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The Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study has been formulated as a dynamic online publication in order to provide the most up to date information possible. Master versions of the Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study incorporating all changes to date are archived twice a year on 1 September and within the first three University working days prior to the start of Semester 2 in January. Please note that some of the data recorded about this course has been amended since the last master version was archived. That version should be consulted to determine the changes made.

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The Arab World (SA0037)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : SPS-3-SAAW

Many ‘regions’ of the world which anthropologists study face the problem that not much is known about them, and not enough thought is given to them, outside of academia. People who are at home in the Arab World (or the Middle East), and anthropologists working in that region, face the opposite problem: the region is frequently, if not constantly, a focus of world attention; and there is an abundance of ideas about ‘Arab’ social life and political culture in circulation, backed by considerable power. One aim of this course is make students aware, by introducing them to selected ethnographic works and theoretical approaches, to the challenges this high level of international interest and attention poses, on the one hand, for social and political organization within, and on the other hand, for scholarship of, the region. The course then encourages us to take an interest in ‘other’s activities, interests and concerns to which people in and of this region attend, besides or underneath dramatic political processes and events, but which become easily eclipsed by the over-determined bias in our observation practices.

An area of social practice which in recent years has caused international furore, and also has attracted a flurry of social science investigation, are self-homicidal martyrdom bombings (especially by Palestinians against Israelis). The course looks at this phenomenon, as (a) an area where students can see the mutual relevance between domains of life that social analysis often unduly separates and juxtaposes—such as kinship/family life, religion, and modern nation-state politics; and (b) an area that gives students an opportunity to reflect comparatively on the work of diverse academic disciplines, and the impact of pre-fabricated theoretical positions.