Religion and the Arab Spring*

The course concentrates on close readings of a variety of contemporary materials including scholarly writings and newspaper articles. Inasmuch as we are investigating rapidly evolving realities, some writings may be substituted or added as the course progresses.   

Reading

                A. Books To Be Purchased:

                Gelvin, James L. The Arab Uprisings, Oxford, 2012.

                Lesch, David W. Syria: The Fall of the House of Assad, Yale, 2012.

                Prashad, Vijay. Arab Spring, Libyan Winter, AK Press, 2012.

                Ramadan, Tariq. Islam and the Arab Awakening, Oxford, 2012.

                Sowers, Jeannie and Toensing, Chris. The Journey to Tahrir, Verso, 2012.

                B. All other readings

                Copies of other readings will be put on reserve and/or scanned on SONISWEB.

Evaluation

Grading will be based on three papers of 3-4 pages each, in response to questions posed by the professor on the required readings (45%); a longer paper of 10 pages on a broad topic posed by the professor (there will be a number from which to choose), based on the required readings as well as additional materials that may be incorporated by the student (25%); discussion in class, including sessions in which the student summarizes a reading or readings and presides as a discussant (30%).

Schedule of Topics and Readings

January 23                           Religion, Politics, and Society: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations

Sami Zubaida, Beyond Islam, I B Taurus, 2011, pp. 1-29 and 77-114.

PLEASE NOTE: This, together with questions for discussion, will be made available through reserve or SONIS well in advance of the class and students will be expected to have read the material for the first night.)

January 30                           An Introductory Overview

 James L. Gelvin, The Arab Uprisings: What Everyone Needs to Know, Oxford, 2012, pp. 1-92.

February 6                          An Introductory Overview

Gelvin, pp. 93-158.

February 13                        Made to Order or Spontaneous? The Reflections of a "Cautious Optimist"

Tariq Ramadan, Islam and the Arab Awakening, Oxford, 2012, pp. 1-95

February 20                        Made to Order or Spontaneous? The Reflections of a "Cautious Optimist"

Ramadan, pp. 96-212.

February 27                        Egypt: Economic,Social and Political Dimensions of the Uprising    

Omnia EI-Shakry,"Egypt's Three Revolutions," from Bassam Haddad et. al., The Dawn of the Arab Uprisings,london, 2012,pp. 97-103;a selection of articles from Sowers and Toensing, pp. 21-40; 92-106;149-159; 203-223;224-234; Hazem Kandil, "Revolt in Egypt," New left Review, March-April, 2011,pp. 17-56; Hazem Kandil, Soldiers,Spies, and Statesmen: Egypt's Road to Revolt, london and NY, 2012,pp. 238-244

March 6                                Egypt: Religious Dimensions of the Uprising

Robert D. Lee, "The Taming of Islam in Egypt," from his Religion and Politics in the Middle East, Boulder, CO,2010, pp. 81-119;Nadine Sika, "Dynamics of a Stagnant Religious Discourse and the Rise of New Secular Movements in Egypt," from  Bahgat Korany and Rebab EI-Mahdi, Arab Spring in Egypt, NY, 2012, pp. 63-82; Ibrahim EI-Houdaiby, "lslamism in and After Egypt's Revolution," from Korany, op. cit., pp. 125-152; selections from Sowers and Toensing, pp. 160-199.

March 13                             Libya

Vijay Prashad, Arab Spring, Libyan Winter, AK Press, Oakland, 2012, pp. 91-160.

March 20                             Libya

Prashad, pp. 160-252.

March 27                             NO CLASS

April 3                                   Syria

David W. Lesch, Syria: The Fall of the House of Assad, Yale, 2012, pp. 1-121.

April 10                                 Syria

Lesch, pp. 121-205.

April 17                                 The  "State Apparatus" and Alternative Sources

A group of scholarly and journalistic articles, some of no more than one or two pages, will be discussed. Articles include Asad Abu-Khalil, "Nada Bakri on Syria," The Angry Arab News Service,Nov. 14,2011;Press lV,"BBC Uses Fake Photo for Houla Massacre," May 29, 2012; Chris Marsden, "Houla  Massacre Carried Out by Free Syrian Army According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung," World Socialist Web,June 13, 2012;Jonathan Steele, "Most Syrians Back President Assad but You'd Never Know from the Western Media," The Guardian, January 17,2012;Charles Glass, "Syria's Many New Friends Are a Self-interested Bunch," The National, July 11, 2012; Charles Glass, "Aleppo  Betrayed  by Attacks That Are Foreign to Its Nature," The National, Feb. 13, 2012; Charles Glass, "The Citadel and the War,"  NY Review of Books," June 7, 2012; Charles Glass, "Syria Can Be Preserved by the Subtle Route of Compromise," The Guardian, July 9, 2012; Charles Glass,"How Syria Is Being Destroyed,"  NY Review of Books, December 20,2012; Nir Rosen, "lslamism and the Syrian Uprising,"  Foreign Policy, March 8, 2012; and Nir Rosen, "Among the Alawites," London Review of Books, September 27, 2012.
 

