Oman in Western Orientalist Scholarship

This study examines how Oman has been represented in Western scholarship across a wide range of sources, including political reports, travel narratives, translations, academic studies, and artistic productions. It traces European and American engagement with Oman from the medieval period to the present, demonstrating how commercial networks, imperial interests, and evolving scholarly practices shaped these representations. The article highlights contributions by British, French, German, Italian, Russian, and American scholars working across diverse fields, including history, philology, Ibadi theology, archaeology, and anthropology. In doing so, it charts the gradual transition from colonial-era modes of description toward more critical and academically grounded approaches, while also acknowledging the enduring influence of Orientalist scholarship on both Western interpretations of Oman and Omani historiography itself

Historiography · Orientalism · Politics · Scholarship · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Hispanic-African Historical Relations · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts