Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online
“Mihrab at the Great Mosque of Córdoba” Short-form video introducing the mihrab and its mosaic decoration
“Munya” Short-form video introducing the villas of 10th c. Cordoba
Global History Teaching Collaborative (GAHTC)
“Forms and Mechanisms of Exchange in the Medieval Western Mediterranean” (Lecture 5 of The Medieval Mediterranean: A Crossroads module). Lecture script and accompanying Powerpoint aimed at an introductory-level History of Architecture audience
University of Edinburgh
Postgrad:
Digital Islamic Art History (HIAR11117) This course introduces students to digital art history scholarship, methods, and tools and explores the application of digital practices to the specific needs of Islamic visual culture.
Around 900: The Early Islamic West in a Global Context (HIAR11099)
We examine the monuments and visual/material culture of 9th century Aghlabid dynasty of Tunisia and the 10th century Cordoban Umayyad court of Spain, and consider trading, political, and other connections that linked the arts of these court societies to those of northern Iberia and Europe beyond the Pyrenees (including the Vikings), the Islamic and Byzantine territories to the east, and other areas of the western Mediterranean such as Sicily. Themes include connections to Antiquity and Late Antiquity, issues of centre/periphery in Islamic art history, urbanism, visual culture as a means of self-fashioning, interchanges with non-Muslim polities, conceptions of earthly sovereignty, the divine, gender, and connections between the arts and other spheres of cultural production.
Undergrad Honors:
Stars, Robots, and Talismans: Science, Magic & Medieval Islamic Visual Culture (HIAR10166). We examine the visual and material culture of the exact sciences and magic in early and medieval Islamic societies (c. 650-1350). We consider objects, manuscripts, and architecture that unite these realms, including talismans, astrolabes, and a variety of mechanical devices.
The Arts in the Age of the Great Caliphs (HIAR10165). We explore the architecture and arts of the period from roughly 650-1250. Structured as a series of two-hour seminars, each week focuses on a caliphal dynasty or a broad theme such as global connections, gender, and digital tools for art history.
UNC-Chapel Hill (2006- 2018)
ARTH 956: Arts of Umayyad Córdoba
Graduate seminar in Islamic Arts (also open to advanced undergraduates)
The Cordoban Umayyads were one of the four great medieval caliphates, and the only one to rule from Europe. The seminar explores their monuments – most notably the Great Mosque of Córdoba – and celebrated luxury arts in medieval global contexts.
ARTH/ASIA 154: Intro to Islamic Arts & Visual Culture
Fulfills requirements for: VP/BN Gen Education; Asian Studies Major/Minor; Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies Minor; Medieval & Early Modern Studies (MEMS) Minor
A thematic, global view of Islamic art and cultures from the medieval period to the 21st century. Explore Islamic art at UNC’s Ackland Art Museum, and build strong visual, cultural literacy, critical thinking, and university research skills.
ARTH 562 – Islamic Urbanism
Fulfills: HS/BN Gen Education; Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies Minor
Explores development, urban forms, & social structures of major Islamic cities.
ARTH/ASIA 154: Intro to Islamic Art
Fulfills requirements for: VP/BN Gen Education; Asian Studies Major/Minor; Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies Minor; Medieval & Early Modern Studies (MEMS) Minor
A thematic, global view of Islamic art and cultures from the medieval period to the 21st century. Explore Islamic art at UNC’s Ackland Art Museum, and build strong visual, cultural literacy, critical thinking, and university research skills.
ARTH 80-001- First Year Seminar: Islamic Art & Science (Fall 2015)
Fulfills HS/BN/CI Gen Ed requirements
This course brings together art and science, and explores how art and material evidence can illuminate history. The Fall 2015 course focused on Abbas Ibn Firnas and A ‘Medieval ‘First in Flight.’ Topics of investigation include astronomy, engineering, geography, medicine, magic, and mathematics. Like all First Year Seminars at Carolina, this is a research-exposure course; I encourage experimentation with digital humanities approaches and tools, and approaches that apply tools in UNC’s Maker/Creator Spaces.
ARTH/ASIA 251: Art in the Age of the Caliphs (Summer II/ Fall 2015)
Fulfills requirements for: WB/ VP/ BN Gen Education and Minors in Medieval & Early Modern Studies (MEMS) Minor, Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies; Asian Studies; Arab Cultures
From the Dome of the Rock to the Mongol invasions, this course explores the art and history of a period that changed world history, and which continues to resonate today. It builds visual and cultural literacy skills while building strong research and critical thinking, reading, and writing skills.
ARTH 956: Graduate Seminar in Islamic Art History
Focuses on the evolving trajectories and discourses of Islamic Art History. We will examine the state of the question according to the field’s current leading scholars and emerging voices, and its intersections with other Art History subfields, as well as with fields such as Religious, Middle East/Area, Medieval, Museum, and Postcolonial Studies. Student research focused on select Islamic objects in the Ackland Museum collections, situating these within the critical contexts of the seminar readings.
OTHER UNC-CH COURSES
Arth 391 Undergraduate Research Seminar: Al-Andalus & Hispania: Architecture & Art in Medieval Iberia (2013)
Arth/Asia 458 Islamic Architecture & the Environment (previously Islamic Palaces, Gardens, and Court Cultures)
Arth/Asia 561 Art and Society in Medieval Islamic Spain and North Africa
