The Body in Islam 3/4 (U03736)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : DIV-3-BODYISLAM

This course seeks to chart the cultural history of the human
body in Islam. Emphasis is laid both on how the body has been inscribed with claims to power
and on how it has been used to resist power. Introductory methodological reflections are followed
by units dealing with the human body in theology and law, Islamic mysticism (.ufism), the
Muslim eschatological imagination, and Muslim and Western visual arts.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : Religion 2A & 2B or Islam 2 is required.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Religious Studies, (School of Divinity, Schedule B)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
08/01/2008	14:00	15:50

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Tuesday	14:00	15:50	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will have an appreciation of the diversity of attitudes toward the human body in Islam. In addition, they will have developed a critical perspective on the fallacies of Orientalist constructions of the 'Oriental' body, and thus the need to de-'otherize' the body in Islam. On the basis of the method and theory readings, they will also have become
sensitive to the symbolic ambiguity of the human body, both conformist and subversive, in the construction of reality.