extremism (219, n. 7). He also repeats Momen’s assertion that extremist views were widespread in the period up to the sixth Imam, Ja‘far al-Sadiq, only to be reversed thereafter due to doctrinal changes (218, n. 3).

The editor also speaks of a certain “Salman Irani” (225, n. 10) when his real name was Salman al-Farisi. The term Irani, which is derived from the Old Iranian ethical adjective Aryana or “Aryan,” traces back to Sassanid time. It was only in 1935 that Reza Shah, in a desire to stress the Aryan origin of the Persian people, asked the international community to refer to Persia as Iran and Persians as Iranians. Since the term eran, as an identifier for the Persian people, is only first attested in an inscription from the time of Ardeshir I (d. 242), it seems highly improbable that Salman, the Companion of the Prophet, could have borne the titled al-Irani or “the Iranian.” In fact, all primary Islamic sources refer to him as al-Farisi or “the Persian.”

Despite this questionable bibliographical foundation, Nash’s introduction provides an excellent overview of Gobineau’s ideas and some of the serious shortcomings of his works. In fact, some may find that the editor’s introduction does such a fine job at summarizing and studying the translated extracts that it steals the show. The section on “Islam, Persian Shi‘ism and Heterodoxy,” in particular, provides an excellent overview of Gobineau’s racial/nationalist interpretation of Shi‘ism. Nash also does a fine job of surveying Gobineau’s influence on later orientalists and beyond. As the editor makes abundantly clear, Gobineau’s attempt to divide Shi‘ites, Sunnis, and Sufis, along racial lines, proved useful in serving imperial and missionary interests. He also argues that Gobineau’s ideas on Persian race and history influenced those such as Mirza Aqa Khan Kirmani and Ahmad Kasravi “who glorify Iran’s ancient but condemn its more recent Islamic past” (14).

Considering the size of Trois ans en Asie and Les religions et philosophies dans l’Asie central, some scholars will not be satisfied with the selections provided by Nash. Although Gobineau provided a veritable panorama of Persian culture, nearly 43% of the excerpts selected by Nash deal with Baha’ism. In short, the “selected eastern writings” will seem far too “selective” for some. Fortunately, for those who wish a fuller picture of Gobineau, O’Donoghue plans to publish his complete translations of Three Years in Asia and Religions and Philosophies of Central Asia, removing, due to contractual obligations, the short selections that have been previously published. The first of these planned publications, Gobineau and Persia: A Love Story, is set to be published by Mazda Publisher in 2011.

Although this is a review of the edition and translation, and not of the text itself, Gobineau should not escape criticism. Lacking proficiency in both Arabic and Persian, Gobineau pompously presented himself as some grand authority on all things Islamic. Although he speaks with authority, his understanding of Islam, in all its expressions, was incomplete, as was his understanding of Muslim cultures in general. Rather than adhere to the scholarly method, he favoured imagination and intuition and based himself on flights of fancy rather than fact. His Religions and Philosophies of Central Asia reads more like travel literature than scholarship, positioning himself as the outsider who asserts to have seized the essence of the “other” when, in reality, he has scarcely scratched the surface of his subject.

As much as Gobineau may have loved the East, the path to perdition is paved with good intentions. Ultimately, as a result of his influential theories, Gobineau did a great deal of damage to Islam and Muslims. The stereotypes he sowed, and the theoretical weeds he planted, have proven exceedingly difficult to uproot. The situation has been further complicated by the fact that his followers have fertilized them for over a century. Far from being beneficial plants, Gobineau’s theories deserved to be declared as noxious invasive weeds. For scholars seeking to understand the basis of many misguided theories, perhaps with the intention of eradicating them, Comte de Gobineau and Orientalism is essential reading.

• 1. Gobineau, Joseph Arthur de. Comte de Gobineau and Orientalism: Selected Eastern Writings. Trans. Daniel O’Donoghue. Ed. Geoffrey Nash. New York: Routledge, 2009.