Janet Abu-Lughod

Janet Lippman Abu-Lughod (August 3, 1928 – December 14, 2013) was an American sociologist who made major contributions to world-systems theory and urban sociology.

[1][2] Raised in Newark, New Jersey, United States, she attended Weequahic High School,[3] where she was influenced by the works of Lewis Mumford about urbanization.

[5] In 1987 she accepted a professorship in sociology and historical studies at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research, from which she retired as professor emerita in 1998.

Among a variety of factors, Abu-Lughod emphasized the role of Champagne fairs, the Mongol Empire, the Mamluk Sultanate, and the history of the Indian subcontinent in shaping this previous world system.

In addition, she argued that the "rise of the West," beginning with the intrusion of armed Portuguese ships into the relatively peaceful trade networks of the Indian Ocean in the 16th century, was not a result of features internal to Europe, but was made possible by a collapse in the previous world system.