Course Placement
Guidelines for Self-Placement in Language Courses
AALL 252 Muslim Networks in the Information Age: Gender,
Jihad and Diasporas
miriam cooke and Bruce Lawrence
This course, the first in a three-year series to be taught in coordination with faculty from UNC, will examine the formation and function of networks in the Islamic world and beyond. Networks have become the emblem of the Information Age, yet they are not new. Using the internet as an index of technological change and social opportunity, we shall discuss how Muslim women and men have traditionally forged transnational links, e.g., the religious underground, the Hajj, trade partnerships, at the same time that we explore how these networks are adapting to the Information Age, e.g., associations of Islamic feminists. The major foci of the course will be 1) gender, and the impact of the changing roles of women on Muslim identity in general and on traditional notions of honor and sexuality; why is it that, paradoxically, despite the wide diversity of the Muslim world "the cultural articulation of patriarchy is increasingly justified by reference to Islam and Islamic doctrine" (Farida Shaheed)?; 2) "jihad" as identity struggle within contexts of rapid transformation; and 3) diasporas, both metaphorical and real, as created by massive migration. Integral to the course is the participation of national and international lecturers. This course is open to seniors and graduate students from both universities.