The main focus of the seminar will be on the representations of Islam
and Muslims in the ethnographic/historical literature of the Middle
East and former Soviet Central Asia. The latest edition of Orientalism
by Edward Said and a selection of ethnographies by Western and native
authors will be read and critically discussed in light of some recent
critiques of the nature, purpose and direction of traditional
practices in the social sciences. The central aim of the seminar is to
explore relationships between ethnographers (producers) and their
ethnographic representations(products) of the Muslim peoples and
cultures they study. In particular the significance of place (of
ethnographers culture of orientation, of education and graduate
training, of employment, of research and fieldwork), gender, and voice
(e.g. speaking of or for people studied, institutions funding the
research, and governments and agencies supporting the research
efforts) within the broader sociopolitical and intellectual
environment (especially of post 9-11-2001), and their impact upon the
ethnographic accounts will be examined and assessed.

Required Readings (some reading will vary):
E. Said Orientalism (1978, with a new Preface in 2003)
S. Altorki & C. El-Solh Arab Women in the Filed: Studying Your Own
Society (1988)
F. E, Peters A Reader on Classical Islam (1994)
R. Loeffler Islam in Practice: Religious Belief in a Persian Village
(1988)
R. Antoun Muslim Preacher in the Modern World: A Jordanian Case Study
in Comparative perspective (1989
D. Edwards Heroes of the Age: Moral Fault Lines on the Afghan Frontier
(1996)
Bruce Privratsky Muslim Turkistan: Kazak Religion and Collective
Memory (2001)
Roald Sagdeev & S Eisenhower, eds Islam in Central Asia: An Enduring
Legacy or an Evolving Threat? (2002)
James Spickard, et al. Eds., Personal Knowledge and Beyond: Reshaping
the Ethnography of Religion (2002)
Pnina Werbner Pilgrims of Love: The Anthropology of Global Sufi Cult
(2003)

Course Requirements:
A critical written report of the reading assignments for each week
(about 2-3 double spaced typewritten pages) highlighting the most
significant points (positive and negative) about the authors'
approach in the text(s). Students are also expected to actively
participate in class discussions, lead class discussions, make an oral
presentation of the term project, and submit a term paper on the term
project. The term project will consist of a review essay consisting
of: 1) critical reading, detailed assessment and synthesis of all
required readings for the seminar; and 2) serious and reasoned
reflection on how the theoretical, conceptual, methodological and
substantive issues covered in this seminar will (or will not) be
useful to your own specific topics or fields of research interests
and why? The final essay should be about 20 typed pages
(double-spaced) and due on the last day of class.