History 564 Fall 2011 Instructor: Yvonne Haddad Monday 3:30-6:00 email
HISTORY 564 ARAB INTELLECTUALS IN THE MODERN WORLD
The course is designed to introduce students to the ideas and ideologies that were promoted by various intellectuals in the Arab world during the twentieth century. It will take note of the influence of western thought as well as western colonial and post-colonial policies on the production of ideas in the Middle East. Through engagement with primary sources in translation and an understanding of the historical context, the students will be expected to analyze and assess the various factors that impacted the production of the modernist, nationalist, socialist and Islamist ideologies that were debated during this period and their impact on contemporary Arab societies and cultures. Students will be engaged in conducting research, analyzing and assessing evidence, and articulating conclusions both orally and in writing. The course emphasizes discussion and engagement with both primary sources and the various interpretations of scholars in the field. Students will be expected to analyze and integrate historical evidence relating to politics, society, culture, as well as religion with special emphasis on selected topics such as human rights, western civilization, democracy, social justice, gender, heresy, pluralism and globalization.
Requirements (a) Each student is expected to have read carefully all assigned readings for each session before class. (b) Attendance is expected at all sessions; absences will be excused only with a letter from a doctor or the Dean. Absences negatively affect a student's grade for class participation. (c) Each student is responsible for obtaining any handouts, viewing audiovisual materials, and learning of announcements for any class missed. Missing a class will not be a valid excuse for "not knowing." Each student is responsible for signing the attendance sheet for each class and keeping track of their absences. (d) The final grade will be based on the following: (1) Participation in class discussion (25%) (2) Class presentation on a selected topic required of each student (25%) (3) Research paper (50%)
Honor System Each student is expected to become familiar with the University's Honor System, especially topics covered under "Standards of Conduct" which is found on line at
Textbooks: • Badran, Margot and Miriam Cooke, Opening the Gates: An Anthology of Arab Feminist Writing, Indiana University Press, 2004. • Baker, Raymond, Islam without Fear: Egypt and the New Islamists, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003. • Donahue, John J. and John L. Esposito, Islam in Transition, New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. • Hourani, Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age 1798-1939, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983 (JA84.A6H6 1983). • Qutb, Sayyid, Milestones, Karachi: International Islamic Publishers, 1981 (BP 163.Q813 1981) • Taha, Mahmoud Mohamed, The Second Message of Islam, Trans. and Intro by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na`im, Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1987.
• Material marked (er) will be available on electronic reserve
August 31 ARABIC THOUGHT AND MODERNISM Reading: Hourani chs 3-7 Haddad, Yvonne, Contemporary Islam and the Challenge of History, chs 1-3 electronic copy available through George
September 5 Labor Day (no class)
September 12 EARLY INTELLECTUAL DEBATES Reading: Shakib Arslan (1930), The Causes of our Decline. Translated by Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, Lahore, Kashmiri Bazaar,pp. 49-94,102-105,106-107,110-145. (er) Excerpts from al-Tahtawi, al-Afghani, Abduh, Ali Abd al-Raziq, al-Banna, in Islam in Transition, pp. 11-37, 78-83. Taha Hussein 1954/1944), The Future of Culture in Egypt. Translated by Sidney Glazer. American Council of Learned Societies. pp.1-29, 135-157. (er)
September 19 NATIONALISM AND SOCIALISM Reading: Selections from Rashid Khalidi, Lisa Anderson Muhammad Muslih & Reeva S. Simon (eds), The Origins of Arab Nationalism . Columbia University Press, 1991: (er) Rashid Khalidi, “The origin of Arab nationalism: Introduction”, pp. vii- xix. (er) C. Ernest Dawn, “The origins of Arab nationalism”, pp. 3-30. (er) M. Sukru Hanioglu, “The Young Turks and the Arabs before the revolution of 1908”, pp. 31-49. (er) Rahid Khalidi, “Ottomanism and Arabism in Syria before 1914: A reassessment”, pp. 50-69. (er) Mahmoud Haddad, “Iraq before World War I: A case of anti-European Arab Ottomanism”, pp. 120-150. (er) Excerpts from: al-Bazzaz, Arslan, Shaltut, Aflaq, Siba`i, Rida, Al- Azm, al-Husri in Islam in Transition
September 26 IDEOLOGICAL DEBATES Reading: Khalid, Khalid Muhammad, From Here We Start; (er) al-Ghazzali, Muhammad, Our Beginning in Wisdom. (er)
October 3 NORTH AFRICA Readings: Djait, Laroui, & Ghannuchi in Islam in Transition Jamal Benomar (1988), “The monarchy, the Islamist movement and religious discourse in Morocco” in Third World Quarterly,10/2,pp. 539- 555. (er) Hugh Roberts (1988), “Radical Islamism and the dilemma of Algerian nationalism: The embattled Arians of Algiers” in Third World Quarterly, 10/2, pp. 556-589. (er) Muhammad Arkoun (1987), Rethinking Islam Today. Occasional Papers Series. Georgetown University, Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies. (er) Mohammed Abed al-Jabiri (1999), Arab-Islamic Philosophy. A Contemporary Critique. The University of Texas at Austin, pp. 1-42 & 120-130. (er)
October 10 Columbus’ Day (no class)
October 17 WOMEN'S LIBERATION :Readings: Qasim Amin (Selections) (er) Badran and Cooke, Opening the Gates, Adnan, al-Taimuriya, al-Badia, Nawfal, Fawwaz, Musa, Nabarawi, Islam in Transition Mahmasani, Yamani, Ezzat,
October 24 SUDAN (Guest Scholar: Professor John Voll) Readings: Taha, The Second Message of Islam; El-Affendi, Turabi's Revolution: Islam and Power in Sudan, London: Grey Seal, 1991 Background optional reading: Deng, Francis, War of Visions: Conflict of Institutions in the Sudan, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1995; Voll, John, Islam, State and Society in Crisis, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991; Additional reading: An-Na`im, Abdullahi Ahmed, Toward an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights and International Law, Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1990.
