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Generating ideas for good practice in teaching Islamic Studies

Generating ideas for good practice in teaching Islamic Studies. Gary R. Bunt. www.heacademy.ac.uk/islamicstudies islamicstudies@heacademy.ac.uk. Objectives of session. Insight and advice on developing an Islamic studies student handbook

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Generating ideas for good practice in teaching Islamic Studies

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  1. Generating ideas for good practice in teaching Islamic Studies Gary R. Bunt www.heacademy.ac.uk/islamicstudies islamicstudies@heacademy.ac.uk

  2. Objectives of session Insight and advice on developing an Islamic studies student handbook Primarily for religious studies perspectives, but also transferable information and advice Designed for postgraduates and undergraduates Builds on a book in preparation on Islamic studies in UK higher education

  3. Key concerns What are the key subject specific issues for a study guide? • Good practice (generic) • Subject specific concerns • Motivation • Outcomes • Undergraduate specific • Postgraduate specific • Resource availability

  4. Why choose IS? • Motivation • Outcomes – personal • Academic interest • Career • Significant and relevant subject • Transferability • Planning: subject choice

  5. Study skills development • Terminology • Transliteration • Formatting • Bibliographical standards • Data recording • Resources • Languages

  6. Study skills development II • Fieldwork, approaches, security • Interviewing • Networking concerns • Relationships with supervisors • Structure of work • Feedback from diverse sources • Textual, archive, digital

  7. Computer Resource use • Use of internet resources for IS (including contemporary materials, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, Google) • Subject matter dictated by contemporary events • Catalogues: library resources and availability of other materials • Wikileaks, political interference

  8. Approaches to subject matter • Symbolism, leadership, source material access and application (QSH), reliability of translations, use of Qur’an databases: fatwa databases, use of sources, library work • Personal worldviews: impact, concepts of academic ‘neutrality’ and their validity (if any). • Academic language v. belief issues (i.e. Islamic terminology and sensitivities)

  9. Approaches to subject matter II • Traditional approaches? Defining ‘Islamic’ perspectives through a spectrum of understanding • Terminology isues: what is ‘authentic’, ‘traditional’, ‘Deobandi’, ‘Salafi’, ‘Barelwi’, ‘Wahhabi’, ‘Sufi’, ‘progressive’, ‘liberal’, ‘modernist’ etc.?

  10. Subject sensitivities • Access to data and individuals • Insider : outsider considerations (are they valid?): pressures of community, family, etc. • How IS disciplines are perceived: a serious subject? Relevant? Working in RS and other contexts

  11. Will examiners get it? Generational gaps: • technology, • worldviews, • political-religious perspectives • Methodological differences • Source conflicts

  12. Controversial subjects • interpretation issues and theories i.e. fatwa authorities, concepts, legal frameworks, political concerns, philosophical approaches, critical commentaries representing particular worldviews • underrepresented subjects under the framework of IS (minority perspectives?) • Gender issues/sexuality • Multiculturalism debate and identity(-ies) • Jihadi discourse [how is this negotiated, for example online]

  13. Controversial subjects • How do academics dialogue in sensitive areas? • Security concerns: fieldwork access and sensitivities, i.e. community access, international travel, fear of publication [can we get an accurate picture of concerns?] • Country subjects • Military subjects

  14. ‘Controversial’ subjects • Censorship: personal, implicit, subtexts for study • Sponsored institutions and chairs: ideas/ideals of neutrality/objectivity – being closely monitored by departments, universities, external agencies [free speech], home countries • Orientalism/post-orientalist debates • Opening up other areas for study, i.e. regions, issues, access • IS in European/N. American/’western’ contexts

  15. Presenting your ideas to others • Timing • Conferences • Workshops • Exposure to criticism/networking v. giving away source code and being plagiarised

  16. www.heacademy.ac.uk/islamicstudies islamicstudies@heacademy.ac.uk

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