Summer 2023 Religion BC4001 section 002

Curating Islam in NYC

Call Number 00065
Day & Time
Location
MW 9:00am-12:10pm
113 MILSTEIN CEN
Points 4
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor Najam I Haider
Type SEMINAR
Course Description

This course focuses on the ways in which museums conceptualize, contextualize, curate and display Islamic art.  In the process, it interrogates the degree to which the orientalist past and the secular present shapes our understanding of the Muslim world.  Students will not just engage with material objects from Muslim societies but also consider the choices museums make about their display and presentation.  These choices, in turn, speak to the role of museums in defining a specific understanding of the “sacred.” Finally, students will learn to thoughtfully and critically pose questions about the roles that museums as public institutions play in sharping public and private understandings of Islam.

The course begins with a general discussion of material objects in the study of religion.  This is followed by a broad survey of Islamic Art which both describes and critiques the category as it has been framed in the Academy.  Students then visit a number of museums to learn about the style and content of their Islamic collections.  The course concludes by engaging a different kind of curation, namely oral histories in the Brooklyn Museum.

Web Site Vergil
Subterm 05/22-06/30 (A)
Department Pre-College Program (Barnard)
Enrollment 0 students (4 max) as of 9:05PM Thursday, March 28, 2024
Subject Religion
Number BC4001
Section 002
Division Barnard College
Campus Barnard College
Section key 20232RELI4001X002