Teaching & Supervision

Dr Halim Rane is the designer, convenor and lecturer for the following undergraduate courses:

Islam in the Modern World (1603ART)             
This course provides an understanding of Islam and its adherents in the context of contemporary global dynamics. The first part of the course introduces students to the basics of Islam, provides an historical overview of the Islam and the Muslim world, and addresses some fundamental aspects of Islamic law and the question of Islamic states. It then examines the thoughts of key Muslim intellectuals from the modern era until the present and their attempts to come to terms with modernity in addressing critical issues facing Islam. The final part of the course deals with some of the most salient contemporary issues confronting the modern Muslim world.

Islam, Media and Conflict (2611ART)
This course aims to equip students with the intellectual tools to analyse the mechanisms through most people in the West come to ‘know’ Islam and Muslims, the mass media. The course provides students with an historical overview of relations between Islam and the West. Students will also become familiar with various theoretical perspectives in media studies and will utilise this knowledge in the examination of the representation of Islam and Muslim in the media and their impact on inter-community relations. The course will analyse the coverage of various conflicts, their effects on society, and their implications for relations between Islam and the West.

Dr Rane is the convenor and lecturer for the following undergraduate course, which was designed by scholars at the University of Melbourne:

Understanding Islam and Muslim Societies (1602ART)
This course offers a basic introduction to Islam and its practice by Muslims around the world. Students will be introduced to Islamic history with a focus on the life of the Prophet Muhammad and the rise and fall of various Muslim dynasties; the sacred texts of Islam; Islamic theology, philosophy, and mysticism (Sufism); as well as issues pertaining to the differing regional expressions of Islam around the world.

Dr Rane lectures in the following undergraduate course:

            Islamic Law in a Changing World (2612ART)
This course introduces students to the development of Islamic legal theory, its principles (usul al-fiqh), and how they are applied by different schools and scholars to derive religious verdicts based on the sources of Islamic law. Students will also explore classical and contemporary conceptions of shari’ah, as well as modern attempts at law reform and reviving the culture of free and dynamic scholarship through ijtihad (independent judgement). By the end of the course, students should be able to explain past and present developments in Islamic legal thought within their socio-historical context, and identify key intellectual debates among Muslim scholars.

Dr Rane currently supervises the following PhD students:

Eulalia Han

Topic: ‘Australia’s policy on the Israel-Palestine peace process: Influences and implications’

This thesis is concerned with Australia’s current political response towards the Israel-Palestine peace process. It seeks to identify the main factors and influences in the domestic landscape that shape Australia’s foreign policy towards the peace process. From this, this thesis hopes to bring to light the implications of the change in national commitment for the Labor party and what it will broadly mean for Australia should the current policy be maintained in relation to Australian values, identity and commitment to issues of human rights and upholding international law.

Melea Lewis

Topic: ‘A jurisprudential examination of the intersection of ‘Western’ and Islamic understandings of corruption’

These thesis questions conventional remedies for corruption, suggesting that transparency may carry with it certain opacities, its own orientalist gaze, alluding to its Euro-American centricity, universalising western tenets and marginalising of Asian historical, social, political and religious traditions. It aims to recover these traditions, calling them to account and, in turn, allowing them to challenge and contest the signifiers under discussion here, namely, ‘corruption’. For it is the premise of this thesis that ‘corruption’ has been corrupted – by the discourses of orientalism, neo-colonialism and globalism. It is the intention of this thesis to draw attention to the corruption of ‘corruption’ by deconstructing these discourses.

Abdi Hersi

Topic: ‘Immigrant incorporation models, citizenship and belonging: Perspectives of Australian Muslims, the wider society, and the state’

This thesis is concerned with how the concepts of immigrant incorporation, citizenship and belonging are understood by Australian Muslims, members of the wider Australian society, and the state.