|
By the end of this course, students will have developed an appreciation of the diversity of attitudes toward the human body in Islam (law, theology, mysticism, the arts). They will have acquired a critical perspective on the fallacies of essentialist constructions of the `Oriental' body. On the basis of theoretical readings, they will also have become sensitive to the symbolic ambiguity of the human body, both conformist and subversive, in the construction of reality.
|
|
|
The contemporary encounter between Islam and the West is often framed in terms of a battle over the human body, with apologists on both sides imputing the other side with disrespect towards the body, especially the female body. 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.
|
|