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Beauty-Life Syllabus 131114

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Beauty-Life Syllabus 131114 LIVING BEAUTY IN ISLAM (RS-625) Yahya M. Michot This richly illustrated, twelve week long course looks into the importance of beauty in Islamic life, in reference to the Prophetic tradition « God is Beautiful and He loves beauty » (see the calligraphy, above). The way in which Muslims beautified their everyday life and surroundings, especially in the Ottoman empire, will be approached in relation to the following places: the city, the palace, the mosque, the house, the bath, the school, the bazaar, the coffee-house, the road, and the cemetery. Ways to make Muslim modern life an art de vivre both contemporary and faithful to the great Islamic tradition will be explored. Class will meet twice a week for 12 weeks: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2 - 3:45 p.m., beginning Tuesday January 21, 2014. Each of these twelve classes will be divided in two sessions: A) Lecture; B) Discussion of the required readings. Session B of the last class will be a guided tour of the Islamic Art Department of the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Course Objectives 1) Students should be able to find their way around in the major reference works on Islamic arts, aesthetics, and culture. 2) They are expected to gain an acquaintance with the ways the traditional Islamic search for beauty developed, the historical and spiritual contexts in which it evolved, the key places and aspects of everyday life in which it manifested itself. 3) In reference to traditional Islamic arts and ways of life, they should also be able to have an informed opinion on modern needs, evolutions and debates concerning living beauty in Islam. 4) They should be able to benefit from the methodological approach adopted in these classes and apply them for their own studies and/or research projects and lifestyle. Course Requirements 1) It is strongly recommended that the students arrive at the first class already having a general knowledge about the religion of Islam, as well as about the history and geography of Muslim societies. They should also be able to find their way around in the major reference tools for Islamic Studies (Encyclopaedia of Islam, Index Islamicus…). 2) Attendance in class and participation in the Metropolitan Museum tour are required. If you know that you will be unable to attend a session please inform the professor in advance. Missing two classes or the Metropolitan Museum tour will result in an automatic lowering of your final grade by 20%. Missing three or more classes will result in automatic failure of the course. 3) For each class of weeks 2-12, students shall submit a summary of some of the reading assignments and be ready to speak about them in class. Each student can skip any two weeks during that time for a total of 10 submissions. Here are the guidelines for these summaries: - Approximately 2 pages (3 pages maximum) - One modern study must be used in each summary - Students must make copies of their summaries for all students in the class 4) A final research paper and a viva voce, as described below. The final grade will be based upon the following: 1) Weekly summaries (25%) and class participation (25%). 2) A final research paper of approximately 10 pages* on a topic relating to the search for beauty in past or present Islamic arts and everyday life. The topic should be chosen by the end of class VI in consultation with the Professor. This paper will be due by the end of class XII (30%). 3) A final viva voce exam discussing the course and its reading assignments, with an emphasis on the final research paper submitted (20%). * All written work is to conform to the seminary writing guidelines, which can be found online at: http://www.hartsem.edu/student/forms/researchpaperguide.pdf. It must use the transliteration system given in class I. It must be run through a grammar and spell-check program or read by the writing tutor if necessary before submission. The Hartford Seminary Grading Guidelines will be the standard of evaluation for work in the course. IMPORTANT: Plagiarism, the failure to give proper credit for the words and ideas of another person, whether published or unpublished, is strictly prohibited. All written material submitted by students must be their own original work; where the words and ideas of others are used they must be acknowledged. Credit will not be given for work containing plagiarism, and plagiarism can lead to failure of a course. Please see the Hartford Seminary Catalogue for the full plagiarism policy. General references ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ISLAM, INDEX ISLAMICUS… ENDRESS, Gerhard, Islam: An Historical Introduction. Translated by Carole HILLENBRAND (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002 – 2d ed.), viii & 301 p., ISBN 0-7486-1620-9. DS35.6 .E5313 2004 RUTHVEN, Malise, with Azim NANJI, Historical Atlas of the Islamic World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 208 p., 0-19-860997-3. G1786 .S1 R9 2004 HEWER, Christopher, Understanding Islam: The first ten steps (London: SCM Press, 2006), xi & 244 p. 0334-04032-9. INSOLL, Timothy, The Archaeology of Islam (Oxford: Blackwell, ‘Social Archaeology’, 1999), xiv & 274 p., ISBN 0-631- 20115-7. MILWRIGHT, Marcus, An Introduction to Islamic Archaeology (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010), xii & 260 p., ISBN 978-0-7486-2311-2. GRABAR, Oleg, The Formation of Islamic Art (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973), xix & 233 & 80 p., ISBN 0300015054. HILLENBRAND, Robert, Islamic Art and Architecture. 