October 31 POST 1967 DEBATES Reading: Muhammad Nuwayhi (1970), “A revolution in religious thought” in Islam in Transition, pp. 160-168. Sadiq al-Azm (1970), “A criticism of religious thought” in Islam in Transition, pp. 113-119. “An Interview with Sadik al-Azm” in Arab Studies Quarterly, 19/3, 1997, pp. 113-126. (er) Ali E. Hillal Dessouki (1973), “Arab intellectuals and al-Nakba: The search for fundamentalism” in Middle Eastern Studies, 9, pp. 187-195. (er)! Samir Amin (1989/1988), Eurocentrism. Monthly Review Press, pp. 106-117 & 124-152. (er) (Additional material will be assigned)
November 7 THE HERETICS: Readings: Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (1998), “The concept of human rights, the process of modernization and the politics of Western domination” in Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft, 4, pp. 434-437. (er) Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (1996), “The Case of Abu Zaid” in Index on Censorship, 25/4, pp. 30-39. (er) Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, E. Colla & A. Bakr (1997), “’Silencing is at the heart of my case’(er) Nasr Abu Zayd, interview”, in J. Beinin & J. Stork (eds), Political Islam: Essays from Middle East Report. London: Tauris, pp. 327-334. (er) Flores. “Integralism and Political Islam: The Egyptian Debate, Merip, July-August 1993, pp 32-38 Available on JSTOR Others: Muhammad Ahmad Khalafallah, Sai`d al-`Ashmawi and Farag Fouda to be assigned
November 14 THE ISLAMIST WORLDVIEW Readings: Qutb, Milestones Qutb, Selections from Social Justice in Islam and Fi Zilal al-Qur’an(er) available on google: http://www.kalamullah.com/shade-of-the- quran.html Draft of Paper Due (Optional)
November 21 Islamic Feminism? Reading: Leila Ahmed (1988), “Arab Women: 1995” in Hisham Sharabi (ed), The Next Arab Decade. Alternative Futures. Westview Press, pp. 208-220. Lila Abu-Lughod (1998), “Preface” & “Feminist longings and postcolonial conditions” in Lila Abu-Lughod (ed), Remaking Women. Feminism and Modernity in the Middle East. Princeton University Press, pp. vii-ix & 3-31. (er) Marnia Lazreg (1988), “Feminism and difference: The perils of writing as a woman on women in Algeria” in Feminist Studies, 14/1, pp. 81-107. (er) Mervat Hatem (1993), “Toward the development of post-Islamist and post-nationalist feminist discourses in the Middle East” in Judith Tucker (ed), Arab Women. Old Boundaries, New Frontiers. Indiana University Press, 29-48. (er) Rosemary Sayigh, “Roles and functions of Arab women: A reappraisal” in Arab Studies Quarterly, 3/3, pp. 258-274. (er) Opening the Gates: Rifaat, Saqqaf, Samman, Accad, Saadawi, Shafiq
November 28 The New Islamist Trend: Reading: Baker, Islam without Fear Research Paper Due
December 5 Post 9/11 Challenges: Democracy, Pluralism and Human Rights Reading: Ghassan Salame, Democracy without Democrats? Introduction: Where are the Democrats?” pp. 1-20. (er) (Jean Leca, “Democratization in the Arab World: uncertainty, vulnerability and legitimacy. A tentative Conceptualization and some hypotheses,” pp. 48-83.(er) Ghassan Salame, “Small is Pluralistic: Democracy as an Instrument of Civil Peace”, pp. 84-111.(er) Aziz al-Azmeh, “Populism Contra Democracy: Recent Democratist Discourse in the Arab World”, pp. 112-129.) (er) Section IV Islam in Transition (Osman, Shahrour, al-Azzam, bin Laden, Hamas, Fadlallah)