Linguistic strategies of de-Islamisation and Colonial science: Indo-Muslim physicians and the yûnânî denomination

Fabrizio Speziale (1)

1 Mondes Iranien et Indien - UMR 7528

During the colonial period, Indo-Muslim physicians began to define and differentiate their traditional medicine from other Indian traditional medicine by using the Arabic adjective yûnânî (or unani according to English pronunciation) literally meaning 'Ionic' or 'Greek'. Indo-Muslim physicians today would rarely, and never within (unani) health care and research institutions, define their medicine as Islamic, but as Greek. What were the scientific, political and linguistic motivations driving this terminological change?

Mots clés: Inde; science musulmane; médecine musulmane

Mots clés: India; Muslim science; Muslim medicine; Unani; Greek

Domaines: Histoire; Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences

Fabrizio Speziale. Linguistic strategies of de-Islamisation and Colonial science: Indo-Muslim physicians and the yûnânî denomination. International Institute for Asian Studies Newsletter, 2005, 37, pp.18. ⟨halshs-00597902⟩