Syllabus - Empires, Imperialism and Islam (Spring 2018)

Spring 2018 HIST/SALC 26611 Instructor: Dr. Faridah Zaman | faridah@uchicago.edu Class Hours/Location: Tues/Thurs 2.003.20 | Cobb Hall 319 Office Hours/Location: Weds 2.00-4.00 and by appointment | SSRB 521 Course Description: This seminar will survey interactions between empires and Islam from the early nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. It will consider the varied responses of Islamic polities to the expansion of European empires, their role in proliferating networks of travel and communication, as well as the place of religion in anti-imperial and anti-colonial movements. Geographically, we will cover Asia very broadly defined: from the Ottoman Empire in the west, through the Middle East, Central and South Asia, to Indonesia and Japan to the east. Individual classes will focus, for instance, on imperial connections, the emergence of pan-Islamism, sufi networks, oceanic travel, subaltern social and political movements, and Cold War era Muslim ideologues. The course will conclude with a look at the rise of more militant Islamic ideologies in recent years. Investigating this two-century long history will help us understand the complex role that Islam has played in the making of the modern world. Course readings will be on the whole recent scholarship on these subjects, with key primary texts introduced in class. Zaman Empires, Imperialism, Islam 2 Assessment: • • • Attendance and participation: 25% Four short response papers: 10% each – total 40% Final paper: 35% - Attendance and participation (35%). - Email me before the class if there is a reason you cannot make it, preferably with 24 hours’ notice. Unexcused absences will affect your final grade. - Participation encompasses coming to the classes prepared, taking part in discussions and any classroom exercises, and asking and responding to questions. - Reading-response essays (4 x 10% = total 40%) – A 1000-word (4-page) response essay to the readings in the four classes preceding the due date. Connect the readings, be reflective and critical, and pose questions that you would like to be discussed in class. Feel free to also include any material introduced in class as part of your response papers. Due Friday 6pm of Weeks 2, 4, 6, 8. - Final paper (35%) – a 8-12-page essay on a topic of your choosing. As part of the assessment, please write an abstract (250-300 words, outlining what you will be investigating and how) and a short bibliography and upload it to Canvas by 9am on Tuesday 15 May. Please also bring a copy to class that day. We will discuss these abstracts together. You may additionally choose to hand in a revised abstract or outline of your final paper during Week 9 – I will return it to you with feedback in our final class. I will send out further information and guidance about the Final Paper later in the Quarter. Essentially, the paper will give you the opportunity to EITHER think about what we have covered over the entire course in a summative manner, structured around an overarching question, OR, to write an in-depth essay focusing on a particular time period, region, theme, or empire. Final papers due end of Spring Quarter – 8 June 2018 (31 May for graduating students). All assignments to be submitted via the Canvas site, preferably as a PDF file. Course Books: Required: David Motadel (ed.), Islam and the European Empires (OUP, 2014/ paperback 2016). Available at Seminary Co-op and Amazon ($35). Optional: We will be reading most of the chapters of Cemil Aydin, The Idea of the Muslim World (2017) and many of the chapters of Robert Crews, Afghan Modern (2015) – you may prefer to buy your own copies but it is not necessary. All readings other than Motadel (ed.) will be on the Canvas site. Readings on the syllabus are subject to change – please check it regularly. Zaman Empires, Imperialism, Islam Inclusivity: As your instructor, I will remain mindful of the need to foster an inclusive and respectful classroom environment and I ask that you do the same. If you have any specific needs related to accessibility, please discuss them with me, confidentially, as soon as possible. Academic Integrity: All written work submitted throughout the course should adhere to the standards of academic honesty, as defined in the University of Chicago Student Manual: http://studentmanual.uchicago.edu/Policies The final paper in particular must be appropriately referenced (footnotes thoroughly and consistently used; bibliography). Evidence of plagiarism will be treated seriously. 