Can we think about Islam beyond the East/West divide? Where do Muslim geographies begin and end? Why do stereotypes like the "Muslim terrorist" and the "oppressed veiled woman" persist? This course explores these questions by examining how Muslim identities and Islam have been socially, culturally, and politically constructed across different times and places.

We begin by critically engaging with theories of liberal democracy and secularism, exploring how they have shaped the positioning of Islam within Western colonial epistemologies and Orientalism. Drawing from geography, postcolonial theory, anthropology, and religious studies, the course challenges the dominance of Western geographic thought by analyzing diverse ways Islam has been lived and understood in different contexts.

Key topics include Muslim femininity and piety, Islamist movements and nationalism, Islamophobia, cultural and creative industries, and the relationship between secularism, urban planning, and the built environment. Through decolonial, anti-capitalist, and anarchist frameworks, students will examine the multiplicity of Muslim experiences in both Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority settings.