“Classical Arabic Islamic Texts: Grammatical and Cultural Issues”
Course content
This course provides an overview of Classical Arabic texts central to early Islamic history. Starting with excerpts from the history of Muḥammad (the sīra nabawīya), it proceeds to excerpts from the Qurʾān, to excerpts of the Ḥadīṯ collections, to biographical texts, as well as to central texts in Arab linguistic scholarship (grammar and lexicography). The course focuses on both the cultural content and linguistic features of these texts.
Learning outcome
Participants will learn to analyze Classical Arabic texts from the early period of Islam and gain an understanding of Classical Arabic culture. Students will also gain practice in academic writing and oral presentation of subject matter.
“Arabic Manuscripts”
Course content
This course introduces students to the assessment and reading of pre-20th century handwritten texts in Arabic. This includes learning to describe the physical aspects of manuscripts (codicology), training in reading a variety of texts, a survey of major Arabic manuscript collections (printed catalogues and online manuscript databases), and projects for physical preservation and digitization of manuscripts.
Learning outcome
Participants will:
Learn to assess the art of book-making in the Arabic Islamic tradition (paper–making, writing techniques and major scripts, bookbinding)
Learn to use major bibliographic tools to identify manuscripts
Train in reading Arabic manuscript texts from a variety of periods and geographic areas
Gain a basic introduction to cataloguing and digitizing techniques.
“Key Concepts of Arabic Language and Culture”
Course content
How does “culture” translate into Arabic – thaqāfa? ḥaḍāra? Or, rather, ’adab? What is the origin and semantic history of these terms? What, actually, does sharî‘a mean, and what are the connotations of politico-cultural or ethical keywords such as ’aṣâla or karâma? Is ḥurriyya the same as “freedom”? What are the historical and contemporary cultural backgrounds to be observed when equating Christian “mercy” with Islamic raḥma?
Covering these questions and more, this course demonstrate how understanding a foreign culture requires an understanding of the concepts with which it conceives, structures, and linguistically represents itself. This course examines Arab(ic) culture through an analysis of the etymology, semantic history and contemporary use of terms of particular significance for the Arabs’ mental and cultural past and present, such as modes of living, cultural characteristics, religion, philosophy, science, social organization, politics, morals/ethics, etc. It compares these to what may be their Western counterparts, and vice versa, aiming to train the participant’s competence as a “translator between cultures”.
The course is directly connected to the teacher’s research project of an Etymological Dictionary of Arabic Language and Culture (EDALC) and is taught as a highly inter- and transdisciplinary enterprise. It is targeted to those with an interest in language and cross-cultural comparison, combining linguistic competence with the anthropological questions of cultural studies and an interest in the history of concepts.
Learning outcome
Participants will become familiar with (and develop a positively critical stance towards) the basic ideas and operations of the history of concepts (Begriffsgeschichte, begrepshistorie) through reading and discussing some exemplary studies on European as well as Arab(ic) concepts. Participants will be sensitized to the set of problems arising when conveying culturally significant terminology from one linguistic and cultural context into another. They will gain insight into some aspects of cultural history, both Western and Middle Eastern, and sharpen their awareness of its impact on the challenges of cross-cultural communication and understanding.
Participants will learn to sketch, and will actually write, an encyclopedia entry-like essay on a term of their choice. They will receive guidance as to how/where to find the sources and reference literature they need to meet this challenge.
“Political Islam”
Course content
Since the 1970s the Muslim world has witnessed a great surge of religious, social and political movements seeking to reform society by bringing it back to what is perceived as true Islam. Focused on the historically core Muslim areas of the Middle East and North Africa, this course provides insights into the emergence of what we know as Islamist movements. Topics covered include the historical heritage of political thinking in Islam, the reformist movement starting in the late 19th Century, the emergence of modern Islamism, and the renewed surge since the 1970s. Focusing in-depth on Iran, Egypt and Turkey the social basis for the appeal of Islamism is investigated, as well as the relationship between militant and moderate tendencies and the current socio-political role and ideological development of Islamism.
Learning outcome
Participants will gain in-depth knowledge of the various movements and ideological trends within Islamism. A key learning outcome is to understand how Islamism is formed by, and itself contributes to forming, political and social relations in the Middle East and North Africa. The course will also give participants a basis for critically assessing the relationship of Islamism to central political principles such as democracy, equality and pluralism.
“Violent Islamist Movements in the Middle East”
Course content
The rise of al-Qaida and the proliferation of militant Islamist movements have exerted significant influences on society and politics in the Middle East during the past two decades. This course offers a broad introduction to the history and role of militant Islamism in the Arab world from the 1970s until the present. Militant Islamists or jihadists are understood as participants in violent transnational movements fighting for Islamic revolution against, or liberation from, what they perceive as oppressive infidel regimes and foreign occupation. The course explores how, acting under the label “jihadism”, one finds a variety of groups and tendencies with different backgrounds and historical origins. Despite their transnational organization and pan-Islamic ummah-oriented rhetoric, jihadi movements are heavily influenced by their national and local context.
Learning outcome
Participants will gain a basis for understanding why and how the jihadi movement in the Arab world emerged and became an influential factor in Middle Eastern politics. The reading list also includes micro-level studies in which the histories and experiences of individuals and groups are discussed in their local and national contexts. The course offers insights into the jihadi movement’s political-ideological self-perception, theological interpretations, as well as ideological fault-lines and internal debates. Organizations and groups from a number of countries will be studied, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Algeria, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine. Throughout the course, the jihadi movement’s role and self-perception in relation to ongoing armed conflicts in the region is considered. Less attention will be given to jihadi groups and tendencies outside the Arab world.