Islamic Worlds - MST00074M

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Module summary

This interdisciplinary module aims to introduce students to the notion of multiple Islamic worlds across the medieval period. It will draw on a range of disciplinary and methodological approaches in both textual and material culture in order to examine issues such as power, authority, legitimacy and learning across various geographies belonging to a so-called singular ‘Islamic World’.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Spring Term 2022-23

Module aims

• To develop knowledge and understanding of the use of script and texts in medieval Islamic cities and the multiple uses of text as image/image as texts
• To demonstrate the nature of conquest, expansion, and the projection of authority
• To explore different courts and dynasties and their role in the development of scientific and philosophical learning

Through three key thematic approaches (‘Text as Image/Image as Text’; Power Projection and Legitimacy; Travel and Learning), students will explore the ways in which different Islamic societies depicted, described and displayed themselves and others. This module includes the study of material and textual culture and uses literary and historical methodologies in order to develop a nuanced and critical understanding of the multiplicity of Islamic cultures in the medieval period.

Module learning outcomes

Subject content

• Develop knowledge and understanding of the use of script and texts in medieval Islamic cities and the multiple uses of text as image/image as texts
• Demonstrate the nature of conquest, expansion, and the projection of authority
• Explore different courts and dynasties and their role in the development of scientific and philosophical learning

Academic and graduate skills

• An understanding of some of the means of projecting power and legitimacy in the Islamic world
• Familiarity with literary tropes and the intersection of word and image in the Islamic world
• An understanding of the wide range of interdisciplinary approaches to the understanding of medieval Islamic cultures in the medieval period
• An understanding of the ways to make cross-regional comparisons of the use of power, script and form

Other learning outcomes

• Interdisciplinary and trans-regional approaches to research

Module content

This module examines issues such as power, authority, legitimacy and learning across various geographies belonging to a so-called singular ‘Islamic World’. The seminars are based around three thematic approaches: ‘Text as Image/Image as Text’; 'Power Projection and Legitimacy'; 'Travel and Learning'. Through these, students will explore the ways in which different pre-modern Islamic societies depicted, described and displayed themselves and others. The first theme looks at how images and texts are used to tell stories in different settings. The second theme concerns the ways in which power and legitimacy were presented by Muslim rulers. The third theme turns to some of the intellectual, scientific and philosophical developments that occurred in the pre-modern Islamic world.

This will be a primary module for the Medieval Islamic Cultures pathway within the MA in Medieval Studies. It will also be available to MA in Medieval Studies students who are not on the pathway.

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100

Module feedback

We aim to distribute an agreed mark and written comments on summative assessment to students 25 working days following submission.

Indicative reading

Bierman, Irene. Writing Signs: The Fatimid Public Text, University of California Press (1998)

Blair, Sheila. The Monumental Inscriptions from Early Islamic Iran and Transoxiana, Leiden:
Brill (1992)

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, The Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia ed. Mehdi Amin Razavi.
Richmond: Curzon Press (1996)

Robinson, Chase F. Islamic Historiography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2003)