THEMATIC SEMINAR (NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST)

The thematic seminar, offered as part of the master's degree program, aims to explore a specific theme by analyzing it from different perspectives of the languages and cultures of the Near and Middle East. During the academic year 2025-26, the course will focus on the multiplicity of Islamic modernities by examining how different Islamic movements and intellectual figures approach issues such as race, gender, diversity, sexuality, and class.

1. Knowledge and understanding:
- be familiar with the main currents of contemporary Islamic thought that cross reformism, modernism and neo-traditionalism
- understand the main contemporary approaches to Quranic exegesis
- understand how these exegetical approaches are linked to social values and practices in social movements discussed during the course.

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:
- develop a socio-anthropological reading that allows an analysis of the social, political and cultural changes in the phenomena studied, which goes beyond the simple description.

3. Judgment skills:
- ability to critically and consciously evaluate different forms of thought, capturing the intersection between doctrinal-exegetical, political, cultural and social issues.
- Communication skills: ability to illustrate the various aspects addressed in the course in a clear and analytical way
- interaction and participation during the classes.

Basic knowledge of Islamology and the history of Islamic countries.

We will focus on the dialectic between tajdīd (renewal) and iṣlāḥ (reform), highlighting the connection between religious discourses and social practices, and illustrating how Quranic exegesis manifests in daily life. One of the main objectives of this course is to consider not only the normative dimensions of Islamic religion (such as sharīʿa and fiqh), but also other often-underestimated aspects, including spiritual, aesthetic, and philosophical dimensions.
While scholarly attention has frequently focused on Salafi reformism, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Wahhabism, this course will delve into lesser-known movements and modernist approaches. We will explore topics like the “Nation of Islam” movement, the liberal philosophies of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, Mahmoud Mohammed Taha's Sufism, Islamic liberation theology in South Africa, and feminist and LGBTQ activism in the Islamic world.
Additionally, the course aims to examine Islam in various contexts, including Sudan, Pakistan, South Africa, and the United States, broadening the scope towards a global Islam. In the last two weeks, students will engage with artworks (films, comics, and novels) representing and/or expressing Islamic modernities. Artworks allow a sort of mediated ethnographic fieldwork, investigating emotions, doctrines, and biographical paths of the actors studied. These explorations will allow students to connect religious doctrines with everyday life, offering a better comprehension of religious and cultural phenomena.

• Introduction to the course: intellectual and geographical map. Foundations of a socio-anthropology of Islam
• The spiritual dimension of Islam: Sufism and beyond, between reform and renewal
• The challenge of modernity: the origins of reformism with Abduh in Egypt
• Muhammad Taha's Sudanese Sufism, between religious doctrines and politics
• The philosophical reformism / modernism of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd and others
• Nation of Islam and Malcom X
• Islam in South Africa, the struggle against apartheid and liberation theology
• Local and universal blackness: the global Muridiyya
• Islamic Feminism: another reading of the Quran and social movements
• LGBTQ activism and Islam: another reading of the Quran and social movements.

The bibliographic material will be distributed during the course and uploaded to the Moodle platform.

Preparatory readings:
Massimo Campanini. 2016. Il pensiero Islamico contemporaneo. Bologna: Il Mulino.

The oral exam will be aimed at verifying the learning of the topics dealt with through the documentation provided during the course. Besides, the presentation of articles/chapters by the students during the course will be evaluated.

oral

Independently from the attendance modality, evaluation is expressed by the following assessment scale:
18-22:
- sufficient knowledge and capacity to understand what has been requested according to the course program
- sufficient capacity of application of the acquired knowledge through autonomous text and grammar analysis
- sufficient capacity of data collecting and interpretation and of autonomous research

23-26:
. average knowledge and capacity to understand what has been requested according to the course program
- average capacity of application of the acquired knowledge through autonomous text and grammar analysis
- average capacity of data collecting and interpretation and of autonomous research


27-30:
- good or very good knowledge and capacity to understand what has been requested according to the course program
- good or very good capacity of application of the acquired knowledge through autonomous text and grammar analysis
- good or very good capacity of data collecting and interpretation and of autonomous research

The grade of excellence ("lode") is assigned in cases of excellent achievements according to the criteria listed above.

Lecture and paper presentations by the students

Students unable to attend the classes are requested to contact the professor at the beginning of the semester.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development