MA Religion in Global Politics Programme Handbook 2016/17

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Table of Contents Programme Convenor & Director of Studies ..................................................................................................................... 4 Programme Description ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 Programme Aims ................................................................................................................................................................ 4 Entry Requirements ............................................................................................................................................................ 5 Programme Structure ......................................................................................................................................................... 5

Compulsory Courses ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Taught Courses: Options ................................................................................................................................................ 5

Programme Administration ................................................................................................................................................ 8 Student support .................................................................................................................................................................. 8 Contact Details for Staff teaching on the Programme ....................................................................................................... 9 Course Descriptions: Compulsory Courses ...................................................................................................................... 11

Religion in Global Politics: Theories and Themes ........................................................................................................ 11 Dissertation in Religion in Global Politics ..................................................................................................................... 11

Course Descriptions: Taught Options ............................................................................................................................... 13 Aid and development ................................................................................................................................................... 13 African and Asian Cultures in Britain ............................................................................................................................ 13 African and Asian Diasporas in the Modern World ..................................................................................................... 13 African Missionaries ..................................................................................................................................................... 14 African Philosophy (Postgraduate) ............................................................................................................................... 14 Afrophone Philosophies (Postgraduate) ...................................................................................................................... 15 Anthropology of Globalisation (PG) ............................................................................................................................. 15 The Body and the Making of Colonial Difference in British India ................................................................................ 16 Borders and Development ........................................................................................................................................... 16 Buddhism in Tibet ......................................................................................................................................................... 17 Christianity and Social Change in Sub Saharan Africa .................................................................................................. 17 Civil society, social movements and the development process .................................................................................. 17 Colonial Conquest and Social Change in Southern Africa ............................................................................................ 18 Colonialism and Nationalism in South Asia .................................................................................................................. 18 Colonialism, empire and international law .................................................................................................................. 18 Communication, Culture and Politics in the Middle East: Theoretical and Analytical Approaches ............................ 19 Comparative International Political Thought ............................................................................................................... 19 Contemporary Islamism in South Asia: Readings in Sayyid Abu al-A'la Mawdudi ....................................................... 20 Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies I: History and Politics ................................................................................. 20 Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies II: Culture and Society ............................................................................... 21 Critical Theory and the Study of Religions ................................................................................................................... 21 Culture and Conflict in the Himalaya ........................................................................................................................... 22 Death and Religion ....................................................................................................................................................... 22 Diaspora Contexts and Visual Culture .......................................................................................................................... 23 East Asian Buddhist Thought ........................................................................................................................................ 23 Eastern and Orthodox Christianity ............................................................................................................................... 23 Encountering the Other: the Middle East during the Crusading Period ..................................................................... 24 The Early Development of Islam: Emerging Identities and Contending Views ........................................................... 24 Gender and development ............................................................................................................................................ 25 Gender in the Middle East ........................................................................................................................................... 25 Gender, Armed Conflict and International Law ........................................................................................................... 25 Gender, law and the family in the history of modern South Asia ............................................................................... 26 Gendering migration & diasporas ................................................................................................................................ 26 Historical Perspectives on Gender in Africa ................................................................................................................. 27 History and Doctrines of Indian Buddhism .................................................................................................................. 28 Histories of Ethnicity and Conflict in South East Asia I - Making States and Building Nations .................................... 28

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Histories of Ethnicity and Conflict in South East Asia II - Non-National Perspectives ................................................. 29 Human rights and Islamic law ...................................................................................................................................... 30 Human rights in the developing world ......................................................................................................................... 30 Imagining Pakistan: culture, politics, gender (MA) ...................................................................................................... 31 International Political Communication ........................................................................................................................ 31 Iran and the Persianate World 1400 to 1800 .............................................................................................................. 32 Iran and the Persianate World 1800 to 1979 .............................................................................................................. 32 Iran: History, Culture, Politics ....................................................................................................................................... 33 Islam in South Asia ........................................................................................................................................................ 33 Islamic/Democratic Political Thought .......................................................................................................................... 34 Israel, the Arab World and the Palestinians ................................................................................................................. 34 Jainism: History, Doctrine and the Contemporary World ............................................................................................ 34 Japanese Modernity I ................................................................................................................................................... 35 Japanese Modernity II .................................................................................................................................................. 35 Judaism and Gender ..................................................................................................................................................... 36 Law & Critique .............................................................................................................................................................. 36 Law and Postcolonial Theory ........................................................................................................................................ 36 Mediated Culture in the Middle East: Politics and Communications .......................................................................... 37 Migration and Policy ..................................................................................................................................................... 37 Modern Bengal: the Evolution of Bengali Culture and Society from 1690 to the Present Day (MA) ......................... 38 Modern Muslim Thinkers from South Asia .................................................................................................................. 38 Modern Trends in Islam ............................................................................................................................................... 39 Muslim Britain: Perspectives and Realities .................................................................................................................. 39 Mystical Traditions ....................................................................................................................................................... 40 Nationhood and Competing Identities in Modern China ............................................................................................ 40 Non-Violence in Jain Scriptures, Philosophy and Law ................................................................................................. 40 The Origin of Islam: Sources and Perspectives ............................................................................................................ 41 Outsiders in Medieval Middle Eastern Societies: Minorities, Social Outcasts and Foreigners ................................... 41 Political economy of institutions .................................................................................................................................. 42 Public Policy and Management: Perspectives and Issues ............................................................................................ 42 Queer Politics in Asia, Africa and the Middle East ....................................................................................................... 42 Religion in Britain: Faith Communities and Civil Society .............................................................................................. 43 Religion, Nationhood and Ethnicity in Judaism ............................................................................................................ 43 Religions and Development ......................................................................................................................................... 44 Religions on the move: New Currents and Emerging Trends in Global Religion ......................................................... 44 Religious Practice in Japan: Texts, Rituals and Believers ............................................................................................. 45 Representing Conflict: A Cross-Cultural and Inter Disciplinary Approach ................................................................... 46 Security ......................................................................................................................................................................... 46 Taiwan's politics and cross-strait relations .................................................................................................................. 47 Text and Context in Classical Hinduism ........................................................................................................................ 48 The Great Tradition of Taoism ..................................................................................................................................... 48 The Holocaust in Theology, Literature and Art ............................................................................................................ 48 The Making of the Contemporary World ..................................................................................................................... 49 The Politics of Culture in Contemporary South Asia .................................................................................................... 49 Theory and Method in the Study of Religion ............................................................................................................... 50 Transnational Communities and Diasporic Media: Networking, Connectivity, Identity ............................................. 50 Understanding Communal Violence in India since 1947 ............................................................................................. 51 Violence, justice and the politics of memory ............................................................................................................... 51 War to peace transitions .............................................................................................................................................. 52 World War II, Cold War, and the "War On Terror": The United States and South East Asia ...................................... 53 Zionist Ideology ............................................................................................................................................................ 53 Zoroastrianism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives ....................................................................................... 54

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Programme Convenor & Director of Studies Dr Sîan Hawthorne, Lecturer in Critical Theory Department of Religions and Philosophies, Rm 337 Email: sh79@soas.ac.uk; Tel: 0207 898 4215 www.soas.ac.uk/religions/programmes/ma-religion-in-global-politics/

Programme Description Religion has become a force to be reckoned with in the contemporary global geopolitical landscape and as such demands a reassessment of once predominant understandings of processes of secularisation, as well as the meanings of, and tensions inherent within, secular assumptions and secularist positions. The so-called ‘resurgence’ of religion in the public sphere in recent decades is now a significant area of interdisciplinary scholarship eliciting a complex array of responses, ranging from vehement opposition to the very idea that religious concepts and commitments have a right to expression in political debates, to a reassessment of the origins and implications of divisions between the secular and the religious and their relationship to the nation state. The notion that there is no singular secularism, but rather a plurality of secularisms, and of ‘religion’ as an invention of European modernity and colonial interests are two of many emerging efforts to reconceptualise the meanings of religion and the secular and the entangled relationship between them. The MA Religion in Global Politics offers an opportunity to examine these questions and issues at an advanced level by studying the complex relationships between religion and politics in the histories and contemporary political contexts (both national and international) of the regions of the Asia, Africa and the Middle East. A core objective is to challenge the Eurocentrism of current debates around secularism, secularisation, the nature of the public sphere within modernity, by indicating the plurality and contested nature of conceptions of both religion and the secular when considered in a global framework. The programme is unique: it has a regional focus and disciplinary breadth rarely addressed in similar programmes in the subject area, draws on a wealth of multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives (Law, International Relations and Politics, History, Philosophy, Development, Anthropology, Migration and Diaspora Studies, and Gender Studies, amongst others) and has a rigorous theoretical basis built in, such that students will be familiarised with the current state-of-the-art debates regarding religion in the public sphere, secularisms, postsecularism, and political theology and their relevance to issues of democracy, war, violence, human rights, humanitarianism and development, multiculturalism, nationalism, sectarianism, religious extremism, and free speech amongst others. The range of course options available on the programme is unparalleled, ensuring that students will benefit from a truly interdisciplinary, intellectually rigorous, and regionally focused programme.

Programme Aims The programme’s inter-disciplinary focus aims to provide students with advanced training in the area of religion and politics through the study of a wide range of theoretical and regional perspectives. It will serve primarily as a platform for professional development and further (MPhil/PhD) graduate research. The programme offers students:

Advanced knowledge and understanding of significant approaches, methods, debates, and theories in the field of religion and politics, with particular reference to the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East;

Advanced skills in researching and writing about topics in and theorisations of religion and politics; Advanced skills in the presentation or communication of knowledge and understanding of topics in religion

and politics as they pertain to regional, international, and transnational contexts.

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Entry Requirements SOAS has general minimum entrance requirements for registration for a postgraduate taught degree. However, due consideration is given to the applicants’ individual profiles, and to the fact that great potential for the successful undertaking of the academic study of the field is not necessarily acknowledged or certified through the applicant’s academic qualifications. Interviews can be arranged for applicants who do not meet the minimum entrance requirements, and early contact with the programme convenor is advisable.

Programme Structure You are required to take taught courses to the equivalent of three full units, one of which is the compulsory core course, Religion in Global Politics: Theories and Themes, and to submit a dissertation of 10,000 words. A full unit runs for the whole academic year; a half unit runs for one term. Students may select a combination of full and half units up to the equivalent of two full courses. The dissertation topic must be approved in advance by the Programme Convenor and must be on a topic connected with one of your taught courses. Students may take other SOAS courses relevant to their studies that are not listed below but may do so only with the written approval of the Tutor of the relevant course, the Programme Convenor, and the Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

Compulsory Courses Dissertation in Religion in Global Politics (15PSRC987), 1 Unit (Full Year) Religion in Global Politics: Theories and Themes (15PSRC174), 1 Unit (Full Year)

Taught Courses: Options Note: not all courses will be offered every year due to course rotation and alternation. Courses not running for the 2016-17 academic session are listed separately below. Full Units Colonialism and Nationalism in South Asia (15PHIC071) Communication, Culture and Politics in the Middle East: Theoretical and Analytical Approaches (15PMSC005) Culture and Conflict in the Himalaya (15PSAC291) Eastern and Orthodox Christianity (15PSRC055) Human Rights and Islamic Law (15PLAC150) Human Rights in the Developing World (15PLAC111) Imagining Pakistan: culture, politics, gender (MA) (15PSAC313) Iran: History, Culture, Politics (15PNMC405) Islamic/Democratic Political Thought (15PPOC255) tbc Israel, the Arab World and the Palestinians (15PNMC038) Jainism: History, Doctrine and the Contemporary World (15PSRC024) Modern Trends in Islam (15PNMC228) Muslim Britain: Perspectives and Realities (15PSRC158) Religious Practice in Japan: Texts, Rituals and Believers (15PSRC071) Taiwan's politics and cross-strait relations (15PPOC252) The Politics of Culture in Contemporary South Asia (15PSAC314) Zionist Ideology (15PNMC035) Zoroastrianism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (15PSRC052) Half Units: Term 1 Aid and development (15PDSH027) African and Asian Diasporas in the Modern World (15PANH010)

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African Philosophy (PG) (15PAFH008) Colonialism and Christian Missions in Africa: Readings from the Archives (15PSRH043) Colonialism, empire and international law (15PLAH025) Conflict, rights and justice (15PPOH018) Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies I: History and Politics (15PNMH006) Encountering the Other: the Middle East during the Crusading Period (15PHIH037) Gender and development (15PDSH010) Gender in the Middle East (15PGNH001) Gendering migration & diasporas (15PGNH002) Historical Perspectives on Gender in Africa (15PHIH029) Iran and the Persianate World 1400 to 1800 (15PHIH039) Islam in South Asia (15PHIH044) The Origin of Islam: Sources and Perspectives (15PHIH045) Histories of Ethnicity and Conflict in South East Asia 1 - Making States and Building Nations (15PHIH011) Japanese Modernity I (15PHIH013) Mediated Culture in the Middle East: Politics and Communications (15PMSH003) Migration and Policy (15PDSH029) Public Policy and Management: Perspectives and Issues (15PFMC094) Religions and Development (15PSRH049) Security (15PDSH020) The Great Tradition of Taoism (15PSRH036) The Making of the Contemporary World (15PHIH035) Violence, justice and the politics of memory (15PPOH019) Understanding Communal Violence in India since 1947 (15PSRH052)

Half Units: Term 2 African and Asian Cultures in Britain (15PANH009) Anthropology of Globalisation (PG) (15PANH061) Colonialism, Empire and International Law (15PLAH025) Comparative International Political Thought (15PPOH021) Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies II: Culture and Society (15PNMH007) East Asian Buddhist Thought (15PSRH018) Gender, Armed Conflict and International Law (15PGNH005) Gender, law and the family in the history of modern South Asia (15PHIH030) Histories of Ethnicity and Conflict in South East Asia 2 - Non-National Perspectives (15PHIH012) International Political Communication (15PMSH009) Iran and the Persianate World 1800 to 1979 (15PHIH039) Japanese Modernity II (15PHIH014) Judaism and Gender (15PSRH029) Law & Critique (15PLAH053) Migration and Policy (15PDSH029) Nationhood and Competing Identities in Modern China (15PHIH022) Outsiders in Medieval Middle Eastern Societies: Minorities, Social Outcasts and Foreigners (15PHIH006) Political economy of institutions (15PECC020) Queer Politics in Asia, Africa and the Middle East (15PGNH007) The Early Development of Islam: Emerging Identities and Contending Views (15PHIH039) Transnational Communities and Diasporic Media: Networking, Connectivity, Identity (15PMSH004) War to peace transitions (15PDSH018) Courses not running 2016-17 Afrophone Philosophies (PG) (15PAFH009) Borders and Development (15PDSH023)

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Buddhism in Tibet (15PSRH008) Christianity and Social Change in Sub Saharan Africa (15PSRC157) Civil society, social movements and the development process (15PDSH001) Colonial Conquest and Social Change in Southern Africa (15PHIH002) Contemporary Islamism in South Asia: Readings in Sayyid Abu al-A'la Mawdudi (15PSRC170) Critical Theory and the Study of Religions (15PSRC037) Death and Religion (15PSRC162) Diaspora Contexts and Visual Culture (15PARH042) History and Doctrines of Indian Buddhism (15PSRC059) Islam and the West: Artistic and Cultural Contacts (15PARH034) Law and Postcolonial Theory (15PLAH050) Modern Bengal: the Evolution of Bengali Culture and Society from 1690 to the Present Day (MA) (15PSAC289) Modern Muslim Thinkers of South Asia (15PSRC169) Mystical Traditions (15PSRC068) Non-Violence in Jain Scriptures, Philosophy and Law (15PSRC062) Religion in Britain: Faith Communities and Civil Society (15PSRC163) Religion, Nationhood and Ethnicity in Judaism (15PSRH030) Religions on the move: New Currents and Emerging Trends in Global Religion (15PANH055) Representing Conflict: A Cross-Cultural and Inter Disciplinary Approach (15PARH039) Text and Context in Classical Hinduism (15PSRC007) The Body and the Making of Colonial Difference in British India (15PHIH033) The Holocaust in Theology, Literature and Art (15PSRH028) Theory and Method in the Study of Religion (15PSRC010) World War II, Cold War, and the "War On Terror": the United States and South East Asia (15PHIC059)

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Programme Administration The administrative home of the MA Religion in Global Politics is in the Department of Religions and Philosophies, supported by administrative staff in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (https://www.soas.ac.uk/artshumanities/). You should meet with the programme convenor, Dr Sîan Hawthorne (Rm 337) during Welcome Week in order to discuss your course options and to design a programme that will help you to meet your career or education goals.

