ARAB7020 - Arabic Texts in Islamic History

This is a graduate seminar course in which different genres of premodern Arabic texts are covered at the advanced graduate level. Students in this course are expected to be able to read and prepare (vowel, parse, and translate) passages from Arabic texts on a weekly basis and to be able to discuss them critically during the class itself. Topics are chosen to reflect student interest. Recent and potential topics include: Geographers and travel accounts; biographical dictionaries; chronicles; heresiography; poetry; memoir and sira. Although this course typically focuses on premodern Arabic texts, the readings reinforce MSA reading skills.