ISLM ST M111
Introduction to Islamic Archaeology
Description: (Same as Art History M119C and Middle Eastern Studies M111.) Lecture, three hours. From earliest monuments of Islam in Arabia and Jerusalem to humble remains of small Egyptian port, broad focus on archaeological and standing remains in central Islamic lands (primarily Syria, Egypt, and Iraq), Turkey, Iran, North Africa, and Spain. Profound cultural transformations occurred from birth of Islam in 7th century to early Ottoman period in 16th and 17th centuries, which are traceable in material records. Assessment of effectiveness of tools afforded by historical archaeology to aid understanding of past societies. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - Dr. Burke is an extremely thorough professor, perhaps a little to the detriment of actually engaging her students with the material. I enrolled in her class as someone already extremely interested in religious studies, archaeology, the history of the middle east, and with a strong tolerance for dense readings and writing critique. I still had a hard time with some of the readings she handed out, and I found her critique of the papers so heavy-handed it was baffling to me. I was really, really interested and excited by her lectures but her grading quickly beat that out of me. I spent more time combing every single reading to ensure I didn't accidentally miss a reference somewhere (and therefore get demoted points) than I did actually engaging with any of the course material or synthesizing information. Initially, I read each paper thoroughly and thought about how I could integrate them together, but after being marked down for not including small things, like single-sentence lines in certain papers, I quickly changed strategies to just CTRL+Fing through the readings for shared vocabulary and then forcing myself to talk about whatever words I could find in every single paper. I don't think her course is HARD, it's just that she cares so much about the small details that it sucks the joy out of learning about the subject matter. Her slides are so thoughtful and she covers the material with what is clearly a lifetime of love and dedication. I came away from the class with a fascination about so many things I had never considered before going into it. Yet, the grading stressed me out so much that I found myself dreading coming into class and losing sleep over the next reading assignments. I understand it's on me as a student for caring so much about my grades, but for those of us here on merit scholarships and planning on pursuing graduate school, such exacting grading is the fastest way to sour the learning experience.
Winter 2024 - Dr. Burke is an extremely thorough professor, perhaps a little to the detriment of actually engaging her students with the material. I enrolled in her class as someone already extremely interested in religious studies, archaeology, the history of the middle east, and with a strong tolerance for dense readings and writing critique. I still had a hard time with some of the readings she handed out, and I found her critique of the papers so heavy-handed it was baffling to me. I was really, really interested and excited by her lectures but her grading quickly beat that out of me. I spent more time combing every single reading to ensure I didn't accidentally miss a reference somewhere (and therefore get demoted points) than I did actually engaging with any of the course material or synthesizing information. Initially, I read each paper thoroughly and thought about how I could integrate them together, but after being marked down for not including small things, like single-sentence lines in certain papers, I quickly changed strategies to just CTRL+Fing through the readings for shared vocabulary and then forcing myself to talk about whatever words I could find in every single paper. I don't think her course is HARD, it's just that she cares so much about the small details that it sucks the joy out of learning about the subject matter. Her slides are so thoughtful and she covers the material with what is clearly a lifetime of love and dedication. I came away from the class with a fascination about so many things I had never considered before going into it. Yet, the grading stressed me out so much that I found myself dreading coming into class and losing sleep over the next reading assignments. I understand it's on me as a student for caring so much about my grades, but for those of us here on merit scholarships and planning on pursuing graduate school, such exacting grading is the fastest way to sour the learning experience.
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