Student support The School offers a comprehensive set of welfare and student support services. Further information can be found at https://www.soas.ac.uk/studentadviceandwellbeing/ The School is required, under the Disabilities Act (2001), to ensure that your learning needs are met. If you have a learning, or any other type of disability, if you feel comfortable doing so please inform the Director of Studies, Dr Hawthorne, You should also register with the Disability and Dyslexia Support Team. In most cases, arrangements can be made to ensure that course materials etc. are provided in an accessible format. You can read about the School’s Disabilities Policy at https://www.soas.ac.uk/registry/degreeregulations/file112327.pdf. The School has two Disabilities Officers (Zöe Davis and Angela Axon, Room V306; email: disabilities@soas.ac.uk; tel: 020 7074 5018) who can advise you as to your rights and the assistance that School can offer you. The website for School’s Student Disability Office is https://www.soas.ac.uk/disability/. The Learning and Teaching Team in the Academic Development Directorate offers a wide range of academic support, advanced skills training and development opportunities for Masters students at SOAS. Their training is designed to help get you started on your postgraduate studies and to support you all the way through to the end of your dissertation project. They run regular study skills workshops on various themes and topics as well as offering one-to-one support. See https://www.soas.ac.uk/add/studyskills/masters/ for further information. Throughout the year you are always welcome to meet with Dr Hawthorne regarding any personal or academic problems, complaints, or questions, either during her office hours (Thursdays 15.00-17.00) or by appointment. In addition to the programme convenor, you will be assigned a member of academic staff as a personal tutor who will also be able to offer advice and support.

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Contact Details for Staff teaching on the Programme

Name Email Room Telephone Prof. Nadje Al-Ali N.s.al-ali@soas.ac.uk 452a (020 7898) 4547 Dr Alberto Asquer aa144@soas.ac.uk 517 (020 7898) 4757 Prof. Mashood Baderin Mb78@soas.ac.uk 220 (020 7898) 4715 Dr Teresa Bernheimer tb31@soas.ac.uk 306 (020 7898) 4605 Dr Brenna Bhandar bb29@soas.ac.uk 541 (020 7898) 4540 Dr Maryann Bylander Mb103@soas.ac.uk 290 (020 7898) 4484 Dr James Caron Jc84@soas.ac.uk 468 (020 7898) 4295 Dr Phil Clark Pc44@soas.ac.uk 253a (020 7898) 4611 Dr Michael Charney Mc62@soas.ac.uk 326 (020 7898) 4612 Dr Lucia Dolce Ld16@soas.ac.uk 342 (020 7898) 4217 Dr Wayne Dooling Wd2@soas.ac.uk 318 (020 7898) 4628 Dr Catriona Drew cd4@soas.ac.uk 533 (020 7898) 4482 Dr Daffyd Fell Df2@soas.ac.uk 201 (020 7898) 4206 Dr Roy Fischel Rf26@soas.ac.uk 312 (020 7898) 4643 Dr Peter Flugel Pf8@soas.ac.uk 341 (020 7898) 4776 Dr Christopher Gerteis Cg24@soas.ac.uk 304 (020 7898) 4093 Prof. Jonathan Goodhand jg27@soas.ac.uk 296 (020 7898) 4483 Dr Colette Harris colette.harris@soas.ac.uk 291 (020 7898) 4488 Dr Jan-Peter Hartung Jh74@soas.ac.uk 333 (020 7898) 4383 Dr Jörg Haustein Joerg.haustein@soas.ac.uk 334 (020 7898) 4731 Dr Sîan Hawthorne Sh79@soas.ac.uk 337 (020 7898) 4215 Dr Gina Heathcote Gh21@soas.ac.uk 535 (020 7898) 4367 Prof. Catherine Hezser Ch12@soas.ac.uk 335 (020 7898) 4633 Prof. Almut Hintze Ah69@soas.ac.uk 334 (020 7898) 4598 Dr Konrad Hirschler Kh20@soas.ac.uk 324 (020 7898) 4602 Dr Erica Hunter Eh9@soas.ac.uk 339 (020 7898) 4663 Prof. Michael Hutt Mh8@soas.ac.uk 448 (020 7898) 4286 Dr Marloes Jansen Mj19@soas.ac.uk 502 (020 7898) 4345 Prof. Mushtaq Khan mk100@soas.ac.uk 284 (020 7898) 4546 Dr Lars Laamann ll10@soas.ac.uk 323 (020 7898) 4634 Dr Naomi Leite Nl15@soas.ac.uk 590 (020 7898) 4407 Dr Anna Lindley al29@soas.ac.uk 298 (0207 898) 4690 Dr Angus Lockyer Al21@soas.ac.uk 316 (020 7898) 4626 Dr Derek Mancini-Lander dm40@soas.ac.uk 311 (020 7898) 4609 Dr Zoe Marriage Zm2@soas.ac.uk 297 (020 7898) 4437 Dr Dina Matar Dm27@soas.ac.uk 575 (020 7898) 4696 Dr Mark McQuinn mm22@soas.ac.uk (020 7898) 4818 Dr Nima Mina Nm46@soas.ac.uk 422 (020 7898) 4315 Dr Matt Nelson mn6@soas.ac.uk 218 (020 7898) 4742 Dr Eleanor Newbegin En2@soas.ac.uk 307 (020 7898) 4625 Dr Paolo Novak pn4@soas.ac.uk 368 (020 7898) 4214 Prof. Francesca Orsini fo@soas.ac.uk 419 (020 7898) 4242 Dr Caroline Osella Co6@soas.ac.uk 582 (020 7898) 4427 Prof. Wen-chin Ouyang Wo@soas.ac.uk 435 (020 7898) 4348 Dr Ulrich Pagel Up1@soas.ac.uk 338 (020 7898) 4782 Dr Antonello Palumbo Ap47@soas.ac.uk 345 (020 7898) 4768 Dr Theodore Proferes Tp17@soas.ac.uk 378 (020 7898) 4637

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Dr Parvathi Raman Pr1@soas.ac.uk 571 (020 7898) 4434 Dr Rahul Rao Rr18@soas.ac.uk 4432 (020 7898) 4534 Dr Alena Rettová Ar42@soas.ac.uk 413 (020 7898) 4372 Dr Marie Rodet mr28@soas.ac.uk 309 (020 7898) 4606 Dr Mandy Sadan Ms114@soas.ac.uk 302 (020 7898) 4622 Prof. Gurharpal Singh gs41@soas.ac.uk 319 (020 7898) 4108 Dr Subir Sinha ss61@soas.ac.uk 287 (020 7898) 4495 Dr Sarah Stewart Ss7@soas.ac.uk 331 (020 7898) 4270 Dr Nimer Sultany Ns30@soas.ac.uk 4408 (020 7898) 4729 Dr Shabnam Tejani St40@soas.ac.uk 314 (020 7898) 4613 Dr Vincent Tournier Vt6@soas.ac.uk 343 (020 7898) 4753 Dr Tania Tribe Tt10@soas.ac.uk B406 (020 7898) 4462 Dr Yair Wallach Yw11@soas.ac.uk (020 7898) 4337 Dr Amina Yaqin ay@soas.ac.uk 470 (020 7898) 4305 Dr Katherine Zebiri kz@soas.ac.uk 441 (020 7898) 4342 Dr Cosimo Zene Zc@soas.ac.uk 340 (020 7898) 4783 Dr Saeed Zeydabadi-Nejad Sz10@soas.ac.uk 587 (020 7898) 4422

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Course Descriptions: Compulsory Courses

Religion in Global Politics: Theories and Themes Convenor: Sîan Hawthorne Course code: 15PSRC174 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: Two 3 000 words essays (20% and 30% each); 5 response papers (40%); Group presentation (10%) The so-called ‘resurgence’ of religion in the public sphere and the domain of the political more generally in recent decades is now a significant area of interdisciplinary scholarship eliciting a complex array of responses, ranging from vehement opposition to the very idea that religious concepts and commitments have a right to expression in public, political debates to a reassessment of the provenance and implications of divisions between the secular and the religious and their relationship to the nation state. The current geopolitical landscape wherein ‘religion’ has apparently become a force to be reckoned with has demanded a reassessment of once predominant understandings of processes of secularisation, as well as the meanings of, and tensions inherent within secular assumptions and secularist positions. The notion that there is no singular secularism, but rather a plurality of secularisms, and of religion as an invention of European modernity and colonialist exigencies are two of many emerging efforts to reconceptualise the meanings of religion, politics, and the secular and the entangled relationship between them. This course will offer a comprehensive overview of the various debates around, and theorisations of the nature of secularism and the role of religion in the public sphere in order to attend to the central issue of how 'the secular' is constituted, understood, and instantiated in both domestic and international or transnational contexts. Other related topics will also be examined, taking a thematic approach, such as the relationship between religious discourses and political violence or conflict resolution, the legislative difficulties presented by contradictions in liberalist political principles that underpin the political systems of the global North and its models of multiculturalism, variant conceptions of state-religion relationships, the role of religion in identity politics, religion and democratization, state responses to religious identity claims and priorities, free speech and blasphemy, and religious discrimination in the framework of international human rights discourses, amongst others.

Dissertation in Religion in Global Politics Convenor: Sîan Hawthorne Course code: 15PSRC98 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full year Workload: Variable Assessment: 10,000-word dissertation (100%) The Dissertation in Religion in Global Politics is a core component of the MA Religion and Global Politics, running in parallel to the compulsory course ‘Religion in Global Politics: Theories and Themes’. It is intended both to extend and consolidate a student’s theoretical and regional understanding and knowledge applied to prominent themes and debates in the field of religion and politics. It comprises 25% of the assessed work of the MA Religion in Global politics. It is submitted no later than mid-September of the students’ final year of registration on the 15th September (if 15 September falls on a Saturday or Sunday, then submission must be on the Monday immediately following 15 September). Students are advised to identify a dissertation supervisor early in the year with whom the dissertation topics will be agreed. They should meet regularly with their supervisors to produce a systematic review of the secondary and regional literature which forms a core, if preliminary aspect of their dissertation. The dissertation (10,000 words)

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constitutes the main work in which students demonstrate the extent to which they have achieved the key learning outcomes of research training and independent research. The dissertation should demonstrate a critical understanding of the relevant literature, develop a focused and clear argument, supported by the relevant use of theoretical material and evidence. It should include:

A review of the relevant theoretical and empirical literature; An outline of the specific questions to be addressed, methods to be employed, and the expected contribution

of the study to debates in the interdisciplinary field of religion and politics; An informed critique of published surveys and other tabulated material that relate directly to their research

interest, or explanation of a survey or statistical application that they would propose to mount as part of the research;

A discussion of the practical, political and ethical issues likely to affect the research. Included in the word count are the number of words contained in the submitted work including quotations, footnotes, titles, abstracts, summaries and tables of contents. Appendices and bibliographies are not included in the word count. Appendices will not normally be marked and they must not include material essential to the argument developed in the main body of the work. Guidelines for preparation of Masters dissertations http://www.soas.ac.uk/registry/degreeregulations/file87829.pdf

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Course Descriptions: Taught Options

Aid and development Convenor: Mark McQuinn Course code: 15PDSH027 Unit value: 0.5 Workload: one 2-hour lecture and 1-hour tutorial Taught in: Term 1 Assessment: one 1500-word Project Evaluation (40%); one 4000-word essay (60%) The module is taught across ten sessions, each dealing with a different aspect of aid and development. Thematically, the module deals with three main areas: firstly an exploration of key ideas and themes in aid and development; secondly, and examination of how aid functions at different levels; and thirdly, aid in specific contexts. The following is a schematic of the course:

Introduction: What is aid? Aid and ownership Evaluating aid International Organisations, the UN, and aid Donors, Governments and Aid Non-governmental organisations Faith-Based Organisations, Diasporas, and Philanthrocapitalists Aid, Violence and Conflict Access, negotiation and the rules of aid Humanitarian aid & forced migration

African and Asian Cultures in Britain Convenor: Parvathi Raman Course code: 15PANH009 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: Assessment: two 5000-word essays (90%); two class discussions (10%) There have been people of African and Asian origin in Britain for over five hundred years. In this course we focus on the communities they have created after the Second World War and examine whether they have helped foster new ideas of ‘Britishness’. The course examines why people from the ex colonies migrated to Britain and the contributions they have made to British culture and society. We will look at the social science literature on these diasporas under a number of key debates, including issues of race and nation, political identity, popular culture, education, and social protest in an attempt to understand the different approaches of those who have written about these issues.

African and Asian Diasporas in the Modern World Convenors: Caroline Osella, Parvathi Raman, Sami Everett Course code: 15PANH010 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: weekly one-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: two 5000-word essays (90%); two class discussions (10%) The aim of this course is to take an interdisciplinary approach in order to chart the development of transnational African and Asian cultures in the world today. The course draws on established bodies of work as well contemporary literature on migration studies, issues of space and identity, transnationalism, postcolonialism, and theories of

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diaspora, and globalisation. By exploring the emergence of international African and Asian diasporas through labour migrations, trade, and displacement, the course incorporates a strong historical perspective as well as contemporary issues. Drawing on historical memory and personal narratives of slavery and indentured labour, the course charts the changing processes of international migration and the subsequent emergent forms of identity in diasporic communities in the modern world. The course will encourage students to examine concepts such as 'diaspora' and 'postcolonialism' from a critical perspective, and to challenge the 'new orthodoxies' in diaspora and migration studies.

African Missionaries Convenor: Jörg Haustein Course code: 15PSRH043 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: weekly two-hour seminar Assessment: one 6,000-word essay (90%); one small group presentation (10%). This course challenges assumptions about Christian ‘mission’ to the African continent by taking a close look at the cultural dynamics between European and African agents. It will consider the wide range of mission societies and their relationship to colonialism, the role of Africans in shaping missionary perceptions and spreading the Christian faith, as well as their marginalisation in missionary archives. Students will learn to read and critically assess missionary archives in the context of 19th century colonialism. In particular, the course will provide:

A detailed reflection of the role that Africans played in aiding or resisting European missionaries and in shaping their perceptions about African cultures and

An understanding of the religious, social, political and economic motivations underlying the Protestant missionary movement of the 18th century onwards

A broad overview of the work of missionary societies in Africa from this period to the present day, with a special emphasis on Africans’ reception of the missionary enterprise

An appreciation of the role of missions in colonialism, and resistance to colonialism An in-depth knowledge of at least two geographical areas and/or missionary societies.

African Philosophy (Postgraduate) Convenor: Alena Rettová Course code: 15PAFH008 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: 3 hours classroom contact per week. Assessment: One 5,000-word essay (60%); 20-minute oral presentation (20%); two 1000-word analyses of readings (20%) This course outlines the development of African Philosophy in the 20th century, a discourse that hinges on the following questions: does philosophy exist in Africa? What are the specific qualities that distinguish it from Western philosophy? We will survey the trends in African philosophical thought classified under the rubrics of "ethnophilosophy", "nationalist-ideological philosophy", "sage philosophy", and "professional philosophy", and discuss specific concepts with philosophical reference or resonance, such as race, time, but also development or art. Several classes will be devoted to influential contemporary philosophers, in particular Paulin Hountondji, Kwame Anthony Appiah, V.-Y. Mudimbe, Henry Odera Oruka, and Kwasi Wiredu.

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Afrophone Philosophies (Postgraduate) Convenor: Alena Rettová Course code: 15PAFH009 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: 3 hours classroom contact per week Assessment: One 5,000-word essay (60%); 20-minute oral presentation (20%); two 1000-word analyses of readings (20%) Afrophone philosophies (i.e. philosophies in African languages) are the philosophical discourses in African languages: the (oral or written) texts that are the channels of philosophical thought in Africa. After an introductory lecture on the role of language and of genre in the expression of philosophical thought, we will examine in this course how "professional philosophers" (i.e. thinkers who have been critical to "ethnophilosophy") engage with communal thought, looking at case studies such as the thought of the Akan, the Yorùbá, or the southern African concept of ubuntu. In the second half of the course, we will study original authored texts in African languages: novels in Swahili and Shona (by Euphrase Kezilahabi, William Mkufya, Ignatius T. Mabasa, etc.) which explicitly reflect and elaborate various philosophical topics (the meaning of life, the being of God and of evil, the role of free will in religious behaviour, the nature of reality, and many others). We will also analyze non-fictional texts (such as ethnography or historiography) in Wolof, Bambara, and Ndebele and explore their interfaces with contemporary artistic productions (film, fictional literature). All the texts will be available in translation; no prior knowledge of an African language is a prerequisite for this course.

Anthropology of Globalisation (PG) Convenor: Dr Naomi Leite Course Code: 15PANH061 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Assessment: Learning journal (25%); book review (15%), research paper (50%); seminar participation (10%). This course examines social and cultural dynamics of globalisation, drawing on anthropological and sociological theory and ethnographic studies from around the world. With a particular focus on globalisation’s consequences for individual lives—identities, life possibilities, goals, desires—we will explore the complex and shifting flows of people, ideas, images, capital, and material goods that define the global present. Topics to be addressed include, among others, migratory flows, global financial integration, the internet and other media, tourism economies and imaginaries, and cross-cultural consumption of goods and practices (e.g., clothing, arts, foods) worldwide. Throughout, we will attend to linkages between these global phenomena and individual and collective identities, cultural homogenization and diversification, social and economic inequality, imaginaries and ideologies of commonality and difference, and representation, meaning, and value. The course begins with a discussion of continuities between globalisation at the turn of the 21st century and earlier forms of global interconnection (e.g., trade networks, empires, the “Age of Exploration,” colonialism, diaspora), then turns to ethnographic studies of global processes at work today. As a simultaneously economic, social, cultural, material, and ideological phenomenon, “globalisation” manifests in different ways and to different effects in particular societies. Using ethnographic case studies, we will interrogate the relationship between the local and the global (and the popular equation between local-global and diversity-homogenization), theories of globalisation “from above” and “from below,” and the question of whether human sociality has been fundamentally transformed by rapidly increasing interconnectivity. Through discussion of its concrete effects on everyday lives “on the ground,” including students’ own, the course asks participants to reflect critically on the discourse of globalisation — both pro- and anti- — and question what it might obscure as well as reveal.

