Space, place, and identity are terms that have almost become buzz words in most disciplines of the Humanities and Social Sciences. They will be the theoretical bases of this course that focuses on the how they interact and produce each other in the context of the Islamic world. Throughout the course we will ask these central questions: How do interactions in space manifest discourses of power but also make possible subversions of authority? How are spaces, places, and identities produced, negotiated, and re-formulated through myriad forms of encounters and modes of travel? In what ways do our objects of study transform over time due to changes in form, re-use, destruction, the establishment of coercive laws modifying behavior, and subversive behaviors? Based on this conceptual foundation, we will examine the ways in which architecture, cities and urban forms, landscapes and gardens, spaces traversed during travel, sites contested through violence, sites discovered and transformed through archaeology, and representations of these forms created through literature, painting, and travelogues will be part of our study. Working with case studies, the course will begin with the historical Islamic world but then will gradually move to the 19th and 20th centuries where the question of colonial encounters, imperial discourses, and diaspora identities will be paramount. In order to make this large sweep of time, from the beginnings of Islam in the 7th century until the present times, we will situate each site, building, representation, or spatial encounter in a particular socio-political context. At each stage, the formation and reformulations of political, monarchical, religious, and gendered identities will be discussed in the context of space and place.