1) In this introductory seminar, students will explore the thousand-year history of Islamic presence in China, from the earliest recorded encounters to the twenty-first-century development. Students will learn about the contingencies and trajectories that allowed Islam to develop from a tradition governing enclaved sojourning Muslims into an integrated yet distinct part of the Chinese imperial landscape and further into a “world religion” practiced by different “ethnic groups” within the Chinese nation. Through critical engagement with ethnographic and historical scholarship, the course places contemporary issues—such as Chinese secularism, securitization, globalization, ethnic politics, and gender issues—in dialogue with longer-term developments. In doing so, students are encouraged to challenge common assumptions about both Islam and China, and to reflect critically on key analytical categories, such as “religion,” “nation,” “culture,” and their own academic positionality.
This seminar is open to both bachelor’s and master’s students and will be conducted in English. No prior knowledge of Chinese, Arabic, Persian, or Turkic languages is required.
Venue: M 102, Inst.geb GKR, Schillerstraße 6, 04109 Leipzig.
Date and time: Wednesday, 17:15-18:45.
