MES
MES 0100 The Middle East: Cultures & Societies
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 10:00 – 10:50 a.m.
Professor: Alex Winder
Location: 111 Thayer Street, Watson Institute, room 112
This course highlights major cultural, social, and political developments in the amorphous region known, since the 20th century, as the Middle East. Covering expanses of space and time, this course attends to a diversity of peoples and polities, and considers different regional concepts that include some or all of the territories normally included in the Middle East (including the Fertile Crescent, the Mediterranean world, the Indian Ocean world, the Arab world, and the Muslim world) and addresses the region's coherence in terms of shared historical and political experiences, religious and cultural references or practices, and/or socialities and ways of being.
MES 1199 Anti-Semitism, Racism, Anti-Zionism: Debates, Contexts, Stakes
Thursday, 4:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Professor: Adi Ophir
Location: Paige-Robinson Hall 503
Over the last two decades, negative perceptions, conceptions, and treatment of Jews, and the effort to preempt and suppress them have been marked by fierce debates about “antisemitism.” Everything about the term – what it designates, its historical, theological, and scientific origins, its current targets, how to trace and fight it, and its relation to racism, colonialism and anti-colonial struggles, anti-Zionism, and Islamophobia – is disputed among scholars, educators, and political actors, creating odd alliances and dividing old communities. The seminar offers a study of contemporary antisemitism in the context of these debates and their historical background, theoretical presuppositions, and political stakes.
RPP | WRIT
MES 1301 Interventions and Activism in the Contemporary Middle East
Wednesday, 3:00 – 5:30 p.m.
Professor: Fulya Pinar
Location: Rockefeller Library 205
It is not uncommon to hear simplifying perspectives when it comes to analyses of politics and the everyday lives of people in the Middle East. Instead of reducing lived experiences into binary categorizations (success or failure, authoritarian or democratic), this course examines the intricate relations between top-down political decisions, interventions and bottom-up resistance movements. It raises questions about the connections among economy, crises, democracy, and humanitarianism, and introduces diverse stories and perspectives. Using comparative historical and social scientific analysis, we will discuss topics ranging from struggles against colonial containment to the role of urban movements in social change; from the impacts of Global North-induced crises on Islamic mobilization to the use of humanitarianism as a governance tool; from LGBTQ+ movements to artistic and digital unrest; and from “Arab” Spring to the intersectionality of struggles across identities.
WRIT
MES 1501 The Palestinian Revolution, 1948-1982
Tuesday, 4:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Professor: Abdel Razzaq Takriti
Location: Friedman Hall 101
The phenomenon generally referred to in Arabic as the Palestinian Revolution (al-Thawra al-Filastiniya) was momentous by any standard. Unfolding over several decades between 1948 and 1982, it had profound implications for the history of Palestine, the Middle East, and global anti-colonialism. Traditionally, it is studied using top-down state, diplomatic and military themes in history and politics. In contrast, this course focuses on the grassroots level, approaching Palestinian revolutionaries as subjects, rather than objects, of politics and history. While taking account of the role of external historical forces, the focus here is on Palestinian popular structures, movements, cadres, philosophies, feminist initiatives, songs, poetry, art, tactics, and strategies. As such, the course explores the development of collective agency, political production, and active engagement with history. It also addresses transnational connections that bound the Palestinian revolution with other anti-colonial struggles and solidarity movements worldwide.
RPP | WRIT
LANGUAGES
Arabic
ARAB 0200 First-Year Arabic (Alla Hassan, Elsa Belmont Flores)
ARAB 0400 Second-Year Arabic (Miled Faiza)
ARAB 0600 Third-Year Arabic (Miled Faiza)
ARAB 0950 Advanced Reading and Composition: Arabic Fiction in the West (Miled Faiza)
Hebrew
HEBR 0200 Elementary Hebrew (Ruth Adler Ben Yehuda)
HEBR 0400 Intermediate Hebrew (Ruth Adler Ben Yehuda)
HEBR 0600 Issues in Contemporary Israeli Society, Politics, and Culture in Hebrew (David Jacobson)
Persian
PRSN 0200 Basic Persian (Michelle Quay)
PRSN 0400 Intermediate Persian Language and Culture (Michelle Quay)
Turkish
TKSH 0110 Intensive Elementary Turkish Language and Culture (Esra Ozdemir)
TKSH 0200 Introduction to Turkish (Esra Ozdemir)
TKSH 0400 Intermediate Turkish II (Esra Ozdemir)
ELECTIVES
For courses that may count towards electives, meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies to discuss
Anthropology
ANTH 1150 Middle East in Anthropological Perspective (Nadje Al-Ali)
Assyriology
ASYR 0320 The Origin(s) of Science (John Steele) FYS
Biblical Hebrew
BHBR 0200 Readings in Biblical Hebrew (Timothy Gilmartin)
Comparative Literature
COLT 0510K The 1001 Nights (Elias Muhanna) WRIT
COLT 0711L The Quran and its Readers (Elias Muhanna) WRIT
Egyptology
EGYT 1030 Collapse! Ancient Egypt after the Pyramid Age (Christelle Alvarez)
EGYT 1320 Introduction to Classical Hieroglyphic Egyptian Writing and Language (Middle Egyptian II) (Christelle Alvarez)
EGYT 1400 Ethiopia Shall Stretch Forth Her Hands: Black Reception of Ancient Egypt and Nubia (Christopher Cox) RPP
EGYT 1420 Magic, Mummies, and Drugs: Medicine and Physicians in Ancient Egypt (James Allen) WRIT
EGYT 1490 Ancient Egyptian Religion and Magic (Leo Deopuydt)
History
HIST 0273B Religion and European Colonialism, 1700-1900 (Shahzad Bashir)
HIST 1202 Formation of the Classical Heritage: Greeks, Romans, Jews, Christians, and Muslims (Kenneth Sacks) RPP | WRIT
HIST 1960S North African History: 1800 to Present (Jennifer Johnson)
HIST 1964L Slavery in the Early Modern World (Adam Teller) RPP | WRIT
Humanities
Judaic Studies
JUDS 0608 The Parting of the Ways?: Questioning Jewish/Christian Difference (Jae Hee Han) WRIT
Persian
PRSN 0720 Modern Iran: Literature, Media & Pop Culture (Michelle Quay)
Religious Studies
RELS 0090F Friendship in the Ancient World (Saul Olyan) FYS | WRIT
RELS 0325 How the Bible Became Holy (Michael Satlow) RPP | WRIT
RELS 1530B Heresy and Orthodoxy in Islamic Thought (Nancy Khalek)
University Courses
UNIV 1003 Jerusalem: Jews, Christians, Muslims (Katharina Galor) WRIT
RPP
EGYT 1400 Ethiopia Shall Stretch Forth Her Hands: Black Reception of Ancient Egypt and Nubia (Christopher Cox)
HIST 1202 Formation of the Classical Heritage: Greeks, Romans, Jews, Christians, and Muslims (Kenneth Sacks)
HIST 1964L Slavery in the Early Modern World (Adam Teller)
RELS 0325 How the Bible Became Holy (Michael Satlow)