History and Institutions of Muslim Countries
A.Y. 2023/2024
Learning objectives
The course provides students with a basic knowledge of the Islamic doctrine and institutions in their historical development, and of key events in the modern and contemporary history of North Africa and the Middle East. The aim is to provide students with the tools to understand and critically analyse what is happening today in North Africa and the Middle East, from recent and ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Iraq, to the Saudi-Iranian rivalry and "Islamic fundamentalism", to migrations.
Expected learning outcomes
At the end of the course, students will be acquainted with the evolution of the Islamic doctrine and Middle Eastern history, and with an in-depth understanding of the historical processes and social, political and cultural factors that allow us to understand what is happening today in North Africa and the Middle East, from inter-state conflicts, to migrations, to intra-regional rivalries, to sectarianism and Islamic revivalism. They will thus have acquired the conceptual and terminological tools that are necessary to comprehend and analyse in a critical manner the most recent events taking place in the Middle East; students will also have acquired an adequate terminology. These skills will allow the students to continue their studies in an autonomous manner.
Lesson period: Second trimester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second trimester
Course syllabus
The following issues will be dealt with: basic notions, emergence of Islam, sunnism and shiism, classical political theory, relationship between political power and religious authority, sufism, the gunpowder empires and their crisis, colonialism and the Middle East, Arab nationalism, decolonization, Islamic revivalism, fundamentalism, partition of the Middle East and independence movements, islamization in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the 1979 revolution in Iran, the two Gulf wars, the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the emergence of al-Qaeda and its subsequent development, the Algerian civil war, the Arab springs, Iran-Saudi antagonism, the taleban. For attending students: the 3rd unit will pay particular attention to Afghanistan, its regional context and geopolitical implications.
Prerequisites for admission
-
Teaching methods
Lectures
Teaching Resources
Attending students
6 credits:
W. Cleveland e M. Bunton, Storia del Medio Oriente Moderno, Mondadori, 2020, except chapters 4, 5, 7.1-2, 11.4-11.6, 12.1-12.3, 14.2-3, 19.2, 20, and part six.
9 credits:
W. Cleveland e M. Bunton, Storia del Medio Oriente Moderno, Mondadori, 2020, except chapters 4, 5, 7.1-2, 11.4-11.6, 12.1-12.3, 14.2-3, 19.2, 20, 24.2, 26.4.
and
E. Giunchi, Afghanistan: da una confederazione tribale alle crisi contemporanee, Carocci, 2021
Non attending students:
6 credits:
W. Cleveland e M. Bunton, Storia del Medio Oriente Moderno, Mondadori, 2020, except chapters 4, 5, 7.1-2, 11.4-11.6, 12.1-12.3, 14.2-3, 19.2, and part six
9 credits:
W. Cleveland e M. Bunton, Storia del Medio Oriente Moderno, Mondadori, 2020, except chapters 4, 5, 7.1-2, 11.4-11.6, 12.1-12.3, 14.2-3, 19.2, 24.2
and
E. Giunchi, Afghanistan. Da una confederazione tribale alle crisi contemporanee, Carocci, 2021.
6 credits:
W. Cleveland e M. Bunton, Storia del Medio Oriente Moderno, Mondadori, 2020, except chapters 4, 5, 7.1-2, 11.4-11.6, 12.1-12.3, 14.2-3, 19.2, 20, and part six.
9 credits:
W. Cleveland e M. Bunton, Storia del Medio Oriente Moderno, Mondadori, 2020, except chapters 4, 5, 7.1-2, 11.4-11.6, 12.1-12.3, 14.2-3, 19.2, 20, 24.2, 26.4.
and
E. Giunchi, Afghanistan: da una confederazione tribale alle crisi contemporanee, Carocci, 2021
Non attending students:
6 credits:
W. Cleveland e M. Bunton, Storia del Medio Oriente Moderno, Mondadori, 2020, except chapters 4, 5, 7.1-2, 11.4-11.6, 12.1-12.3, 14.2-3, 19.2, and part six
9 credits:
W. Cleveland e M. Bunton, Storia del Medio Oriente Moderno, Mondadori, 2020, except chapters 4, 5, 7.1-2, 11.4-11.6, 12.1-12.3, 14.2-3, 19.2, 24.2
and
E. Giunchi, Afghanistan. Da una confederazione tribale alle crisi contemporanee, Carocci, 2021.
Assessment methods and Criteria
Written exam (2 questions for attending students; three questions for non attending students) with the aim of assessing the knowledge of the themes dealt with by the programme, the capacity to interpret them in a critical manner and to espouse them with an adequate terminology. The active participation of attending students to the discussions will be taken into consideration.
SPS/14 - ASIAN HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONS - University credits: 9
Lessons: 60 hours
Professor:
Giunchi Elisa Ada
Educational website(s)
Professor(s)
Reception:
Friday 4 PM-7 PM
MICROSOFT TEAMS