| CODE | ARB1037 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Arab History and Civilization: Expansion and Inter-Culturalism | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit analyzes the historical, economic and cultural realities characterizing three main periods within Arab medieval history: a. The Umayyad Period: The Umayyad period is characterized by the consolidation of the Arab element within an increasingly expanding Muslim empire. Nevertheless, the Umayyads had to grapple with difficulties resulting from the ascent of the non-Arab element within Islam which seriously threatened the Arab ascendancy in Muslim affairs. The study-unit also discusses important facets of the outstanding artistic heritage belonging to this period. b. The Abbasid Period: The golden age of Islamic civilisation This was a very long period, spanning almost five hundred years of Arab and Muslim history. Politically, it was a very turbulent phase, with the Abbasid dynasty gradually becoming marginalized and the affairs of the Empire run by rulers belonging to various Asian ethnic groups. Nevertheless, the Abbasids bequeathed to posterity some of the most important monuments of the vast Muslim artistic heritage. c. Muslim Spain (Al-Andalus), Sicily, and Malta This section presents the Muslim Empire in its European dimension. At a time when most of Europe was still in deep cultural lethargy, the Arab-Muslim experiment was inexorably gaining widespread acceptance. The course emphasizes the element of cultural diversity characterizing the affairs of the Muslims in Spain, Sicily, and Malta. Throughout the study-unit, inter-cultural processes resulting from the Arab Muslim expansion will be outlined and highlighted. Study-unit Aims: 1. To acquaint students with the historical, economic and cultural realities characterizing the Umayyad, Abbasid and Andalusi periods; 2. To familiarize students with aspects of the Arabic oral literary tradition; 3. To expose students to features of Arabic civilization during the Umayyad, Abbasid and Andalusi periods. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - recognize and illustrate the process leading to the spread of Islam and the Muslim Umma as a whole, taking into consideration its cultural, social, ethnic and historical diversity; - describe the prominent features of Islamic culture and /or practice and their unifying factors that cause the Muslim individuals and communities to feel part of the Muslim world at large; - define the Arabic/Islamic terminology that plays a significant role in the sense of unity in diversity. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - analyze and hypothesize the spread of Islam and the formation of the Muslim Umma from various vantage points; - synthesize the essential features characterizing Islamic culture. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: - Brown, Daniel. A New Introduction to Islam, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2009. - Cook, Michael. The Koran. A very short introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. - Goldschmidt, A. A Concise History of the Middle East. 6th ed. Westview Press. 1999. - Hitti, Ph. K. History of the Arabs, 10th ed. London: MacMillan and Co. Ltd., 2002. - Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arabs. Faber & Faber, 1992. - Kennedy, H. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphs, London: Longman, 2004. - Lewis, Bernard. The Arabs in History, London: Hutchinson University, 2002. - Lyons, M.C. The Arabian Epic: Heoric and Oral Story-Telling (3 vols.), Cambridge University Press, 2005. - Montgomery Watt, W. and Cachia, P. A History of Islamic Spain, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007. - Reynolds, D. Heroic Poets, Poetic Heroes. The ethnography of performance in an Arabic oral epic tradition, Cornell University Press, 1995. - Robinson, Neal. Discovering the Quran: A Contemporary Approach to a Veiled Text, (2nd. Ed.), Georgetown University Press, 2004. - Rogerson, Barnaby. The Heirs of the Prophet Muhammad. Abacus, 2006. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | |||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | John Attard |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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