• Offered by Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies
  • ANU College ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
  • Course subject Middle Eastern & Central Asian Studies
  • Areas of interest Arab and Islamic Studies, Security Studies, Middle East Studies, Central Asia Studies

The growing political strength, self-awareness and solidarity of Muslim communities across the world have been evident since the early 1970s.  In the wake of the Cold War and 9/11 attacks, Muslim politics has caused particular concern in the West, where the notion of ‘Islamic Radicalism’ has been increasingly used to create an image of the threatening cultural ‘Other’. This course is aimed at a better understanding of Islam, Islamic movements, Islamic revivalism or Islamism in a variety of settings.  Specifically, it is a course about how to think about Islamic radicalism as a conglomeration of context-specific policies, projects, ideals, institutions, and movements that have their origin in Muslim societies’ response to “modernity”.  It is designed to introduce students to major theoretical perspectives on Islamism, and its practical manifestations in individual countries (not confined to the Arab World), as well as in the regional and global arena.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
  1. Demonstrate familiarity with Islam as a world religion and a framework for social action during major phases in its historical development.
  2. Reflect on, and discuss the key concepts, themes, and schools of thought pertaining to modernism and reformism in Islam.
  3. Analyse endogenous and exogenous factors behind the radicalisation of political Islam in different geographic zones.
  4. Distinguish various trends in radical Islam according to their social composition and engagement with issues such as violence, good government, gender and group identity.
  5. Locate and collate materials on a topic relevant to Islamic radicalism, and present findings in a coherent manner on paper and orally.

Indicative Assessment

4000 word research essay (60%), Learning Outcomes 1-5
Final Examination, 3 hours (held during the formal examination period) (40%), Learning Outcomes 1-5

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

130 hours of total student learning time made up from:
a) 36 hours of contact: 24 hours of lectures and 12 hours of workshop and workshop-like activities.
b) 94 hours of independent student research, reading and writing

Requisite and Incompatibility

To enrol in this course you must be studying a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) or a Bachelor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies (Honours), or completion of 144 units towards the Bachelor of Philosophy (Arts). You are not able to enrol in this course if you have previously completed MEAS8102.

Prescribed Texts

An e-brick is made available for this course on Wattle.

Preliminary Reading

Mohammed Ayoob, The Many Faces of Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Muslim World. Ann Arbor: The Univesity of Michigan Press, 2008.
John D. Donohue and John L. Esposito, eds. Islam in Transition. Muslim Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Student Contribution Band:
1
Unit value:
6 units

If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.  Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2017 $2856
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2017 $4080
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

Second Semester

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
9950 24 Jul 2017 31 Jul 2017 31 Aug 2017 27 Oct 2017 In Person N/A

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