JWST-3530 (3) Jews and Muslims: The Multiethnic HIstory of Istanbul

Examines the contemporary issues, history, and culture of Jewish-Muslim relations in a place that was for at least 500 years the crossroads of civilization. Jews and Muslims have a history that goes back to the origins of Islam in the seventh century. For much of that history, Jews living in Muslim lands served important roles in their societies, no more so than in the Ottoman Empire. More recently, the Muslim world has become inhospitable to Jewish communities, so much so that nearly all Jewish communities in Muslim countries have disappeared. Although there are small Jewish communities in Tunisia, Morocco and Iran there is only one Muslim country in the 21st century that has a thriving Jewish community and a group of students and scholars eager for in-depth study of their multicultural Jewish heritage. That country is Turkey. Same as IAFS 3530 and RLST 3530. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity.