Catalogo dei Corsi di studio

Knowledge
The present course aims at providing students with basic knowledge of the history of Muslim societies from
the origins of Islam to the late Middle Ages and, within available time, to the Early Modern era. One of its
objectives is that students acquire an understanding of the current diffusion and distribution of Muslim
presence in the world and, more precisely, in its different geographical areas. It also aims at providing
students with a general framework of historical references within which they might integrate any further
knowledge they will acquire in courses of Arabic and Persian languages and literatures (as well as Bengali,
and potentially also other languages of the Muslim world which are not currently taught in our Oriental
Languages and Civilizations Bachelors Program), Islamic Studies, History of Islamic Art, etc. A further goal is
that students start to familiarize themselves with technical terms in Arabic and, to a lesser extent, in the
other main languages of Islamic civilization.

Skills
This course aims at planting the following skills in the students’ minds:
- Collocating in time and space the main events and processes in the history of the medieval (and,
within available time, early modern) Muslim world.
- Consulting thematic maps, statistic databases and interactive websites focused on current religious
demography of global Islam, which will have been explained in class and made available on the e-
learning platform; using these tools independently and combining different data to formulate fresh
comparative remarks.
- Tracing back, at least in broad terms, the remote origins and historical developments of social,
political and religious institutions, as well as other longue-durée features, which still characterize
Muslim societies.
- Deconstructing with a critical mind some simplistic representations of the Muslim world (whatever
their leanings) which are currently spread through a variety of media, by putting them into
historical perspective.
- Using in an appropriate way some technical terms from historical sciences, especially from
historical studies on Islamic civilization, without neglecting more general propriety of language, as
far as both lexicon and syntax are concerned.
- Reasoning on acquired notions and concepts and on their possible interactions instead of
reproducing them passively.
- Being able to pursue their study of this discipline autonomously (and feeling motivated to do it),
building both upon bibliographical suggestions provided throughout the course, and upon some
examples of open historiographical debates which will have been shown by the teacher.

Programme

The first part of the course will start with a demographic survey of the current global distribution of both Arab and Muslim presence. In the light of the unevenness of this presence, following a varying minority/majority ratio in different contexts, a critical appraisal of the notions of both “Muslim World” and “Arab World” will be proposed.
The core part of the course will provide a historical outline of the origins, diffusion and developments of Islamic civilization, in its multiple ramifications, up to the end of the Middle Ages and, within available time, to the early modern era. It will especially focus on the processes of socio-cultural change triggered in the early Middle Ages by the first waves of Islamic expansion in the lands situated between the Iberian Peninsula and the Indus Valley, namely on the Arabization and Islamization of the peoples who were subjected to Arab-Muslim conquerors, as well on the newly founded political institutions and on the way they worked. The political history of the medieval Muslim world will be outlined following its main phases: the rise and shaping of the caliphal empire, through the succeeding phases of elective caliphate (632-661), the Umayyad dynasty (661-750) and the ‘Abbasid dynasty (750-1258); the territorial disintegration of the caliphate and the increasing loss of power by the caliphs once they were de facto submitted to the military control of the Buwayhid emirs (945) followed by Seljuq sultans (1055), up to the final fall of the caliphate following the Mongol invasion (1258). A central issue in this outline of political history will be the struggle for hegemony in defining and assuming the role of leader of the community of believers and overall State leader, as well as the rise of religious schisms around this struggle, with the shaping of the three major branches of Islam, namely Sunnism, Shi’ism and Kharijism with their further sub-branches. No less attention will be devoted to the later phases of the spread of Islam which took place in the so-called peripheral areas of the Islamic oikumene, spanning from sub-Saharan Africa to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, in ways different from the dynamics of its earlier expansion. Late medieval and early modern age will be retraced (within available time) following the thread of these further waves of Islamization as well as the thread of the processes of political and territorial fragmentation of the “core” Muslim world, followed, since the early 16th century, by the rise of new supranational empires (Ottomans, Safavids and Mughals). The final part of the course will focus on the impact of both direct and indirect colonial domination on the Muslim world, as well as on the main responses by political and intellectual Muslim élites. Throughout the course, recurring themes will be unity and diversity in Islamic civilization, connecting links between its “core” and its “peripheral” areas, and relations among the multiple confessional, social and linguistic components of Islamic societies.
The course timeline is organised as follows:
- The notions of Arab World and Muslim World: 8h
- The origins of Islam: 6h
- From the early Muslim conquests to the fall of the Abbasid caliphate: 22h
- Overview of the late Middle Ages and early modern era: 6h

