Seeming disorder in Arabic texts stems from the reader’s assumptions about words

Evidence

Again I want to explore this apparent absence of order more closely. By examining a line or two from Marsafi’s text in some detail, I propose to show that the supposed disorder is a consequence of reading it according to our own strange assumptions about how words work. — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 449

Categorization

• DEFINE: Posits the methodological core of the chapter: apparent textual disorder is reader-projected, not inherent.