Postgraduate Course: International, Transnational and Globalized Dynamics of the Muslim World (IMES11100)
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 aim of the course is to strengthen students' knowledge about Islam and Muslims in different parts of the world. Drawing from perspectives from the social sciences and the humanities, the course covers a number of themes including globalization, modernity, transnational relations, media, and politics. It also covers how Muslims respond to global events and concerns like migration, poverty, women's rights, and climate change among others. |
| Course description |
This course will cover key questions concerning the role of the Muslim World, one quarter of the world's population, and its influence in politics, culture, and society.
This course addresses the need for a deeper understanding of the diversity of Muslim cultures and societies in the contemporary global context. With a focus on various facets of lived Islam in the contemporary world, the course will provide a unique opportunity for students to deepen their knowledge about the diversity and complexity of Global Islam, and to deepen their understanding of the richness of Muslim cultures and societies in the global context. The course also provides diverse explanations of contemporary concerns that face communities and countries like democracy, human rights, migration, media, and politics among others.
The course begins with an overview of different definitions of the Muslim World and globalisation including social, cultural, and economic dimensions. The course will be structured thematically to include - but not be limited to - the following topics:
- Muslim Networks and Interactions
- Modernity and Religious Reform
- Salafism and the State
- Sufism and 'popular' Islam
- Migration and Muslim Minorities
- Islamic law and Women's rights
- Muslim interactions in the Media: Old and New
- Muslims organizations and responses to Global problems such as poverty and Climate Change
The success of the course - and students success in the class - requires regular preparation, attendance, and participation. Each of the course sessions consists of lecture and seminar. The lecture covers one theme and the seminar includes group discussions of the assigned readings and case studies. Each student will write two assignments related to the themes delivered in the course. This PG course is taught jointly with UG students. There are two extra PG sessions as a part of the course delivery.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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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 2022/23, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 10 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 24,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Presentation: 15%
One short paper (1,000 words): 30%
Final paper (3,000 words): 55% |
| Feedback |
Students will be provided with written feedback following their submission of their formative assignments and with oral guidance on public presentation skills and group discussions.
Feedback will focus on identification of problem; context; effects; clarity of argument; language; and on-time submission. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the international dynamics of contemporary Muslim societies in a variety of majority and minority contexts including current discourses and dynamics in the study of the global Muslim World.
- Apply relevant theoretical perspectives and analyse the intersection of Islam with social, political, and cultural issues in different parts of the world.
- Identify and critically analyse the relationship between the Muslim World, trans-nationalism, migration, and global interconnectivity, and various perspectives on globalized Muslim World like identity, gender, and communication.
- Map out and identify the interrelations between Islam and other religions and religious, social and political dynamics in a global context.
- Apply the insights gained in this educational course in analysing current debates with regard to Islam, culture, and politics in a global context.
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Reading List
There is no core textbook for the course. Students will be provided with a class calendar with details about required and recommended readings. Students will also be provided with a list of books as further reading which provide useful background knowledge and/or analytical frameworks of relevance for the study of the globalized Muslim World.
Essential:
Aishima, Hatsuki, "Are We All Amr Khaled": Islam and the Facebook Generation of Egypt, in A. Masquelier and B. Soares, eds, Muslim Youth and the 9/11 Generation. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, (2016), pp. 105-21.
Asad, Talal, "Muslims as a "Religious Modernity" in Europe" in Formations of the secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity, (2003).
Bowen, John R. "Beyond Migration: Islam as a Transnational Public Space", Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 30,5 (2004): 879-894.
Brown, Jonathan. "A Map of the Islamic Interpretive Tradition," in Misquoting Muhammad, Oxford: Oneworld, (2014), pp. 15-68.
Bruinessen, Martin van, et al. Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates. Edinburgh University Press, (2009). Chapter 1 and 9.
Clark JA. Islam, Charity, and Activism: Middle-Class Networks and Social Welfare in Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen. Indiana University Press; 2004. Chapter 2 and 4.
Cooke, Miriam and Bruce Lawrence Muslim Networks from Hajj to Hip Hop, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, (2005). Chapter 11 and 12.
Grewal, Zareena, Islam Is a Foreign Country: American Muslims and the Global Crisis of Authority, New York: NYU Press, 2014.
Hackett, Rosalind and Benjamin Soares, eds, New Media and Religious Transformations in Africa, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, (2015). Chapter 3 and 9.
In Muslim Pilgrimage in the Modern World, edited by Rahimi Babak and Eshaghi Peyman, (2019), pp. 172-82.
Jouili, Jeanette, Pious Practice and Secular Constraints: Women in the Islamic Revival in Europe, Stanford: Stanford University Press, (2015). Chapter 4 and 6.
Kandiyoti, Deniz. "Islam, Modernity, and the Politics of Gender." In Bruinessen, Martin van, et al. Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates. Edinburgh University Press, (2009). Chapter 4.
Kloos, David, Becoming Better Muslims: Religious Authority and Ethical Improvement in Aceh, Indonesia, Princeton: Princeton University Press, (2018). Chapter 4 and 5.
Kyaw, Nyi Nyi, "Islamophobia in Buddhist Myanmar: The 969 Movement and Anti-Muslim Violence," in Melissa Crouch, ed., Islam and the State in Myanmar: MuslimBuddhist Relations and the Politics of Belonging, Oxford: Oxford University Press, (2016).
Manger, Leif. "Muslim Diversity: Local Islam in Global Contexts", in Leif Manger (ed.). Muslim diversity: Local Islam in Global contexts, Richmond: Curzon, (1999). Chapter 1 and 2.
Meijer, Roel (ed). Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement, London: Hurst, (2009). Chapter 6 and 13.
