070806 VO Cultural History of Islam in the Modern Era (2008S)

This course will deal with selected themes in the history of Islamic societies in the modern era. It presents an overview of the modern Islamic world, and attempts to provide the historical context for understanding challenges facing Islam and Muslims today. The course also provides an occasion for looking at issues of representation and bias in the way the "West" views the Islamic peoples and cultures, and tries to trace the historical background of these views.
The course covers a range of historical moments, including the 18th century religious reform and revival movements, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, European colonialism in Muslim lands, the rise of nationalism and nation-states, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the breaking up of India, the Islamic revolution in Iran, and the more recent Gulf and Iraq wars. It also covers a range of issues present in Islamic societies including the tension between militancy and quietism, women's empowerment, religion and politics, and the evolution of traditional Islamic society over time.
Given the highly complex nature of the subject matter, the course is structured on very condensed lectures. But in addition to this traditional component the course will also have a non-traditional and active-learning constituent - the conversatorium. The lectures provide the background on the histories of Islamic societies from the 18th to the 20th centuries. In the conversatorium students will break into groups based on common interests as we explore key issues and moments in Islamic history that were not covered in sufficient depth in a single lecture. Each group will be responsible for presenting a panel discussion, assigning a set of readings, and leading the class discussion on the issues chosen.