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The Body and the Making of Colonial Difference in British India Convenor: Dr Eleanor Newbigin Course Code: 15PHIH033 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: 2 hour seminar class a week Assessment: Examination (50%); 1 essay (45%); one practical examination (5%) This course will focus on the body to explore the political, cultural and personal dynamics of British colonial rule in India. British rule in India rested on the understanding that there existed fundamental differences between Britons and Indians, yet in many areas of colonial life and policy the boundary between these two identities were not always clearly drawn and notions of what being ‘Indian’ and ‘British’ entailed changed over time. Looking at both bodily practices and regulation this course explores the ways in which notions of ‘colonial difference’ were prescribed, performed and contravened through everyday interactions. The course will address theoretical and methodological approaches to studying the ‘history of the body’ but will ground discussion of these ideas firmly in the context of colonial India. Topics covered include physiology and colonial science, health, and illness, the social construction of gesture and touch; gender and sexuality and the history of emotions. The course is organised thematically, rather than strictly chronologically, so that students will find it an advantage to have some awareness of the general history of colonial India.

Borders and Development Convenor: Dr Paolo Novak Course Code: 15PDSH023 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: one 2-hour lecture; one 1-hour seminar Assessment: examination (60%); 1 4,000-word essay (40%) Almost all questions of our time revolve around the conceptualisation, functions and effects of boundaries and of bordering processes. Whether we talk about sovereignty, geopolitics, and humanitarian interventions; citizenship, identity and migration; economic integration, financial crises and protectionism; globalism, localism, or transnationalism; and more broadly, distinctions, discriminations, exclusions and inclusions; borders are central for our understanding of processes of social change. Development is no exception and the course, at its broadest, draws from the vast body of literature concerned with these issues to study the relation between borders and the development process. As borders have become a key site of intervention in the context of neoliberal development policies, furthermore, the course is also concerned with their management. From this functional perspective, borders are opened or closed to encourage or prevent transnational flows (e.g. capital flows vs. migration). They are reshaped and reconfigured to enhance the prospects of economic growth (e.g. SEZs and Regional Trade Agreements), to improve social development outcomes (e.g. targeting of communities or lagging areas), or for the purposes of security (e.g. migration enforcement). The course assesses these policies and the likelihood of their success. Finally, the course is concerned with the relation between borders and inequalities. In all their different configurations, borders are always differentially experienced: they are gendered, racialised and power-laden. Yet, they are also sites of agency, resistance and subversion. Borders are privileged sites of analytical enquiry, as they render concrete and reproduce development's selective opportunities, inequalities and contestations. From this perspective, the course offers insights on the role of development vis-à-vis the maintenance or mitigation of inequalities across the world. The course is divided in three sections (conceptualising, managing, experiencing borders) mirroring these different concerns.

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Buddhism in Tibet Convenor: Ulrich Pagel Course Code: 15PSRH008 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: one 3000-word essay (40%); two-hour exam (60%). The content of this course covers four areas of instruction. The first segment, taking primarily a historical approach, focuses on Indian Buddhist developments that came to influence the Tibetan Buddhist culture. Particular attention will be given to Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism and to the phases in which these found their way into Tibetan religious culture. The second segment deals with Tibetan ritual practice and addresses such topics as ritual structures, ritual typologies, initiations, consecrations and the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon. The third area of study centres around Tibetan Buddhist doctrines. It examines, in some detail, the positions of the various schools and assesses their respective literary contributions to Tibetan Buddhist thought. In the fourth segment, emphasis will shift to the socio-political sphere, investigating the impact of Buddhism on Tibetan society, in particular with reference to institutional monasticism. Each of these segments will include analyses of some of the more salient features of the Buddhist culture of Tibet, including the practice and concepts of meditation, re-incarnation, spiritual lineage, guru-disciple relationship as well as the social and political manifestations of religious government.

Christianity and Social Change in Sub Saharan Africa Convenor: Jörg Haustein Course Code: 15PSRC157 Unit value: 1 Workload: Assessment: three 3,000-word essays (50%); three-hour exam paper (50%) Besides spectacular numerical growth, which ensures Africa a prominent place in the global Christianity of tomorrow, there are also momentous changes afoot within African Christianity. In the latter part of the course these themes are examined through case studies of various African countries. The course will study the enormous contributions made by religious communities to every aspect of life in contemporary Africa. It will provide the tools to assess and analyse these diverse contributions.

Civil society, social movements and the development process Convenor: Dr Subir Sinha Course Code: 15PDSH001 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: one 2-hour lecture; one 1-hour seminar Assessment: examination (60%); 1 4,000-word essay (40%) Until recently, the study of development process until recently has centered largely on the triangle of states-markets-international institutions. For the last decade, mainstream development discourse has adopted the notion of 'civil society' as simultaneously the site of 'citizens' collective action' as well as a set of actors to be incorporated in the planning, implementation and evaluation of development projects. This notion of 'civil society' has tended to focus exclusively on NGOs. This course provides a more political understanding of 'civil society' by examining social movements in relation to civil society and to the development project itself. It begins by current theories of ‘civil society' and 'new social movements'. It then assesses the impact of nationalist and socialist movements on shaping the development agenda of nineteenth-century European and late-colonial states, and how social movements from the 1950s-1980s interacted with national

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governments in blocking, changing or advancing the development agendas of states (e.g., Gandhian movements in India, the housing rights movements in urban Latin America, and the movements against minority rule in Southern Africa). The course focuses on contexts (e.g. democratisation, globalisation, etc.), sectors (e.g. environment, agriculture), spaces (e.g. rural, urban) and agents (e.g. women). Subsequently, the course addresses the issue of 'global civil society': issues of 'globalisation' and transnational networks of solidarity created in response to it, for example, the movements against 'sweatshop labour', the Zapatista movement in Mexico, and movements against transnational companies and institutions of global governance (WTO, World Bank, IMF etc.).

Colonial Conquest and Social Change in Southern Africa Convenor: Wayne Dooling Course Code: 15PHIH002 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: Assessment: two-hour exam paper (40%); two essays (60%) This course examines the colonial history of southern Africa. It is concerned with the social, cultural, political and economic transformations that took place in the region since the onset of colonial rule to the end of the Second World War. It examines the varied ways in which European rulers sought to 'conquer' African societies - ranging from warfare (itself very varied in nature), to the co-option of local indigenous rulers, as well as the proselytising activities of missionaries. But the greater part of the course is concerned with the interactions between colonisers and colonised peoples. Thus it pays particular attention to the novel societies and cultures that emerged out of contact between Europeans and Africans, the responses of African men and women to processes of conquest and the alternate tenacity and dissolution of African social and cultural institutions. Throughout, the course is concerned to emphasise the unity of the region.

Colonialism and Nationalism in South Asia Convenor: Shabnam Tejani Course Code: 15PHIC071 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: Assessment: three-hour exam paper (40%); one 3500-word essay (20%); one 5000-word essay (30%); seminar participation (10%) The course examines the historiographical questions and themes that have been central to the study of modern South Asian history over the last three decades. It is organized thematically as well as chronologically but does not seek to provide a historical survey as such. Students will be expected to round out their historical knowledge with reference to the range of text books that exist in the field. We cover the period from the late eighteenth century to the present. The course pays special attention to the mechanics of colonialism laid down through the nineteenth century, the cultural and political innovations of south Asians and the transitions to independence as well as the challenges faced by postcolonial states and their people. Themes to be covered include: Term 1: land, caste, law, gender, religion, linguistic identities, urbanism. Term 2: nationalism, communalism, independence and partition, regionalism, art, caste, religious nationalism, urban violence.

Colonialism, empire and international law Convenor: Dr Catriona Drew Course Code: 15PLAH025 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Assessment: 1 5000-word essay (90%); presentation (10%)

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The course aims to explore historical and contemporary dimensions of the relationship between international law and colonialism. In the first part of the term, we will consider the historical mappings of the colonial endeavour within international law as well as theoretical debates concerning colonialism, post-colonialism and neo-colonialism. In the second half, we will focus on a variety of contemporary international law issues – e.g., statehood and recognition; self-determination of peoples; failed states; administration of territory; violence and poverty - in light of the historical and theoretical 16 perspectives introduced in the earlier part of the term. In addition to participating in the seminar programme, students will be required to undertake an independent research project on a chosen aspect of the relationship between international law and colonialism.

Communication, Culture and Politics in the Middle East: Theoretical and Analytical Approaches Convenor: Dr Dina Matar Course Code: 15PMSC005 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: One 2-hour lecture per week; one 2-hour seminar per week Assessment: two 5,000 word essays (50% each) This course takes up the study of the relationship between politics, culture and communication in the Middle East through two inter-related approaches, the first thematic and the second through comparative analyses of case studies, particularly in the context of the ongoing Arab uprisings which pose challenges to conventional theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding change, movement and politics in the region. As a starting point, the course draws on theoretical approaches central to the study of culture, politics and communication, as well as theoretical frameworks used in other disciplines, to critically assess the continuously changing media and cultural landscape in the Middle East and interrogate the relationship between media, cultural production and politics. Given the fluid situation in most countries of the Middle East, we will examine different aspects of these changes in the weekly seminar sessions to encourage new ways of thinking and understanding the region. The approach balances critical theoretical analysis of the hegemony implied by various paradigms with practical issues surrounding the use of media, including digital technologies.

Comparative International Political Thought Convenor: Rahul Rao Course Code: 15PPOH021 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: Essays (70%); seminar presentation (20%); seminar participation (10%) This course is intended to serve as an introduction to the comparative study of international political thought. The course will open with a consideration of what counts as ‘international political thought’. Why is so much of what passes as ‘international’ political thought of European or Western provenance? Do the very categories of ‘West’ and its rather inchoate other—‘non-West’—make sense, given the complicated genealogies and itineraries of political thinking across lines of geography and ideology? In keeping with this scepticism of regional ‘traditions’ of thought, the course will be organised conceptually, with the discussion each week attempting to bring different strands of international political thought into conversation with one another around a central concept. The arrangement of topics in the course list is intended to foreground the different sorts of methodological challenges that one might encounter in endeavouring to compare political thought. A first cluster of topics (2-4) compares thinkers who might roughly be considered contemporaries. Although differently located in terms of geography and

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ideology, they might be thought to be grappling with a common world conjuncture, which they nonetheless perceive and respond to in different ways. In the second cluster of topics (5-9) the comparison operates across both space and time, making it especially crucial to consider whether different worldviews are premised on a common ontology (i.e. we need to ask whether the thinkers being compared share a common object of analysis). Substantively, the topics covered by the course span a range of concerns that have typically been placed within the realm of ‘political’ thinking. We will be comparing thinking about justice: what forms of consciousness have been thought to be most conducive to liberation and emancipation in different places and times? How is the scope of justice imagined? What significance is accorded to locality and globality in different conceptions of justice? What anxieties underpin contemporary ‘fundamentalisms’ and what sorts of utopias do they strive towards? We will also be comparing thinking about conflict: how similar and different are the motivations, justifications, strategies and tactics underpinning and informing theorisations of war that emanate from different parts of the world as well as from different ideological formations? In a course of this kind, it will be especially important to problematise conceptions of ‘the political’ and to think carefully about how such conceptions may differ across space and time.

Contemporary Islamism in South Asia: Readings in Sayyid Abu al-A'la Mawdudi Convenor: Jan-Peter Hartung Course Code: 15PSRC170 Unit value: 1 Workload: weekly one-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: one 4,000-4,500-word essay (40%), one 4,000-4,500-word essay (50%); 10-15-minute oral presentation (10%) At the end of the course, a student should be able to demonstrate:

an ability to discuss the historical and cultural contexts in which Contemporary Political Islam developed an understanding of the construction of a religio-political system of thought an ability to consider the degree of the impact of Modern Western political and philosophical thinking and

Classical Islamic thought, as well as the intercultural contact on the self-perception of the Islamic tradition and it's reinterpretation

an understanding of Mawdūdī's genuine attempt to a practical realisation of his ideology in the religio-political movement Jamāʿat-i islāmī

an ability to discuss the impact of Mawdūdī's system of thought on other Islamist theorists and movements an ability to reflect upon the usefulness of the analytical categories 'Islamism', 'Islamic Fundamentalism',

'Political Islam' an ability to critically analyze primary source material in the field of Islamism an ability to present orally an introduction and critical discussion of different problems relating to the field to

an audience within a given time frame consolidated skills in academic writing in view of the upcoming MA dissertation

Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies I: History and Politics Convenor: Professor Wen-chin Ouyang Course Code: 15PNMH006 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: 2 hour seminar per week. Assessment: two 2,500 - 3,000 word essays (50% each)

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The aim of the course is to provide an overview of the ways in which varying bodies of scholarship across and intra various disciplines engage and study Palestine, and also an examination of how the study of Palestine cuts across and informs scholarly, theoretical, political and disciplinary approaches. The course addresses issues relating to the questions of conflict and political economy, development, cultural politics, social and economic relations, identity, and other major concerns of humanities and social sciences. By the end of the course, the students should be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of the history of Palestine and the development of Palestine-Israel Conflict and familiarity with different disciplinary approaches, models, and scholarship frameworks in the study of Palestine. They will have been introduced to the key works in the subject and become familiar with the terminology and language in discourses about Palestine, and with the methods of analysis and argumentation as embodied in selected texts by leading authors. They will also acquire the critical tools to comprehend, analyse and write critically on topics relevant to the study of Palestine.

Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies II: Culture and Society Convenor: Professor Wen-chin Ouyang Course Code: 15PNMH007 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: 2 hour seminar per week. Assessment: two 2,500 - 3,000 word essays (50% each) The aim of the course is to provide an overview of the ways in which varying bodies of scholarship across and intra various disciplines engage and study Palestine, and also an examination of how the study of Palestine cuts across and informs scholarly, theoretical, political and disciplinary approaches. By the end of the course, the students should be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of the key issues debated and contested in Palestinian culture and society and familiarity with different disciplinary approaches, models, and scholarship frameworks in the study of Palestine. They will have been introduced to the key works in the subject and disciplines and become knowledgeable in the terminology and language in discourses about Palestine, and in the methods of analysis and argumentation as embodied in selected texts by leading authors. They will be able to relate theories and critical discourses to the contemporary cultural politics. They will acquire the critical tools to comprehend and analyse critical discourses on Palestine as well as the language to write critically on Palestine. The course shall examine Palestinian culture and society since 1948. In so doing, it will aim to provide an overview of the different approaches –sociological, historical, anthropological, and via culture and media studies– to social relations, cultural production, and representation of Palestine. The course not only provides some concrete knowledge of the themes presented here, but also suggests specific theoretical approaches that help illuminate, and are in turn illuminated by, the study of Palestinian culture and society. It will also train students in discourse analysis and critical examination of representation and its role in cultural and identity politics.

Critical Theory and the Study of Religions Convenor: Sîan Hawthorne Course Code: 15PSRC037 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: two 4,000 word essays (70%), Research Journal (30%) Historically, the field of the academic study of religions has sought to understand the diverse cultures, beliefs and practices of the world by developing methodological approaches and orientations that emphasise neutrality and empathy. However, contemporary critiques have problematised these approaches from a variety of theoretical and political perspectives. In spite of claims within the study of religions to apparent neutrality, its scholarly methods and assumptions can be shown to play a pivotal role in producing and maintaining a narrowly ethnocentric cultural

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hegemony that has increasingly ethical implications. The aim of the course will thus be to examine the ethics and politics of knowledge within the context of the study of religions as an academic field. It is an advanced level course which deals with three main bodies of critical theory (poststructuralist, postcolonial, and gender theory), plotting the intersections and points of departure between them and extending them to examine and assess the epistemological commitments of the study of religions.

Culture and Conflict in the Himalaya Convenor: Michael J. Hutt Course Code: 15PSAC291 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: 2-hour classroom contact per week Assessment: Ten fortnightly 800-1000- word reaction papers (40%); two 3500-4000-word essays (60%). This course is intended to provide Masters students with an opportunity (which is unique in UK Higher Education) to consider and understand current socio-cultural and political issues in the Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim. It provides a basic framework for the cultural and political history of the Himalayan states, discussing specific questions of national and cultural identity, and takes the Maoist insurgency in Nepal, the flight of ethnic Nepali refugees from Bhutan, and the status of members of the Nepali diaspora in India as important case studies. This course will provide students with insights that will enable them to consider more generally issues such as the relationship between ethnic, linguistic and national identities; processes of nation building; the relationship between dominant elites and marginalised minorities; the tension between tradition and modernity; the underlying causes of social and political conflict in a resource-poor environment; the factors that can lead to refugee flight; and the difference between assumed and ascribed identities.

