INSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ISLAMIC SOCIETIES

The teaching of INSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ISLAMIC SOCIETIES is part of the related and supplementary training activities of the Degree Course in "Language, Culture and Society of Asia and Mediterranean Africa" (LICSAAM).
The teaching contributes to the achievement of the educational objectives of the CdS in the area of cultural and humanistic skills.
The course aims to provide a general overview of the history of some Islamic institutions that define Muslim societies.

This cours is intended for students interested in the languages spoken in North Africa and the Middle East (Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Hebrew) and in the knowledge of the complex political and religious history of the area under study.

At the end of this course the students, having acquired familiarity with the vocabulary of the sociological field in relation to the topic of the course, will be able to orientate themselves at a general level in scholarly theoretical literature and to contextualize the fundamental social and political institutions that characterize Islamic societies.

No specific qualifications are required.

The course will begin with a general introduction to the concept of "istitution" and to the sociological debate on the matter. The subsequent analisys will focus on the historical changes happened in said institutions and on their traceable differences among Muslim societies. The program will address the following points: al-khilafa, al-imama, al-imara, al-wizara, al-saltana, al-ta'rikh, al-madrasa, al-'alim.

S. Miller, Social Institutions, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2011 (reperibile on-line al seguente indirizzo http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/social-institutions/ ).

A. Cavalli- M. Douglas, Istituzioni, Enciclopedia delle scienze sociali, Treccani, 1996.

G. Vercellin, Istituzioni del mondo musulmano . Milano: Einaudi, 2002.

The exham will consist in an oral test focused on the indicated texts.

Conventional metod (frontal lectures).

Italian

The students who do not attend the lectures should contact the teacher via e-mail.

oral