France and Islam

Catalog description

This seminar examines French encounters with the Muslim world from the Middle Ages to the present. Over the last millennium, France has viewed Saracens, Moriscos, Turks, Berbers, and Arabs with admiration and fear, disdain and incomprehension. Between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, French soldiers battled in the Holy Land; for several hundred years after that, France and the Ottoman Empire exchanged diplomats, traders and slaves. The colonial occupation of Algeria that began in 1830 ended violently in 1962. By then, the empire that struck back had also come home through large waves of immigration. Today, the social and economic status, religious affiliation, political significance and cultural impact of French citizens of North African descent are the subject of burning national debate. Taking a long view on Franco-Muslim relations, the course will explore such topics as the Crusades, Mediterranean piracy and captivity, Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, the Algerian War of Independence, the "veil affair," riots in the suburbs of Paris and World Cup soccer. Offered as ETHS 234 and HSTY 234 . Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.