Postgraduate Course: Regional Perspectives in a Globalised Muslim World (IMES11099)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course is grounded in the empirical investigation of local, national and globalised mechanisms in different regions of the Muslim world. It presents regional perspectives from the core regions of the Muslim world and from Muslim-minority contexts. It introduces different disciplinary approaches considering the historical, religious, political, social, economic, and cultural dynamics of these phenomena. Each approach will introduce the student to specific tools of investigation and analysis that are particularly significant for these disciplines, and help students understand how they are deployed in a specific region of the Muslim world to answer key questions about Muslim communities there. The course will also highlight the connections and bridges, as well as the significant differences, between each approach as students progressively build a better understanding of the field of research. |
| Course description |
This course examines the evolving dynamics of Muslim societies in the different regions of the Muslim world (and beyond) in the modern period. It will examine the key features of Muslim societies and the interactions between religious, socio-economic, and political phenomena. The course brings into focus different types of dynamics in different regions of the world and at different levels of analysis (from the relations between states to the everyday practices of religiosity). The religious interpretations that dominate contemporary debates will be examined in relation to the local, national, regional and global context. The course will provide the foundations necessary for the course Globalized and Transnational Dynamics of the Muslim World, which will draw upon knowledge of different regional situations to analyse wider trends.
This course will cover themes related to regional perspectives on the Muslim World that may include:
Muslim dynamics in Sub Saharan Africa
Islamism & IR in the Middle East
Shiism & Iran in context
North Africa Islamism after the Arab uprisings
Research design
South East Asian Muslim societies
Muslims in India/South Asia
European Islam/Islamism
Comparative Muslim regionalism
The course is a combination of lecture style presentation of the weekly research topic by the lecturer for the first hour of the course, followed by a tutorial style seminar in the ensuing hours where students among themselves and students and the lecturer will discuss and explore in more depth some of the salient issues pertaining to the topic. Lecture slides will be made available to the students before the session alongside a series of weekly questions and exercises that should be researched and answered in preparation of the seminar. A 250 word outline of the answers and key problems should be emailed to the course convenor or posted on the Team board a day before the seminar. A specific session on research design will take place to prepare the students for the writing up of the research project.
If conducted in a hybrid environment, the course will be taught through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous activities conducted online. The synchronous activities include a 50 minutes weekly online seminar. These seminars will facilitate discussion about the weekly lecture video and associated slides. Students are expected to attend online after having watch the video and the slides, and after having addressed the questions and exercises proposed for that week. The asynchronous activities include 15 minutes weekly lecture videos and a series of associated slides on the topic of the week. There is also a series of weekly questions and exercises that should be answered weekly in approximately 40 minutes. A 200 words outline of your key elements of answer and key problems should be emailed to the course convenor a day before the synchronous online seminar discussion. This is in addition to the usual personal research and reading time.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 20 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1. A 2,000-word essay (45%)
2. A 2,500-word research project design on an aspect of globalized Muslim politics (55%) |
| Feedback |
- Comments provided by orally on formative exercises.
- Individual written feedback on summative essay provided by marker.
- Individual written feedback on research project design provided by marker. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Explain and analyse, by drawing on scholarly texts, Muslims' social and political experiences of living in a globalized Muslim world.
- Analyse the principal modes of governing society in different parts of the Muslim world, and assess and evaluate the main factors influencing them.
- Evaluate the different disciplinary approaches to the study of Muslim politics around the world, and how they have changed over time.
- Apply and support arguments using appropriate theoretical and empirical literature from across the social sciences and humanities.
- Design a research project on an aspect of globalized Muslim politics through a given disciplinary approach.
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Reading List
Essential:
Appadurai, Arjun. 2006. Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger. Durham: Duke University Press.
Asad, Talal. 2003. Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Bayat, Asef. 2007. Making Islam Democratic: Social Movements and the Post-Islamist Turn. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Césari, Jocelyne. 2014. The Awakening of Muslim Democracy: Religion, Modernity, and the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Devji, Faisal. 2008. The Terrorist in Search of Humanity: Militant Islam and Global Politics. New York: Columbia University Press
Diamond, Larry J., Marc F. Plattner, & Daniel Brumberg (Eds.). 2003. Islam and Democracy in the Middle East. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Eickelman, Dale & James Piscatori. 2004. Muslim Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Gerges, Fawaz A. 2005. The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gräf, Bettina & Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen (Eds.). 2009. Global mufti: the phenomenon of Y¿suf al-Qara¿¿w¿. New York: Columbia University Press.
Haddad, Yvonne (Ed). 2001. Muslims in the West. From Sojourners to Citizens. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hefner, Robert W. (Ed.). 2005. Remaking Muslim Politics: Pluralism, Contestation, Democratization. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Khalid, Adeeb. 2014. Islam after Communism: Religion and Politics in Central Asia, 2nd edition. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Mahmood, Sabah. 2005. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Mandaville, Peter. 2001. Transnational Muslim Politics: Reimagining the Umma. New York: Routledge.
Mandaville, Peter. 2013. Islam and Politics. New York: Routledge
Menchik, Jeremy. 2016. Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance without Liberalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Roy, Olivier. 2004. Globalised Islam: The Search for a New Ummah. New York: Columbia University Press.
Schwedler, Jillian. 2007. Faith in Moderation: Islamist Parties in Jordan and Yemen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Soares, Benjamin and René Otayek (Ed.). 2007. Islam and Muslim Politics in Africa. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
Volpi, Frédéric. 2010. Political Islam Observed. New York: Oxford University Press USA.
Volpi, Frédéric. 2010. Political Islam: A Critical Reader (New York: Routledge, 2010)
Wickham, Carrie Rosefsky. 2002. Mobilizing Islam: Religion, Activism, and Political Change in Egypt. New York: Columbia University Press.
Yavuz, M. Hakan. 2009. Secularism and Muslim Democracy in Turkey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- The technical and critical skills necessary to locate academic literature relevant to the field of inquiry.
- The ability to interpret and analyse academic literature pertinent to the study of Muslim communities across the globe.
- The ability to identify, conceptualise and define new and abstract problems and issues emerging across the globalised Muslim world.
- The skills necessary to evaluate critically their own and others' work.
- The range of skills necessary to execute a major piece of original research.
- The ability to formulate a research proposal and dissertation drawing on appropriate source materials and to place this in an academic context.
- The ability to use relevant secondary literature and discuss pertinent interpretative debates.
- The ability to reach an independent judgement, based on their own research.
- An openness to new ideas, perspectives and opinions.
- An intellectual curiosity leading to the achievement of academic, professional or personal goals beyond the duration of this programme. |
| Keywords | Muslim world,history,politics,religion |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Frederic Volpi
Tel: (0131 6)50 4615
Email: Frederic.Volpi@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Anne Budo
Tel: (0131 6)50 4161
Email: a.budo@ed.ac.uk |
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