April 24                                 Imperialism or Humanitarian Intervention?

A group of scholarly and journalistic articles, some of no more than one or two pages,will be discussed. Articles include Joseph Massad, "The 'Arab Spring' and Other American Seasons," ai-Jazeera, August 29, 2012, pp. 5-6; Wayne Madsen, "The Obama Doctrine: Imperialism Masked as 'Humanitarian Interventionism'," Strategic-Culture.org, February 28, 2012,pp. 1-3; Michael Corcoran and Stephen Maher, "The Myth of US Humanitarian Intervention in Libya," International Socialist Review,May-June 2011, pp. 1-9;Patrick Buchanan, "Puppet Revolutions," The American Conservative, February, 2012, p. 11; Jenny O'Connor, "'NGO': The Guise of  Innocence.The Illusion of Innocent Philanthropic Activity," Irish Foreign Affairs, vol. 1, March, 2012, 6 pages; Stephen Gowans, "Overthrow Inc.: Peter Ackerman's Quest To Do What the CIA Used To Do, and Make It Seem Progressive," What's  left (website), August 6, 2009,11pages;Ron Nixon,"US  Groups Help Nuture Arab Uprisings," New York Times, April15,2011;Jenny O'Connor, "The Shadowy World  of Egypt's NGOs," The New Statesman rolling blog,March 17, 2012, 6 pages; "Egypt protests: secret US document discloses support for protesters" from The Telegraph website, london, January 28, 2011, 2 pages; Maidhc 0 Cathail, "The Junk Bond 'Teflon Guy' behind Egypt's Nonviolent Revolution," Dissident Voice, February 18, 2011, 2 pages; Craig Whitlock, "Wikileaks: US Secretly Backed Syria Opposition," Washington Post, Apri117, 2011, 8 pages.
 

May 1                                    Christians

A group of scholarly and journalistic articles, some of no more than a few pages, will be discussed. Articles include  Bernard Heyberger, "Eastern Christians, Islam and the West: A Connected History," International Journal of Middle  East Studies, August, 2010, pp. 475-478; John Allen, "liberating the Christian Voice in the Arab Spring," National Catholic Reporter, August 12, 2011, 5 pages;John Allen, "Preventing a 'Spiritual Disneyland' in the Holy land," National Catholic Reporter, July 21, 2011, 11pages; Cornelis Hulsman, "Exacerbating the Position of Christians in Egypt through Reporting Out of Context Harms Egypt's Christians," Commission of the Bishops' Conference ofthe European Community website, May 4, 2012, 12 pages;Tamir Moustafa  and Asifa Quraishi-landes, "The Politics of Religious Freedom: Paradoxes of 'religious  freedom' in Egypt," SSRC blog, April16, 2012, 3 pages; Associated Press. "Who  Are the US Coptic Christians?" CBC website,September 20, 2012, 3 pages; Fiona McCallum, "Religious Diaspora and Information Communications Technology: The Impact of Globalization on Communal Relations in Egypt," The New Arab Media, edited by Mahjoob  Zweiri and Emma C. Murphy, london, Ithaca Press, 2010, n.p.
 

May 8                                    Stepping Back in Search of Larger Meanings

Olivier Roy. "The Transformation of the Arab World," Journal of Democracy, val. 23, no. 3, July, 2012, 14 pages; Olivier Roy. "Islamic Revival and Democracy: The Case in Tunisia and Egypt," 6 pages;Perry Anderson, "On the Concatenation  in the Arab World," New left Review,March-April,2011,pp. 5-15;Hugh Roberts, "libya and the Recklessness of the West," london Review of Books, September 22,2012; Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya,"Preparing the Chess Board for the 'Clash of Civilizations',"  November 26, 2011, hamsayeh.net; and Jillian Schwedler et. al., "Three Powerfully Wrong- and Wrongly Powerful- American Narratives about the Arab Spring" from  Bassam Haddad, op. cit.,pp. 37-48.