Or please RSVP by 2nd September to Ms. Dahlia Bte Kasmani at email mlsbox1@nus.edu.sg / call 65162635 to register your attendance.

The Department of Malay Studies, National University of Singapore, the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore, and the ArabNetwork@Singapore

present a talk by

Dr. Ahmad Sa’di

Abstract

Social science models are supposed to map social relations and explain the underlying logic of social structures and processes. Therefore, their validity is persistently tested as the social order is inherently unstable or, as some theoreticians would argue, is in a process of becoming. Do existing models explain a certain reality, we frequently ask, or do their methodologies, fashionable jargon or ideological implications make them alluring? The aim of my presentation is to explore the validity of Israeli social science models with regard to the Arab minority. Specifically, I explore two propositions, which have been firmly upheld in Israeli sociology. The first is that there is no official policy or explicit policy guidelines towards this minority. The second is the presentation of the state as modernizing agent, oriented to modernize the minority from its current state of traditionalism to modernity. These two propositions (and a few others) will be assessed by way of contrast with archival materials, particularly with minutes of official meetings.