2023/24 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

THEO5175M Muslims, Multiculturalism and the State

30 creditsClass Size: 30

Module manager: Doha Abdelgawad
Email: d.abdelgawad@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2023/24

This module is mutually exclusive with

THEO3021

Muslims in Britain: Transnational Communities and Multicultu

This module is approved as an Elective

Module summary

This module explores critical perspectives on the intersections of religion, migration, diaspora, transnationalism, as well as multiculturalism, race ethnicity and British national identity. Topics studied include mosques and the local making of Muslim space; the Rushdie Affair; youth identity and Islamic piety/cultural hybridity; Islamophobia, the “War on Terror” and critical citizenship; British-Muslim linkages to a global Islamic community.

Objectives

i) To comprehend the unity and diversity in Islam and Muslim societies;

ii) To understand the variety of ways in which religious and ethnic identities are reimagined and reinvented in different social, cultural, economic and political contexts;

iii) To examine a variety of contemporary issues in the study of religion and social theory;

iv) To identify the ways in which dimensions of power and authority operate within and across social groupings;

v) To critically assess the wider significance and implications of the Muslim presence for religion in the public life of Britain;

vi) To reflect upon disciplinary contexts in the emergence and development of a Muslims in Britain literature.

Skills outcomes
Directed and self-directed reading; independently evaluating a body of work / the work of others; presentation skills; extended and complex forms of writing.

Syllabus

This module draws on sociology and social anthropology to illuminate what happens to religion in contexts of migration, diaspora and trans-nationalism. The key conceptual vocabulary to be explored includes 'religion', 'culture', 'diaspora', '(post)modernity', 'globalisation', 'nation', 'race', 'ethnicity', 'multiculturalism' and 'hybridity'. The main focus of attention is the context of late modern Britain - the legacy of empire, approaches to 'citizenship' and 'multiculturalism', immigration and discrimination legislation, the place of religion in public life. But other European contexts may also be considered mainly for comparative purposes. After an account of Muslim - particularly South Asian - migration to Britain, its contexts and consequences, the emphasis shifts to i) ethnographic accounts of the ways in which Islam has been reconstructed in diasporic 'communities' segmented by ethnicity and sect, gender and generation and ii) Muslim calls for public recognition by the state and wider society (e.g. the Rushdie Affair, Islamophobia). Finally, attention is given to the way that the UK nation-state’s response to local-global crises such as 9/11 has shaped the social exclusion of British Muslims e.g. via counter-terrorism policy.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	10	1.00	10.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Private study hours			280.00
Total Contact hours			20.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			300.00

Private study

Set reading and own research, note-taking, preparation of seminar presentations, preparation of assignment

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Essay plan/draft up to 1000 words.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	5,000 words	100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 24/10/2023

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