270 illustrations, 80 in colour (London: Thames and Hudson, 1999), 288 p., ISBN 0-500-20305-9. —, Islamic Architecture: Form, function and meaning (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000), xxvi & 664 p., ISBN 0-7486-1379-X. IRWIN, Robert, Islamic Art in Context. Art, Architecture, and the Literary World (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., ‘Perspectives,’ 1997), 272 p., ISBN 0-8109-2710-1. ELIAS, Jamal J., Aisha’s Cushion. Religious Art, Perception and Practice in Islam (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012), [x] & 404 p., ISBN 978-0-674-05806-4. — Idols, icons, Iconoclam, beauty… FLASKERUD, I., Visualizing Belief and Piety in Iranian Shiism (London–New York: Continuum, 2010), xii & 299 p., ISBN 978-1-4411-4907-7. PUERTA VÍLCHEZ, José Miguel, Historia del Pensamiento Estético Arabe. Al-Andalous y la Estetica Arabe Clasica (Madrid: Akal, ‘Coleccion Arte y estetica, 52,’ 1997), 913 p., ISBN 84-460-0737-1. CLASS SCHEDULE Class I. A: Jan. 21. B: Jan. 23. INTRODUCTION General references: ABOU EL FADL, Khaled, Conference of the Books: The Search for Beauty in Islam (Lanham: University Press of America, 2001), xx & 419 p., ISBN 0761819495. BP163 .A258 2001 BEHRENS-ABOUSEIF, D., Beauty in Arabic Culture (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, ‘Princeton Series on the Middle East,’ 1998), 220 p., ISBN 1-55876-199-3. BURCKHARDT, T., Art of Islam. Language and Meaning (Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2009), 248 p., ISBN 978-1- 933316-65-9. N6260 .B8713 2009 LEAMAN, O., Islamic Aesthetics: An Introduction (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004), viii & 211 p., ISBN 0-268-03370-6. NASR, S. H., Islamic Art and Spirituality (Ipswich: Golgonooza Press, 1987), x & 213 p., ISBN 0-903880-35-0. RODINSON, Maxime, Europe and the Mystique of Islam, Translated by Roger VEINUS (London: Tauris, 1988), xv & 163 p., ISBN 1-85043-104-3. EDWARDS, Holly, Noble Dreams, Wicked Pleasures: Orientalism in America, 1870-1930. With essays by Brian T. ALLEN, Steven C. CATON, Zeynep ÇELIK, and Oleg GRABAR (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), xiv & 242 p., ISBN 0-691-05004-X. ACKERMAN, Gerald M., American Orientalists (Paris: ACR Editions, 2010), ISBN 2867700787. http://www.policymic.com/articles/71193/5-historical-monuments-have-been-destroyed-forever-during-syria-s-civil-war Reading assignments: a. NASR, S. H., Islamic Art and Spirituality (Ipswich: Golgonooza Press, 1987), x & 213 p., ISBN 0-903880-35-0. — P. 195-202: Postscript: The Spiritual Message of Islamic Art. b. BEHRENS-ABOUSEIF, D., Beauty in Arabic Culture (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, ‘Princeton Series on the Middle East,’ 1998), 220 p., ISBN 1-55876-199-3. — P. 124-148: The Significance of Artistic Beauty. The Decorative Themes. c. MICHOT, Y., The Aesthetics of a Theologian: Ibn Taymiyya on Arts and Beauty (From a lecture in London, 16 June 2004. Unpublished). — P. 1-3: Idolatry and Iconoclasm. Loving Beauty (jamâl). d. ABOU EL FADL, Khaled, Conference of the Books: The Search for Beauty in Islam (Lanham: University Press of America, 2001), xx & 419 p., ISBN 0761819495. — P. 113-115: The Search for Beauty. Class II. A: Jan. 28. B: Jan. 30. THE CITY General references: EATON, Gai, King of the Castle. Choice and Responsibility in the Modern World (London: The Bodley Head, 1977), 219 p., ISBN 0-370-30062-9. P. 23-42: I. Unreal Cities. WARNER, Nicholas, The True Description of Cairo. A Sixteenth-Century Venetian View, 3 vols. (London: The Arcadian Library - Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). RAYMOND, André (ed.), Cairo, City of History. Translated by Willard WOOD (Harvard University Press, 2000), 436 p. ISBN 0-674-00316-0. —, Le Caire (Paris: Citadelles & Mazenod, ‘L’art et les grandes civilisations. Les grandes cités,’ 2000), 496 p., ISBN 2- 85088-152-X. DEGEORGE, Gérard, Damascus (Random House Inc., 2005), 320 p., ISBN: 2080304569. RABY, Julian, JOHNS, Jeremy (eds), Bayt al-Maqdis: ‘Abd al-Malik’s Jerusalem (Oxford: Oxford University Press, ‘Oxford Studies in Islamic Art, IX, part 1’, 1992), viii & 162 p., ISBN 0-19-728017-X. JOHNS, Jeremy (ed.), Bayt al-Maqdis: Jerusalem and Early Islam (Oxford: Oxford University Press, ‘Oxford Studies in Islamic Art, IX, part 2’, 1999), 403 p., ISBN 0-19-728018-8. MYRES, David, in S. AULD & R. HILLENBRAND (eds.) Ottoman Jerusalem. The Living city: 1517-1917.
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