Courses Offerings by our Associated Faculty, Spring 2012

For more information on the courses below, including tutorial section, course outlines and syllabi, visit go.sfu.ca or the intended department page.

Kuehn, Thomas

HIST 354-4 Imperialism and Modernity in the Middle East

Tuesdays, 11:30-2:20, SWH 10051

This course examines the role of imperialism in the transformation of societies in the Middle East and North Africa over the last two centuries. Focusing mainly on the cases of Ottoman, British and French empire building, the course discusses the socio-economic, cultural and political changes brought about by the interaction of various segments of local societies with these imperial powers. Prerequisite: 45 units including nine units of lower division history. Recommended: one of HIST 151, 249, 251.

HIST 400-4 Methodology

An advanced seminar on historical methods. Focuses on the identification and analysis of sources in preparation for writing the honours essay. Prerequisite: admission to the honors program in history.

Monday, 1:30-5:20, AQ5036

Focuses on major issues and trends in the history of the Ottoman Empire from the mid-eighteenth century to its demise in the aftermath of World War I. Prerequisite: 45 units including nine units of lower division history. Recommended: HIST 151 and 249. Students who have taken HIST 486 D200 in 1061 may not take this course for further credit.

MacLean, Derryl

HIST 249-3 Classical Islamic Civilization

Monday, 12:30-2:20, AQ3003

This course is an introduction to the major intellectual traditions informing the civilization evolved by Muslims in the formative period. The survey examines the career of the prophet Muhammad in the Meccan and Medinan modes; the expansion of the Arabs and the assimilation of Byzantine and Persian traditions; the question of the impetus for and the consequences of conversion to Islam; the development of a consensus on the nature of authoritative action and the major disengagements from that consensus; the rise of slave-based authority and its theoretical justification; the evolution of a mystical interpretation of Islam from personal piety to later mystical orders; competitive notions concerning sexuality and gender in Islam; the formation of world views in literature, music, art, and architecture. Special attention will be directed at the formation of several coherent and enduring pan-Islamic literate traditions.

Sajoo, Amyn

HIST 469-4 Islamic Social & Intellectual History 

Thursday, 5:30-9:20, HC 2280

Description:

We will explore key cultural, political, spiritual and scientific currents in the making of Muslim traditions and modern societies – including the roles of individual figures.  How have diverse communities of women and men shaped, and been shaped by, ideas that lie at the heart of Muslim identities?  What do we learn from the multitude of historical encounters with other faith traditions, including the Judeo-Christian and Hindu-Buddhist, into modernity?  

Our survey will draw on multimedia resources in covering such vital features in the landscapes of Muslim history as the umma ("community"), the city (“medina”), adab and akhlaq ("ethics"), 'ilm ("learning"), zulm ("tyranny"), hasan (“beauty”), jihad ("striving") 'adl ("justice"), and shari’a.  These have been invoked and transformed by Muslim societies and communities, down to a techno-political modernity with its interplay of colonialism, nationalism, gender and globalization.

Sedra, Paul

HIST 465- Palestinian and Israeii Conflict

Thursday, 1:30-5:20, AQ 5051

This course will adopt a social and cultural history approach to a subject that is most commonly analyzed in terms of political and diplomatic currents. Among the topics the course will address are Zionism, the British Mandate in Palestine, the creation of the state of Israel, the rise of modern Palestinian nationalism, and the impact of the Palestinian- Israeli dispute on the Middle East as a whole.

N.B. This is not an introductory course. Students are expected to have a knowledge of the outlines of the political and diplomatic history of the conflict.

Yamini-Hamedani, Azadeh

WL-305W-4 Poets and Sages on the Ineffable

Mondays,  1:30-5:20, Surrey 3260 

In this course we will explore how poets and sages have voiced their experience of “the ineffable.” We will read a selection of poems by Omar Khayyam, Jalal al-Din Rumi, Friedrich Hölderlin, Paul Celan, Fyodor Tyutchev, and Jorge Luis Borges along with philosophical investigations by Søren Kierkegaard, Vladimir Jankélévitch, Martin Heidegger, and others.

Does the experience of the ineffable mark the inception and/or demise of a poetic/philosophical language? Does this inception/demise mark a trans-lingual/ trans-cultural space? Do various authors, each in their own tongue, reach the same silence?

Seigneuri, Ken

WL 403-4 After Modernities

Tuesdays, 1:30-5:20

Lurking among our readings of a tolerably canonical selection of late-modern and postmodern novels will be several key interventions in the ongoing debate about what postmodernism means in literature. Is it, as one scholar puckishly put it, just “more better modernism,” or is it a genuine break? The crucial question is: “Why is it important?” We’ll explore how non-European literatures and contexts partake in the development of postmodern forms and inflect accepted notions about the meaning of modernity. The upshot will be an expanded vision of how literature relates to and contributes to society and history.

Zaman, Habiba

GSWS 309-4 Gender and International Development

Wednesdays 9:30-1:20

Development has a human face and this face is gendered. This course examines how development is gendered and creates differential impacts, meanings, and processes for women and men. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the course addresses, among others, the following key questions in development:

a.How do women participate in development processes and practices similarly to and differently from men?

b.What does development mean to women and men in Asia, Africa and Latin America?

c.How are women and men situated in socio-economic-political structure that eventually affect their contribution and experience in development?

d.What are some of the inherent contradictions, such as, dilemmas and resistance, agency and conflicts in the gendered process of development?

Through feminist analysis, paradigms, and examples as well as case studies from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, this course aims at developing alternative frameworks, methods, and projects to attain the goals of economic and social justice, and equity.

Learning Outcomes:

Students will learn the processes and structure of international development and the roles of various non-governmental groups in countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Indeed, students will have an active learning exercise how to develop a Gender Action Plan.