Of Wine, Women, and Boys: Re-visiting Medieval Islamic Culture Through Texts

This course examines elements of medieval Islamic culture that, although technically at odds with a strict understanding of Islamic law, were integral to the majority of medieval Muslim societies. Through a mixture of close textual reading, lectures, and class discussion, this course will shed light on the social reality and cultural function/s of the supposedly transgressive behaviors of wine-drinking, and the eroticization of females and young males. These are elements of medieval Islamic culture which have stereotypically (and largely erroneously) been considered “taboo”, both by Orientalist scholars of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and by many modern-day observers of the Middle East and North Africa. The texts read in this course will introduce students to excerpts from some of the most celebrated texts within medieval Arabic, Persian, and Turkish poetry and prose. The texts will be studied in English translation, and no prior knowledge of Arabic, Persian, or Turkish is required.