3 Zaman Empires, Imperialism, Islam WEEK 1 – PROVOCATIONS 1A Tuesday, 3/27 Introduction to course. 1B Thursday, 3/29 Cemil Aydin, “Introduction: What is the Muslim World?”, in The Idea of the Muslim World. A global intellectual history (2017), pp. 1-13. — “An Imperial Ummah before the Nineteenth Century,” ch. 1, pp. 14-36. Juan Cole, “Ali Bonaparte,” in Napoleon’s Egypt. Invading the Middle East (2007), ch. 7, pp. 123-42. Edward Said, “Projects,” Orientalism (1978/2003), ch. 3, *particularly pp. 79-89. Further Reading: For some context on the French in Egypt, read Juan Cole, “The Genius of Liberty,” in Napoleon’s Egypt. Invading the Middle East (2007), ch. 1, pp. 1-20. Bernard S. Cohn, Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge (1996), pp. 62-72. WEEK 2 – ALTERNATE GENEALOGIES 2A Tuesday, 4/3 Cemil Aydin, “Reinforcing the Imperial World Order (1814-1878),” in The Idea of the Muslim World, ch. 2, pp. 37-54. Christopher Bayly, “The World Crisis, 1780-1820,” in Imperial Meridian (1989), ch. 6, pp. 164-92. Further Reading: Jennifer Pitts, “Oriental Despotism and the Ottoman Empire,” in Boundaries of the International, ch. 2, pp. 28-67. In Class: Extracts from Montesquieu, L’Espirit des Lois/ The Spirit of Laws [1748] 2B Thursday, 4/5 Cemil Aydin, “Searching for Harmony between Queen and Caliph (1878-1908),” in The Idea of the Muslim World, ch. 3, pp. 65-98. 4 Zaman Empires, Imperialism, Islam Robert Crews, “The Russian Worlds of Islam,” in Motadel (ed.), Islam and the European Empires, ch. 1, pp. 35-52. WEEK 3 – ALTERNATE SPACE-TIMES 3A Tuesday, 4/10 Nile Green, “Spacetime and the Muslim Journey West: Industrial Communications in the Making of the ‘Muslim World’,” American Historical Review (2013), pp. 401-29. On Barak, “En Route,” in On Time. Technology and Temporality in Modern Egypt, ch. 1. Further Reading: For a sense of On Barak’s broader argument, read “Introduction: Another Time?” in On Time. 3B Thursday, 4/12 John Slight, “British Imperial Rule and the Hajj,” in Motadel (ed.), Islam and the European Empires, ch. 2, pp. 53-72. Eric Tagliacozzo, “The Dutch Empire and the Hajj,” in Motadel (ed.), Islam and the European Empires, ch. 3, pp. 73-89. Further Reading: Gregory Mann and Baz Lecocq, “Between Empire, Umma, and the Muslim Third World: The French Union and African Pilgrims to Mecca, 1946-1958,” CSSAME, 27, 2 (2007), pp. 167-81. Eric Tagliacozzo, “The Skeptic’s Eye. Snouke Hurgronje and the Politics of Pilgrimage,” in The Longest Journey (2013), ch. 7, pp. 157-72. In Class: Extracts from Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, Mekka in the latter part of the 19th century (1888). WEEK 4 – CIRCUITS 4A Tuesday, 4/17 Nile Green, “From Colonization to Globalization (1800-2000),” in Sufism. A Global History (2012), ch. 4, pp. 187-238. 5 Zaman Empires, Imperialism, Islam Further Reading: Seema Alavi, “‘Fugitive Mullahs and Outlawed Fanatics’: Indian Muslims in nineteenth century trans-Asiatic Imperial Rivalries,” Modern Asian Studies, 45, 6 (2011), pp. 1337-1382. In Class: Extracts from Muhammad Iqbal: Preface to Asrar-i Khudi/Secrets of the Self (1915) “Islam and Mysticism,” New Era (1917) Six Lectures on the Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (1928) 4B Thursday, 4/19 Umar Ryad, “Anti-Imperialism and the Pan-Islamic Movement,” in Motadel (ed.), Islam and the European Empires, ch. 6, pp. 131-49. Nikkie Keddie, “The Pan-Islamic Appeal,” in Jamal Ad-Din Al-Afghani. A Political Biography (1972), ch. 6, pp. 129-42. — “Propaganda from Paris: 1883-1884,” ch. 8, pp. 182-228. *Read up to page 199 at least. Further Reading: Nikkie Keddie “India: Late 1879 to Late 1882,” in Jamal Ad-Din Al-Afghani, ch. 7, pp. 143-81. In Class: Extracts from Jamal al-Din al-Afghani: Letter to Renan, Journal des Débats (Paris), 18 May 1883. “The Materialists in India,” Al-'Urwa al-Wuthqa (Paris), 28 August 1884. WEEK 5 – CIRCUITS II 5A Tuesday, 4/24 Rebekka Habermas, “Debates on Islam in Imperial Germany,” in Motadel (ed.), Islam and the European Empires, ch. 11, pp. 231-53. Faisal Devji, “Islam in British Imperial Thought,” in Motadel (ed.), Islam and the European Empires, ch. 12, pp. 254-68. Further Reading: Kris Manjapra, “The illusions of encounter: Muslim ‘minds’ and Hindu revolutionaries in First World War Germany and after,” Journal of Global History, 1 (2006), pp. 363-82. 