BERGAMO
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
The course aims to provide the tools for understanding some basic cultural elements of Arab countries, understood as contexts influenced by the spread of the Muslim religion and the Arabic language. Cultural, institutional and political aspects of Arab societies will be analyzed from religious, legal, sociological, anthropological, linguistic and literary perspectives and placed in a diachronic perspective, up to contemporary times.
Resorting to diverse sources, the course aims to provide the methodological and critical tools for the study of Arab societies and the elements of continuity and rupture that have characterized them from the advent of Islam to the present. At the end of the course, the student will be able to analyze Arab specificity by placing it in a comparative dimension, in dialogue with the global context and identifying possible elements of exchange with other cultures.
Course Prerequisites
Basic knowledge, provided in secondary school, of the main categories that contribute to the definition of culture.
Teaching Methods
Weekly lectures, discussion about audiovisual materials (excerpts from films, advertisements, TV programs, songs), analysis of short and simple texts in Arabic concerning peculiarities of the culture of Arab countries.
Seminars and in-depth activities by students may be planned.
Assessment Methods
Oral test at the end of the 54-hour module about the course content, Reading List materials, and materials found in Moodle.
Evaluation will be in 30/30.
Registration on the Moodle platform is mandatory to register for the exam.
The syllabus for attending and nonattending is the same.
Contents
The course is based on the premises of Arab cultural studies that reject essentialist paradigms of unity, authenticity and fixity, privileging cultural aspects long ignored by Arab intellectual discourse and academic research (Sabry 2011) and on questioning the concept of Orientalism (Said 1978).
The course will be divided into two parts:
Program Prof. Arianna Tondi (24 hours, I semester):
The Arab World and Islam in the Classical Era. In this first part, the emergence, formation and consolidation of Arab culture from pre-Islamic times to the 18th century will be examined. In particular, we will focus on the following points: Arab identity and Muslim identity; origin and spread of Islam; biography (sīra) of the Prophet and the birth of the first Muslim community; the Qur'ān: revelation, main contents, structure of the text; the origins of theology (kalam); the sources of Islamic law and the four legal schools; legal doctrine (fiqh); the first great schism of Islam: Shiism; the five pillars of Islam; Muslim mysticism (tasawwuf); the rise of the Arab-Islamic empire: succession to the Prophet; the “well-led” caliphs; the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates; the sultanate; dynasties in the Islamic world.
Program Prof. Martina Censi (30 hours, II semester):
Contemporary Cultural Expressions. In this second part, we will focus on different artistic languages (literature, theater, cinema, comics, dance, music, artivism) concerning the major changes that have occurred in contemporary Arab societies from the 20th century to the present. Particular attention will be paid to the performative role of art and the link between artistic practices, conflict, political engagement, resistance and renegotiation of norms.
Online Resources
More information
Non-attending students are required to contact both lecturers at least two months before the exam.
Please note that the syllabus for non-attending students is the same.