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Muslim urban traditions and urban expressions
Course dates for this course will be announced in 2009. Please continue to check our website for details, or contact us on ismc.shortcourses@aku.edu.
Course description
This course is designed to expose participants to the forms of cultural expressions (aesthetic and utility in court and daily culture) that have developed in Muslim societies, with a focus on the urban traditions. The course provides a general introduction to the art and architectural idioms of Muslim societies as well as a historical overview of the expressions of material culture by examining developments in specific (urban) locales. Finally, the course seeks to highlight issues facing contemporary Muslim societies as they grapple with the aesthetic impacts of modernity and seek to formulate appropriate aesthetic expressions for today.
Course objectives
To present salient aspects of the aesthetic idiom and the material culture coming from Muslim contexts;
- To show both the development and variations on this idiom over time;
- To expose participants to the aesthetic traditions and material heritage of significant historical urban spaces within Muslim societies; and,
- To develop an understanding of major contemporary issues facing Muslim urban settings as they grapple with the impact of modernity and develop their aesthetic traditions in this milieu.
Session topics
- Introduction to art and architecture of the Muslim world pre-Islamic traditions, urban realities and developments: Damascus, Baghdad, Samarra, Aleppo, Cairo, Cordoba
- The Seljuk and Ottoman legacy: Konya, Istanbul, Bursa, Edirne
- The eastern legacy (Timurid, Safavid, and Moghul): Samarqand, Isfahan, Lahore and Delhi
- Palaces and homes
- Palaces and houses from different regions of the Muslim world, house, society and social distinction
- Challenges of modernity: adoption of modernity by urban societies in the 19th and early 20th centuries
- Muslim heritage today: presentation, preservation and invention: material heritage and its contemporary implications.
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