Death and Religion Convenor: Peter Flugel Course Code: 15PSRC162 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: two 5,000 word essays (40% and 60%) Cultural specific interpretations of death and dying are significant because they are intrinsically connected with prevalent conceptions of the self, the person, the body, and with definitions of life, and visions of the good life, which are transmitted through ritual and (oral) literature. Death and death rituals are central concerns of most cultural and religious systems. In his classical study on the representation of death Robert Hertz (1907/9) has pointed out that in many cultures death is not understood as a unique moment, but as an episode in a journey which integrates life and death. Death is generally depicted to be not the end of life. Nor are the dead entirely disconnected from the living. Students will explore notions of the meaningful life and the good death through the analysis of religious practices of voluntary death, martyrdom, and sacrifice, as well as rites of mourning and commemoration in selected traditions. The first part of the course reviews the principal approaches and theories on death and religion in the academic literature (Hertz, Hubert & Mauss, Heidegger, Burkert, Girard, etc.), followed by a history of western attitudes toward death (Aries, etc.), and case studies on death and dying in modern contexts (Moody, Kübler-Ross, Hockey, Moeller, Firth, etc.). The second part of the course is devoted to the exploration of the concepts of death and the meaning of life in different religious and cultural traditions, with a focus on cosmology, concepts of the self, personhood, and the body, death rituals, and the social functions of cultural constructions of death. At the end of the course students should have gained a comprehensive understanding of the complex variety of death practices and of the symbolism of death, the meaning of life, and life-course models in the major religious and secular traditions. Each student will have studied in depth at least two important cases.

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Diaspora Contexts and Visual Culture Convenor: Tania Tribe Course Code: 15PARH042 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: Assessment: three 2000-word essays (75%); seminar presentation (15%) The course is designed to complement and extend my other MA course dealing with Diaspora issues, The Arts of the African Diaspora. More specifically, it will question the concept of Diaspora, examining how conditions of mobility, exile and displacement have been experienced and represented in different visual cultures, and considering which functions these representations play in these societies. The course will also explore the relationship between diaspora, migration and travel, looking at the processes of gain and loss which are inherent to all of them. Among the topics discussed will be the role played by memory in the process of interaction between dominant and diasporic cultures and in the selective adoption and/or rejection of new ways of being and new cultural patterns. Notions of acculturation, inculturation, syncretism and cultural resistance will be examined, together with the role played by power, the body, religion and gender in these processes.

East Asian Buddhist Thought Convenor: Lucia Dolce Course Code: 15PSRH018 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: one 4,500 word essay (90%); one classroom presentation (10%). This is a thematic course on one aspect of the Buddhist tradition in East Asia, mainly China and Japan. The subject of the course may be different every year. The first topic to be analysed will be the esoteric tradition (mi-jao/mikkyo). In the following years other major systems of Buddhist thought, such as the Tiantai/Tendai and the Pure Land traditions, will be explored. The course will address the history of the selected tradition, its specific doctrinal tenets, its textual corpus and its major deities, and the forms of worship that characterize it. Attention will be devoted to the influence that the selected form of Buddhism exerted in the formation of the culture of China and Japan (with more emphasis given to Japan). A critical appraisal of the way in which the specific tradition has been studied, in East Asia and in the West, will also be offered.

Eastern and Orthodox Christianity Convenor: Erica Hunter Course Code: 15PSRC055 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: two 3,000 word essays (40%); oral presentation (10%); three-hour exam paper (50%) This course uses the prism of historical, theological, political, social, cultural and religious dynamics to examine the evolution of Eastern and Orthodox Christianity over two thousand years. It examines 'apostolic links' and 'conversion narratives' that point to the Judaeo-Christian matrix of early Christianity which was subsumed by Hellenism in the fourth century CE. The doctrinal disputes of the fourth and fifth century, which introduced concepts of heresy and orthodoxy that were inherent in the emergence of the so-called 'Oriental' Churches, are evaluated to demonstrate the challenges that accompanied the changed face of Christianity when it became an 'establishment' religion.

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The course explores its profile in both the Byzantine and Sassanid Empires (as 'establishment' and 'non-establishment' institutions respectively), its 'dhimmi' status in Islam (including the Ottoman period) as well as its tension with Communism and the challenges faced in the post-Communist period. Regional case studies articulate the contribution of Christianity to the development of vernacular identity in Armenia, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iraq and Syria (Eastern Church), Georgia, Russia and Serbia (Orthodox Church).

Encountering the Other: the Middle East during the Crusading Period Convenor: Konrad Hirschler Course Code: 15PHIH037 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Assessment: examination (40%); 2 essays (25% and 35%) During the Crusading period populations from Latin Europe and the Arabic Middle East experienced the closest interaction in the pre-modern period. Traditionally seen in terms of warfare and military conflict this course aims at offering a wider perspective on the two centuries between 1098 and 1291. Students will discuss a range of issues including diplomatic relations, perceptions of the Other, daily life and modern perceptions of the Crusading period. In order to get a more refined understanding of what forms the encounter took, students will consider primary sources beyond the standard chronicles, for instance travel literature, poetry, documentary sources and material culture. Throughout the course we will try to come to terms with the question how we can write a history of this period beyond binary notions such as Crusade vs. jihad and Franks vs Muslims.

The Early Development of Islam: Emerging Identities and Contending Views Convenor: Teresa Bernheimer Course code: 15PHIH039 Unit value: 0.5 Workload: Taught in: Term 2 Assessment: one 1500-word book review (30%), one 3500 word essay (70%) This course discusses emerging identities and contending views in the origins and early history of Islam, 600 and 1000 CE. The approach is historical, and examines the crucial question of how different types of Islam emergened. How have contending views of Islams origins shaped the development of communal identities, and how can we trace the development of these contending view historically? Topics are chosen for their relevance to shedding light on the early development of Islam, and include topics such as the historical development of the Shia, the Kharijites, and the Sunnis, as well as the emergence of scholarly traditions such as theology and law. Emphasis is placed on the complexity of the picture and the way in which a gradual crystallization of the forms that are later regarded as types. Scope and syllabus Week 1: Introduction to the Course: Emerging Identities and Contending Views Week 2: Kharijism and the Kharijites Week 3: Shi‘ism: the Imamiyya Week 4: Ismāʿīli and Zaydi Shi‘ism Week 5: The formation of Sunnism Week 6: The development of Islamic law Week 7: Freethinkers in early Islam Week 8: Theology: the role of the scholars Week 9: Ascetic and mystical trends in early Islam Week 10:Arabization, Islamization, and the formation of universalist religion

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Gender and development Convenor: Colette Harris Course code: 15PDSH010 Unit value: 0.5 Workload: one 2-hour lecture and 1-hour tutorial; fortnightly 1-hour film screening Taught in: Term 1 Assessment: one 5000-word essay (60%); one 2000-word Policy Brief (40%) The purpose of this module is to familiarise students with the main analytic debates in the field of gender and development. Four institutional domains (households, family and kinship, the market, the community and the state) through which gender relations are both defined and transformed receive separate attention. An introductory survey of conceptual approaches to gender is followed by a treatment of central topics which include: the move from WID (women in development) to GAD (gender and development) as critical perspectives in development studies, conceptual approaches to households, men and masculinities in development, globalisation and women’s employment, gender, state and governance, women’s movements and state-civil society relations, gender, conflict and post-conflict, and finally an appraisal of prospects for gender-aware planning and empowerment.

Gender in the Middle East Convenor: Nadje Al-Ali Course Code: 15PGNH001 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: One 3500-4000 word essays (50%), five best reaction papers; 600-800 words each (50%). The aim of this course will be to offer an overview of the key issues in the study of gender in the Middle East. It will provide a specific area focus for students in Gender Studies, but also provide a gendered understanding of prevailing discourses, ideologies, social practices and trends for those students interested in Middle East societies and politics. The course is interdisciplinary in scope, readings and theoretical underpinning. Core Topics:

Representing Gender in the Middle East: From Orientalism to Post-colonialism Islam & Patriarchy : Gender Ideologies and Social Practices The State & ‘Gender Regimes’: Modernization, Reform and Citizenship Families & ‘Selves’: Social Relations and Identity Constructions Gender & Sexuality: From ‘Honour & Shame’ to Queer Exploring Masculinities: Hegemonic and subordinate masculinities Feminism & Women’s Movements: Women’s rights and the struggle for 'authenticity' Autobiographies & Fiction: Gendered writing and creativity New Public Spheres: Gendering the media and the Internet War & Conflict: Gendering Violence and Peace in the Middle East

Gender, Armed Conflict and International Law Convenor: Gina Heathcote Course Code: 15PLAH035 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: weekly two-hour seminar Assessment: 6,000-word essay (100%).

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This course offers an introduction to legal reforms and strategies in response to understandings of the relationship between war and gender as well as feminist peace studies. Contemporary institutional take up of ‘gender perspectives’ are studied alongside theoretical and empirical accounts of the gendered experience of war and armed conflict. Some study of post-conflict communities is also discussed. The collective security regime, particularly Security Council initiatives on women, peace and security are analysed alongside debates from feminist and gender theorists. Weeks 1-5 connect understandings of violence, gender and law through an analysis of interdisciplinary approaches. The weeks 7-11 apply this knowledge to contemporary legal responses to topical issues in conflict and security. A representative syllabus is indicated below.

The gendering of violence in the law Feminist peace studies Gender mainstreaming State, sovereignty, women’s participation Feminist methods, legal writing and narratives on conflict Feminist action and international institutions Humanitarianism and the use of force to ‘save’ others Sexual violence during armed conflict Collective Security – beyond resolution 1325 Feminist Responses to International Terrorism

Gender, law and the family in the history of modern South Asia Convenor: Eleanor Newbegin Course Code: 15PHIH030 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: weekly two-hour seminar Assessment: two-hour exam paper (50%); one essay (45%); one practical examination (5%) Beginning with the advent of British rule in the late eighteenth century and running up to the present day, this year-long course looks at the Indian family to explore the impact of British colonial power on Indian social and political structures, and its legacy for how we understand Indian culture and identity today. From the writings of social reformers during British rule to Bollywood’s current obsession with stories of family strife, notions of family and kinship have long played an integral role in shaping ideas about South Asian culture and identity. This course looks at the economic, political and social factors that shaped debates about family life over the course of three turbulent centuries. It explores the ways by which the family became an important site for defining and demonstrating social difference, between coloniser and colonised but also between the different caste, class and religious groups comprising South Asian society. Secondary reading on specified themes will be supplemented with primary source material, including legal and government records, autobiographical material and photographs, as well as novels, short stories and films relating to the topics covered.

Gendering migration & diasporas Convenor: Dr Alyosxa Tudor Course Code: 15PGNH002 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: One 3500-4000 word essay (50% ); five best 600-800- word reaction papers (50%). The aim of this course is to introduce students to the various ways migration as well as diaspora formations and experiences are gendered. It will engage with a range of migratory and diasporic forms (labour migration, forced migration & transnational migration) while challenging some of the analytical categories underlying these distinctions.

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The course will address both the social, economic and political dimensions of migration and diasporas as well as issues related to identity construction, cultural productions and imaginations. Core Topics:

Labour and the Economics of Migration Forced Migration and Displacement Exile & Asylum Transnational Migration Transnational Social Spaces & Activities Diasporic Spaces Political mobilization in the Diaspora Cultural Productions I: Writing Cultural Productions II: Film and the media Body politics in the Diaspora

Historical Perspectives on Gender in Africa Convenor: Marie Rodet Course code: 15PHIH029 Unit value: 0.5 Workload: two-hour seminar Taught in: Term 1 Assessment: One 2-hour exam (50%, one 5,000 word essay worth 40%, one oral presentation/class discussion worth 10% This course explores African history from a gender perspective using the theoretical framework of contemporary gender studies. Students will be introduced to the challenges of applying a gendered perspective to the study of African history. This is achieved not only by examining how gendering African history allows the reintegration of African women into historical narratives - “women” not being synonymous with “gender” – but also and above all by engaging in an epistemological rethinking of the categories, methodologies, and sources we use to write African history. The course will invite students to (re)think about from where gendered categories come, and to examine how “gender” is sustained by its own histories, connotations, and conceptual roles. We will analyse gender in relation to other concepts, such as class, race, ethnicity, imperialism, generation and sexuality and how these categories shaped the historical experiences of African women and men. The course focuses on how politics, economics and law in Africa have maintained, enforced, and produced gender across time and space; how these dimensions have also been affected by the shifting landscapes of power and specific discourse on gender; and how certain patterns of femininities and masculinities have been constructed, rejected and appropriated within this framework. Syllabus Introduction: Gendering African History Gender and Feminist Theories in Africa: Challenges to Western Feminisms African Sisterhood? Gender, Ethnicity, Class and Seniority in Africa Fracturing Binarisms: Gender and Colonialisms Gender and Religious Change Whose Justice? Gender and the Law Performing Masculinities Gender in Changing Political Landscapes Gender, Love and Sexualities Conclusion: Africa after Gender?

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History and Doctrines of Indian Buddhism Convenor: Vincent Tournier Course Code: 15PSRC059 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: one 3,000-word essay (20%); one 4,000-word essay (30%); one oral presentation (10%); One two-hour exam paper (40%). This course has the two following aims: (1) To explore the historical developments of Buddhist groups and lineages in South Asia, from the birth of the Buddhist tradition in the 5th century BCE, to its disappearance around the 12th-13th century CE.; (2) To engage with major Buddhist scriptures and doctrines, by carefully considering these in their wider context of production and transmission, and in relation to other forms of religious practices. Topics to be addressed during the lectures will include:

An assessment of the little we know about the origins of the Buddhist tradition, and of the fascination these exerted on modern scholarship.

Early Buddhist lineages, and the formation of the Buddhist monastic order. The formation, transmission and diversity of scriptures, and the issue of authority and authenticity. Early Buddhist doctrines and scholasticism. Indian Buddhist cosmology. The personality of the Buddha and the hagiographic process. The development of the Bodhisattva ideals and practices. Loci of the sacred: images, temples, relics, and sacred books. Rituals of protection, healing, consecration, and merit-making. The interactions of Buddhists with the temporal power in South Asian kingdoms. The development of the Bodhisattva ideals and practices. Major philosophical developments: followers of the middle way (Mādhyamika), proponents of the mind only

(Yogācāra-Vijñānavādin), and of the Buddha-nature (Tathāgatagarbha). The advent of Esoteric Buddhism in its broader Indian religious context. Why did Buddhism disappear from its homeland?

Histories of Ethnicity and Conflict in South East Asia I - Making States and Building Nations Convenor: Mandy Sadan Course Code: 15PHIH011 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: weekly one-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: two-hour exam paper (40%) two 2,500-word essays (50%); seminar presentation (10%) The course will consider the ways in which ideologies of state and nation and of ethnicity have emerged across mainland and island South East Asia over a broad historical and geographical landscape. Its objective is to explore comparatively how and why South East Asia as a region has experienced so many entrenched conflicts in which ethnic identities have been mobilized and why so many spaces of resistance to the centralising state can still be found region-wide today. The course will be divided into two parts. The first part (weeks 1-5) will focus on establishing a broad, comparative analytical framework across both regional space and time: Weeks 1 & 2 will begin with a critical consideration of the principle debates on pre-colonial state formation in island and mainland South East Asia and discussion of what we

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can read from these of the nature and/or significance of ‘ethnic’ and other forms of social and cultural identity. This will provide students with an overview of the main ideas and debates concerning the emergence of states, nations and ethnic identities in South East Asia, considered both anthropologically and historically. Weeks 3 & 4 will then explore comparatively the history of state building by colonial states and the various ways in which ethnic identities and ideas of citizenship and nationhood were redrawn through these processes. Week 5 will continue this theme to consider the emergence of indigenous nationalist movements, including a critical analysis of ideological constructions of ethnicity and difference by indigenous elites within the later colonial state. The second part of the course will concentrate on the histories of conflict within individual states, particularly in the period after World War II to consider in more detail comparative postcolonial histories of nation-building, the development of ethnic discourse within particular nations, and the strategies used to integrate alternative identities (Week 6 – Burma and Thailand; 7 – Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia; 8 – Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei; 9 – Philippines; 10 – Indonesia). In this, the particular ideological nature of the postcolonial state and its understandings of ethnic difference will be considered and compared to facilitate understanding of why conflicts took on certain shapes and trajectories in different countries, and how states have idealised, actualised or fail to realise the resolution of conflicts. At the end of the course, the students will have a good understanding of these issues regionally and historically. They will also be able to relate these historical models to other literature in anthropology and political science. They will have good comparative understanding of the fulcrum of conflict as a contestation between national and other identities.

