Spring 2022 - New Courses Announced

Spring 2022 - Middle East GU4840 section 001
Gender and Religion in Post-Colonial South Asia

Instructor: Nimmi Gowrinathan

This course will examine various roles that a religion can play in shaping its believers’ socio-cultural and political identities on the basis of their natural/social differences i.e. sex and gender. The central argument of the course is that, for historical understanding of a set of beliefs and practices regarding gender relations and women’s status in any religious group, one needs to examine the historical context and socio-economic basis of that particular religion. By using the notion of gender, class and historical feminist discourses as tools of analysis, this course intends to understand and explain existing perceptions, misperceptions, myths and realities regarding gender relations and South Asian women’s situations in the colonial past which has shaped their post-colonial present. 

Spring 2022 - Regional Institute U6720 section 001

Politics of Modern Middle Eastern Art

Instructor: Sultan Al Qassemi (Visiting Professor)

 The course will survey the political underpinnings of Arab art in the 20th century, and the socio-political conditions that shaped cultural production in the region. Painting and sculpture in addition to film and performance have been employed by various governments as a tool of soft power to propagate their policies to the public not only in their respective states but throughout the region and beyond. Despite this widespread government patronage of the arts, many artists have chosen to challenge their authorities through subversive movements and practices. Through its focus on creative practices and strategic use of the arts, the course will shed light on an often-neglected dimension of the modern history of the Arab World and other parts of the Middle East. 

Spring 2022 Middle East GXXX

Islamic Thought in an Age of Print

Instructor: Ahmad Shah (Arcapita Visiting Professor in Modern Arab Studies)

This course studies the emergence of Islamic thought in an age of print. It documents the rise of different religious movements in the Islamic world, ranging from Cairo, Morocco, and Istanbul to India through an analysis of original writings produced by religious figures, bureaucrats, editors, muftis, and polemicists. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between technology (print) and intellectual history between the 18th and 20th centuries.  Students will be taught to read and analyze materials from different disciplinary perspectives. Religious treatises, memoirs, chronicles, legal opinions, and works on urban topography are all deployed in this course to train students to interpret a wide set of materials when examining modern Islamic thought. Furthermore, Islamic thought is defined beyond the borders of the Middle East, prompting students to think of the transnational and interconnected nature of ideas and networks.