ASIAN 6611 - [Performing Islam in Southeast Asia]

(EC-SAP, EC-SEAP)

Fall. Not offered: 2022-2023. Next offered: 2023-2024. 4 credits. Student option grading.

Prerequisite: one course in the humanities. Co-meets with ASIAN 3311/NES 3511/RELST 3311.

C. Formichi.

What role does Islam take in the politics, history, arts and rituals of Southeast Asia? Structured as a seminar, this course takes you on a journey through Southeast Asia, home to almost a quarter of the global Muslim population, to explore how centuries of cultural mixing and layering have shaped the regions’ religious outlook. How are local traditions and universal Islamic precepts reconciled? How is this manifested in the performative arts and rituals? How does Islam play out in governance and the law? How is Islam deployed in the transnational sphere? Previous knowledge of Islam is an advantage, but not a requisite to succeed in this course. Students will be introduced to the fundamentals of Islam as a religious system as well as a historical phenomenon throughout the course. (RL)