Muslims in a Global Context is a semi-annual mini-course series for students, educators, and the broader community to learn from faculty experts and practitioners about issues of critical importance to the understanding of countries with significant Muslim populations. Each term the cluster of countries changes. Speakers for this session include: Dr. Juan Cole, University of Michigan (Monday, November 11), Dr. James Hoesterey, Emory University, Dr. Sidharth Chandra, Michigan State, Dr. Azlan Tajuddin, LaRoche College.
This course traces the history of the ottoman empire from its origins as an obscure band of frontier warriors, to the highpoint of its geopolitical power in the sixteenth century, and on to its further evolution as an increasingly complex and peaceful society, down to the opening of the period of European imperialism and nation building. It will address not only the ottomans' political power, but also those economic, social, and cultural factors that helped explain that power and gave the empire such a distinctive place in the history of Western Europe, Balkans and the Middle East.
The Renaissance was a decisive movement in world history. It developed as a cultural and intellectual movement in the global context. Between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, Europe and Muslim world engaged in intense exchange of ideas, objects, and skills shaped the Renaissance in Europe and in the Muslim World. This course will begin with a critical history of the evolution of the term.
