Описание:The course will introduce students to the study of Arab society by exploring a variety of interrelated social, political and religious topics. It will be based on theory and methods from the study of society in general (e.g. sociology, political science, cultural studies and psychology of religion), as well as Islamic studies in particular, while not excluding other approaches, such as anthropology, law and gender studies, where appropriate. The course also will examine the structure of Arab society, culture, family, political structure, women’s role, minorities, media and the impact of religion on these elements in contemporary Arab society. Special attention will be paid to unity and diversity of modern Islam. Separate topics of this course will be illustrated by literary works of outstanding modern Arab writers (Taha Hussein, Tawfiq al-Hakim, Naguib Mahfouz, Ghassan Kanafani and others), which will be studied carefully at the classes of the Arabic language, so this course is closely linked with the course of Arabic. The main goal of the course is to reveal the shared features that have distinguished Arab society under the aegis of Islamic civilization, as well as the varieties of experience that have endowed the region with so much cultural diversity.