UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

In the years 1978-79 events in different countries signaled the beginning of a new era of Islamic state building. In Iran a pro-Western monarchy was overthrown and replaced with a revolutionary Islamic government. In Pakistan a military dictator aspired to Islamizing the state. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan sparked the resistance movement called the Afghan jihad, paving the way for the rise of the Taliban. And militants seized and briefly held the Kaaba, the holiest of Muslim religious sites. These events transformed the domestic politics of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan and presented new possibilities for Muslim statehood. Starting with an examination of the ideas and ideals of revolutionary Islam that took shape in the shadow of American empire during the Cold War, the course goes on to explore change and social and political organization in Muslim societies around the world. This course uses the methods of contemporary history to identify and examine the forces that shape our present.