Economically
-People relied on trade/barter/the importance of Mecca in bringing people together and disseminating news
-Nomadic culture
-Slavery
-Unbalanced distribution of wealth
The Guided Caliphs
-The early caliphs survive in Islamic history as guided advocating social justice, and treating everybody equally
-Early expansion
-This brought Arab Muslims in contact with different ethnic groups and peoples including the Berbers of North Africa
-Islamic Spain/The Golden Age was a period of technology, and (as a result of intensive study of the Islamic faith) Literature- particularly biography, history, and mathematics
Discourses/narratives/ideologies
Gender
-Markers of identity
-Received notions of femininity and masculinity
-Patriarchy etc.
September 5, 2012
Globalism
-Redefines the geopolitical map of the world and redistributes world economy by lifting economic barriers etc.
-Effects on certain 3rd world countries
-Economic globalism vs multi-culturalism or global cultures
Colonial Encounters
-Redefines the relationship between nations and societies
-Establishes power relations between peoples, cultures.
-Challenges received discourses of nation and nationalism
-Redefines economic relations
-Relationship between economic, cultural, and political
General questions to ask
-How do we define ourselves in relation to some/all of these narratives both as individuals and as a community?
-How do these discourses affect social subjects and identify politics?
-How do they create hegemonic narratives under which differences are subsumed
Aesthetic questions/means of representation
-How are these discourses represented in fiction and other representational media?
-What is the status of aesthetic representation in Middle Eastern societies?
-What forms of representation are relevant to indigenous populations?
-How do they compete with imported ones?
-For instance, how does orality situate itself