| Unit name | Social Anthropology of the Middle East |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ARCH35015 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Shankland |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Anthropology and Archaeology |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This course introduces a wide range of ethnographic material concerning the peoples and cultures of Islam. Largely anthropological in orientation, it features the varied ethnography of Islamic societies, specialising in the Middle East, North Africa, the Balkans, and Turkey, though also covers to a lesser extent non-Muslim cultures and their interaction with the Islamic majority, including the relationship between Islam and Europe. Teaching is mainly through the study of major ethnographic monographs, though also draws upon a diverse range of other material in order to give a contemporary flavour to the study of the region. Whilst current writers such as Susan Slyomovics are featured, the course also looks at famous established works such as the writings of Ernest Gellner, or those of Clifford Geertz and group of researchers he encouraged in North Africa. Theoretically, amongst the themes that it considers are religion and gender, orientalism, social and political organisations, migration, conflict and the rise of nationalism.
Aims:
The Unit's aim is to introduce students to a wide range of ethnographic illustration drawn from Islamic societies, and combine this study with themes of immediate practical relevance such as modernisation, gender, faith, conflict or nationalism. Within anthropology, the North Africa has also been particularly a theoretical debating ground in which theories of faith, kinship and modernisation have been argued through, sometimes in great detail. Whilst not concentrating overmuch on these issues, they are nevertheless highlighted through examining the work of Gellner, Geertz and the school of 'thick' description that he partly implemented in North Africa. It is also part of the Unit's aim to encourage a certain greater depth of study of Turkey, the Balkans, and the Middle East as distinct areas, and to this end systematic attention is paid to recent historical developments and the international setting. It is also part of the course's aims to look at the interaction between the west and Islam, and the importance of debates concerning this for recent academic work, including the changing ideas embodied in the term 'Orientalism'.
By the course's conclusion, it is anticipated that students will have a thorough knowledge of the main ethnographic material that characterises the anthropological study of Islam. In broad at least, they will also be able to debate, evaluate and consider in historical context the theoretical issues that have pre-occupied such study, including the debates surrounding the study of social organisation, faith in the modern world, nationalism, gender and religion, the encounter of Islam with Europe, orientalism, and migration. They will also have a certain working knowledge of the emergence of nationalism and nation-states in the region, and their international place in the world. They will also have gained a knowledge of the way that contemporary Islamic thought utilises the Internet, and an introduction to emerging debates about this significance of this for our study of Islamic society.
Lectures and seminars.
This assessment is summative:
One essay (3000 words) (50%)
One examination (50%)
Student seminars are formative.
