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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures : Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies

Postgraduate Course: Ruling Iran: Great Kings, Shahs and Imams (IMES11048)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Literatures, Languages and Cultures CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course will allow students to explore the most important (and sometimes controversial) aspects of Persian monarch, and ruling authorities, including, personal charisma and their relationship with the divine, the role of the royal court and the architecture of displace, diplomacy, patronage, ceremony and warfare, and the role of royal women. Students will also engage with western myths of Persian shahs and with the image of the shahs in popular culture.
Course description Not entered
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Assess, analyse and criticise the various forms of source materials.
  2. Develop a clear awareness of the main historical and cultural phenomena of monarchy and religious authority in Iran.
  3. Explore the importance of personal charisma and the ruling authorities relationship with the divine.
  4. Develop skills in interpreting primary texts in translation.
  5. Develop skills in interpreting primary material evidence.
Reading List
On average three readings will be assigned each week as required reading. There is a longer reading list for each week from which students are expected to draw for their written work, as well as being encouraged to explore more widely.
In addition to the resources available in the library, students will find relevant material in a wide range of journals (available electronically).

Sample Bibliography

Arberry, A. (1958) Classical Persian Literature. London.

Arberry, A. (1954 and reprints). Persian Poems: An Anthology of Verse Translations. London.

Boyle, A. et al. (eds.). The Cambridge History of Iran Volume 5. The Saljuq and Mongol Periods. 1968.

Browne, E.G., A Literary History of Persia, Cambridge, 1924. 1-4
available free from:
http://www.4shared.com/file/129958243/c099407a/Lit_Hist_Pers_Vol_1.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/129957509/190c6ab3/Lit_Hist_Pers_Vol_2.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/129957924/5c918de8/Lit_Hist_Pers_Vol_3.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/129959412/76d89f7e/Lit_Hist_Pers_Vol_4.html


Browne, E. G. (1914). The Press and Poetry of Modern Persia. Cambridge.

Brumberg, D. (2001). Reinventing Khomeini: The Struggle for Reform in Iran.
Chicago.

Chelkowski, P. ed. (1979). Ta¿ziyeh: Ritual and Drama in Iran. New York.

¿¿. 1979. Ta¿ziyeh: Indigenous Avant-Garde Theatre of Iran. In Ta¿ziyeh: Ritual
and Drama in Iran, ed. Peter Chelkowski, pp. 1-11. New York.

¿¿. 1991. Popular Entertainment, Media and Social Change in Twentieth Century
Iran. In Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 7: From Nadir Shah to the Islamic
Republic, 765-814, ed. Peter Avery et al. Cambridge.
Chittick, W. C. (1983). The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi. Albany.

Davis, D. (2006). Epic and Sedition: The case of the Ferdowsi¿s Shahnameh. Washingtion D.C
De Bruijn J. T. P. (1997). Persian Sufi Poetry: Introduction to the Mystical Use of Classical Persian Poems. Richmond.
Gutas, D. (1998). Greek Though, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early Abbasid society. London.
Khomeini, R. (1981). Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini, trans. Hamid Algar. Berkeley.

Oinas, F. J. (1978). Heroic Epic and Saga: An Introduction to the World¿s Great Folk Epics. London.

Rypka, J. (1968). History of Iranian Literature. Dordrecht.
Schimmel, A. (1978). The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalal ud-Din Rumi. London.
Schimmel, A. (1992). A Two-Coloured Brocade: The Imagery of Persian Poetry. N. Carolina.

Yamamoto, K. (2003) The Oral Background of Persian Epics: Story telling and Poetry. Leiden.

Yarshater, E. ed. (, 1987). Persian Literature. New York.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsRI:GK
Contacts
Course organiserDr Nacim Pak-Shiraz
Tel: (0131 6)50 8432
Email: Nacim.Pak-Shiraz@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMr Iain Sutherland
Tel: (0131 6)51 3988
Email: Iain.Sutherland@ed.ac.uk
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