FRS 002 — Sec. 016 — (2 unit) — CRN 53604 — W 10:00 – 11:50am — 159 Olson
Literary Representations of Islam in the English Enlightenment: Investigating the Archive

Instructor: David Alvarez, Department of English, College of Letters and Science

Description: This research seminar gives students an opportunity to read some neglected texts that frame our understanding of Islam and to engage in some literary sleuthing. In the first half of the course students will read some of the more well-known pieces of orientalist literature in this period while learning and applying research skills that will allow them to delve into libraries at UC Davis and elsewhere to locate forgotten texts on this topic, some of which we will choose to read and evaluate in the second half of the course.

Field Trip: Library class on advanced computer searches of rare book libraries and an introduction to the Department of Special Collections, Shields Library.

Format: The primary work of the course will be reading the selected texts very closely and learning how to perform advanced library research (a useful skill for college and the workplace). Students will improve their reading, writing, speaking, and computer skills while investigating a topic of some relevance to contemporary social and political issues. Under the instructor’s guidance, students will work in small groups for class presentations of close readings designed to jumpstart discussion and analysis. Students will also attend a specially-tailored library class that will train them to search rare book libraries (especially our own at UC Davis) and locate texts relevant to our research. The results of this seminar may be published as research on the World Wide Web and may also contribute to an anthology of literary representations of Islam and Muslims from 1660-1789. Grading: Class participation (33%), development of a bibliography of English oriental texts from a rare-book library of the student’s choice (33%), group presentations of close readings of short texts selected by students for class reading during weeks 8-10 (34%).

About the Instructor: After graduating from UC Davis with a double major in Comparative Literature and Philosophy, David Alvarez completed his Ph.D. at Cornell University. He has taught at Cornell, the University of Rochester, and Davidson College, and also held a Ford Postdoctoral Fellowship at UC Berkeley before returning to UC Davis last year. He specializes in Enlightenment Studies, and his research seminar continues his work on the relationship between literature, religion, and politics from 1660-1720.