Histories of Ethnicity and Conflict in South East Asia II - Non-National Perspectives Convenor: Mandy Sadan Course Code: 15PHIH011 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: weekly one-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: two-hour exam paper (40%) two 2,500-word essays (50%); seminar presentation (10%) The course will focus on non-national spaces (transnational, regional, local, periphery/margin, borderland) and histories to illuminate the histories of minority ethnic groups that have been engaged in armed conflict with national governments during and/or after the period of colonial rule in mainland South East Asia. It will explore the historical contexts of issues that are typically explored through the lenses of anthropology and/or of political science and will encourage students to develop interdisciplinary methodologies and analytical frameworks by which they can develop awareness of an under-studied aspect of South East Asian history. The course will operate independently from but in relation to ‘Histories of Ethnicity and Conflict in South East Asia (1)’ by shifting attention to the alternative geographies of space and community than that expressed primarily through national affinity and citizenship. It will consider the interactions between these various layers of identity over time. By considering particular contexts of ethnicity and conflict in detail, understanding will be developed of the militarisation of identities, from the pre-colonial to the postcolonial context of globlisation and the War on Terror. The course will also emphasise the different range of source materials that are available for the study of non-national histories and will develop awareness of the methodological and theoretical implications of different kinds of material, visual and oral data. The course will conclude with a discussion of the production of narratives of ethnicity and conflict within ethnic armed groups and within ethnic communities to better understand issues surrounding the production of oral histories of conflict. The term will be divided into three parts. The first part (weeks 1-4) will consider ideas and debates around notions of non-national space, culture zones, lineage and non-national identities, as well as the ways in which peripheries contribute to the production of centres and the negotiation of political and cultural space between national and non-national identities in South East Asia historically. The second part (weeks 5-7) will consider the militarisation of ethnic movements: the significance of ethnic armies from the pre-colonial times onwards, culminating in the impacts of global conflicts, globalisation of commodity flows and of local identities in diaspora. The third part (weeks 8-10) will consider

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the narratives that ethnic minority communities produce about their experience in nation-states, constructions of ‘ethno-history’ and forms of ethnic mobilization through the exploration of specific case-studies. Students will be encouraged to develop a sensitive, critical, analytical apparatus for exploring how such discourses have emerged. They will also engage with non-textual materials to develop awareness of the roles that material, visual and oral evidence plays in both representation and conflict. It is also intended that during the term journalists, writers, NGO representatives and ethnic minority leaders resident in or close to London will work with the students in exploring issues relating to their personal experiences of writing about, working within or mobilizing communities in settings of ethnic conflict

Human rights and Islamic law Convenor: Mashood Baderin Course Code: 15PLAC150 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: Assessment: three-hour examination (60%); one 6000-word essay (40%) This course critically explores the different theoretical perspectives to the relationship between Human Rights and Islamic law and also examines the practices of some relevant Muslim States in that regard. Initially, we will examine relevant theoretical and conceptual issues relating to the nature of both human rights and Islamic law respectively. This will include a critical analysis of the theoretical foundations of human rights, its sources, contents and enforcement methods in relation to the nature, sources and methods of Islamic law, and its current role, application and influence in Muslim States. We will also examine whether or not there is a concept of human rights in Islamic law and explore the areas of common grounds and the areas of conceptual differences between the two systems. Following this, we will undertake a critical study of some “Islamic” human rights instruments and, over the course, critically analyse, in relation to Islamic law, specific and topical issues such as:

the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; right to freedom of opinion and expression; rights of minority groups; women’s rights; children’s rights; prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments and punishments; right to fair trial and due process; human rights enforcement; and case studies of the human rights practices of some selected Muslim States.

We will then round up with a desideratum of possible domestic, regional and universal mechanisms through which the enforcement of international human rights can be realistically achieved in the Muslim world, especially in Muslim States that apply Islamic law.

Human rights in the developing world Convenor: Dr Catherine Jenkins Course Code: 15PLAC111 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Assessment: examination (50%); 1 6000-word essay (40%); in-class presentation (10%). In the first term, after a brief critical appraisal of the development of international human rights law since 1945, we consider possible justifications for offering a special course on human rights in the developing world, including an

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examination of the term ‘developing world’. We explore the ‘right to development’ in the context of increasing international economic regulation and consider the impact of globalisation, including an examination of the role of multi-national corporations in relation to both the abuse and promotion of human rights. In the second term we explore the possibilities for human agency against the background of the structural constraints identified in the first term. We consider in particular the role of law and lawyers in social change. We ask whether rights ‘work’ and under what conditions, with particular reference to case studies from Africa and Asia on issues such as health, housing, and violence against women. Finally, we take a special look at the debates surrounding the marginalisation of Africa and the possibilities for human agency for change.

Imagining Pakistan: culture, politics, gender (MA) Convenor: Dr Amina Yaqin Course Code: 15PSAC313 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: 1.5 hours classroom contact per week. Assessment: examination (50%); two 3500-word essays (20% each); one 15-minute presentation on an assigned topic (10%). The course will consider the history, politics and culture of Pakistan, including the role of Islam and gender in the state. The course will begin with a contextualisation of the historic creation of Pakistan. The core of the course will concentrate on developments since the founding of Pakistan in 1947: history, politics, relations between Islam, gender and the state, the writings of an international body of scholars on culture in Pakistan, its manifestations through the media, literature and film. Note: the convenor of the course requires that you email her a statement concerning your reasons for wanting to take this course and she may wish to interview you.

International Political Communication Convenor: Dina Matar Course Code: 15PMSH009 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: Assessment: 100% coursework The course aims to provide students with a critical understanding of the role of media and communications technologies in national politics in non-Western contexts as well as the increasingly important role of mediated communication in contemporary international relations and public diplomacy. The course reviews the relevant literatures and establishes a critical vocabulary. The course explores the role of media in gaining and maintaining political influence in Western democracies and the importance of political campaigns, political marketing and advertising. It asks whether and how these techniques are used outside Western democratic nations and what meaning concepts such as ‘public sphere’, ‘public opinion’ and propaganda/spin have in non-Western contexts. The course offers comparative perspectives on political communication through detailed case studies (Middle East, India, China). But the course also explores the role of propaganda and public diplomacy in international situations of conflict and war, propounding the argument that much of contemporary international relations is actually international communications in various forms. Within these frameworks, the course examines a range of interconnected topics: theories of democracy and the media; modern political persuasion, spin and international propaganda; international political marketing and advertising; the Americanisation of political communication; personalisation of politics; different traditions of public

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diplomacy and cultural diplomacy; media’s role in conflict and peace processes; the growth of e-government and the expansion of potentially interactive media.

Iran and the Persianate World 1400 to 1800 Convenor: Derek Mancini-Lander Course code: 15PHIH039 Unit value: 0.5 Workload: Taught in: Term 1 Assessment: one 1000-word book review (20%), one 4000-word essay (80%) This course studies the history of Persianate societies, politics, and socio-religious institutions from the rise of the Timurids in the late Islamicate Middle Period up to the Rise of the Qajar dynasty at the end of the 18th century. The course is organized around the notion of a Persianate cultural system, stretching from Eastern Anatolia to Central and South Asia. Nevertheless, a core concern of the class will be to study the changing ways in which such a system has intersected, overlapped, and sometimes defined itself in opposition to other cultural systems which were in operation within the same geographical spaces—especially Turko-Mongol, Arab, Indic, and Armenian cultures. Thus, an on-going endeavour throughout the course will be to interrogate the very concept of a “Persian” or “Persianate” culture, trace the evolution of such an idea, and ultimately, to evaluate its utility as a productive category for analysis. In the opening weeks of the course, the geographical scope will be sweeping, covering the territories ruled by the Timurids, and their inheritors, the Turkomans, Safavids, Uzbeks, Mughals, from Eastern Anatolia and Iraq, across the Iranian basin, to Central Asia, and South Asia. The course will proceed both chronologically and thematically, allowing students to trace a variety of important topics as they have unfolded throughout the history of the late-medieval and early modern and modern Persianate world. Such key themes include, the rise of Islamo-Persianate sacred kingship and shrine-centered systems of patronage, Alid and sufic messianism, millenarianism and revolutionary movements, the development of state-sponsored Shi’ism, ethnic and religious minorities, spiritual fraternities of the bazaar, trade networks and Persianate diaspora, gender-dynamics. Scope and syllabus Week 1: Introduction: Persia, Persian, Persianate and Iran, Iranian or what?! Week 2: The Rise of the Safavids, and Mughals and the Negotiation of Timurid Heritage Week 3: Sacred Kingship, Saintly Charisma and Millenarianism—the Ṣāḥib-Qirāns Week 4: Women, Turkic Kinship, and the Construction of the Early Safavid State Week 5: Routinization and Centralization: from Ghulat Alidism to Shiʿification Week 6: On Administration of the Safavid Empire— From Military Patronage to Bureaucracy Week 7: Centering the Empire and Constructing Paradise: Isfahan and Shah ʿAbbās Week 8: Economy, Trade Networks, and the Armenians Week 9: Knowledge of the Other-- Early Modern Persianate Diaspora- Self-Narrative and Travel writing Week 10: Crisis of the 18th Century: Safavid Fall and the Afghan, Afshar, Zand, and Qajar Dynasties

Iran and the Persianate World 1800 to 1979 Convenor: Derek Mancini-Lander Course code: 15PHIH039 Unit value: 0.5 Workload: Taught in: Term 2 Assessment: one 1000-word book review (20%), one 4000-word essay (80%) This course studies the history of Persianate societies, politics, and socio-religious institutions from the rise of the Qajars in the end of the18th century up through the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979. An ongoing endeavour

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throughout the course will be to interrogate the concept of a “Persian” or “Persianate” culture as it evolved in coordination with the related emergence of an Iranian national identity. The course will proceed both chronologically and thematically, allowing students to trace a variety of important topics as they have unfolded throughout the history of the modern Persianate world. Such key themes include, the legacy of the Safavid state, Shi'ite political thought, minorities, messianism and its connection to Iranian protest and revolution, gender dynamics, Iranian modernities, Iranian nationalism, and constitutionalism. Scope and syllabus Week 1: Persia, the World System, and the Rise of the Qajar Empire Week 2: Memories of Empire and Mounting Concessions to European Powers Week 3: The Shi’i Ulama and the State after the Safavids Week 4: Crafts, Urban Spiritual Fraternities, Masculinity, and Hooliganism: Safavid Legacy in the Qajar Age Week 5: Re-scripting Revolution, part 1: Women and Gender Dynamics in the Qajar Period Week 6: Re-scripting Revolution, part 2: Babism, Bahaism, Minorities, and Modern Messianism Week 7: Social Transformations, Modernity, and Constitutionalism in Qajar Persia Week 8: Pahlavi Iran: The Modern State, the Iranian Nation, and Historical Memory Week 9: Protest and Performance: The Left and Shiʿite Revolutionary Thought Week 10: Khomeini, Redemption, and the Islamic Revolution

Iran: History, Culture, Politics Convenor: Dr Nima Mina Course Code: 15PNMC405 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: one 2-hour lecture; 1-hour tutorial per week. Assessment: examination (60%); two 3000-word essays (20% each) This course will present an interdisciplinary critical overview of the long history of Iran, but with particular focus on key issues in contemporary Iranian society, politics, and culture. For this reason, it draws upon expertise in the Department of the Languages and Cultures of Near and Middle East, of History, Politics, Study of Religions, and Media.

Islam in South Asia Convenor: Roy Fischel Course Code: 15PHIC042 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: Assessment: two 5,000-word essays (50%); three-hour exam paper (50%) This course examines Islamic societies, polities, institutions, and thought in the South Asian environment. The course covers the period from the establishment of Turkish rule around the turn of the thirteenth century to the end of British rule in 1947. Thus, it discusses the periods of the Delhi Sultanates, the Mughals, and British colonial rule, in addition to examining parts of the subcontinent that fell beyond the dominion of the aforementioned polities. The course is organized both chronologically and thematically, thus enabling us to explore several phenomena over the centuries. Special attention is given to the development of social, political, and religious Muslim communities in South Asia; continuity and change of institutions, concepts, and ideologies; the role of Islamic traditions and thought in the history of South Asia; the emergence of Indo-Muslim identities and their social and political manifestation; and the relationship within the various Muslim communities and their interaction with their non-Muslim environment. The readings include a variety of secondary sources as well as primary materials (in translation), and class discussions is an important part of the learning process.

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Islamic/Democratic Political Thought Convenor: Matthew J Nelson Course code: 15PPOC255 Unit value: 1 Workload: 2 contact hours per week, for 22 weeks. Taught in: Full Year Assessment: one 3000-word essay (25%); one 4000-word essay (35%); of total mark; one 5000-word essay (40 %) This course provides a philosophical and empirical introduction to contemporary debates regarding the compatibility of Islam (esp. Islamic law) and democratic political thought. It also encourages a critical re-examination of these debates through a discussion of Muslim scholarship (and practice) pertaining to the specification and interpretation of religious laws, the role of religious and political opposition, and the status of the individual in political and social life. The course concludes with a series of case studies drawn from South and Southeast Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East, and Europe (for example, Turkey, Malaysia, Egypt, Pakistan, and Iran).

Israel, the Arab World and the Palestinians Convenor: Yair Wallach Course Code: 15PNMC038 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one hour seminar Assessment: three-hour exam paper (50%); two 3500-word essays (50%) This course provides a historical overview of the Israel-Palestine conflict and examines its political, social and cultural reflections, from late Ottoman Palestine to the present day. Alongside the political history, the course will emphasise social and cultural aspects of the conflict. It will bring a variety of voices and perspectives, often contradictory, on the conflict, its underlying causes and dynamics; these perspectives include not only the two “official” narratives, the Israeli and the Palestinian, but also voices “from below” of marginalised groups. Attention will be given to groups whose position does not fit easily with the official narratives: local Jewish communities in Palestine, Arab Palestinian collaborators with the British and the Zionists, Middle Eastern Jews in Israel, and Palestinian citizens of Israel. Architecture, visual art, film, novellas and poems will be discussed as means to analyse and understand the conflict.

Jainism: History, Doctrine and the Contemporary World Convenor: Peter Flugel Course Code: 15PSRC024 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one hour seminar Assessment: three-hour exam paper (40%); two 2,500-3,000 word essays (60%). The aim of this MA course is to introduce students to key aspects of Jainism. It will focus on the doctrinal and social history of Jainism, on the Jaina paths of salvation, Jaina asceticism and monasticism, Jaina communities and Jaina sectarianism, and on religious practices. These include, the rites of purification or āvaśyaka rites, self-mortification, tapasya, meditation, dhyāna, temple worship, pūjā, charity, dāna, vegetarianism and the Jaina practice of sallekhanā, death through self-starvation. The course will conclude with an overview of Jaina philosophical pluralism and modern Jaina ecology. The structure of the course is broadly historical, but material will be drawn from both textual and ethnographic sources. The key subjects will be the history of Jainism, the Jaina prophets and Jaina scriptures, Jaina doctrines of non-violence, Jaina schools and sects, contemporary religious and social practices, and Jainism in the modern world.

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Japanese Modernity I Convenor: Christopher Gerteis Course Code: 15PHIH013 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: weekly two-hour lecture Assessment: two 3,000-word essays (100%) The course is intended to provide an introduction to both the classic and recent historiography on modern Japan, and thereby a basis for further research. Japanese Modernity I will cover topics in Japanese history from the Tokugawa period to the early 20th century, addressing the question of the relationship between early modernity and the radical transformation to industry and empire in the late 19th century; Japanese Modernity II will address the tumultuous events of the 20th century. Much of the early English-language work in the field took Japan to be the exception that proved the rule of modernization as an exclusively Western achievement. It therefore sought to explain the reasons for Japanese success (in terms of nation-state formation and industrialization) or failure (the drift to militarism and war) by isolating the archipelago from its East Asian context, comparing it to an often implicit Anglo-American norm, and seeking in the Japanese past either analogues for or the absence of those factors thought necessary for any country to succeed. More recent work has started from the premises that modernity is a global phenomenon, rather than a Western invention; that it is structured by transnational dynamics of capitalism and imperialism, rather than a unilinear process of national development; and that the Japanese experience of these can only be understood in its local and regional context. In this light, Japan is a compelling case-study of both the broader logic and process of modernization and the tensions to which it gives rise.

Japanese Modernity II Convenor: Christopher Gerteis Course Code: 15PHIH013 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: weekly two-hour lecture Assessment: two 3,000-word essays (100%) The course is intended to provide an introduction to both the classic and recent historiography on modern Japan, and thereby a basis for further research. Japanese Modernity I will cover topics in Japanese history from the Tokugawa period to the early 20th century, addressing the question of the relationship between early modernity and the radical transformation to industry and empire in the late 19th century; Japanese Modernity II will address the tumultuous events of the 20th century. Much of the early English-language work in the field took Japan to be the exception that proved the rule of modernization as an exclusively Western achievement. It therefore sought to explain the reasons for Japanese success (in terms of nation-state formation and industrialization) or failure (the drift to militarism and war) by isolating the archipelago from its East Asian context, comparing it to an often implicit Anglo-American norm, and seeking in the Japanese past either analogues for or the absence of those factors thought necessary for any country to succeed. More recent work has started from the premises that modernity is a global phenomenon, rather than a Western invention; that it is structured by transnational dynamics of capitalism and imperialism, rather than a unilinear process of national development; and that the Japanese experience of these can only be understood in its local and regional context. In this light, Japan is a compelling case-study of both the broader logic and process of modernization and the tensions to which it gives rise.

