Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
Renowned Women of Islamic History
What role did women play in Islamic history? Despite the total absence of chronicles and other medieval sources written by women, they appear in numerous cases in the capacity of leaders, scholars, poets, and mystics. This course will discuss several renowned women of Islamic history from the advent of Islam and during the medieval period, ending with some examples and reflections on the modern context. The course will consider the diverse roles played by women, their legal and social status, their exercise of power, and their contributions to society. Simultaneously, the course will examine the sources, aiming to distinguish and analyse the different layers that might have had a bearing on the representation of women. The course will begin with the political and economic situation in the Arabian Peninsula towards the end of the sixth century CE. Next, it will explore numerous examples of women who became famous during the subsequent centuries.
Each session will be dedicated to one individual discussed in relation to her historical context or a specific theme. The historical contexts will treat the different regions (Arabian Peninsula, Iberian Peninsula, etc.) and periods (Umayyad, Abbasid etc.). The themes covered will include scholarship in Islam, the role of mysticism, the exercise of power, patronage, resistance, and feminism.
The course will concentrate on the perspectives of women in the following historical contexts:
1) The advent of Islam and the Sahabiyyat (women who knew the Prophet Muhammad).
2) The first Islamic empires: the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphates.
3) The Turkic and Kurdish empires.
4) The "Gunpowder Empires": The Ottomans, the Mongols, and the Safavids.
5) European colonisation and Muslim responses.
6) Islam and contemporary discourses on modernisation.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
By the end of the course, students will have a basic understanding of the chronology of different regions ruled by Muslim rulers from the advent of Islam to our day. Students will be able to describe the careers and contributions of numerous renowned women, speak about their diverse roles in Islamic societies, and disentangle and analyse how the predominantly male-authored sources represent women.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
None
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The course will be given ex cathedra.
During the course lectures, raising questions and participating in further discussion on the readings listed in the bibliography will be encouraged.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Further information:
Formal presentation with Powerpoint presentations.
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- MyULiège
Further information:
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- MyULiège
Further information:
A more specific bibliography will be provided for distinct thematics studied during the course, for students wishing to study the content in more depth.
The presentation slides of each lectures will be posted on MyULiège at the end of each session.
Recommended Reading
General handbooks and syntheses
Tolan, Nouvelle histoire de l'Islam VIIe-XXIe siècle, Paris, Tallandier, 2022.
C.-E. Hafiz, avec le soutien de L. Roth, Portraits de femmes remarquables : Les héroïnes de l'Islam, Vincennes, Éditions Frémeaux & Associés, 2025.
Denoix et H. Renel (éd.), Atlas des mondes musulmans médiévaux, Paris, Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 2022, https://books.openedition.org/editionscnrs/88713.
H. A. R. Gibb et alii, Encyclopédie de l'Islam, Leiden, Brill, 1960-.
Readings on specific course topics
1
- A. Kian, « Les femmes », dans É. Voguet et A. Troadec (éd.), Pouvoirs et autorités en Islam, Marseille, Diacritiques Éditions, 2020, https://doi.org/10.4000/books.diacritiques.
- W. Atallah, Vie et socie´te´ au temps de Mahomet, Gollion, Infolio, 2019.
2
- J. Tolan, Nouvelle histoire de l'Islam vii[SUP]e[/SUP]-xxi[SUP]e[/SUP] siècle, Paris, Tallandier, 2022.
- H. Bresc et P. Guichard, « Le monde des Abbassides, la réussite de l'Islam », dans R. Fossier (éd.), Le Moyen Âge. I: Les mondes nouveaux, 350-950, Paris, A. Colin, 1990, p. 231-282.
3
- A.-M. Eddé, La principauté ayyoubide d'Alep (579/1183-658/1260), Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag, 1999.
- J. Zaydan, Shajarat Al-Durr, Forêt des perles : la reine des musulmans, traduit par J.-M. Lesage, Paris, Al Bouraq, 2021.
4
- Sanjay Subrahmanyam, « Les empires musulmans de la poudre à canon », dans la série Histoire connectée des empires à l'époque moderne, Collège de France, 12 mai 2021, https://www.college-de-france.fr/fr/agenda/cours/histoire-connectee-des-empires-epoque-moderne/les-empires-musulmans-de-la-poudre-canon.
- A. Clot, Les grands Moghols : splendeur et chute, 1526-1707, Paris, Plon, 1993.
5
- L. Dakhli, Histoire du Proche-Orient contemporain, Paris, La Découverte, 2015.
- G. Meynier, « L'Algérie et les Algériens sous le système colonial. Approche historico historiographique », Insaniyat : Revue algérienne d'anthropologie et de sciences sociales, 65-66, 2014, p. 13-70, https://doi.org/10.4000/insaniyat.14758.
- H. de Turenne, « Les débuts de la colonisation en Algérie », dans la série La guerre d'Algérie, radiofrance, 25 janvier 2002, https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/2000-ans-d-histoire/les-debuts-de-la-colonisation-en-algerie-3057080.
6
- L. Abu-Lughod, « Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving ? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others », American Anthropologist, 104/3, 2002: 783-790.
- S. Andezian, « Femmes et religion en islam : un couple maudit ? », dans A. Fine et C. Leduc (éd.), Clio, 2, 1995 : Femmes et Religions, https://journals.openedition.org/clio/493.
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
oral exam
Further information:
Oral examination
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Contacts
Course director
Prof. Frédéric BAUDEN
Département des Sciences de l'Antiquité
Place du 20-Août, 7 à B-4000 Liège
Tél. 04 366 53 32 - Fax 04 366 56 55
E-mail F.Bauden@ulg.ac.be
Secrétariat
Valérie ELIAS
Tél. 04 366 55 44
Course lecturer
Dr. Bogdan SMARANDACHE
Département des Sciences de l'Antiquité
Place du 20-Août, 7 à B-4000 Liège
Adresse mail : Bogdan.Smarandache@uliege.be