Dept Sem:Middle East in Transi

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course will describe the way in which the politicization of Islam has been part of the nation-building project in many Muslim-majority countries, and how Islam has, in turn, become an integral part of national narratives in much of the Muslim world. In the light of the Arab Spring events that are still unfolding, we will examine the recent crisis of legitimacy that many of these newly formed nation-states have gone through. Crisis has translated into social upheaval and uneconomic unrest; the desire to reach ontological security and the desire to eliminate existential anxiety has arisen as a result and can explain the role of Islam in politics both nationally and internationally. During the course, we will systematically analyze the status of Islam within modern nation-states through case studies of Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq and Tunisia. Such case studies will show how Islamic references have been central to building modern national narratives and institutions, and how collective Islamic discourses and actions therefore must be analyzed in political and cultural terms.