Arabian Nights and Days: The World of the 1001 Nights

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• scholarly models of medieval Middle Eastern society;
• the potential and problems of material, historical and literary sources;
• the historical construction of identities.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• show an increasing level of confidence in discussion and debate;
• sustain an argument and explain your ideas in written work;
• handle a range of primary and secondary sources with an appropriate degree of sophistication;
• evaluate the contribution of different kinds of data to a single topic.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• analyse conflicting views;
• critically examine the presentation of Middle Eastern society in medieval sources and modern writing;
• determine the importance or otherwise of key developments in thinking about the nature of medieval Middle Eastern society.

The module is organised thematically. Each week, we will consider a particular narrative or story taken from the 1001 Nights, within which a particular theme will be identified. This topic will be introduced during the lecture, with specific sources relating to the subject to be discussed in detail during the subsequent seminars. Themes may include: court/palace culture; social stratification and mobility; urban landscape and setting; trade and economic activity; gender; hospitality, social life, food/drink and dining; professions and professional activities; recent reception, Orientalism and cultural politics; and more.

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include

• Lectures
• Classes/Seminars

Learning activities include

• Lectures
• Classes/Seminars
• Independent study

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Warner, N.J. (2005). The Monuments of Historic Cairo. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.

Milwright, M. (2010). Introduction to Islamic Archaeology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Northedge, A. & D. (2015). The Archaeological Atlas of Samarra: Samarra Studies II. London: British Institute for the Study of Iraq (available at www.bisi.ac.uk).

Irwin, R. (2009). The Arabian Nights: A Companion. London: Taurisparke Paperbacks (e-book via Webcat).

Irwin, R. (2010). Mamluks and Crusaders: Men of the Sword and Men of the Pen. Surrey and Burlington VT: Ashgate Variorum.

Bennison, A.K. (2009). The Great Caliphs: the golden age of the ‘Abbasid empire. London/New York: Yale University Press.

Petry, C.F. (ed.) (1998). The Cambridge History of Egypt 1: Islamic Egypt, 640-1517. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

(2008). The Arabian Nights, trans. by Husain Haddawy from the edition by Muhsin Mahdi. London/New York: W.W. Norton & Co..

Kennedy, H.N. (2004). The Court of the Caliphs: The Rise and Fall of Islam’s Greatest Dynasty. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External