Asian Languages & Civilization 138 - History of the Islamic World, 600-1800
Islamic History to 1800
Fall
2025
01
4.00
Matthew Ghazarian
M/W | 10:05 AM - 11:20 AM
Amherst College
ASLC-138-01-2526F
mghazarian@amherst.edu
HIST-138-01-2526F
(Offered as HIST 138 and ASLC 138) At the dawn of the sixteenth century, the world’s largest land-based empires were in the Islamic world, stretching from the Atlantic shores of Morocco across the Indian Ocean to Pacific coasts of Indonesia, from the steppe of Central Asia to Zanzibar in East Africa. We depart from the origins of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula to explore the evolution of legal and scholarly traditions, art, architecture, science, technology, literature and a wide array of social institutions as they took shape across fast expanding Islamic empires. We will also move beyond dynasties, politics, and religion to dissect social categories like gender, race, and class as they evolved in Islamic societies and the role of non-Muslims in making the Islamic world, both as subjects of Islamic empires and the leaders of rival polities. In addition to lectures, discussions, and texts, the course will also draw from podcasts, primary sources, visual culture, and other nontraditional texts to enliven our examination of the Islamic world.
Fall semester. Two meetings weekly. Professor Ghazarian.
How to handle overenrollment: null
Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Close analysis of historical evidence, which may include written documents, images, music, films, or statistics from the historical period under study. Exploration of scholarly, methodological, and theoretical debates about historical topics. Extensive reading, varying forms of written work, and intensive in-class discussions.