Postgraduate Course: The Harem and the Body: Space and Gender in Middle Eastern Literatures (IMES11030)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | While this course is very specifically focused in its theoretical and primary literary readings, it opens broader questions. &«The harem&ª has come to be a symbol for Euro/American societies of all that is &«wrong&ª with Islamicate societies. How did this space, with its many indigenous meanings, come to represent whole societies? And how has it been contested by indigenous representations? How does &«the harem&ª come to signify domestic spaces, ritual practices, sexualities, and above all, gendered bodies? How does &«the harem&ª both represent and mask bodies through heteronormative, homosocial, and homoerotic discourses? What does it mean that &«the harem&ª has continued to be a popular signifier in contemporary Euro/American societies? How do works from Euro/American traditions construct &«the harem,&ª and how are they buttressed, countered, complicated, or rejected by fiction and autobiography produced in Muslim societies$ûthe Ottoman Empire, Egypt, Iran, and Muslims in the Indian subcontinent$ûin the 19th and 20th centuries? |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
| This course will add to options in Middle Eastern literature and cultural studies by exposing students to a range of important literary works translated from Arabic, Turkish and Persian while also requiring them to consider these works critically from within analytical perspectives emerging from the history of Orientalism and postcolonial studies as well as gender studies. The course thus equips students to engage with major conceptual concerns within contemporary Middle East area studies that are resonant across several disciplines and cross-disciplinary areas-literature, history, gender studies, religious studies, and (because we are dealing with issues of space), urban and architectural studies. The course complements other recently proposed offerings that strengthen our program's focus on modern and contemporary Middle Eastern cultural and political developments. |
Assessment Information
| One 4,000 word essay to be submitted as specified in the programme handbook |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Marilyn Booth
Tel: (0131 6)50 7181
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Rhona Cullen
Tel: (0131 6)50 4182
Email: |
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