Pal, Leslie A, and M. Evren Tok, eds. Global Governance and Muslim Organizations. International Political Economy Series. Introduction (chapter 1), chapter 2 and 6.
Roy, Oliver. Globalised Islam: The Search for a New Ummah, London: Hurst (2004). Chapter 6.
Szanto, Edith. "Economies of Piety at the Syrian Shrine of Sayyida Zaynab."
Thurston, Alex, Salafism in Nigeria: Islam, Preaching, and Politics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (2016). Introduction chapter.
Thurston, Alex. "Muslim Politics and Shari¿a in Kano State, Northern Nigeria." African Affairs 114, no. 454 (2015): 28-51.
Volpi, Frédéric. "Political Islam in the Mediterranean: The View from Democratization Studies," Democratization, 16:1 (2009); 20-38.
Recommended:
Abdullah, Zain, Black Mecca: The African Muslims of Harlem, Oxford: Oxford University Press, (2010).
Al-Ajarma, Kholoud. "Introduction." Mecca in Morocco: Articulation of Muslim Pilgrimage in Moroccan Everyday Life (2020), (Pdf).
Al-Ajarma, Kholoud. Power in Moroccan women¿s narratives of the Hajj¿ (2020). (Pdf)
Bruinessen, Martin van, et al. Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates. Edinburgh University Press, (2009). Chapter 5 and 10.
Cormack, Margaret (ed.) Muslims and Others in Sacred Space, Oxford: Oxford University Press, (2013). Chapter 1.
Fugl Eskjaer, Mikkel. "Communicating Climate Change in Regional News Media." International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management 1, no. 4 (2009): 356-67.
Laurence, Louer. Transnational Shia Politics: Religious and Political Networks in the Gulf. Series in Comparative Politics and International Studies. New York: Columbia University Press, (2008). Chapter 5.
Mahmood, Saba. "Rehearsed Spontaneity and the Conventionality of Ritual: Disciplines of 'Salat", American Ethnologist, 28. 4 (2001), pp. 827-853.
Meijer, Roel (ed). Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement, London: Hurst, (2009). Chapter 4.
Meijer, Roel (ed). Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement, London: Hurst, (2014). Introduction chapter and chapter 1.
Pal, Leslie A, and M. Evren Tok, eds. Global Governance and Muslim Organizations. International Political Economy Series. Chapter 7 and 8.
Schonthal, Benjamin, "Making the Muslim Other in Myanmar and Sri Lanka," in Melissa Crouch, ed., Islam and the State in Myanmar: Muslim- Buddhist Relations and the Politics of Belonging, Oxford: Oxford University Press, (2016).
Seib, Philip (ed.). Al Jazeera English: Global News in a Changing World Palgrave Macmillan, (2012). Introduction and chapter 1.
Wainscott, Ann Marie, Bureaucratizing Islam: Morocco and the War on Terror. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (2018). Introduction, Chapter 2, 5 and 8.
Wallerstein, Immanuel. "Islam, the West, and the World," Journal of Islamic Studies, Volume 10, Number 2 (1999), pp. 109-125.
Williams, R.H. "Creating an American Islam: Thoughts on Religion, Identity, and Place", in Sociology of Religion, 72,2 (2011): 127-153.
Wright, Robin (ed.) The Islamists are Coming: Who they Really Are Woodrow Wilson Center Press (2012). Introduction and chapter 1.
Zareena Grewal, "Muslim Reformers and the American Media" in Islam is a Foreign Country: American Muslims and Global Crisis of Authority, New York University Press, (2014), pp. 292-345.
Further readings:
Deeb, Lara., An Enchanted Modern: Gender and Public Piety in Shi'i Lebanon, Princeton: Princeton University Press, (2006).
Eickelman, Dale F. and James Piscatori. Muslim Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, (2004).
Gole, Nilufer. Islam and Public Controversy in Europe, Routledge, (2016).
Jouili, Jeanette, Pious Practice and Secular Constraints: Women in the Islamic Revival in Europe, Stanford: Stanford University Press, (2015).
Kloos, David. Becoming Better Muslims: Religious Authority and Ethical Improvement in Aceh, Indonesia, Princeton: Princeton University Press, (2018).
Mahmood, Saba. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton: Princeton University Press, (2005).
Mandaville, Peter. Islam and Politics. Routledge, 2nd edition, (2014).
Mittermaier, Amira, "Dreams from Elsewhere: Muslim Subjectivities beyond the Trope of Self- Cultivation," Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 18, 2 (2012): 247-65.
Roy, Olivier. Globalised Islam: The Search for a New Ummah. London: C. Hurst, (2004).
Schulze, Reinhard. A Modern History of the Islamic World. New York: New York University Press, (2002). |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- In depth knowledge, understanding, research and other skills associated with the Global Muslim World.
- The ability to critically interpret and analyse academic literature associated with the study of global Islam and to link the discipline to local, national, and global issues.
- Develop skills necessary to execute original and independent research.
- The ability to use relevant secondary literature and engage in interpretative debates.
- The ability to reach an independent judgement, think creatively and independently, and explain their ideas to a large audience.
- The ability to continue to learn, reflect and apply new knowledge and skills in a positive sustainable way, with both a local and world perspective.
- The ability to work productively, independently and with others, no matter their culture, perspective or background.
- Resilience when confronted with challenges and able to adapt positively to and accept change through a continued willingness to learn and develop (such as remote learning during COVID-19 pandemic). |
| Keywords | Islam,migration,globalization |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Kholoud Al-Ajarma
Tel:
Email: Kholoud.Alajarma@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Anne Budo
Tel: (0131 6)50 4161
Email: a.budo@ed.ac.uk |
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