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Judaism and Gender Convenor: Catherine Hezser Course Code: 15PSRH029 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: weekly twp-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: 1 essay of 5000 words (80%), 1 presentation outline (10%), 1 oral class presentation (10%) The course will examine the role and representation of women in Judaism from antiquity to modern times. In the first part of the course images of women in the Bible, in Jewish Hellenistic literature, and in rabbinic sources shall be studied. Ancient society was a patriarchal society in which women were generally subordinated to their husbands and delegated to the private domain. This social structure had many consequences for women’s religious roles and practices. In the Middle Ages a rabbinic orthodoxy developed which controlled all areas of daily life. For the life of Sephardic women in Spain, Portugal and North Africa the Cairo Geniza documents provide valuable source material with regard to women’s literacy and occupations. It seems that at the time when Jews lived under Islamic rule Jewish women’s education increased and they obtained a more prominent role in daily life. Amongst Ashkenazic Jews of Central and Eastern Europe women’s status depended on their husbands’ and fathers’ scholarly reputation, but women became the breadwinners and intermediaries between Jewish and non-Jewish society. A number of scholars have stressed that after the French Revolution and Jewish Emancipation the ways in which women assimilated to European and American non-Jewish society differed in many regards from those of Jewish men. The late 19th century bourgeois ideal of the housewife reassigned women a place within the private sphere. Through synagogue sisterhoods and charitable organizations women could eventually obtain more influence on Jewish public life, but it was not until very recently that liberal Judaism permitted women to study for the rabbinate and to be ordained rabbis.

Law & Critique Convenor: Dr Nimer Sultany Course Code: 15PLAH053 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Assessment: Three reaction papers each worth 10% (1000 words); 1 4000-word essay (70%) This course provides students interested in critical thought with rigorous methodological and analytical foundations that will be useful to them in their study of the law and beyond. The course will allow students to engage in high level debates of a diverse tradition of critical thought in studying the law and the intersection between law and society as well as other fields of knowledge. It introduces students to primary texts of different critical legal approaches, including: literary critiques of law, American legal realism, critical legal studies, critical race theory, law and society movement, and ideology critique. The course also shows the genealogy of critique as different critical theories evolve not only in reaction to dominant ideas in law but also in reaction to other critical theories. These critiques are applicable to different legal fields and hence the classes will be divided into different themes as well as different critical schools and authors. These themes include, the analytics of rights, law and distribution, law and recognition, law and race, law and social change, and hierarchy in legal education.

Law and Postcolonial Theory Convenor: Dr Brenna Bhandar Course Code: 15PLAH050 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Assessment: two 1000 word essays; one 5000 word essay (90%); Oral presentation (10%)

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This course covers some of the key texts that have shaped the field of post-colonial legal theory. Beginning with the Subaltern Studies School, we will move through the turn to post-structuralist thought and the emergence of post-colonial theory. The texts chosen have shaped the field of post-colonial theory and are situated within a diverse range of disciplines, including history, literature, philosophy, cultural studies and law. For students interested in doing research in the areas of human rights, international law, indigenous rights, and legal theory from critical perspectives, an understanding of the texts covered in this course will be indispensable. The texts chosen represent a wide range of different levels of theorisation and complexity, and cover key themes in the field, including race, gender, sexuality, colonial history, modernity, governmentality, and more. Students will engage a close reading of these texts, and will share their insights and questions through oral presentations.

Mediated Culture in the Middle East: Politics and Communications Convenor: Dina Matar Course Code: 15PMSH003 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: weekly one-hour lectures plus a one-hour seminar Assessment: one 5000-word essay (100%) Anyone who wants to understand the Middle East, particularly the Arab world after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, needs to understand the relationship between the region’s media and culture and between media and politics. For the past 40 years, the communications ecology of the Middle East has been shaped by a mass media regime, a one-to-many model of communication, with a strong structural ‘fit’ with authoritarian, centralised regimes. This model, dominated by representations of state power, authority and symbolic legitimacy, has been important in defining a mass citizenry that has been largely seen as conforming to the views of the state. This easy fit relationship has been challenged by the proliferation of transnational and new media which are providing new communicative spaces for social action and interaction. Much has been said about the new media’s potential for change, both on the political and social level, because of their potential in providing spaces for marginalised voices, including those of women, and their ostensibly censor-free content. Much has been written about the ways in which new media coupled with rising levels of education are resetting the parameters of citizenship across the different countries in the Middle East. What is not so obvious, however, is how these challenges have been uneven: regulation of and access to information vary considerably depending on the particular nation state, and the short-term influence of new media has been contradictory, not the least when discussing traditionally marginalised groups, such as women. Furthermore, few studies have been carried out on how audiences make use of these media as major sites for ongoing struggles for participation and dissent and for more open communicative spaces vital for the development of civil societies. This course takes up the study of the relationship between politics, culture and communication in the Middle East through two inter-related approaches, the first thematic and the second through comparative analyses of case studies. It draws on theoretical approaches central to the study of culture, politics and communication, as well as theoretical frameworks used in other disciplines, to critically assess the continuously changing media and cultural landscape in the Middle East and interrogate the relationship between media, culture and politics. The lectures are not formally structured and are meant to help provide students with the theoretical approaches central to the study of media, culture and politics. The seminars are student-led and demand intelligent, critical and engaged discussions as well as prepared presentations by each student. Each week will have key texts that need to be read by all and that need to be discussed in relation to the topic of the week and the seminar presentation. The themes discussed in the lectures and seminars will provide the basis for essay titles.

Migration and Policy Convenor: Dr Anna Lindley Course Code: 15PDSH029

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Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: weekly 3-hour seminar Assessment: examination (60%); 2 2000-word essays (20% each) While there has long been a high level of academic and policy interest in immigration policy in the global North, in this course we explore a wide range of policy processes around the world that shape the dynamics and impacts of migration. The course provides students with the opportunity to engage critically with the complex configurations of institutions, politics and normative claims that underpin migration-related policy (with an emphasis on contemporary policy developments, although these are situated in an historical perspective). It also challenges students to explore alternative policy approaches. In particular, we consider debates and initiatives relating to urbanisation and internal resettlement projects; international labour migration and migrants’ rights; education, skills and mobility; and various forms of economic and political transnationalism. Students investigate the positions taken by a variety of stakeholders, from migrant associations, employers and trade unions, to emigration states, host states, regional bodies and international development agencies.

Modern Bengal: the Evolution of Bengali Culture and Society from 1690 to the Present Day (MA) Convenor: Dr John Stevens (js98@soas.ac.uk) Course Code: 15PSAC289 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: 1-hour lecture; 1-hour tutorial per week Assessment: examination (60%); one 3000-word essay of 3,000 (15%); one 4,000-word essay (25%) Bengal (now West Bengal and Bangladesh) has played a vital role in the development of modern India, operating as the major locus of British rule in the colonial era and later as a centre for the development of nationalism. Scholarship concerning Bengal has occupied an important position in the reconfiguration of historical thinking in fields including area studies, new British imperial history, postcolonial studies, global history and subaltern studies. This course will provide students with a broad grasp of the evolution of modern Bengali culture, history, society and arts (including cinema, painting and songs as well as literature) and will provide an understanding of how the present-day political, cultural and religious division of Bengal into West Bengal and Bangladesh has emerged. This regional history will be contextualized within a broader analysis of the ways in which concepts including nation, gender, race, religion and empire have been interpreted and reconfigured by scholarship concerning Bengal.

Modern Muslim Thinkers from South Asia Convenor: Jan-Peter Hartung Course Code: 15PSRC169 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly one-hour lecture; one hour seminar Assessment: One essay (4500-5000 words) (40% ), one essay (4500-5000 words) (50% ), 1 oral presentation (10%). In this course we will, on the basis of secondary as well as translated primary readings, take a closer look on life and work of major protagonists of this development, prominent among them Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898), Sayyid Amir 'Ali (1849-1928) and Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938). According to the typology of Wilfred Cantwell Smith, each one of them represents a particular approach to Modern Western thought, ranging from emphatic rejection to creative synthesis. These three different approaches, however, correspond to a large extent to different phases in the colonial encounter until independence in 1947. Crucial for a thorough understanding would therefore be a comprehension of the wider social, political, and intellectual context, but also a thorough knowledge of Western Orientalist approaches to the Islamic tradition by scholars like William Muir (1819-1905) and Aloys Sprenger (1813-1893) that became

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explicitly targeted by the three Muslim thinkers. Moreover, the course will provide an understanding of the different reference points in Western and Islamic philosophical and theological thought. Finally, we will have a look at the logical consequences of each of the three approaches, as well as on their social and political relevance.

Modern Trends in Islam Convenor: Katherine P. Zebiri Course Code: 15PNMC228 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one hour seminar Assessment: One written examination (50%); an essay of 4,000 words (25%); an essay of 4,000 words (25%). This course will introduce students to the study of contemporary Islam by exploring a variety of interrelated religious and social topics. It will draw on theory and methods from the study of religions in general (e.g. sociology and psychology of religion, hermeneutics, and phenomenology), as well as Islamic studies in particular, in order to illuminate key areas of debate and discussion, while not excluding other approaches, such as anthropology, law, and gender studies, where appropriate. In covering religious and social aspects of contemporary Islam, the course attends both to religious practice, values and discourse and to the role of religion in society. The former could include such topics as scripture and its interpretation (which of course is not without social and political implications), patterns of religious authority, the centrality of Shari’a law and its interpretation, and religious experience and identity (including conversion to Islam and expressions of mysticism and spirituality, particularly within Sufism), while the latter could include gender and sexuality, interfaith relations, expressions of the ‘New Age’ in Islam, and issues affecting the Muslim diaspora in the West. While not central to the course, political issues will be touched upon (particularly in relation to Jihadism and radicalisation). Within this thematic approach, students will be introduced as appropriate to key Muslim thinkers such as Muhammad Abduh, Abdolkarim Soroush, and Fazlur Rahman.

Muslim Britain: Perspectives and Realities Convenor: Sarah Stewart Course Code: 15PSRC158 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one hour seminar Assessment: two 3,000 word essays (50%); three-hour exam paper (50%) The publication of The Satanic Verses in September 1988 marked the beginning of a dramatic increase in media coverage of Muslims and Islamic culture in Britain which continued through Britain’s involvement in the Gulf, anti-terrorist legislation, the London bombings of 7/7 and the trial of Abu Hamza leading to the perception of Islam as a threat to the majority culture. Serious work on Islam in Britain has tended to focus on specific Muslim communities rather than the place and function of Islam within those communities and the diversity of attitudes held by Muslims and others towards Islam and Islamic cultural expression. The course will begin by establishing the religion in a historical context starting with early Muslim migrations and settlement in Britain in the 19th century, through the various phases of subsequent migrations, to the institutionalising of Islam in Britain in the early twentieth century and the emergence of community leaders. Within this framework it will cover the different ethnic, sectarian and doctrinal approaches to Islam belonging to and/or adopted by migrants and second and third generation Muslims. The second part of the course will focus on particular issues that have arisen, uniquely, out of the above context and in response to world events. Students will be asked to differentiate between ‘perceptions of Islam’ as portrayed in historical accounts, media coverage, popular culture, and oral testimony, and ‘realities’ of Islam which include the ways in which government, at national and local level, have provided for the particular needs of the various Muslim communities with respect to the law, employment, education

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and health, gender issues, religion, and the role of Islamic institutions. Areas of debate will include such issues as the extent to which ‘Islam’ can be separated from Muslim society; the ways in which British Muslim identities are replacing ethnic ties amongst second and third generation Muslims; the role of Arabic in religious worship amongst the predominantly non-Arab British Muslim population.

Mystical Traditions Convenor: Cosimo Zene Course Code: 15PSRC068 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: two 5,000 word essays (80%), two classroom presentations (20%) This course provides students with a general introduction to the study of mysticism and a basic knowledge of mystic thought/experience in different traditions. While the course does not stress the comparative aspect of mysticism, it does encourage students to develop theoretical frames and analytical tools which will allow them a deeper understanding of the phenomenon. Special attention is paid to the philosophical and psychological roots of mystic experience and this is complemented by focusing on the historical and socio-cultural reasons which motivated the expansion of mystic groups at different times in diverse places.

Nationhood and Competing Identities in Modern China Convenor: Lars Laamann Course code: 15PHIH022 Unit value: 0.5 Workload: two-hour seminar Taught in: Term 2 Assessment: 2 x Coursework (90%) and Presentation (10%) This course intends to provide an introduction to the historical gestation of the Chinese “nation”, by focusing on issues of socio-cultural identity as well as on the various ideological frameworks, which were to be employed by different political regimes in order to promote the concept of China as a modern nation state. The course will begin (sessions one to two) with an analysis of the changing relationship between the Han majority, the ruling Manchu elite and the other major ethnic groups forming the Qing empire (1644-1911). Sessions three to six will deal with the political and intellectual responses to the unstable political situation of the (early) Republic (1912-1949). Sessions seven and eight will be dealing with the tension field of socialist internationalism, modern nationalism and traditional Chinese values, while the remaining two sessions will focus on radically differing interpretations of the latter during the People’s Republic. As a central theme, students will be introduced to nationalism as a historical as much as a mythical concept, which they will be encouraged to compare with other examples within the global history of nationalism. Also envisaged is a visit to the British Library, in order to inspect a number of primary documents (such as League of Nations reports or diaries from the early decades of the twentieth century), which can illustrate topics discussed in class and which are not available at SOAS. This visit will be organised in conjunction with the relevant BL curators.

Non-Violence in Jain Scriptures, Philosophy and Law Convenor: Peter Flugel Course Code: 15PSRC062 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one hour seminar

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Assessment: two 2,500-3,000 word essays (60%); three-hour exam paper (40%) The aim of this course is to introduce students to the Jain ethics of non-violence, ahiṃsā, in Jaina scriptures, philosophy and law. In cultural history, the Jain scriptures are unique in their exclusive focus on the religious significance of strictly non-violent practice, in mind, speech and action. Jain literature offers a millennia old tradition of philosophical and legal reflection on solutions for practical dilemmas faced by individuals or groups intent on the implementation of non-violent principles in everyday life. Based on key texts in translation, selected from the canonical and post-canonical Jaina literature, and illustrated by ethnographic examples, the course discusses the distinct contribution of Jain literature to the philosophy of consciousness and applied ethics (asceticism, vegetarianism, discourse ethics, philosophical pluralism, conflict resolution, and legal philosophy and procedure).

The Origin of Islam: Sources and Perspectives Convenor: Teresa Bernheimer Course code: 15PHIH045 Unit value: 0.5 Workload: Taught in: Term 1 Assessment: one 1500-word book review (30%), one 3500 word essay (70%) This course discusses the emergence and development of Islam in the Middle East from 600 and 1000 CE. The approach is historical, and examines the crucial question of the source material and the most important approaches in the scholarship of the period. Topics are chosen for their relevance to shedding light on the origins, early development and diffusion of Islam; they include source material of pre-existing religious traditions, the significance of the Prophet Muhammad’s life, the formation of the Qur'an, and material evidence for the origins and early development of Islam. Emphasis is placed on the complexity of the picture and the way in which a gradual crystallization of the forms that are later regarded as types of Islam can be traced in the extant source material. Scope and syllabus Week 1: Introduction to the course Week 2: Historiographic approaches in the history of early Islam Week 3: Late Antiquity and the Middle East before Islam: non-Muslim sources Week 4: The Qur‘an: origins and contexts Week 5: Material evidence for the first century of Islam Week 6: Muhammad and prophetic biography in the formative period Week 7: The Jāhiliyya and the development of Muslim literature Week 8: Documentary evidence and the making of a Muslim empire Week 9: The caliphate: sources of authority in early Islam Week 10: The emergence of a new religion: evidence and interpretation

Outsiders in Medieval Middle Eastern Societies: Minorities, Social Outcasts and Foreigners Convenor: Dr Konrad Hirschler Course Code: 15PHIH006 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Assessment: examination (40%); 2 essays (25% and 35%) The rule of Turkish and Kurdish dynasties, such as the Saljuks, Ayyubids and Mamluks, the establishment of the Latin European Crusader states and the existence of marginal groups within the own society raise the question of their interaction with mainstream Arab Muslim society in the medieval period. The course examines the different forms of this interaction (cultural mediation, interchange, and conflict) in the Eastern Mediterranean up to c. 1500 by focusing

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on the issue of ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’. After an introduction of the main theoretical concepts we will consider themes such as non-Muslim groups, social outcasts, foreign rulers and the various levels of interaction with the Crusaders.

