3-Week SASA Reading Group: Reading the Abbasid Past: History and Islamic Heritage

The era of the Abbasid Caliphate is often described as a “Golden Age” of the Islamic World. Throughout the Abbasid Caliphate, communities contributed to global advances in mathematics, science, medicine, literature, theology, art, and philosophy. The famous collection of stories, “One Thousand and One Nights” was compiled during this time and includes the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid as a protagonist. This reading group will explore the fascinating political, economic, social, and cultural history of the Abbasids and their contributions to the Islamic World and beyond. We will also discuss how history of the Abbasids lives on in our present day in textual and material archives and in intangible heritage practices. As historians, we will engage current scholarly debates and discussions on heritage and memory to help us analyze the Islamic past and its ongoing relevance to our world today. There are no pre-requisites or expectations of prior knowledge of the…