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FILOSOFIE, RELIGIONI E STORIA DELL'INDIA E DELL'ASIA CENTRALE
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Dati Generali
Periodo di attivitÃ
Syllabus
Obiettivi Formativi
The course aims to provide solid knowledge and critical understanding of the social, political, economic and cultural processes of modern and contemporary Central Asia. After a series of introductory lectures held by the teacher, the course will deal with the reading of a selection of chapters from three recently published textbooks on Central Asian studies. Students will be encouraged to study consciously, actively and autonomously. Students will give class presentations on assignments. In the final part of the course, students will present reviews of books or articles that will be assigned by the teacher and discussed in class.
ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
The students will have to demonstrate that they know how to orient themselves in the debates related to the topics covered during the course. Attending students will be required to prepare a short power-point presentation on an agreed topic and the preparation of a written paper to be presented during the evaluation.
Making judgements: Students will learn to choose and deepen a topic related to the course program and to develop it independently in a written paper.
Communication skills: Students will learn to select and summarize relevant information from critical texts and to communicate and discuss it effectively in class.
Learning skills: Students will hone their ability to be autonomous in studying, summarizing and presenting academic texts orally, and in academic writing.
Prerequisiti
A good knowledge of written and oral English is required.
For attending students only: knowledge of academic writing will be useful (the correct use and citation of bibliographic sources, the organization and argumentation in an academic text, how to do a bibliographic search)
Basic knowledge (secondary school) of the history of Russia and the Soviet Union, as well as basic knowledge of the geography of the former Soviet Central Asian republics (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan), is useful, but not expressly required. The teacher is available to indicate any preparatory and supplementary readings to students interested in independently undertaking the study of the course topics before the beginning or during the course of the course.
Metodi didattici
The first part of the course will consist of a series of lectures held by the teacher. Seminar lessons will follow for which attending students will prepare oral presentations. Exercises are planned aimed at the preparation of a written essay in English or Italian that attending students will be able to discuss during the exam. Attendance at the course requires the ongoing preparation of the texts of the program (i.e. study and reading of texts of about 30-50 pages in length for each lesson). The detailed timetable of the course will be presented during the introductory lesson.
Verifica Apprendimento
The final exam will consist of an oral test in English or Italian. The evaluation is expressed in 30ths. The oral report and the written essay for attending students who wish to prepare a written paper for the exam contribute to the grade. The topic for the final written paper will be agreed with the teacher during the lessons. The possibility of agreeing on the topic requires regular attendance at the course. Useful information for the preparation of the oral report during the course and of the final written paper will be provided during the lessons.
Evaluation criteria for the exam with paper: quality of the same, oral presentation, ability to connect the topics addressed in the paper with the general ones of the course
Evaluation criteria for the exam without paper: quality of the oral presentation, knowledge and ability to orient oneself in the exam program, ability to connect specific topics and themes with the general themes of the course.
Non-attending students are requested to contact the teacher in good time in order to define the topics of the oral exam focused on the reference texts of the course
Testi
David Montgomery (ed.). Central Asia: Contexts for Understanding. Pittsburgh University Press, 2022.
Jeroen Van den Bosch, Adrien Fauve, Bruno De Cordier (eds.) The European Handbook of Central Asian Studies: History, Politics, and Societies. Stuttgart: ibidem Verlag, 2021.
Isaacs, R. and E. Marat, Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Central Asia, 2022.
Contenuti
TOPICS
1. Islamization of Central Asia
2. Interactions between Pastoral Nomadic and Sedentary Societies
3. Orientalism, Post-colonial and De-colonial frames in Central Asian Studies
4. The religious landscape
5. Ethnic and language policies
6. Economy and environment
7. Pre-colonial Central Asia
8. Colonial Society
9. Soviet Central Asia
10. Post-Soviet Central Asia
11. Anthropological studies in and of Central Asia: perspectives, methods and problems
12 International Relations of Central Asian Countries
Lingua Insegnamento
English
Altre informazioni
The course is particularly suitable in combination with one or more of the courses related to the History, Anthropology, Culture of Islamic and/or ex-socialist countries. The course is preparatory to mobility to affiliated universities in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.