Political economy of institutions Convenor: Professor Mushtaq Khan Course Code: 15PECC020 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Assessment: Examination (70%); 1 essay (30%) This course introduces students to the economics of institutions and the role of political economy in understanding institutional performance in developing countries. This covers the growing interest and literature on governance, on the role of corruption and rent-seeking, the transition to capitalism and the institutions appropriate to that transition, the role of property rights and property right stability during this transition, the role of the state and of different strategies of catching up, the role of democracy and of authoritarianism in economic transitions. The course will deal with both the “new institutional” approaches to these questions and the mainstream policy agenda, as well as introducing students to alternative approaches based on a comparative historical analysis and the policy implications of these “political economy” approaches to the capitalist transition.

Public Policy and Management: Perspectives and Issues Convenor: Alberto Asquer Course code: 15PFMC094 Unit value: 0.5 Workload: Taught in: Term 1 Assessment: one tutorial presentation (10%); one 4000-word essay (30%); exam (60%) This course will enable students to understand and contribute to the process of governmental policy-making, strategic planning and evaluation. Whether in managerial, administrative or political positions, people need to be able to understand the policy process in order to manage it or operate effectively within it. This involves both an understanding of the technical processes of policy and strategy making and of policy evaluation. The course draws on cases and examples from a wide variety of countries and institutions accounts and the more we need to learn about the relevant concepts to enable us to understand and run them.

Queer Politics in Asia, Africa and the Middle East Convenor: Rahul Rao Course Code: 15PPOH020 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: Assessment: 70% coursework, 20% seminar presentation, 10% seminar participation Queer theory is ‘for’ and ‘about’ everyone. Although frequently assumed to be a branch of social and political theory preoccupied with the study of sexual minorities, the insights of theorists such as Michel Foucault and Judith Butler into questions concerning the constitution of identities, subjectivities, resistance and the operation of power, have travelled widely, informing scholarship in a host of ostensibly unrelated terrains. Yet like many other kinds of social and political theory, queer theory has been Eurocentric and has only recently begun to engage seriously with the world outside the North Atlantic.

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This course is intended to provide both an introduction to queer theory, as well as to engage with the question of its relevance in contemporary Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. As queer identities have become ever more visible in these parts of the world, queer politics has become implicated in a host of questions that are central to the disciplines of political theory and international relations. LGBT rights have recently become a centrepiece of Western human rights diplomacy as well as a major priority for UN human rights advocacy. Conversely, conversations about LGBT rights have become a major point of tension between Western and non-Western states. In some discourses, acceptance of LGBT rights has become a new signifier of the age-old divide between the civilised and the savage. Tensions have emerged within queer movements between purveyors of such orientalist tropes and their radical critics invested in a politics of intersectionality involving sex, race, class, nation and other forms of subjectivity. This course will use struggles for sexual self-determination as a prism through which to consider broader questions about the constitution of modernity, the proliferation of identities, rights and claims for justice, the consolidation and deconstruction of postcolonial national identities, the aspirations and anxieties of postcolonial elites, etc. These questions will be studied contextually, with topics in many weeks focusing on a single area case-study, or a comparison of two or more country-contexts.

Religion in Britain: Faith Communities and Civil Society Convenor: Cosimo Zene Course Code: 15PSRC163 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: two 4-5000-word essays (75%), one classroom presentation (25%) This course provides students with the necessary anthropological and related skills to conduct fieldwork in the sphere of religions. It combines both a theoretical and practical approach thus allowing students to gather relevant data and to interpret these with appropriate analytical tools. Students will be exposed to a variety of religious experiences of relevant groups/communities especially in London, but also other areas in the UK. They will be asked to carry out a field research amongst one specific group of their choice, to write a report and present their findings to the class. With the intent of fostering critical thinking, great importance will be given to the integration of theoretical/analytical approaches with the practice of fieldwork.

Religion, Nationhood and Ethnicity in Judaism Convenor: Catherine Hezser Course Code: 15PSRH030 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: one 5,000 word essay (80%) and presentation and assessment notes (10%). This course will discuss the manifold ways in which Jewish identity is expressed in ancient, medieval, and modern Jewish culture. Were religious, ethnic, and national identity always connected, and if so, in what ways? Are developments recognizable with regard to definitions and expressions of Jewish identity? How and to what extent do political, social, and economic circumstances play a role in this regard? The first part of the course will focus on Judaism in antiquity, in its transformation from biblical to post-biblical and rabbinic times. It has been argued that in post-biblical times the Israelite tribal cult became a religion. How did post-biblical Jewish religion define itself and to what extent were ethnic and national definitions of Jewishness maintained? When was the matrilineal principle introduced? What was the significance of the Land of Israel for ancient Jewish identity? Did Jews in the Land of Israel and the Diaspora express their Jewishness in different ways? How did ancient Jews cope with Greek and Roman imperialism, and how did they distinguish themselves from the surrounding pagan and Christian environment? In the Middle Ages Jews lived as minorities within the dominating Christian and Islamic

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cultures. How did they manage to remain Jewish and how was this Judaism expressed? The course will examine the processes of cultural distinction and acculturation within the Ashkenazic and Sephardic environments. The following sessions will deal with the changes which Jewish identity formation underwent from the Middle Ages to modern times. For Jews modernity began with the French Revolution which eventually led to Jewish Emancipation. Subsequently, the question of how to maintain a Jewish identity while at the same time participating in Western culture was solved in many different ways. Different Jewish religious denominations developed and cultural and secular definitions of Jewishness emerged. Finally, the role of Zionism and the foundation of the State of Israel for Jewish identity will be discussed. How do Diaspora Jews define their relationship to Israel and how is this relationship expressed in literary and autobiographical sources? What range of different positions can be discerned and how did they change over time, depending on the particular historical and political circumstances? How is Jewish religious identity expressed in Israel and how are the conflicts between secular and religious Jews to be understood?

Religions and Development Convenor: Jörg Haustein Course Code: 15PSRH049 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: weekly two-hour seminar Assessment: One 6 000-word essay (90%);one oral presentation (10%) Despite projections of increasing secularisation, religions continue to play a vital role in the societies of many developing countries, which has multiple implications for development efforts. Major development organisations now seek to integrate religious actors or collaborate with faith-based organisations. Religious groups increasingly project their own visions of social advancement and the role of traditions, which may be found to clash with Western values or those of other religions. In development studies this configuration has led to a renewal of the controversial debate about religions and development, with new research and publications emerging. The course explores this increasing field of study from two angles. On the one hand it follows the scholarly debate on religions and development by providing a historical overview since the 1950s and studying concrete positions and policy documents until the present day. On the other hand it explores specific issues in relation to religions and development in Africa and South Asia, such as the role of religions in determining social class, the implications of the rise of prosperity Pentecostalism, the persistent battle against female genital mutilation, the integration of religious sentiments and traditions in education, Western medicine and traditional beliefs about health and illness, and the role of religious actors and interreligious relations in the formation of development polity. The course thus enables students of religions to engage with a specific field of practice, in which to test and refine their ideas about religion and society. Students of development studies are familiarised with the variability of religious sentiments and practices that development efforts in Africa and South Asia are confronted with and will learn about tried strategies of engaging religious actors. Participants coming from regional studies in turn will learn to take into account specialist knowledge from other disciplines in deepening their knowledge about cultures, religions, and politics in Africa and South Asia.

Religions on the move: New Currents and Emerging Trends in Global Religion Convenor: Marloes Jansen Course Code: 15PANH055 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1

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Workload: weekly one-hour lecture; two-hour seminar Assessment: two pieces of coursework (30% and 70%) The course will explore new currents and emerging trends in global religion. By means of conceptual questions and ethnographic case studies from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, it will emerge that globalization processes have not only contributed to the expansion of religion, but that religious forces have been crucial in the development of globalization itself. Indeed, questions about religion have been integral to the development of a significant amount of anthropological thinking about globalization. Nevertheless, many social scientists writing on globalization still overlook or neglect religion in their preoccupation with the political or economic dimensions of the phenomenon. This course will restore the balance by highlighting the association between new religious movements (NRMs) and globalization. Instead of taking a bi-directional approach to religious flows from the north to the south, by focusing on “reverse mission” by southern missionaries trying to reawaken religion as it is practised in the north and south, this course seeks to bring developments in multiple religious traditions, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, indigenous religious traditions and a synthesis of several traditions, into conversation with each other. NRMs challenge most of what we traditionally take for granted about religion, including the ingrained north-south divide in missionization and our understanding of faith itself. We will begin with an explanation of the concept of NRMs in relation to the established world religions as well as cults or sects. We will proceed with a discussion of current debates in anthropology on transnationalism, religious pluralism and syncretism, followed by methodological issues concerning the study of NRMs. Other topics that will be addressed are the global processes that led to the emergence and expansion of NRMs; migration and diasporic religious communities; conversion processes; NRMs’ membership and leadership; the role of new religious agents in bringing about socio-religious transformation; society’s responses to NRMs; and the dissemination of NMRs’ ideologies through the use of new media. We will conclude with a discussion about what NRMs tell us about the future of religion. To explore these topics the course will draw on case studies ranging from Independent Churches in South Africa, vernacular Christianity in South Asia, Pentecostal and other Christian Charismatic Movements in West Africa, Islamic revivalist movements in the Middle East, the new “Spiritual Sciences” in Africa, New Age movements in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, to diasporic religious communities in Britain. A core component of this course will involve a site visit to a religious or ritual setting in London, as appropriate to the topic. Students will be expected to engage as a participant observer, take field notes about what they see and do, and (if permitted) take photographs. Interviews should be conducted with at least three different practitioners (one leader and two lay). As needed, the course convenor will help students identify potential settings and will provide an introduction to ethnographic methods. Literature research should also be conducted in order to analyse the fieldwork component.

Religious Practice in Japan: Texts, Rituals and Believers Convenor: Lucia Dolce Course Code: 15PSRC071 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: two essays (90%); one classroom presentation (10%). This course addresses the religious phenomena in Japan in their historical context and focuses on specific themes relevant to the understanding of the social aspects of Japanese religion, and the influence of religion upon Japanese culture. During the first term the course will explore the process through which the various traditions came into being and underwent transformation, following a chronological order. Particular attention will be paid to the relation between religious institutions and the centres of political power, and to the mechanisms of legitimation that religious movements used to promote themselves. During the second term the course will follow a thematic approach, focusing on topics which are critical for the understanding of the religious landscape in contemporary Japan. Links will be made

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with the material analyzed in the first term, aiming to disclose the paradigms of continuity and change in the religious practices of Japan

Representing Conflict: A Cross-Cultural and Inter Disciplinary Approach Convenor: Tania Tribe Course Code: 15PARH039 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: Assessment: one 2000-word essay (40%); one 3000-word essay (50%); seminar presentation 10% This course will examine how conflict and violence have been understood and represented thorough time and in different visual cultures and what role and function such representations have had in these societies. The discussion will consider how the visuality of violence is produced in different media – paintings, film, photography, theatre, poetry, performance – drawing on a range of examples from across the multiple cultural and philosophical perspectives that have existed on this issue. The examples chosen for discussion will range from traditional media like painting and sculpture to installations, photography and film. By comparing the verbal-visual strategies employed in the construction of the works discussed the course will question issues such as:

the role of the individual and of society; the importance of memory in the genesis and visual construction of conflict; the ethical overtones associated with both violence and its representations; the power of rhetorical persuasion inherent to visual signs; the role of the human body and human emotions in the perception and representation of such events; the possibilities for dialogism in visual culture; the importance of gender; the presence or absence of subjective elements in these representations and the psychoanalytical overtones

associated with this kind of imagery; the aestheticization of cruelty.

Security Convenor: Dr Zoë Marriage (zm2@soas.ac.uk) Course Code: 15PDSH020 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: weekly 2-hour lecture; 1-hour tutorial. Assessment: examination (60%); one 4000-word essay (40%) This course examines the meanings and agents of security, acknowledging shifts from the traditional notion of national security, to forms of security located from the individual to the global. Security is conceptualised in this course as a pattern of relations designed to manage risk through collaboration, competition and compromise; its opposites are vulnerability, insecurity and terror. The course investigates processes and phenomena that pose direct threats to groups of people and, in doing so, potentially destabilise or aggravate situations. Famine, financial volatility and AIDS undermine people physically, politically and psychologically, and on occasions result in further forms of insecurity as people resist, retaliate or take advantage of the situation. The course also incorporates analysis of contingent – and differentiating – social factors such as age, gender, class and identity and the way that these shape and are shaped by experiences of security. The course is divided into two parts: (i) sub-national security and (ii) international and global security. There is overlap and interplay between the elements examined in each section, and the structure is designed to provide a framework

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for teaching and analysis rather than to categorise these aspects of security definitively. The course draws on literature from a range of sources. The academic literature derives predominantly from Development Studies, Political Science and International Relations. This provides varied analysis of the nature and function of global security and human security. In addition to this, there is a rapidly expanding academic literature linking specific threats to processes of vulnerability, insecurity, terror and globalisation. This is accompanied by literature by pressure groups working on the issues concerned: on AIDS, famine, corporate responsibility, the environment and human rights. The UN, itself heavily involved in forging the meanings of security, has produced documents relating to health, climate change and other elements covered in the course.

Taiwan's politics and cross-strait relations Convenor: Daffyd Fell Course Code: 15PPOC252 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: Assessment: 60% unseen exam, 30% coursework, 10% seminar presentation This course seeks to examine the political processes that have shaped the Republic of China on Taiwan since 1949, with particular emphasis on the last two decades, and the evolution and the future prospects of Cross-Strait relations. The course focuses on two core themes (1) an analysis of Taiwan’s domestic politics and (2) analysis of Cross-Strait relations. Units on Taiwan’s domestic politics will address a variety of issues, including the island’s democratic transition, Taiwan’s party and electoral politics, the quality of its democracy, competing national identities in Taiwan’s politics, the role of new social movements and the formulation of public policy under democracy. The sessions on Cross-Strait relations will examine topics such as the nature and sources of political conflict across the Strait, the security dilemma facing the two sides, the increasing economic integration across the Strait and its impact on security, the role of the U.S. in the dyadic relationship, and prospects for political reconciliation between the PRC and Taiwan. This is the first year-long postgraduate course in Europe or North America that focuses on Taiwan’s domestic politics and Cross-Strait relations. Taiwan’s political democratization, its identity politics and its contested international status have all contributed to making its politics one of the most researched topics in the fields of East Asian and Chinese politics. In addition, the increasing military imbalance across the Taiwan Strait and the paradoxical growth in economic ties between Taiwan and Mainland China – “paradoxical” since it has taken place against the background of the threat of conflict inherent in the dyadic relationship - help explain why Cross-Strait relations remain a focal point in East Asian international relations. Even more importantly, the future prospects of Cross-Strait ties are central to regional and global security because a Taiwan Strait clash is the only armed conflict which may result in the U.S. direct confrontation with China, a nuclear power with a huge military establishment. The course seeks to examine the political processes that have shaped the Republic of China on Taiwan since 1949, with particular emphasis on the last two decades, and the evolution and the future prospects of Cross-Strait relations. The course focuses on two core themes (1) an analysis of Taiwan’s domestic politics and (2) analysis of Cross-Strait relations. Units on Taiwan’s domestic politics will address a variety of issues, including the island’s democratic transition, Taiwan’s party and electoral politics, the quality of its democracy, competing national identities in Taiwan’s politics, the role of new social movements and the formulation of public policy under democracy. The sessions on Cross-Strait relations will examine topics such as the nature and sources of political conflict across the Strait, the security dilemma facing the two sides, the increasing economic integration across the Strait and its impact on security, the role of the U.S. in the dyadic relationship, and prospects for political reconciliation between the PRC and Taiwan. The course will use Taiwan as a test case for Political science and international relations theories and frameworks. Although the course focuses on Taiwan, students will be encouraged to bring to bear a comparative approach in their investigation and analysis of its politics. Political developments in Taiwan will be compared with those that have taken place in mainland China and other developing countries, as well as in new democracies. Political processes in different time periods of contemporary Taiwanese history – for example, before and after democratization and changes of

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ruling parties - will also be compared. Finally, the interplay between economic interdependence and political conflict in the Cross-Strait case will be compared to that with two other contemporary examples of transnational relationships characterized by political tensions and military rivalry: North and South Korea; India and Pakistan.

Text and Context in Classical Hinduism Convenor: Theodore Proferes Course Code: 15PSRC007 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: two 7000-word essays (100%) In this course we will encounter some of the most fundamental religious texts of the Hindu tradition, including the Rg Veda, the Upanishads, Mahābhārata, and Bhagavad Gītā. Through close readings, we will examine some of the core religio-philosophical ideas of early Hinduism, as well as pay close attention to the composition, style, and structure of the texts themselves. We will also attempt to situate Hindu religious discourse within a social and historical context, paying close attention to who participates in the religious world of ancient India and in what kinds of social circumstances religio-philosophical ideas are discussed. Additionally, students will be expected to analyze critically the methods and approaches of textual analysis in the fields of the Study of Religions and Indology.

