ANT 357 - Islamic Cultures in Comparative Perspective

ANT 100/INT 100 or at least junior standing or consent of instructor. (3)

Exploration of the diversity of the Islamic tradition as it has been practiced in different times and places. Attention to competing definitions of “Islam” as an object of anthropological study. Discussion of ethnographic case studies exploring thematic topics such as Islam’s textual tradition, mysticism, Islamic vernacular languages, power and “orthodoxy,” gender and sexuality, ethics, Islamophobia, and others. Special emphasis on the ethics and politics of ethnographic representations of Islam in the twenty-first century. Graded ABCDE