Instructional goals
Europe, like the Greater Mediterranean it belongs to, is a plural space of different faith traditions, philosophies and political orientations. This plurality became more visible especially since the post-World War II period, and the rise of a more multicultural European landscape due to migration flows and human circulation especially from the southern shore of the Mediterranean. This process has nurtured a further Euro-Mediterranean landscape and mindscape, despite all the fears that accompany this movement, evolution and exchanges at the socio-cultural, political and economic levels. As a world religion, Islam has found space and expression in the vast geographies, multiple cultures and languages of the Euro-Mediterranean since its advent in the 7th Century. Islam is inlandish and autochthonous in Spain, Italy, the Baltics, in various parts of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the Caucasus, but its presence in the modern Europe has taken shape mostly during the 20th Century, through (a) forced migration because of conflicts, civil wars or natural disasters, (b) willed migration in search for learning, different ways of life, and better labour opportunities, (c) conversion, (d) as well as diplomatic and business relations among states and societies.
This course gives a comprehensive picture of Islam and Muslims in Europe and how they have become an integral part of its socio-cultural and political fabric, in the light of the ongoing questions and challenges, policies and politics, facing the process of integration and accommodative multiculturalism. The questions of Islam and Europe, Muslims in Europe, modernity, religion, faith, secularism, secularization, politics, integration, multiculturalism, pluralism, radicalization, Islamophobia, societal crises and their management through European as well as Euro-Mediterranean policies are the major themes to be studied in this course.
Prerequisites
N/A
Intended learning outcomes
Following a full inquiry-based approach, the student is expected to develop these skills by the end of the course:
o Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the diverse issues related to Islam and Muslims in Europe and the Euro-Mediterranean zone, from theological to political issues, besides socio-cultural issues and their juridical implications;
o Contextual approach to the studied theme, according to the country studied, its history and political system;
o Comparative skills towards the studied themes and contexts;
o Balanced view and judgement of the topic, based on comparative facts;
o Ability to communicate one’s view, based on the accumulated knowledge.
o Lifelong learning skills that help the students in their studies, research, and future professional careers.
Course Contents
The course is divided into three complementary parts. Part One is dedicated to putting the studied theme into historical perspectives, as a form of zooming out from the present and visiting the past, before a return to the recent past. Past relations between Islam and Europe will be introduced here. Part Two is composed of case studies of the presence of Islam and Muslims in the different parts of contemporary Europe: Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Western Europe, the Scandinavia, the Baltics. The policies of integration and multiculturalism towards the new Europeans are examined here. Part Three is dedicated to the study of some major themes that are related to the topic: politics and secularism, secularization, faith and modernity, ethics, integration, multiculturalism, radicalism, Islamophobia, Euro-Mediterranean religious diplomacy and policies.
Reference Books
Mandatory:
o Roberto Tottoli, ed., The Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West [2015], 2nd ed., London and New York, 2022. Pp. 492. Link (70% of the reading material)
o Additional readings from the Recommended List below (30% of the reading material; see the programme schedule for the weekly readings).
Recommended:
o Francesca M. Corrao, Islam, Religion and Politics, Rome: Luiss UP, 2015. Pp. 185. Link
o Jocelyne Cesari, ed., The Oxford Handbook of European Islam, 1st ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. 888. Link
o Frank Peter and Rafael Ortega, eds, Islamic Movements in Europe: Public Religion and Islamophobia in the Modern World, London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2014. Pp. 416. Link
o Maurits S. Berger, A Brief History of Islam in Europe, Leiden: Leiden UP – Chicago UP, 2014. Pp. 236. Link
o Stefano Allievi, Jorgen Nielsen, eds., Muslim Networks and Transnational Communities in and across Europe, Leiden: Brill, 2012. Pp. 344. Link
o Mohammed Hashas, The Idea of European Islam: Religion, Ethics, Politics and Perpetual Modernity, London and New York: Routledge, 2019. Pp. 330. Link
o Euro-Islam.info database, of the Cadbury Centre at the University of Birmingham. Link
o Optional:
o Marshall G. S. Hodgson, Rethinking World History: Essays on Europe, Islam and World History (1993), rev. ed., intr. Edmund Burke III, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010. Pp. 352. Link
o Albert Hourani, Islam in European Thought (1991), Cambridge MA, USA: Cambridge UP, rprt 1996). Pp. 212. Link
o Jack Goody, Islam in Europe, Cambridge UK: Polity Press, 2004. Pp. 186. Link
o Jorgen S. Nielsen, Towards a European Islam, Palgrave Macmillan, 1999. Pp. 163. Link.
