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Osher Life Long Learning Institute
Office of Extended Education
Humboldt State University
1 Harpst St.
Arcata, CA 95521-8299

Phone (707) 826-5880

   FALL 2008
   HISTORY & CIVILIZATION

Islam as Gateway to Modernity

Archaeology of Mongolia

 

Islam as Gateway to Modernity

Islam was to western civilization what Hellenic Greece was to agrarian Rome. This course explores the influence of Islam on the West via Cordoba, Palermo, Istanbul and Venice. The six sessions address these city-scapes and include two guest speakers who will discuss central concepts of Islam, the Sunna, Shia and Sufism.

Topics include:

• Cordoba, Spain: when Muslims, Christians
  and Jews enjoyed the Ornament of the World
  
• Sicily: Gateway for poetry and philosophy
  
• Constantinople/Istanbul: The mart
  of coffee and commerce
  
• Venice: Islamic subtext for Europe’s emporium
  
• Sufism: The ecumenical bridge, with
  professor Saeed Mortazavi, chair, School of Business, HSU
  
• The Path: Diversity within orthodoxy with
  professor Abdul Aziz, lecturer in the School of Business, HSU

date ..... Wed., Sept. 17-Oct. 22
time ..... 6-8 p.m.
fee/members ..... $60 (crn 43417)
fee/nonmembers ..... $75 (crn 43446)
place ..... Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center, Multipurpose Room
instr ..... Tom Gage

Tom Gage is a professor emeritus, English department, HSU and Fulbright Scholar in Syria. Gage’s first encounter with the Middle East was in 1958. He has returned to the area more than a dozen times to visit, lecture and/or direct academic programs. He has taught a number of courses at HSU dealing with the Islamic culture, especially related to Turkish and Arabic speaking nations.

Archaeology of Mongolia

The archaeology of Mongolia is little known by the academic community, let alone the general public. Yet the country possesses a rich archaeological heritage stretching from the Paleolithic to the twentieth century. Mongolia is home to the earliest monuments in any Turkic language, ruins of cities in the steppe, and “great watts,” the remnants of which can be traced for miles through the grasslands. In 2005, the instructor participated in an archaeological survey in Mongolia directed by the Smithsonian Institution and the Institute of Archaeology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. He returned this summer to work on excavation of some of the sites discovered by the survey and will share his recent findings with this class.

date ..... Tues., Nov. 11,18 and Dec. 2 (no class Nov. 25)
time ..... 1-3 p.m.
fee/members ..... $30 (crn 43411)
fee/nonmembers ..... $40 (crn 43918)
place Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center, Multipurpose Room
instr ..... Robert Service

Robert Service holds degrees from UC Berkeley and University of London. He has been a student of Mongolia for some 45 years and has served the faculties of the University of GoHingen (Germany), Indiana University and Humboldt State University. He has taught Mongolian language and East and Central Asian history. His archaeological experience includes work in England, the Sudan and Mongolia.

 

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