This course offers a dynamic exploration of Islam in Central and South Asia from its arrival in the 7th century CE to the present day. Rather than treating Islam as a single, unchanging tradition, the course highlights its diverse histories, practices, and interpretations across time and place. Students will examine how Islam spread across the region and how it interacted with local societies, religious traditions, and everyday ways of life. Through historical and anthropological perspectives, the course explores how Muslim communities, scholars, and believers have understood and practiced Islam in different social, political, and cultural contexts. The course pays close attention to lived Islam: rituals, religious knowledge, sacred spaces, and material culture. Students will learn about mosques, shrines, and other Islamic religious buildings, tracing how their forms and meanings changed over centuries. Special focus is given to the impact of colonial rule, showing how Muslim communities adapted their religious practices and cultural life under new political conditions. Several lectures and seminars focus on the modern and contemporary periods, exploring reform, tradition, everyday piety, and cultural change in Central and South Asia today. By engaging with case studies and empirical materials, students will gain tools to critically analyze religion beyond stereotypical or orientalist views. Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course, students will be able to: - Understand the historical diversity of Islam in Central and South Asia - Analyze Islamic practices within their local social and cultural contexts - Critically challenge essentialist portrayals of Islam as uniform or static - Apply historical and anthropological approaches to the study of religion The course combines lectures and interactive seminars, introducing students to key concepts, empirical case studies, and methodological approaches for studying Islam as a complex, evolving, and deeply contextual tradition.
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nespecifikováno
Students are expected to attend lectures and seminars. The course consists of 13 lectures (13 hours) and 13 interactive seminars (13 hours) involving discussions of the readings, individual and group assignments. For both lectures and seminars, students are expected to read the materials specified below. In this course, students will read a combination of book chapters, and journal articles. These readings will be used as a basis for class discussions. Students will also develop their analytical and critical writing skills while working on the final paper. Regular, active and informed participation is expected. 60% Assessment will be based on attendance, preparation of readings, participation in class discussion with the focus on qualitative contribution to the discussion, ability to answer questions based on the readings, come up with own interpretations and react to comments made by other students. Final paper (2000 words): 40% The final paper should relate to any aspect of the course. It can be a critical review of the existing literature on a specific topic, or an original piece of research (format and topic need to be approved by the instructor). The final paper is due by the seminar 12.
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