Course content
This course focuses on the ideational aspect of Islamism: What are the foundational ideas that inform Islamist activism? How to make sense of the different forms of political and social activism informed by Islamist ideology? Is it at all possible to talk about Islamism as an ideology, or as a political theory? Through this course you will gain a bird’s-eye view of Islamism as an ideology, as you study the ideas of the major Islamist intellectuals across time and space and engage with critical analyses of their message. Islamist movements are often analysed in sociological terms, where the questions of mobilization and organization are emphasized. These are important concerns, but in this course we take the central issue of thought and ideology seriously, developing an in-depth understanding of the Islamist world-view.
Learning outcome
To make sense of similarities and differences and how it is possible to talk about Islamism as one phenomenon despite the variety of movements and directions subsumed under this label.
Through engaging with original texts written by Islamists you will gain in-depth knowledge about specific movements and figures such as Hasan al-Banna and the Muslim Brothers, Sayyid Qutb, Ayatollah Khomeini and al-Nahda party.
The course includes comparative approaches that view the thought system of Islamism as an inherent part of modernity, rather than as an Islamic “exception”.
Compulsory tuition activities spring 2020:
1) Oral presentation of about 15 minutes, to serve as the introduction to one of the seminars.
2) A short, written assignment on one Islamist thinker. The topic of the assignment must be different from the oral presentation.
3) A term paper, building on the curriculum list and about 100 pages of self-chosen curriculum. The topic is freely chosen, but it must relate to Islamist thought and must differ from the oral presentation and the written assignment. A draft sketch of the term paper must be approved by the teacher before final submission. The sketch should be approx. 2-3 pages long and include a working title, a clearly formulated problem/question/puzzle, and a brief, tentative outline of the argument, along with tentative literature list.