6 Zaman Empires, Imperialism, Islam 7 5B Thursday, 4/26 Robert Crews, “Bodies in Motion,” in Afghan Modern, ch. 3, pp. 69-113 — “The Star of Asia,” in Afghan Modern, ch. 4, pp. 114-39. Further Reading: Robert Crews, “Trafficking in Evil? The Global Arms Trade and the Politics of Disorder,” in Gelvin and Green (eds), Global Muslims in the Age of Steam and Print, ch. 6, pp. 121-42. WEEK 6 – EMPIRES AND RESISTANCE 6A Tuesday, 5/1 Benjamin Hopkins, “Islam and Resistance in the British Empire,” in Motadel (ed.), Islam and the European Empires, ch. 7, pp. 150-69. Gerrit Knaap, “Islamic Resistance in the Dutch Colonial Empire,” in Motadel (ed.), Islam and the European Empires, ch. 10, pp. 213-27. Nikkie Keddie, “The Revolt of Islam, 1700-1993. Comparative Considerations and Relations to Imperialism,” CSSH, 36, 3 (1994), pp. 463-87. Further Reading: Ayesha Jalal, “Jihad as Anticolonial Nationalism,” Partisans of Allah (2008), ch. 5, pp. 178-238. Christopher Bayly, “Two Colonial Revolts: The Java War, 1825-30, and the Indian Mutiny of 1857-59,” in Two Colonial Empires (1986), pp. 111-33. Michael Reynolds, “Muslim Mobilization in Imperial Russia’s Caucasus,” in Motadel (ed.), ch. 9. 6B Thursday, 5/3 Cemil Aydin, “The Battle of Geopolitical Illusions (1908-24),” in The Idea of the Muslim World, ch. 4, pp. 99-132. Tim Harper, “Singapore, 1915, and the Birth of the Asian Underground,” Modern Asian Studies, 47, 6 (2013), pp. 1782-1811. On Barak, “Counterclockwise,” in On Time. Technology and Temporality in Modern Egypt, ch. 6. In Class: Extract from Muhammad Barakatullah, Bolshevism and the Islamic Body Politic (1919) Extract from Manifesto of the Congress to the Peoples of the East (1920) Zaman Empires, Imperialism, Islam 8 Extract from “Mesopotamia. Causes of unrest. Report No. II,” India Office Records, British Library L/PS/18/B350: 1920. WEEK 7 – A CENTURY OF WAR AND NEW VISIONS 7A Tuesday, 5/8 Cemil Aydin, “The Triumph of Nationalism? The Ebbing of Pan-Islamism and Pan-Asian Visions of World Order During the 1920s,” in The Politics of Anti-Westernism in Asia (2007), ch. 6. Cemil Aydin, “Islam and the European Empires in Japanese Imperial Thought,” in Motadel (ed.), Islam and the European Empires, ch. 14, pp. 287-302. Further Reading: John T. Chen, “Re-Orientation: The Chinese Azharites between Umma and Third World, 193855,” CSSAAME, 34, 1 (2014), pp. 24-51. 7B Thursday, 5/10 Cemil Aydin, “Muslim Politics of the Interwar Period (1924-1945),” in The Idea of the Muslim World, ch. 5, pp. 133-72. David Motadel, “The Swastika and the Crescent,” Wilson Quarterly (2015) https://wilsonquarterly.com/quarterly/fall-2014-the-great-wars/the-swastika-and-the-crescent/ Robert Crews, “Seduced by Capital,” Afghan Modern, ch. 5, pp. 140-72. In Class: Constitution of the Congress of the Islamic World (1926) WEEK 8 – GLOBAL, ONCE AGAIN 8A Tuesday, 5/15 **Final paper presentations** 8B Thursday 5/17 Cemil Aydin, “Resurrecting Muslim Internationalism (1945-88),” in The Idea of the Muslim World, ch. 6, pp. 172-226. Zaman Empires, Imperialism, Islam 9 Robert Crews, “The Atomic Age,” in Afghan Modern, ch. 6, pp. 173-228. In Class: Speech delivered by Gamal Abd al-Nasser at Port Said, 23 December 1961. Extract from Sayyid Qutb, Milestones (1964). WEEK 9 – REVOLUTIONARY DREAMS, SPECTRAL EMPIRES 9A Tuesday, 5/22 Robert Crews, “Revolutionary Dreams,” in Afghan Modern, ch. 7, pp. 229-67. Michel Foucault, “What are the Iranians Dreaming About?” Excerpts from Janet Afary and Kevin Anderson, Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism (2005). In Class: Extract from Ali Shariati, On the Sociology of Islam. Extract from Ayatollah Khomeini lecture on “Islamic Government” (1970). 9B Thursday, 5/24 Enseng Ho, “Empire through Diasporic Eyes: A View from the Other Boat,” CSSH, 46, 2 (2004), pp. 210-246. Bernard Lewis, ‘The Roots of Muslim Rage’, The Atlantic (1990). WEEK 10 – CONCLUSIONS Tuesday, 5/29 Cemil Aydin, “Conclusion. Recovering History and Revitalizing the Pursuit for Justice,” in The Idea of the Muslim World, pp. 227-37. Robert Crews, “At the Center of Humanity,” in Afghan Modern, ch. 8, pp. 268-301, plus Epilogue. In Class: Barack Obama, Speech to the Muslim World, Cairo, 4 June 2009 (video).