Parker Hall 302 Webpage: www.wagner.edu/faculty/users/pjani
W 3-6, or by appointment Webboard: http://webboard.wagner.edu/~pjani
The Islamic World: Culture, History, Politics
Abukhalil, Bin Laden, Islam, and America’s New “War on Terrorism”
Al-Shaykh, Women of Sand and Myrrh
Ali, Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree
Khalifeh, Wild Thorns
Mahfouz, Sugar Street
Robinson, ed. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World (CIH)
Said, Covering Islam
Course Packet (CP)
For Course Policies, Assignments, and up-to-date information, see the webpage.
Participation: 15%
Presentation: 5%
Weekly Response: 5%
Paper #1 (500 words): 20%
Paper #2 (1000 words): 25%
Final Paper (2000 words): 30%
M January 27
· Introduction to the course
· Lecture: The origins and spread of Islam
· Film: PBS, Islam: Empire of Faith (clips)
· Reading:
o Crone, “The Rise of Islam in the World” (CIH, pp. 2-31)
M February 3
· Lecture: Muslim Societies, 11th century to 15th century
· Film: PBS, Islam: Empire of Faith (clips)
· Reading:
o Tariq Ali, Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree (pp. 1-244)
o Irwin, “The Emergence of the Islamic World System 1000-1500” (CIH, pp. 32-61)
o Versions of speech by Pope Urban II, launching the First Crusade: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2-5vers.html
M February 10
· Lecture: Islamic Empires and Modernity, 16th century to 19th century
· Films: PBS, Islam: Empire of Faith (clips)
· Reading:
o Dale, “The Islamic World in the Age of European Expansion, 1500-1800” (CIH, pp. 62-89)
o Chaudhuri, “The Economy in Muslim Societies” (CIH, pp. 124-63)
· DUE: Paper #1 (500 words)
T February 18 (Monday classes)
· Lecture: Early Colonialism and the Rise of Orientalism
· Films: Aladdin / Black Hawk Down (clips)
· Reading:
o Said, from Orientalism (brief excerpt): http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/landow/post/poldiscourse/pol11.html
o Said, “Islam as News” in Covering Islam (pp. 2-79)
o The Arabian Nights (Burton’s translation): http://www.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/ags/ti/personen/mfreeric/m/an/a_index.html
o Brief biography of Sir Richard Burton: http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~garsonkw/biography.html
· For further analysis:
o Orientalist Painting (with an Orientalist webmaster!): http://www.orientalist-art.org.uk/delacroix.html and http://www.orientalist-art.org.uk/gerome.html
o National Geographic’s “Afghan Girl”: http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/afghangirl/
Week 5: Colonialism and Its Impact (Israel/Palestine)
M February 24
· Lecture: Divide and Conquer
· Reading:
o Ansari, “The Islamic World in the Era of Western Dominance, 1800-the present” (CIH, pp. 90-123)
o Sepheri,
“The Geopolitics of Oil”: http://www.isreview.org/issues/26/oil_geopolitics.shtml
o Pappe,
“The ’48 Nakba and the Zionist Quest for Its Completion” http://www.between-lines.org/archives/2002/oct/Ilan_Pappe.htm
o Documents:
§ Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916): http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/sykes.htm
§ Balfour Declaration (1917): http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/balfour.htm
§ Ben Gurion, “Statement to the Elected Assembly of Palestinian Jewry” (1947): http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH01dl0
§
Ben Gurion, et al., “Declaration of the
Establishment of the State of Israel” (1948): http://www.jerusalem-archives.org/docs/d-7.html
§ Arab League, “Declaration on the Invasion of Palestine” (1948): http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/History/arab_invasion.html
M March 3
· Lecture: The Rise of Secular and Religious Nationalisms
· Film: Battle of Algiers (excerpts)
· Reading:
o Mahfouz, Sugar Street (pp. 308)
Week 7: The Limits of Nationalism (India/Pakistan)
M March 17
· Lecture: Nationalism and Its Blindnesses
· Film: Ram Ke Nam (clips)
· Reading:
o Sam Ashman, “India: Imperialism, Partition, and Resistance”—CP
o Mumtaz Mufti, “An Impenetrable Darkness”—CP
o Saadat Hasan Manto, “Black Margins”—CP
o Swami, “Saffron Terror”: http://www.flonnet.com/fl1906/19060080.htm
o Prashad, “Kashmir and Jihad International”: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=32&ItemID=2814
· DUE:
Paper #2 (1000 words)
Week 8: Secular and Religious Nationalism (Palestine)
M March 24
· Lecture: Debates Within the Palestinian Struggle
· Reading:
o Khalifeh, Wild Thorns (pp. 208)
o Said, “The One-State Solution”: http://www.thehope.org/said.htm
o Debate over tactics: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/592/re2.htm
M March 31
· Lecture: An Islamic Revolution?
· Reading:
o Documents from the revolution (TBA)
o Said, “Iran” in Covering Islam (pp. 80-133)
o Khatami, adress at Florence University: http://www.persia.org/khatami/s_espeech.html
o Article on Iran-Iraq War—CP
M April 7
· Lecture: Islamism, the CIA, and the Liberation of Afghan Women
· Reading:
o Abukhalil, Bin Laden, Islam, and America’s New “War on Terror” (pp. 110)
o Reagan, Proclamation of Afghanistan Day (1982): http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/resource/speeches/1982/31082c.htm
o UNOCAL, “Company Not Supporting Taliban in Any Way”: http://www.unocal.com/uclnews/2001news/091401.htm
o Debate: Did The Afghan War Liberate Women? – (web links TBA)
· Due: Proposal for Final Paper
M April 14
· Lecture: The Defense of Free Speech
· Reading:
o from Rushdie, Satanic Verses—CP
o The fatwa against Rushdie: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~owend/interests/islam/fatwa.html
o Mailer to Rushdie, letter: http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/burning/mailer-rushdie.html
o Razavi-Faqih and Urbina, “The Fight for Iran’s Democratic Ideals”: http://www.merip.org/newspaper_opeds/fight_for_iran_democratic.html
o Qureishi, “My Son the Fanatic”—CP
M April 28
· Lecture: Women and Islam
· Reading:
o al-Shaykh, Women of Sand and Myrrh (pp. 280)
o Ahmed, from Women and Gender in Islam—CP
· Film: Hidden Wars of Desert Storm, Three Kings
· Reading:
o The Bush Doctrine: http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.html
o from Iraq Under Siege—CP
o Vajpayee, “We Shall Triumph Over Terrorism”: http://www.indianembassy.org/special/cabinet/Primeminister/pm_december_31_2001.htm
o Netanyahu to Likud Central Committee: http://www.netanyahu.org/binnetspeeca.html
o Anat Matar, “The War To Annihilate Palestinian Society”: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1021.shtml