Required Texts available through the Baruch Bookstore
Adam Silverstein, Islamic History: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, UP, 2010) ISBN: 9780199545728
Jarbel Rodriguez, Muslim and Christian Contact in the Middle Ages: A Reader (U. Toronto,2015) ISBN: 9781442600669
Joan Scott, The Politics of The Veil (Princeton UP, 2010) ISBN: 978-0691147987
Azouz Begag, Shantytown Kid (Bison Books, 2007) ISBN: 978-0803262584
Recommended Texts
Malise Ruthven, Islam, A Very Short Introduction, 2nd Edition (Oxford UP, 2012) ISBN: 978-0199642878
Please note: You are responsible for purchasing the required texts above or acquiring access to them from the Baruch Library reserve. Additional readings will be available through the course blackboard site. Texts for which you are responsible are marked with an (*)
Reading, Discussion, and Assignment Schedule
**Please note that this schedule and assignments may change during the semester. Check here for changes.**
Part One: Introductions
Aug. 29: Introduction
Sept. 5: Islamic History: A Very Brief Introduction
**NOTE: We do not meet in person because it is Labor Day, but you do have an assignment due on Sept 9th** Find the instructions for the assignment here.
**Sept. 9: Project One Due**
Part Two: Islam in the European Imagination: A Genealogy
Sept. 12: Creating Islam in the European Imagination (Then and Now)
Reading:
The Coming of Islam and the Destruction of the (Roman World) and Al-Jahiz’s Warnings about the Christians” in Muslim and Christian Contact (*)
Said, Orientalism, 1-28
Nirenberg, “Neighboring Faiths” in Neighboring Faiths
Visual:
The Crusades: Crescent and Cross, pt. 1
Sept. 19: Crusades Near and Far and the Boundaries of “Legitimate” Violence
Blog Assignment (due September 18th at 11:59 pm)
Reading:
Calling the Crusades, The First Crusade, The Muslim Reaction, Richard the Lionheart and Saladin, Two Views of El Cid, and the Conquest of Granada and Its Aftermath in Spain in Muslim and Christian Contact (*)
Nirenberg, “Christiandom and Islam” in Neighboring Faiths
The Crusades in Images (Artstor link)
Visual (in class):
Othello
Sept. 26: Christians and Muslims in (Uneasy) Proximity
Blog Assignment (due September 25th at 11:59 pm)
Reading:
The King of England Contemplates Conversion to Islam, A Response to Christianity, Ramon Llull and Boccacio, The Conversion of Anselm of Turmeda, The Wedding of Lady Theresa, Forbidden Love (Documents 49, 53-55, 81-82) in Muslim and Christian Contact (*)
Nirenberg, “Conversion, Sex, and Segregation” in Neighboring Faiths
Also documents 83, 84, or 85 as assigned (see blog assignment instructions)
Visual (in class):
Islam: Empire of Faith: Part Three: The Ottomans
Oct. 3: Friend or Foe: Venetians and the Ottoman Empire
NO CLASS MEETING—BUT PLEASE READ
Blog Assignment due October 9th at 11:59 pm.
Reading:
2 Accounts of the Fall of Constantinople
A Tale of Two Cities, Ottoman Treaty with the Venetians, A Venetian Trading License, Muslims and Christians in Business Partnerships, Regulating Muslims in Lleida, Latin Christians Travelers Describe Foreign Markets and Goods, Truce Between the Turks and Genoese Safeguarding the Rights of Merchants (Documents 57, 39-41 and 45-47) in Muslim and Christian Contact (*)
Choose one of the following:
Venice, Cità Excelentissima: Selections from the Renaissance Diaries of Marin Sanudo (selections)
Celebi, An Ottoman Traveller: Selections from the Book of Travels by Eyliya Atelebi (selections)
The Turkish Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Imperial Ambassador at Constantine, 1562 (selection)
Visual: The Metropolitan Museum Sites on Venice and the Islamic World
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vmos/hd_vmos.htm
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vnis/hd_vnis.htm
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cedr/hd_cedr.htm
October 7: Metropolitan Museum Visit. Read the instructions for the visit here.
Oct. 10: NO CLASS MEETING—BUT READ AHEAD AND THINK ABOUT PAPER
Oct. 17: Enlightenment Narratives and the Idea of the Oriental Despot
Reading:
Lady Wortley, Turkish Embassy Letters (selection)
“Seraglio” in Johnson’s Dictionary
Cardini, “Sultans, Pirates, and Renegades” in Europe and Islam
Turkish Culture in the European Imagination (Artstor Link)
Visual:
Rossini, L’Italiani in Algeri
Part Two: Islam and France/Islam in France: A Case Study
Oct. 24: Revolution, Republicanism, and Reaction in the Making of Arab France
Readings:
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
al-Tahtawi, An Imam in Paris (selection)
Porterfield, The Allure of Empire (selection)
Sessions, “A Tale of Two Despots” in By Sword and Plow
Napoleon in Europe/Descriptions of Egypt from the Napoleon Campaign (Artstor Link)
Oct. 31: Making and Marking Difference in France and Algeria
Blog Assignment (due October 30th at 11:59 pm)
Readings:
1905 Law on Separation of Church and State
Davidson, “Introduction” (pp. 1-5) and “Religion and Race in the French Mediterranean”in Only Muslim
Çelik, “The Casbah and the Marine Quarter,” (pp. 11-43) in Urban Forms and
Colonial Confrontations
Visual:
Pepe Le Moko
**Paper One Due November 4th**
Nov. 7: Violence, Veiling, and Decolonization in Algeria
Reading:
A. Memmi, The Colonizer and Colonized (selection)
Fanon, Wretched of the Earth (selection)
Ryme Seferdjell, “French ‘reforms’ and Muslim Women’s Emancipation during the Algerian War.” Journal of North African Studies 9:4 (Winter 2004): 19-61.
Visual:
The Battle of Algiers
Nov 14: Negotiating Different in Postcolonial France
Blog Assignment (due November 13th at 11:59 pm)
Reading:
A. Begag, Shantytown Kid (all) (*)
Maillard, “The Muslims in France and the French Model of Integration,” Mediterranean Quarterly, 16,1 (Winter 2005): 62-78.
Visual:
La Haine
Nov. 21: Republican Universalism?
Blog Assignment (due November 20th at 11:59 pm)
Reading:
J. Scott, The Politics of the Veil (Introduction, Chapter One, Conclusion and the chapter assigned to you in class) (*)
“The Way People Look At Us Has Changed,” New York Times, September 2, 2016
Part Three: Islam in Modern Europe in Comparative Perspective
Nov. 28: Office Hours to discuss final projects. These meetings are required. Sign up for office hours here.
Dec. 5: Secondary Source Analysis and Presentation in Class
Dec. 12: Paper Drafts Due
**Dec. 19: Final Paper Due**