This course, created by Ambereen Dadabhoy, couples Edward Said's theorization of Orientalism with early modern period texts. Students will examine traces of Orientalist ideas and stereotypes, and how they are being used to create a particular European orientation toward Islam and Muslims across time.  

The course starts in the late medieval period, reading several texts by European and English writers across different genres. These readings demonstrate how early modern European cultures were already global in their engagement with peoples across a variety of different belief systems and geographies. Examining these exposures combats the false notion of a totally insular England and Europe, one that had no knowledge of or experience with people from different cultures, religions, or races.  

By the end of the semester, students will see how ideas about Islam and Muslims have a long history in the West and that this history has many enduring fictions. This is especially important in our current moment, with a Western-backed Israeli genocide in Palestine. Understanding the longue durée of Orientalism, and how tropes about Islam and Muslims change and shift according to the contingencies of power, exposes Europe's very long interest in and engagement with Islamicate cultures and its peoples.  

Readings 

• Edward Said, Orientalism, Introduction, Chapter 1 
• Adam J. Silverstein, A Short Introduction to Islamic History 
• Anon, The King of Tars 
• Chaucer, "The Man of Law's Tale" - The Canterbury Tales 
• Anon, The Song of Roland 
• Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine 
• William Shakespeare, Othello 
• Philip Massinger, The Renegado 
• Richard Knolles, General History of the Turkes (selections) 
• Nicolas de Nicolay, The Navigations, Peregrinations and Voyages Made into Turkie (selections) 
• George Sandys, Relation of a Journey (selections) 
• Paul Rycaut, The Present State of the Ottoman Empire (selections) 

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Preview image: Places of Mind: A Life of Edward Said (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux).