Undergraduate Course: Regional Perspectives in a Globalised Muslim World (IMES10107)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course presents historical, religious, political, social, economic, and cultural perspectives from the core regions of the Muslim world and from Muslim-minority contexts paying special attention to contemporary regional issues. Each lecture/seminar will introduce the students to specific tools of investigation and approaches of analysis that are particularly significant for these perspectives. It will help students answer key questions about Muslim communities in specific regions of the Muslim world. The course will also highlight the connections and bridges, as well as the significant differences, between regions and perspectives as students progressively build a better understanding of the field of research. |
| Course description |
Academic 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 explores the key features of Muslim societies and regional interactions across religious, socio-economic, cultural, and political phenomena. The course themes include different levels of analysis (from the relations between states to the everyday practices of religiosity).
Outline content:
This course will cover themes related to regional perspectives on the Muslim World that may include, but will not be limited to, the following topics:
Muslim dynamics in Sub Saharan Africa
Islamism and International Relations in the Middle East
Shiism and Iran in context
North Africa Islamism after the Arab uprisings
South East Asian Muslim societies
Muslims in India/South Asia
European Islam/Islamism
Comparative Muslim regionalism
Student experience:
The course is a combination of lecture-style presentation of the weekly topic by the lecturer for the first hour of the course, followed by a tutorial style seminar in the ensuing hour where students among themselves and students and the lecturer 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 for the seminar. A specific session on research design will take place to prepare the students for the writing up of a research project. This UG course is taught jointly with PG students
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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 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 16 |
| 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) |
Coursework 100 %
1. A 1,000-word review essay (40%)
2. A 2,500-word research project design on a regional issue related to the Muslim world (60%) |
| Feedback |
- Weekly oral comments by lecturer and peers on seminar participation
- Individual written feedback on mid-course essay provided by marker
- Formative assessment of research project outline and group formative feedback given during the research design session.
- Individual written feedback on final research project design provided by marker
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Compare the role of Islam and Muslim societies in different regions of the world from historical and contemporary perspectives.
- Analyse the political, economic, religious, and cultural linkages among Muslim communities across various regions.
- Synthesise and critically evaluate different methodological approaches to the study of Muslim societies by anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, and historians, among others.
- Apply the skills gained in the course to develop and write a research proposal on a question/issue related to the studied themes.
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Reading List
Indicative reading list:
Essential:
Attiya, Ahmad. 2017. Everyday Conversions: Islam, Domestic Work, and South Asian Migrant Women in Kuwait. Duke University Press.
Babar, Zahra, ed. 2017. Arab Migrant Communities in the GCC. London: Oxford University Press.
Barfield, Thomas J. 2010. Afghanistan: A cultural and Political History, Princeton studies in Muslim politics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press
Cesari, Jocelyne, ed. 2014. The Oxford Handbook of European Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chitwood, Ken. 2021. The Muslims of Latin America and the Caribbean. Lynne Rienner: Boulder.
Daniels, Timothy P., ed. 2013. Performance, Popular Culture, and Piety in Muslim Southeast Asia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Logroño Narbona, María del Mar, Paulo G. Pinto & John Tofik Karam, eds. 2015. Crescent Over Another Horizon: Islam in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Latino USA. Austin: University of Texas Press,
Loimeier, Roman. 2013. Muslim Societies in Africa: A Historical Anthropology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Loue¿r, Laurence. 2012. Shiism and Politics in the Middle East. London: Hurst.
Mervin, Sabrina, ed. 2010. The Shi¿a Worlds and Iran. London and Saint Paul: Saqi.
Muwahidah, Siti Sarah. 2020. ¿National (In)Security and Identity Boundaries: The Rise of Muslim Conservative Propaganda in Indonesia.¿ Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies 5 (1): 1¿34.
Nielsen, Jorgen and Jonas Otterbeck. 2016. Muslims in Western Europe. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Otayek, Rene¿ and Benjamin F. Soares, eds. 2007. Islam and Muslim Politics in Africa. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Reetz, Dietrich. 2006. Islam in the Public Sphere: Religious Groups in India, 1900-1947. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Saikal, Amin, Ravan Farhadi, and Kirill Nourzhanov. 2004. Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival. London & New York: I.B.Tauris.
Stein, Ewan. 2021. International Relations in the Middle East: Hegemonic Strategies and Regional Order. Cambridge University Press.
Recommended
Asad, Talal. 2003. Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Bokhari, Kamran, and Farid Senzai. 2013. Political Islam in the Age of Democratization. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Centlivres-Demont, Micheline. 2015. Afghanistan: Identity, Society and Politics since 1980. London: I.B. Tauris.
Ingram, Brannon D. 2019. Revival from Below: the Deoband Movement and Global Islam. Oakland: University of California Press.
Kanna, Ahmed, Ame¿lie Le Renard and Neha Vora. 2020. Beyond Exception: New Interpretations of the Arabian Peninsula. Cornell University Press.
Loue¿r, Laurence. 2008. Transnational Shia Politics: Religious and Political Networks in the Gulf. New York: Columbia University Press.
Further reading:
Appadurai, Arjun. 2006. Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger. Durham: Duke University Press.
Cook, Karoline. 2016. Forbidden Passages: Muslims and Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Diamond, Larry J., Marc F. Plattner, & Daniel Brumberg (Eds.). 2003. Islam and Democracy in the Middle East. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Heath, Jennifer, and Ashraf Zahedi. 2011. Land of the Unconquerable : the Lives of Contemporary Afghan Women. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Reid, Anthony. 2010. Imperial Alchemy: Nationalism and Political Identity in Southeast Asia. Cambridge, UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ware, Rudolph T. 2014. The Walking Qur¿an: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The technical skills necessary to locate academic literature relevant to the field of inquiry.
The ability to study and interpret academic literature pertinent to diverse communities across the globe.
The ability to identify and define new problems and issues emerging across the globalised Muslim world.
The skills necessary to evaluate their own and others' work.
The ability to formulate a research proposal drawing on appropriate source materials.
The ability to use and discuss relevant secondary literature
An openness to new ideas, perspectives and opinions.
Curiosity leading to the achievement of academic or personal goals beyond the duration of this programme. |
| Keywords | Muslim world,regions,perspectives,socio-economic,politics,history,religion |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Kholoud Al-Ajarma
Tel:
Email: Kholoud.Alajarma@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Hope Hamilton
Tel: (0131 6)50 4167
Email: hope.hamilton@ed.ac.uk |
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