Islamists, Arab nationalists and Orientalists have all used notions about the Muslim family and Muslim law—as well as the encounter with Europe in the early 19th century—to explain society in the Middle East. But when historian Beshara Doumani set out to explore these notions, he found almost no scholarship had been done.

Taking a deep dive into two centuries of local records about ordinary people in the Eastern Mediterranean, Doumani discovered that when it comes to defining the typical Muslim family, there was, and is, no such thing.

On today’s podcast he discusses his new book, Family Life in the Ottoman Mediterranean.

You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iV-CcHitVWbzbexypE5zlPM0p5UwbGIq/view?usp=sharing]