o Olivier Roy, Vers un islam européen, Paris: Esprit, 1999. Pp. 103. Link
o Egdunas Racius, et al., eds., Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, Volume 12, Leiden: Brill, 2020. Pp. 724. Link
o Hisham A. Hellyer, Muslims of Europe: The “Other” Europeans, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. Pp. 256. Link
o Jytte Klausen, The Islamic Challenge: Politics and Religion in Western Europe (1st ed. 2005), Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Pp. 264. Link
o Stefano Allievi, Musulmani d'Occidente: Tendenze dell'Islam europeo, Roma: Carocci, 2005, Pp. 194. Link
o Enzo Pace, L'Islam in Europa: modelli di integrazione, Roma: Carocci, 2004. Pp. 126. Link.
o Antonino Pellitteri, Sicilia e Islam: Tracciati oltre la storia. Milano: Franco Angeli, 2016. Pp. 124. Link
o Massimo Campanini, L’islam: religione dell’occidente, Milan: Nimesis, 2016. Pp. 153. Link
N.B. The hyperlink option in blue indicates the availability of the reference in Luiss library.
Teaching Methods
The course stimulates students’ active participation to enhance their critical skills and learning methodologies through the following: class participation, individual and team work (class presentations, writing papers), debates and role-playing, and study of short film documentaries for each class theme.
Assessment Method
Evaluation of critical learning in this course is continuous, following this grading format:
*For attending students:
Class participation: 15%
Class presentation: 15%
Quizzes: 15%
Midterm essay: written paper of no more than three thousand words: 15 %.
Final oral exam on the whole class programme: 40%.
*For officially permitted non-attending students:
-Writing Weekly Reading Forms (i.e. summaries in no more than 1000 words) of the weekly material of the syllabus; these Reading Forms have to be sent to the Professor and the Teaching Assistant at the end of each week; the student has to have 12 Reading Forms submitted by the end of the course: 20 %.
-Midterm assignment = Written paper of no more than three thousand words: 20 %.
- Thorough final oral exam on the whole programme: 60%.
Thesis assignment criteria
Three major criteria are required:
o Assiduous class participation,
o Analytical skills,
o A final course accumulate grade no less than 28/30.
Week 1
Introduction
Islam, the Arab world, and Europe
Readings:
o Francesca M. Corrao, Islam, Religion and Politics, Rome: Luiss University Press, 2016. Chapter 1, The Arab world and Classical Islam, pp. 17-74.
o Roberto Tottoli, ed., The Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West, 2nd ed., London and New York, 2022. Introduction. Pp. 1-18.
Week 2
Part I: Islam, Europe, and World History
The Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West:
o Al-Andalus and the West, Alejandro Garcia-Sanjuan, pp. 23-35.
o Muslims in Medieva Sicily and southern Italy, Richard Engl and Theresa Jackh, pp. 36-54.
Week 3
The Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West:
o The Muslims in southeastern Europe: from Ottoman subjects to
European citizens, Nathalie Clayer, 73-88.
The Oxford Handbook of European Islam:
o Islam in Russia, Stéphane A. Dudoignon, pp. 517-564.
Week 4
Part II: Islam in Europe from World War II
The Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West:
o Transformations in “Muslim” claims and collective mobilization efforts in Western Europe, Brigitte Maréchal and Ghaliya Djelloul, pp. 85-106
o Euro-Islam database, University of Birmingham.
o Case Studies: France. Link
o Quiz.
Week 5
Euro-Islam database, University of Birmingham.
Case Studies:
o UK. Link
o Germany. Link
Week 6
Euro-Islam database, University of Birmingham.
Case Studies:
o Netherlands. Link
o Belgium. Link
Week 7
Euro-Islam database, University of Birmingham.
Case Studies:
o Italy. Link
o Spain. Link
Week 8
Euro-Islam database, University of Birmingham.
o Austria. Link
o Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Sweden. Link
Start of Students’ class presentations.
Week 9
Part III: Themes 1 – Islam, Europe, Secularism and Identity
The Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West:
o Emergence of Western Muslim identity: factors, agents, and discourses, Adis Duderija, pp. 201-216.
o Shari‘a Courts and Councils in the West, Ashleigh Barbe-Winter and Adam Possamai, pp. 389-404.
Week 10
The Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West:
o Western Islamophobia: the origins of a concept, Sindre Bangstad, pp. 463-475.
The Political integration of Muslims in Western Politics, Eren Tahari and Nicole Dunn, pp. 407-421.
Week 11
Themes 2 - Emergence of European Islamic Culture
The Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West:
o Islamic education in the West, Jenny Berglund, pp. 374-388
o The production of Western Islamic knowledge, Stefano Allievi, pp. 426-440.
o Landscapes of Muslim art and architecture in the West, Eric R. Roose, pp. 289-303.
Week 12
o Is There a European Islam? In Jocelyne Cesari, ed. The Oxford Handbook of European Islam, Oxford UP, 2014, pp. 802-806.
o Mohammed Hashas, The Idea of European Islam, London and New York: Routledge, 2019. “From Islam in Europe to European Islam,” pp. 1-36.
o General revision and class debate, “The Debate.”
o End of the course.