Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

The course aims to introduce and analyse the complex and protean relationships between politics and religion in Middle East and North Africa (the MENA region) and their changing articulations during the last decades. While introducing students to political Islam, the course examines the impact of its different (and differing) versions on social and cultural dynamics as well as on politics and power relationships. The course will focus on four aspects of the relationships between religion and politics.

First, while examining the plurality of political Islam, it analyses the different political usages of religion at micro (sociocultural realities) and macro (national politics) levels in different contexts.

Second, the focus on the political and religious processes will lead to develop a broader reflection on authoritarianism, secularism and ‘modernity’ and the role played by the social movements in the region – notably after the so-called “Arab Spring”.

Third, the seminar also tackles one of the problematic aspects of the relationship between politics and religion, that is, the issue of violence, including sacred violence, the religious legitimization of the use of violence, jihadism, but also political violence and its sacred setting.

Fourth, a full consideration will be given to Islam and the body politics – that is the body as a passionate site where the tense relations between religion and politics are expressed –, analysing, inter alia, gender relationships, healing practices and ritual, their mythological foundations and their political implications.

 

At the end of this course, students should be able to have a critical and interdisciplinary knowledge of the complex and plural reports of politics and religion in the MENA region and their impact over Muslim societies. The students should acquire an analytical and contextualised understanding of political Islam and the related social, cultural, and political dynamics. The course will also provide students with theoretical and methodological skills required to critically dialogue with the existing literature on the studied subjects.

 

The course has a lecture/seminar format. The lecturer will introduce the topic of the day and students are expected, in turn, to present their readings from the proposed references to animate the class discussions.

Students will be assessed on presentation and discussion in class (40% of the final mark) and one research essay (60% of the final mark) on a chosen studied topic. Students are encouraged to choose their own topic and readings with previous agreement from the lecturer.

The presentation could be individual or in group of 2 and should be based on a book or papers reading and should lead to a written paper (no longer than 1500) to be sent to the lecturer a week after the presentation. Students will have to identify the main arguments the author(s) puts forth, the methodology used and the theories mobilized.

The research essay should be no longer than 4000 words. It should be analytical, based on critical and comparative reading or on short ethnography.

A list of books and papers is provided, but the students can choose references of their choice with previous agreement with the lecturer.

Lecture 1 - Introduction to the course

Lecture 2 - History of Power and the Sacred in Islam

Lecture 3 - Genealogy of Power and Power of Genealogy in Muslim Societies

Lecture 4 - The Many Faces of Political Islam: Ideological Foundations

Lecture 5 - The Many Faces of Political Islam: Case studies

Lecture 6 - Sufism, Sainthood and Power: A Historical Perspective

Lecture 7- Sufism, Sainthood and Power: An Anthropological perspective

Lecture 8- Post-Islamism: The Changing Faces of Political Islam

Lecture 9 - Modernity and the Muslim politics: Dilemmas of Reform and Democracy

Lecture 10 - Pluralism, Democracy, and the Role of Religious Scholars

Lecture 11 - Rethinking Islam and Secularism

Lecture 12 - Arab Monarchies and Social Reforms

Lecture 13- The Politics of Religious Dissent in Islam

Lecture 14 - The Politics of Religious Dissent in Contemporary Muslim Societies

Lecture 15- Islam, Politics, and Social Movements

Lecture 16- Popular uprisings: Political and Religious Processes

Lecture 17- Rebellion and Violence from Religious Perspective

Lecture 18- Violence and Mediation in Muslim Societies

Lecture 19 - The legitimate and Illegitimate use of Violence

Lecture 20 - Jihad, Martyrdom, and Political Action

Lecture 21 - Islam and Political Violence

Lecture 22 - Sacred Performances: Islam and Sacrifice

Lecture 23 - Sacred Performances: Islam, Sexuality and Politics

Lecture 24 - Modern Political Uses of Islamic Rituals (the case of Bay’a)

Lecture 25 - Sainthood, Healing Rituals and Political Imaginaries

Lecture 26 - ‘Ashura and The Politics of Redemptive Suffering in Shiism

Lecture 27 – Final Thoughts

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