Hist 240-001 Fall - Issues in History: Islamophobia from the Crusaders to Donald Trump
Instructors: Dr. Adnan Husain/Dr. Ariel Salzmann
When did Islam and Muslims become an all-purpose target of Western rage ? Are current policies and violence directed against Muslims in Europe and North America simply responses to acts of terrorism by individuals and groups? Or do they betray a deeper, millennial ambivalence toward Christendom’s most proximate civilizational rival and ally? This course traces the roots of the fraught and complex relationship between the West and the Muslim world from late classical Middle East to contemporary North America. In addition to providing students with an understanding of Islam, the second largest religious civilization with roots in Europe, Asia and Africa, it explores historic patterns of interaction and competition that have shaped Western perspectives. It examines issues of cultural identity, racial and ethnic difference, immigration, citizenship in a longer historical perspective to explore the combination of society anxiety, political opportunism, and the resilient narratives employed by mass media and pundits that continue today to distort the image of Muslims and Islam in the West.
