AUTUMN 2002: The World of Islam: From Prophet to Crusaders
Taught by Professor Jere L. Bacharach
7:30-9:00 p.m., Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington
Wednesdays 10/9, 10/23, 11/6, 11/20, 12/4

Considered the fasting growing religion in the world, Islam has its roots in seventh- century Arabia. In this course, we will look at how Islam emerged as an important force on the world stage, including the development of its core beliefs, its political and social structures, and its cultural expressions. Some of the questions we will consider are: Who was the Prophet Muhammad and what was the legacy he left his followers? How did the Quran develop as a sacred text? Join us for a focused exploration of this sophisticated urban-based civilization with its markets and mosques, palaces and scholars. We will move from the seventh-century conquests of the Middle East by nomadic Arabic-speaking Muslims to the arrival of nomadic Turkic-speaking Muslims from the plains of Central Asia and Christian Crusaders from the West five centuries later.

Jere L. Bacharach has been a faculty member in the Department of History at the University of Washington since 1967 and has served as Director of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. He is a specialist on the medieval history of the Middle East and has edited or authored seven books on the subject, as well as numerous articles. Following the tragic events of September 11, he coordintaed a series of public presentations entitled "The Open Classroom."

WINTER 2003: Druids, Poets, Clerics: Ireland's "Golden Age"
Taught by Professor Robin Chapman Stacey
7:30-9:00 p.m., Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington
Wednesdays 1/15, 1/29, 2/12, 2/26, 3/12

Christian missionaries arriving in Ireland in the fifth century C.E. encountered something they had never seen before: a powerful class of native intellectuals charged with the perpetuation and preservation of traditions distinctly different from their own. Druids, poets, and seers had existed also among Celtic-speaking peoples on the continent. In Ireland, however, which had never been Romanized, these and other native professionals were too thoroughly integrated into contemporary political structures to be dislodged. This course explores the various ways in which in these two great traditionsÑone native, pagan, and oral, and the other Latin, Christian, and literateÑcame to terms with one another. How did they reconcile their priorities, perceptions, and personnel? How did the Church rewrite native concepts of gender, of kingship, and of heroic tradition in a manner acceptable to itself? And how does the remarkable literature that results from this fusion of cultures complicate our ideas about "native tradition"?

Robin Chapman Stacey received an M.Litt. in History from Oxford University and a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from Yale, and has been teaching at the University of Washington since 1988. She is the author of The Road to Judgment: From Custom to Court in Medieval Ireland and Wales, and of many articles on Irish, Welsh, and Anglo-Saxon law. She is currently at work on a book about law, politics, and performative speech in medieval Ireland.

SPRING 2003: Why Human Rights Should Be Universal
Taught by Professor William J. Talbott
7:30-9:00 p.m., Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington
Wednesdays 4/2, 4/16, 4/30, 5/14, 5/28

"We hold these truths to be self-evident. . . ." So begins the U.S. Declaration of Independence. But what follows those words is not self-evident. Indeed, throughout most of human history, more people would have judged what follows those words to be self-evidently false than would have judged it to be self-evidently true. If it is not self-evidently true, what is the status of the proposition that there are basic human rights that should be universally respected? In this course, we consider the view that that proposition is a historical discovery about how best to promote human well-being. We will also ask the following questions: How are moral discoveries possible? What characteristics of human beings make it appropriate to treat them as bearers of human rights? Which, if any, human rights should be universal? Is there a conflict between respect for cultural differences and a belief in universal human rights? Is there an alternative to moral relativism that avoids moral imperialism?

William J. Talbott received an undergraduate degree from Princeton and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Harvard University. He has been on the faculty of the University of Washington since 1989. He teaches and has published articles in moral and political philosophy, philosophy of law, epistemology, and rational choice theory. He is currently working on a book on the topic of this course.

For information about previous courses in the Wednesday University Series, please visit our season archives.