Adopted texts

For attending students:
- Class notes (taken by the students). Students missing their classes are expected to obtain notes from their fellow-students. Students missing more than one third of the whole course, should study the syllabus for non-attending students.
- Francesco ZAPPA, Mondo arabo e mondo islamico, lecture notes, 46 pp. (il testo verrà fornito dal docente tramite la piattaforma e-learning)
- Leonardo CAPEZZONE, Medioevo arabo. Una storia dell’islam medievale, Milano, Mondadori, 2016 (chapters 1-3, 5, 8 + some selected sections from further chapters; the full list of chapters and sections to be studied for the exam will be provided during classes, as well as on the teacher’s electronic bulletin board and on his e-learning platform)
- Giovanna CALASSO, “Il mondo islamico mediterraneo dagli Omayyadi ai Mamelucchi (sec. VII-XV)”, in Storia d’Europa e del Mediterraneo, direttore: Alessandro BARBERO, sezione IV, Il Medioevo (secoli V-XV), a cura di Sandro CAROCCI, vol. VIII, Popoli, poteri, dinamiche, pp. 481-524 (a pdf scan will be provided by the teacher through the e-learning platform, in accordance with the norms on copyright)
- Pier Giovanni DONINI, Il mondo musulmano. Breve storia dal Cinquecento a oggi, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2003 (the list of chapters to be studied for the exam will be provided during classes, as well as on the teacher’s electronic bulletin board and on his e-learning platform)
- Further readings and didactic materials will be shown during classes and made available through the e-learning platform, in accordance with the norms on copyright. Historical and thematic maps should be considered an integral part of the coursework, also for exam purposes. For any further integration and update to the present coursework list, please check the teacher’s electronic bulletin board at the following link: http://francescozappa.site.uniroma1.it/insegnamenti

How to study for the exam:
Didactic materials uploaded on the e-learning platform will be grouped under different thematic headings. The first section (“Mondo arabo e mondo islamico” = “Arab World and Muslim World”) corresponds to the subjects discussed during the first part of the course. The remaining part of the course will follow a rather linear diachronic order approximately corresponding to the handbook listed above. In order to help students to find their bearings when delving into their readings and when revising, the outlines of some lessons are provided in one section of the e-learning platform, especially for subjects that have been illustrated in class in a way that differs significantly from the way they are explained in the handbooks.

For non attending students:
In addition to the coursework listed above for attending students (except class-notes), non-attending students will also study the following extra material:
Claude Cahen, L’islamismo, vol. I: Dalle origini all’inizio dell’impero ottomano, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1969 (optional reading for attending students; since the book is out of print, a scanned version will be provided by the teacher on request). Alternatively, they are encouraged to resort to video recordings of classes, if available.

Bibliography

Further, optional readings for motivated students will be suggested in class. Here are a few starting suggestions. For those willing to compare different handbooks: - Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti, Il mondo musulmano. Quindici secoli di storia, Roma, Carocci, 1998 or later ed. (focusing on a discussion of different historiographical readings) - Lapidus, A History of Islamic Socities, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012 (3rd ed.) (focusing on social and economic history): A historical and thematic atlas: - Anne-Laure Dupont, Atlas de l’islam dans le monde. Lieux, pratiques et idéologie, nouvelle édition, Paris, Autrement, 2014 An enjoyable, well-grounded read on daily life in the medieval Muslim world: - Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti, Un altro medioevo. Il quotidiano nell’Islam, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2001

Prerequisites

Since this course is targeted at first-year undergraduates, there are no further requirements than those established by the relevant Study Programme. However, before starting to attend classes or study for the exam, it might prove very useful to review one’s basics of Asian and African geography.

Frequency modes

Though not compulsory, attending classes is highly recommended, and students are advised to take notes. When missing their classes, they are expected to obtain notes from their fellow-students. Students missing more than one third of the whole course should study the syllabus for non-attending students.

Exam modes

Students will be tested through a final oral exam of approximately 30 minutes per candidate, in which their achievement of the educational objectives in terms of both knowledge and skills (see above) will be evaluated. The questions they will be asked may span the whole syllabus; their phrasing will encourage them to think and discuss with the teacher, rather than just rephrase the contents of a given lesson.
Students unable to identify on a map the main countries and places that are crucial to this course will not obtain a passing mark (18/30). Proving to have learnt and understood at least the basics of the course and being able to convey them with some propriety of language are further minimum requirements for obtaining a passing mark.
In order to obtain full marks (30/30, possibly cum laude), students have to demonstrate a full command of the course subjects (within the limits of what they had to study), an excellent ability to think critically and to connect different notions, a flawless propriety of language and a mastery of newly learnt technical terms. “Cum laude” is added to full marks for students standing out for their personal appropriation of what they have learnt. Intermediate marks correspond to different degrees in the achievement of the educational objectives described above in terms of both knowledge and skills (see the relevant entry).

Exam reservation date start	Exam reservation date end	Exam date
01/01/2022	17/01/2022	24/01/2022
01/01/2022	31/01/2022	07/02/2022
01/01/2022	14/02/2022	21/02/2022
01/04/2022	26/04/2022	03/05/2022
18/05/2022	08/06/2022	15/06/2022
18/05/2022	23/06/2022	30/06/2022
18/05/2022	11/07/2022	18/07/2022
10/08/2022	31/08/2022	07/09/2022
10/08/2022	09/09/2022	16/09/2022
01/10/2022	03/10/2022	04/10/2022
01/10/2022	11/11/2022	18/11/2022