Proposal for the Inclusion of Arts and Sciences 265 in gec categories 2 & 4

Islam and Popular Practice in South and West Asia

Call Number: 197003
Spring Quarter 2006

Mondays, 3:30-6:30, Pomerene Hall 206

Instructor: Prof. Margaret A Mills, NELC

Office Hours: Hagerty Hall 313, Wednesdays 2:30-4:30, Thursdays 3:30-4:30 and by

Appointment

Phone: Office: 292-7136

Home: after 8:00 AM and before 9:30 PM PLEASE!! 740-548-3959

Email: [e-mail] (no email on weekends, please telephone instead)

This course introduces different facets of concrete, practiced Islam and Muslim ways of life, from everyday devotionalism to popular Sufism to cults of spirit possession, and seasonal and life cycle rituals practiced by Muslims in a variety of local contexts. In the process, it presents the controversies surrounding local devotional and other traditional activities in the eyes of Muslim reformers from the 19^th century to the present. Reformers’ critiques prominently feature rejection of vernacular devotional practices favored and/or controlled by women; thus, the gendered division of religious labor becomes central to our topic. For each cluster of readings, we will also compare the authors’ positions, methodologies, and theoretical frameworks: what are their questions? What are their presumed audiences and epistemological assumptions? Among our guiding theoretical positions is a critique of the idea of syncretism (Stewart and Ernst), or cultural borrowing, as applied in comparative religions scholarship. We conclude with a brief presentation of cases, pertinent to some of the most current debates on religious practice and social tolerance.
In the field of Islamic studies, the comparative study of popular or “folk” Islam was for some time neglected, in favor of the study of canonical texts, and is still problematical in ways to be explored in this class. Yet, forms of popular Islam constitute an essential part of everyday religious life in Muslim societies, and contribute to the shaping of community moral consciousness among Muslims. Thus, in areas such as Pakistan (Punjab, Sind), Muslim India, Asia Minor, and North Africa, the veneration of saints, for instance, is a major cultural idiom and constituent in the collective identity of people. With identity processes in mind, we will consider the interaction of topics and approaches between vernacular Islam, defined as religious practices, and folklore, popular ideas and representations about community identities both inside and outside of the Umma (worldwide community of believers), which could be designated “Muslim folklore.”
Within the general framework of “Islam and Popular Practice” it must be emphasized that both the Shi’a sect within Islam, and Sufism, the movement of Islamic mysticism which crosscuts all sects, though not identical with one another, have given rise respectively to strains of popular Islam that stress charismatic power, the veneration of saints and the importance of miracles. The intense devotion displayed at Sufi shrines and in the realm of Dervish lodges, the veneration of the dead, and also Shi’a popular religion have stimulated the emergence of religious folk art that provides a focus for experience and emotion. The performance of emotion is particularly important in the cults of living saints and divinely intoxicated ecstatics. We will look into the case of a Pakistani majzub (ecstatic) and of an Indian Mast Baba, exploring how charisma is created and constructed, how ethical ideals are articulated and diffused, etc. We will also consider two very different South Asian processional performances of the annual Shi’a ‘Ashura, or mourning ceremonies for Husayn and other Shi’a martyrs. Another realm of the “religion of the streets” (M. Gilsenan) is the therapeutic cults of spirit possession, which are typical of North Africa and Muslim and Hindu South Asia. These devotional practices are well rooted among people on the periphery of society; issues of marginality and liminality, including but not limited to gender, arise in their study.
This course will equip students with an overview of different forms and manifestations of lived, popular and “alternative” Islam, as well as provide insight into comparative theories and methodologies, especially ethnographic ones, in the study of religion.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

1. 
   All students, graduate and undergraduate, are required to come to class with a firm
   

grasp of the assigned readings for the week, acquired prior to the class session

2. 
   A weekly short writing assignment, responding to the readings, is required to be electronically posted to the Course’s Carmen site each Sunday by 12 midnight:
   

Undergraduates: Identify and define five key words and pose five questions applied to the week’s readings (your questions may identify concepts or points you found unclear or insufficiently explored in the reading, or go beyond the readings to related issues that arose for you.)

Graduates: Write 250-500 words, identifying key concepts in each of the readings and connecting /comparing/contrasting the approaches in the week’s readings to each other and/or the earlier discussions in prior weeks.
(50% of grade. No credit for late work without prior permission for absence or other unavoidable delay.)

3. 
   Each week, one or more students (graduate or undergraduate) will offer a ten-minute oral introduction to issues identified from the week’s readings (each student will choose two weeks in which to present).
   

(20% of grade, 10% each presentation)

4. 
   Research assignment:
   

Graduate students write a final research paper of approximately 20 pages, on a topic to be determined in consultation with the instructor that significantly expands on some topic pertinent to the class, using supplementary materials, either theoretical discussions or case study materials or both. Graduate students will present a short oral summary of their work (10 minutes, followed by 10 minutes’ questions and answer) in lieu of a final exam, in the time slot assigned for the final exam for the class.

Undergraduates will prepare a final research paper of 10-15 pages, along

similar lines, and present an oral summary in lieu of a final exam.

(30% of grade; no credit for late work without prior permission.)
PLEASE NOTE: This course is conducted as a graduate seminar with emphasis on close analytic reading of assigned materials and detailed comparative discussion of the works.. Undergraduates with special interest in the Islamic world, in general folklore, anthropology, religious studies, sociology or history are also welcome. Attendance will be taken at all class meetings, and course credit will be affected by attendance as well as participation in discussions. All students are expected to know and abide by the University’s regulations concerning Academic Misconduct and the general Code of Student Conduct.
READINGS:
All required and recommended readings for this course will be available in course packs for purchase from the NELC department, 300 Hagerty Hall (N.B.: NOT from Comparative Studies.) If students request it, a copy will be placed on closed reserve at the Main Library, but readings are not available electronically at this time. Please bring a copy of the week’s readings to class as discussion will focus at times on details of readings to be reviewed and analyzed.