Islamic Art History, as an academic discipline, was constructed and defined within the Orientalistic discourse, which, in its turn, constructed the Orient as Europe's cultural contestant, and one of its deepest and most recurring images of the Other. Writing the narrative of Islamic art enabled the differentiation between East and West; between "us" and the Other". As a result, most studies of Islamic art begin with the birth of Islam and end with in the 19th century or early twentieth century, and with the rise of the nation-states. While until the 1970s the discourse within the discipline of Islamic art history revolved around the question "what was Islamic about Islamic art?" in the last decades researchers explore the limits of Islamic art history: what were the implications of categorizing and classifying Islamic objects? what is the geographical space? what is the historical period? and is it possible to still discuss secular models of Islamic art history?

This course will explore did "Islamic art" end during the 19^th century or the beginning of the twentieth century? Did Islamic cultural influenced pre-modern objects of art and architecture from the Islamic land and did it cease to influence art and architecture of the Islamic lands following the rise of the nations-states? and finally, what are the consequences of the fact that art and architecture produced by Muslims within Muslim's states cannot be categorized as Islamic art and architecture within the discipline of art history?