The Great Tradition of Taoism Convenor: Antonello Palumbo Course Code: 15PSRH036 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: one 6000-word essay (100%) This course will offer a main narrative of Taoism as a recognisable tradition of religious ideas and practices throughout the history of China, while giving particular emphasis to the areas of cosmology, meditation, alchemy and ritual. The seminars will focus on selected readings of textual materials in translation and in-depth discussion of the topic treated in the lectures. The course as a whole will explore the early shaping of Taoist identity at the stage sometimes defined as ‘proto-Taoism’ (from antiquity to the second century CE), focusing on ancient texts like Laozi (Daode jing), Zhuangzi and Neiye. Attention will then be paid to the emergence and development of Taoism as an organised religion during the Chinese Middle Ages (3rd-9th cent.), with special emphasis on the structure and ritual of the Celestial Master (Tianshi) church and its dialectic with popular cults. Other topics will be the Shangqing and Lingbao traditions, the formation of the Taoist canon, and the relation of Taoism with Buddhism and power. The final part of the course will survey modern developments from the Song dynasty (960-1279) to the late imperial period, focusing on the Quanzhen order, the practice of Internal Alchemy and exorcistic ritual. It will also assess the presence of Taoism in contemporary China and Taiwan, and discuss the perception of Taoism in the West.

The Holocaust in Theology, Literature and Art Convenor: Catherine Hezser Course Code: 15PSRH028 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: one 5,000-word essay (80%); presentation and assessment notes (10%).

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The purpose of the course is to analyse different representations of the Holocaust in 20th and 21st century theology, literature, film, and art. The impossibility of adequately expressing the horrors and atrocities of the Holocaust stands in contrast to the need to transmit knowledge about the Holocaust to later generations. How and to what extent is it legitimate to write fiction and poetry about the Holocaust, to address the Holocaust in art, and to make movies about it which are non-documentary and sometimes even have the form of comedy?

The Making of the Contemporary World Convenor: Angus Lockyer Course Code: 15PHIH035 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: weekly two-hour seminar Assessment: one 1,500-word essay, one 3,000-word essay (90%); seminar participation (10%) The course will examine the historical conditions under which the contemporary world came into being, with an emphasis on the recent past. It will proceed chronologically, beginning with the world system of the thirteenth century, before European hegemony, then move quickly through the early modern period and the long 19th century to—in the second half of term—the last hundred years. As it does so, each week will focus on a particular theme, including: archaic and modern globalization; early modern empires and new imperialism; industrialization and the great divergence between the West and the rest; the question of multiple modernities; colonialism and nationalism; uneven and underdevelopment; the global Cold War and failed prophecies about the end of history. To do so, it will draw on the exploding field of global history, together with relevant theoretical literature, ranging from political economy to cultural studies. The course is designed primarily for History students, providing a global context within which to place their own research on particular regions and periods. It will suggest connections between their field and developments elsewhere, as well as a comparative framework within which to evaluate their research questions. The course may also be of interest to other students in programmes, notably international relations and politics, economics and development, providing the historical context within which to place contemporary developments in and against which to test general claims about the world today. Two essays will evaluate students’ engagement with and understanding of the key themes and issues in the course. Seminar participation will be assessed, to ensure that students keep up with an intensive reading schedule.

The Politics of Culture in Contemporary South Asia Convenor: Francesca Orsini Course Code: 15PSAC314 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: 2-hours classroom contact per week Assessment: Two 3500-4000-word essays (60%); fortnightly reaction papers of 800-1000 words (5 best reaction papers to account for 30% of overall mark); presentation (10%) The course begins by problematising the notion of national culture while noting the ways in which nation-states in South Asia produce and broadcast particular cultural models. However, these models form only one strand of cultural production: vigorous forms of activism produce counter-cultural forms that often re-use and re-interpret older traditions. Also, despite attempts to purify or delimit national cultures, culture in South Asia continues to mix and remix motifs and vocabularies and to speak to new audiences. While considering English (and its local hybrid forms) to be a South Asian language, the course will also draw attention to the richness and salience of vernacular expressive codes.

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Theory and Method in the Study of Religion Convenor: Cosimo Zene Course Code: 15PSRC010 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: one 2,500-word analytical report (20%) ; one 1000-word book review (15%); one 5,000-word essay (55%); one 30-minute class presentation (10%) This course is offered both as a training MA programme in the Studies of Religions and available for first-year research students in the Department. Though conceived as one unit, the course can be divided into 3 major components:

1. Examining the place of the Study of Religion in postmodern thought with particular reference to critical theory and the works of Nietzsche, Foucault, Derrida, Vattimo, Agamben.

2. Introducing hermeneutics as a response to the ‘postmodern condition’ and the basis for a relevant theoretical approach to the Study of Religion. For those interested in interpreting data, texts and phenomena relating to religion, hermeneutics might provide the tools to concentrate on this task by examining the contributions of Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Husserl, Heidegger, Bultmann, Ricouer, Gadamer and Habermas.

3. In line with critical hermeneutics and the ‘dialogical disposition of language’, the final part of the course covers a reflection on ‘Otherness’ and the Self-Other encounter as exemplified in the works of Levinas, Bakhtin, Gramsci and de Certeau.

Despite the overwhelming presence of western theorists, the course aims at fostering a positive dialogue with the diversity of other philosophies and religious experiences. Introducing Hermeneutics as a response to the ‘postmodern condition’ and as a basis for a relevant theoretical approach to the study of religion. For those interested in ‘interpreting’ data, texts and phenomena relating to religion, Hermeneutics might provide the tools to concentrate on this task by examining the contribution of Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Bultmann, Ricoeur, Gadamer and Habermas. In line with critical hermeneutics and the ‘dialogical disposition of language’, the final part of the course covers a reflection on ‘Otherness’ and the Self-Other encounter as exemplified in the works of Levinas, Bakhtin, de Certeau and Gramsci. Despite the overwhelming presence of western theorists, the course aims to foster a positive dialogue with the diversity of other philosophies and religious experiences. The course is comprised of a two-hour lecture and one hour seminar per week. Students are expected to contribute to the course by conducting in turn the seminar - discussing the topic of the previous week's lecture - either through class presentation or by proposing common readings around which to centre the discussion.

Transnational Communities and Diasporic Media: Networking, Connectivity, Identity Convenor: Saeed Zeydabadi-Nejad Course Code: 15PMSH004 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 2 Workload: weekly two-hour seminar/lecture Assessment: 100% coursework A central component of globalization is the mass movements of people and the consequent growth of a variety of communities and networks whose lives are played out across and beyond national borders. Media and communications are central to the lives and practices of such collectivities and take many different forms. Many diasporas have developed a range of media channels to bind members and maintain connection with the homeland. Religious communities are amongst the biggest transnational media players, for example in the development of Christian broadcasting channels or the multiplicity of sites for Koranic interpretation on the Net.

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Transnational political activity is fostered and coordinated through the use of media, the Net and mobile telephony. These practices do not fit into classic studies of national mass media or even international communication. These are new and still emergent practices, growing out of the contemporary lived experience of transnational communities and networks strung out across a variety of locations. They complicate models of 'the West and the Rest' and raise important questions about the limitations of available models of both communications and collectivities. The course introduces students to the key theoretical debates around the network society, identity-formation and representation, and engages them in the critical analysis of the communicative practices of select transnational communities. It will also invite students to think reflexively about their own life trajectory and identity-formation.

Understanding Communal Violence in India since 1947 Convenor: Gurharpal Singh Course code: 15PSRH052 Unit value: 0.5 Workload: One hour lecture; one hour seminar per week Taught in: Term 1 Assessment: One 6-000 word essay (90%); one presentation with paper (10%) Collective communal violence is one of the defining features of post-Independence Indian politics. Although Hindu-Muslim violence predominates, violence against Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs and Hindus (in states where they are a minority) is not unknown. Recently, the intensity and nature of this violence has become more organised and gendered. This course provides an advanced understanding of the causes of collective communal violence in India since 1947. It will outline the conceptual and methodological approaches to understanding collective communal violence. It will review primordialist, instrumentalist (especially electoral incentives and social capital), and post-structuralist approaches. The course will assess the utility of these approaches while introducing students to historical institutionalism as a way of better understanding the Indian experience in a comparative context. Following a review of the methods and approaches, the course will evaluate the competing interpretations of the communal violence of the Partition of India that remains central to the study of the subject. It will then focus on key debates within the subject: namely, whether communal violence is an urban phenomenon, whether it is driven primarily by electoral competition, and whether institutionalised structures and practices perpetuate forms of violence against religious minorities, especially Muslims. Detailed case studies will be undertaken of communal violence against religious minorities and women to demonstrate the changing nature of organised violence. These will include the anti-Muslim pogroms on Gujarat (2002), the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi (1984), and discussion of the increasing gendered nature of communal of contemporary communal violence.

Violence, justice and the politics of memory Convenor: Phil Clark Course Code: 15PPOH019 Unit value: 0.5 Taught in: Term 1 Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: 90% coursework and 10% class participation This course offers historical, theoretical and empirical perspectives on the nature and causes of conflict and its impact of on social and economic development in Africa and Asia over the past century, as well as memory and justice responses to violence. The course emphasises the crucial linkages of conflict, memory and justice, in particular the

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prevalence of unaddressed or manipulated memories of violence, historical grievance and impunity as causes of further conflict. Students begin the course with a selection of readings on explanations of warfare and violence, including models that apply social, cultural, materialist and instrumental theories of causation, followed by theoretical considerations of responses to conflict, principally in terms of memory and justice processes.The course then explores these themes through detailed African and Asian case studies. The course concludes with some overarching considerations for memory and justice responses to conflict, explored through the institution of the International Criminal Court and attempts to create a global accountability regime. The choice of cases include the Rwandan genocides of 1960, 1973 and 1994; brigandage and predation in eastern Congo after 1993; Amin’s Uganda, the war of liberation and religious cults and violence in northern Uganda; the southern Sudanese wars since 1958;and the Khmer Rouge ‘utopian’ genocide in Cambodia. In each case, students will be encouraged to consider the means of violence employed, the causes and motivations of conflict (including rational choice explanations and political economy factors), the relevance of political systems (including ‘imposed’ democratisation) and political instrumentalism, issues of gender, youth, religion and ethnicity, and questions of culpability, ethics and moralities. The economic aspects of conflict (`the costs of war’) are also tackled.International dimensions are treated in relation to relief aid, development aid, reconstruction, and conflict resolution. The course also includes discussion of various forms of memorialisation, commemoration, accountability, reparations, reconciliation and atonement. Of particular concern for this course are issues of transitional justice, which broadly concern the processes by which societies address the legacies of widespread human rights abuses, such as those arising from political repression or mass conflict, and facilitate transition to stable, open societies where human rights are fostered and protected. Over the last twenty years, the realm of transitional justice has witnessed the proliferation of different legal and non-legal mechanisms designed to address the legacies of human rights abuses, including the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the gacaca community courts in Rwanda, and the International Criminal Court. As a result of this proliferation, transitional justice has become an increasingly fragmented area of study, with various disciplines – particularly law, politics, sociology, criminology, development studies and international relations – conducting discrete theoretical and empirical research. This course provides a more systematic, inter-disciplinary examination of transitional justice theory and practice. It examines the theoretical and historical foundations of transitional justice, the objectives and modalities of different transitional justice mechanisms, the effect of legal, political and cultural contexts on the operation of transitional justice processes and, in turn, the impact of transitional justice on those dimensions of post-conflict and/or post-repression societies. After laying important theoretical and conceptual foundations, the course focuses on case study-based analyses in order to explore the implications of transitional justice concepts in practice.

War to peace transitions Convenor: Jonathan Goodhand Course code: 15PDSH018 Unit value: 0.5 Workload: one 2-hour seminar Taught in: Term 2 Assessment: Exam (50%); one 5000-word essay (50%). This module is a seminar-based module with no lectures. It is, therefore, aimed at students with a high degree of commitment to independent work. Students make detailed presentations in collaboration in a small group and discussion, with the intervention of teachers, develops around these presentations.

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The module aims to provide students with a knowledge of the main issues and debates in the burgeoning literature on conflict resolution, peace building, DDR programmes (disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration), and post-conflict reconstruction. The module encourages a critical perspective on the literature, on the local, national and regional politics of war to peace transitions, and on international interventions (which, for example, are often influenced by what has been tagged the ‘liberal peace’ perspective).

World War II, Cold War, and the "War On Terror": The United States and South East Asia Convenor: Michael Charney Course Code: 15PHIC059 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: Assessment: Exam (50%); two essays (50%). This course examines one of the most dynamic periods of South East Asian history, the period from the beginning of the Second World War to the beginning of the twenty-first century. In the last half-century, U.S. foreign policy has affected every continent as a result of its global reach as the preeminent superpower, and South East Asia is no exception. However, the U.S. impact has been perhaps far greater on political and cultural change in the region than anywhere else, in large part because the beginning of the Cold War encountered complex processes of decolonization. Southeast Asia was divided into numerous different international camps during the war, made more confusing by the frequent rise and collapse of pro-U.S. regimes. Now, as we head into the twenty-first century, a new context has emerged in which the growth of Chinese political and economic power and the outbreak of the global war on terror is breaking down old relationships and encouraging yet another reconfiguration of U.S. friend and foe in the region. While significant attention will be paid to specific historical developments in each of the major countries of the region during this half century, the emphasis will be upon broader developments that shaped the region from the breakdown of colonial rule and through consecutive regional divisions to the decline of the Cold War divisions and reintegration of the region, a process begun by the end of the 1980s. The course also seeks to show how many of these developments were informed, re- directed, or determined by U.S. foreign policy and outright intervention. Soviet and American policies had a major impact on the region, especially when given muscle through the deployment of the U.S. soldiers in Vietnam and even covertly through the manipulation of aid. U.S. influence, however, did not end with Vietnam and has continued to complicate the development of the region.

Zionist Ideology Convenor: Yair Wallach Course Code: 15PNMC035 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: 3 hours of classroom contact per week Assessment: one written examination (50%); two 3500-word essays (50%) Zionism is one of the most fascinating political-cultural projects of the twentieth century – and one whose enduring legacy and current meaning are still fiercely contested. This multi-disciplinary course focusses on the development of Zionism before the 1948 establishment of Israel, exploring the political and conceptual genealogies of the movement and its key ideological factions; it examines Zionism’s cultural and everyday manifestations, in gender, art, and architecture. Critical approaches to Zionism are explored both historically and in their contemporary forms. The syllabus includes:

Zionism – Ideology, Project, Movement?

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The European context: East European Jewry in 19th century. Nationalism, Socialism, Imperialism Christian Zionism; Jews, Palestine and the Second Coming of Christ in 19th century Britain and 21st century

USA Early Zionist thinkers: anti-Semitism and Jewish nationalism Theodor Herzl and the emergence of Political Zionism Ahad Ha'am: Zionism as a project of cultural revival Labour Zionism: marrying Jewish ethno-nationalism with universal struggle for workers’ rights? The origins of

the Kibbutz movement, Second Aliya Revisionist Zionism: Vladimir Jabotinsky and the Far Right Zionism and “the Arab Question”: Orientalism and the relation to Arab Palestine Radical visions: Brith Shalom’s bi-nationalism and the Canaanite movement Is Zionism a form of colonialism? Middle Eastern Jews (Mizrahim) and Zionism: yearned-for salvation or forced migration and cynical

exploitation? Zionism and Gender: Jewish Masculinity and Femininity; Zionism and Feminism Zionism in Visual Art and Architecture A “Jewish State”? On the goal of Zionism and its meanings Neo-Zionism: the religious settler movement after 1967, an organic continuation or a break with earlier

Zionism? Post-Zionism – critical approaches to Zionism in the 1990s and beyond

Zoroastrianism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives Convenor: Almut Hintze Course Code: 15PSRC052 Unit value: 1 Taught in: Full Year Workload: weekly two-hour lecture; one-hour seminar Assessment: two 3,000 word essays (50%); one three-hour exam (50%) Zoroastrianism, known of old as 'the Persian religion', is one of the world's most ancient prophetic faiths and one of Iran's great contributions to the history of religious thought. It is deeply rooted in the prehistoric Indo-Iranian and, ultimately, Indo-European tradition and thus shares a common heritage with the Vedic religion and Hinduism. In its long history it has influenced many other religions, notably Buddhism, Islam, Judaism and, especially, Christianity. For over a thousand years it was the official religion of three great Iranian empires under the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian rulers, extending at times from the Indus river to the coastline and islands of Asia Minor. The course will provide a survey of Zoroastrian doctrines, rituals and observances with reference to the Zoroastrian scriptures (Avestan and Pahlavi literature). It will be taught within a historical framework beginning with the Indo-Iranian religious system to which the prophet Zarathushtra belonged, and going on to trace the development of the religion under Persian rulers, its decline after the Islamic conquest of Iran and its revival on the Indian subcontinent. The course will also cover modern Zoroastrian thought and the ritual and devotional practices of Zoroastrians today.