Arab Society 09-SPOLARAB-12

The course will introduce students to the study of Arabic society by exploring a variety of interrelated social, political and religious topics. It will be based on theory and methods from the study of society in general (e.g. sociology, political science, cultural studies and psychology of religion), as well as Islamic studies in particular, while not excluding other approaches, such as anthropology, law and gender studies, where appropriate. The course also will examine the structure of Arab society, culture, family, political structure, women’s role, minorities, media and the impact of religion on these elements in contemporary Arab society. Special attention will be paid to unity and diversity of modern Islam. Separate topics of this course will be illustrated by literary works of outstanding modern Arab writers (Taha Hussein, Tawfiq al-Hakim, Naguib Mahfouz, Ghassan Kanafani and others), which will be studied carefully at the classes of the Arabic language, so this course is closely linked with the course of Arabic. The main goal of the course is to reveal the shared features that have distinguished Arab society under the aegis of Islamic civilization, as well as the varieties of experience that have endowed the region with so much cultural diversity.

CLASSES

PART 1 (the 1st term). Arab society: formation and development (V–XIX centuries)

1. Introduction: Description of the course and review of the syllabus. Distinguishing the key terms: society, state, civilization, nation, Arab society and Muslim society, public and private spheres. Social structure and institutions.
2. Ancient Arab society in V–VI centuries: tribal structure and culture
3. Value system in ancient Arab society; manners and traditions
4. The Arabic language in Arab society: a unifying factor and a tool of culture
5. Islam as the creation of a community and a state
6. Arabization and Islamization in the Middle Ages; riddah in Islam
7. Islam as ideological system: trends and differences
8. Islam, law and political culture: state system, administration and laws
9. Islam and private sphere: family, marriage, inheritance
10. Economic sphere in Islamic state: property, finance and taxes
11. Urban and nomadic Arab society in the Middle Ages
12. Knowledge transfer, documentation, scribes and booksellers
13. Minorities in medieval Arab society
14. The beginning of printing and formation of Arab press
15. Modernization of Arab society in XVIII–XIX centuries; an-nahda and its influence on the society

Module learning aims

This course aims to: - familiarize students with the concept of traditional society and its principal features - explain to students the differences between key concepts like “society”, “civilization”, “state”, „nation‟, “political culture” and „collective identity”. - give students an understanding of the complexity and variety of Arab society in the contemporary world - present to students the detailed knowledge of factors making the influence upon the Arab society - provide students with the theoretical and methodological tools to enable them to study different processes of Arab society (political conflicts in particular) - encourage students to continue their reading in the future in order to learn more about Arab society, since the course is very broad

Major

philology, arabic studies

Number of hours

Cycle of studies

2nd cycle

Module type

compulsory

Course coordinators

Arzu Sadykhova

Learning outcomes

After learning the course the students will know
- different approaches to social studies
- structure and elements of Arab society
- dynamics of institutions of Arab society
- structure and participants of political processes in modern Arab society
- control technologies of political processes in modern Arab society
- the relationship of religion and politics in Arab world

After learning the course the students will be able to
- carry out socio-political researches
- make a forecast for the development of many processes in the Arab world

Assessment criteria

Though this course is discussion-intensive, the instructor gives short lectures during the classes, but students should keep in mind that the lectures do not duplicate the readings, but rather supplement them. Students are expected to read recommended literature, to participate actively and to express their opinions during discussion. As mentioned above, this course will be supplemented by the course of Arabic, where almost all topics will be illustrated by literary works of outstanding Arab writers. Thus, the students will be able to see the reflection of problems of Arab society in modern Arabic literature.
Rating scale:
5 – The student demonstrated a comprehensive, systematic and deep knowledge of course material and terminology, successfully carried out the program tasks, learnt basic and additional literature recommended in the syllabus. The student can answer for all questions correctly and argue his opinion within the syllabus.
4,5 – The student demonstrated a very good knowledge of course material and terminology, successfully carried out the program tasks, learnt basic literature recommended in the syllabus. The student can answer for some questions correctly and argue his opinion within the syllabus.
4 – The student demonstrated a good knowledge of course material and terminology, successfully carried out the program tasks, learnt basic literature recommended in the syllabus. The student can answer for some questions correctly and argue his opinion within the syllabus.
3,5 – The student demonstrated a satisfied knowledge of course material and terminology, carried out some program tasks, learnt basic literature recommended in the syllabus. The student sometimes can give right answer for the questions of a teacher within the syllabus.
3 – The student demonstrated a basic knowledge of educational material and terminology, familiarization with the basic literature recommended in the syllabus. The student sometimes can give right answer for the questions of a teacher within the syllabus.
2 – The student demonstrated gaps in the knowledge of the main material and terminology, made fundamental errors in the implementation of the tasks given by instructor. The student cannot answer for any questions of a teacher within the syllabus.

Additional information

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 09-SPOLARAB-12 in USOSweb