Syllabus English

Summer School CERIUM Pluralism and Radicalization : Understanding the trajectories of Islam and the Muslims’ experiences...

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Summer School CERIUM Pluralism and Radicalization : Understanding the trajectories of Islam and the Muslims’ experiences Montreal, From June 29th to July 4th, 2010

Université de Montréal’s Centre for International Research and Studies (CERIUM) Sociology Department of the Université de Montréal Professor:

Valérie Amiraux Université de Montréal, Sociology [email protected]

Coordinator:

Gabriel Jean-Maltais [email protected]

Location:

3744, rue Jean Brillant Université de Montréal Montréal, Qc, Canada

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Participants The three credits course is designed for graduate students by the Université de Montréal Department of Sociology. Undergraduate students are welcomed as well if they have completed at least 54 credits and if the quality of their academic record is sufficient. The Summer School is six days long and will be simultaneously offered in English and French. This course is not designed only for student. Non-academics interested in the topic at hand, for example member of NGOs, government representatives and the general public, can also participate.

Description Islam, Muslims, Islamism, political Islam, Fundamentalism… the omnipresence of theses terms in the media rarely corresponds in a full understanding of their meaning. Usually used in an approximate way and out of context, in the end they often refer to realities with which they have not much in common. The Pluralism and Radicalization: Understanding the trajectories of Islam and the Muslims’ experiences Summer School offers to deepen the knowledge and understanding of the issues of cultures and beliefs linked to Islam through a sociological approach. This intensive, six days long course will present different ethnographic approaches to different spaces (Muslim societies in Africa, Asia, in the Middle-East, Muslim minorities in non-Muslim societies, like in North America or in Europe), the Muslim Societies, but also the European and North-American spaces, in order to demonstrate the diversity of ways to be a Muslim, to live Islam and to invest multiple significations in it. The articulation between pluralism, as a political project and reality, and the form of militant and discursive radicalization that seem to characterize the Muslim identities, will be the core of our analysis. Islam, Muslims, Islamism, political Islam, Fundamentalism… Terms on which to work theoretically, to observe in their practical existence in order to better understand and use them.

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Format The Summer School is organized in ten sessions of three hours over a week, from Monday, June 28th to Friday, July 3rd, from 9.00 AM to 12.00 noon and from 1.30 PM to 4.30 PM. The sessions are conceived as a space for learning, exchange and discussion. The first half of each session will consist of a lecture (an hour and a half). Then, after a short pause, the second half of the session (seventy-five minutes) will consist of a discussion, introduced by a critical commentary. During these discussions we will use a comparative political sociology approach based on the compulsory readings (communicated in advance) while rethinking, in a conceptual manner, the arguments heard in the lectures.

Pedagogical approach and student evaluation The main teaching materials are the compulsory readings for each session, between two and three in number, all of them in English, which will be posted on the School's website before. There will also be a codex for students and its purchase is compulsory for credited students. The texts can be classified as follows: A. Texts complementing a lecture. These are of a more empirical nature and typically deal with the country or region that is the focus of the lecture. B. Sociology texts, which are generally more theoretical. It is the responsibility of each student to download these texts, to read them and to develop questions or reflections linked to the session based on them. There is no need for any prior knowledge of Islam for the course; the compulsory readings include maps and a historical chronology of the religion. Thus, it is important for students to read the texts BEFORE taking part in the school. This course is not about the basics of Islam, but rather about the social dimensions of pluralism of its societies, its interaction with the development of radicalization and the sociological interpretation of these phenomena. Students will have to use the reading material and link it to the lecture and comments of the participants taking part in the session.

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Students' evaluation will take into account their oral performance (participation, ability to discuss the texts) as well as their written performances.

FOR UNDERGRADUATES (54 CREDITS): 1. One quiz on the content of the compulsory texts (on Friday, after the courses, 25% of the final grade) 2. The writing of a diary (about 5000 words). The parameters will be explained at the beginning of the School (25% of the final grade). The deadline to hand it in is July 5th, 2010. 3. Participation in class will be evaluated based on attendance, on the readings of the compulsory texts, on participation in class (questions, interventions, critical commentaries) (10% of the final grade). 4. A final exam, which will involve answering questions (in essay style) concerning the readings and lectures. There will be a choice of six questions linked to the course theme and students will have to answer two of them in long papers. This exam will take place in a classroom with the support of a computer connected to the Internet, notes taken during the course and the readings (However, the exam must be handwritten to avoid plagiarism) (40% of the final grade). FOR GRADUATES: 1. One quiz on the content of the compulsory texts (on Friday, after the courses, 10% of the final grade) 2. The writing of a diary (about 5000 words). The parameters will be explained at the beginning of the School (20% of the final grade). The deadline to hand it in is July 5th, 2010. 3. Participation in class will be evaluated based on attendance, on the readings of the compulsory texts, on participation in class (questions, interventions, critical commentaries) (10% of the final grade). 4. A final exam, which will involve answering questions (in essay style) concerning the readings and lectures. There will be a choice of six questions linked to the course theme and students will have to answer two of them in long papers. This exam will take place in a classroom with the support of a computer connected to the Internet, notes taken during

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the course and the readings (However, the exam must be handwritten to avoid plagiarism) (30% of the final grade). 5. An essay (10,000 words maximum) on a subject linked to the course theme, with the subject to be determined in coordination with the course professor. The deadline to hand in this paper is July 30th, 2010 (30% of the final grade). * The grade for each assignment will be based on the quality of the content (knowledge of the course, personal readings, expository qualities and quality of analysis) and form (style, spelling, consistency of bibliographical references). Assignments (the diary and, for Masters candidates, the essay) must be put in the box next to Office C-5124 (Pavillon Lionel-Groulx) before 4 p.m. on the day of the deadline. No work will be accepted via email, unless the students are registered to an university outside of the Island of Montreal.

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