Spring 2025

UNXD 1200 – Race, Power, Justice

Taught by Dr. Shenila Khoja-Moolji
This course provides a campus-wide common curriculum that will introduce Georgetown undergraduates to the university’s history and relation to the city, nation, and world, with an emphasis on issues of race, power, and justice. It will also introduce students to experts, conversations, and resources across campus and in the Washington, DC region that address issues of race, power, and justice. It will model having constructive conversations on difficult issues and help to provide students with a sense of Georgetown’s diverse community. The course will meet twice a week for six weeks. Every week, all four hundred students will convene together for a shared event, like a live performance or panel discussion, and then students will convene in smaller discussion sections, each led by a member of the faculty, to discuss the shared event and complementary readings.

CMCU 4110 – Saudi Arabi at a Crossroads

Taught by Dr. Taghreed Alsabeh
Saudi Arabia stands at a crossroads, balancing its traditional tribal structure, the influence of its ruling family, its immense wealth from oil reserves, its religious significance as the home of Islam’s two holiest sites, and its strategic alliance with the United States. This course explores Saudi Arabia’s unique characteristics and how they impact the country’s political landscape, particularly regarding the development of democracy. Students will analyze why Saudi Arabia’s political system differs from other Arab countries’ political regimes that were impacted by the democratization wave during the Arab Spring period, which led Saudi Arabia to survive the wave. The course will examine the challenges and prospects for democratic reform in the country.

CMCU 4150 – Sufism & Society: Origins to Modernity

Taught by Dr. Daanish Faruqi
This course will offer a social and intellectual history of Sufism in all its major aspects. We will begin with a survey of Sufism’s formative period from the 9th to 12th centuries CE, examining the emergence of key Sufi doctrines and practices as well as the formation of the first Sufi communities around accomplished masters. We will then trace the rise to social prominence of the Sufi mode of piety during and after the 12th century in the form of Sufi orders as well as the reaction of nonconformist Sufis to such increasing social success. Along the way, we will also consider such related issues as conversion to Islam, Islamization of originally non-Islamic beliefs and practices, and the relationship between popular religiosity and Sufism. We will also go into multiple geographical contexts, from the medieval Maghrib to South Asia. Time permitting, we will end with readings on contemporary Sufism, politics, and society.

CMCU 4190 – Majoritarianism and Minority Rights in South Asia

Taught by Dr. Badar Khan-Suri
The course aims to provide an Asian response to the debate over the rise of ethno-nationalism, majoritarianism, and the challenges to minority rights. The case of India sheds light on specific reasons behind the decay of democracies. Moreover, the course will investigate how and why ethnoreligious majorities have been weaponizing their discourse against minorities. At the center of this discourse is the Hindutva ideology. The course will examine whether it represents an exclusionary vision. Moreover, the course will investigate whether such an ideology perceives minorities as a threat. Finally, the course will explore how democracy interacts with these dynamics—whether it mitigates or amplifies tensions arising from ethno-nationalism.