MES 0850 The Wall, the Drone, and the Tunnel-Theaters of Sovereignty and Resistance
T 4:00-6:30 p.m.
Professor Adi Ophir
Israel/Palestine is a site for experimenting with technologies of security and warfare, including those serving resistance and insurgency. The seminar examines three technologies: drones used for collecting intelligence and “targeted killings;” heavily surveilled separation walls used to enforce a strict regime of movement; tunnels used by insurgency forces for undercover movement. We will study these technologies’ modes of operation; the discourse that represent and justifies their actual deployment; the local and global economy of violence in which they are embedded; the system of state sovereignty which they enable or undermine; and the political regime which they help reproduce or destabilize. DPLL.
MES 0950 Cultures, Societies and Practices of Resistance in the Middle East
Professor Hanan Toukan
This course critically examines the various manifestations of counter-hegemony, resistance and dissent in the societies of the Middle East. Taking as its starting point the fact that much of the literature on politics, culture and society in the Middle East emphasizes the region’s various hierarchies of power, dogged ideologies and prevailing hegemony in ordering identities and experiences, the course proceeds to study the ways in which these dominant forms are in reality countered in cultural production and every day cultural practices. The course will analyze how subcultures, social movements and individuals throughout the region have tried to negotiate with, subvert and resist these forms of social and political hegemonies through the use of various art forms such as writing, poetry, music, political film, political posters and pamphlets, performance art and public art and the mixed outcomes of many of these struggles. The readings are organized thematically rather than geographically, covering major issues in cultural theory, cultural sociology, cultural studies and many of the key readings in Middle Eastern Studies. The course will theorize themes such as the aesthetics of resistance, dissensus, social movements, global culture, subcultures and post-subcultures and illustrate them through specific case studies from different countries in the region.
MES 1999E Displacement and Refugees in the Middle East (COURSE FULL)
TTh 1:00-2:20 p.m.
Professor Sarah Tobin
Displacement and refugees constitute one of the most significant sources of upheaval, instability, and uncertainty in our time. In 100 years, the Middle East saw waves of displaced persons, with no singular explanation and no end in sight: Armenians, Circassians, Palestinians, Iraqis, Yazidis, Kurds, and Syrians. The impetuses for displacement include wars, fall of empires and nations, crafting of new states, and modernization attempts and environmental disasters. They challenge the narratives of the durability of nation-states, ascendancy of capitalism, and emplaced, “timeless” Arab populations. This course includes a mandatory GELT-funded spring break trip to Jordan. Enrollment by instructor permission only. DPLL.
ANTH 1151 Ethnographies of the Muslim Middle East
W 12:30-3:00 p.m.
Professor Anila Daulatzai
An introduction to ethnographic studies of Middle East, focus on: religion, language, modernity, gender, and political culture. Students will engage in critical examination which anthropologists sought to capture Middle Eastern life, and problems that have pervaded anthropological representation, methodologically and theoretically. You will learn, through the ways anthropologists approach the peoples, ideas, and cultures of the region in ways that complement and contradict the knowledge production of other disciplines, the processes we come to understand cultural difference, and ways this encounter sheds light on our selves and practices. Previous course in Anthropology/ Middle East studies is suggested. Enrollment limited to 25. DPLL.
HIST 1445 The Making of the Ottoman World, 15th-20th Centuries
TTh 2:30-3:50 p.m.
Professor Meltem Toksoz
This course treats some of the major themes of Ottoman state and society, one of the major empires of the world out of which many new polities in the Balkans, Anatolia, the Middle East and North Africa emerged during the twentieth century. At the center of the course is the transformation of the “classical” Ottoman state to the early modern and modern through the many shapes and forms it has taken. We will be covering the beginnings from the 15th century and end with the analysis of the making of the modern Ottoman society in the early 20th century.
RELS 0095 Islam
M 2:00-2:50 p.m.
Professor Abed Azzam
This course covers the basic beliefs and practices, political and social institutions, law and theology, philosophy and art that constitute Islam’s history and culture. We will begin to examine the emergence of Muhammad’s message in Arabia in its geopolitical, cultural and religious context to look later at Islamic institutional and intellectual tradition against the backdrop of the Islamic state and society. In the modern period, we will read the social, political and intellectual results of Islam’s encounter with European colonialism. In light of this account, the course concludes by studying contemporary phenomena such as ISIS and European Islam.
Arabic
ARAB 0200: First-Year Arabic
ARAB 0400: Second-Year Arabic
ARAB 0600: Third-Year Arabic
ARAB 0800: Advanced Arabic Language + Culture
ARAB 1200 Modern Arabic Literature in Exile (Miled Faiza)
Anthropology
ANTH 0066S: Contemporary Egypt in Revolution (Sherine Hamdy)
ANTH 1151: Ethnographies of the Muslim Middle East (Anila Daulatzai)
ANTH 1580: ISIS, NAGPRA, and the Academy: Archaeology and Global Issues in Cultural Heritage (Ian Randall)
Archaeology
ARCH 1220 Byzantine Archaeology and Art: Material Stories of a Christian Empire (Sophie Moore)
*Fulfills Capstone Requirement
ARCH 1546 The Monuments Men: Embedded Scholars and the Military-Archaeology Complex (Yannis Hamilakis)
Assyriology
ASYR 1500 Ancient Babylonian Magic and Medicine (Matthew T. Rutz)
*Fulfills Capstone Requirement
Comparative Literature
COLT 0812J Storytellers, Editors, and Archivists in Modern Arabic Narrative (Emily Drumsta)
*Fulfills Capstone Requirement
(anticipated) COLT 1814S The Balkans, Europe’s Other?: Literature, Film, History (Vangelis Calotychos)
*Fulfills Capstone Requirement
COLT 2821N Around 1948: Interdiscplinary Approaches to Global Transformation (Ariella Azoulay, Leela Gandhi)
Egyptology
EGYT 1320 Introduction to Classical Hieroglyphic Egyptian Writing and Language
EGYT 1420 Ancient Egyptian Religion and Magic (James P. Allen)
EGYT 1510 Ancient Egyptian Art II (Laurel D. Bestock)
French
FREN 1070L Islam, Immigration et Identité nationale dans le roman français contemporain (Maan Alsahoui)
History
HIST 0150D Refugees: A Twentieth-Century History (Vazira Zamindar)
HIST 0203 Modern Africa: From Empire to Nation-State (Jennifer Johnson)
HIST 1202 The Shaping of the Classical World: Greeks, Jews, and Romans (Kenneth S. Sacks)
*Fulfills Capstone Requirement
HIST 1445 The Making of the Ottoman World, 15th-20th Centuries (Meltem Toksoz)
HIST 1969B Israel-Palestine: Lands and Peoples II (Omer Bartov)
*Fulfills Capstone Requirement
HIST 1969C Debates in Middle Eastern History (Sreemati Mitter)
HIST 1969D Palestine vs the Palestinians (Areej Sabbagh-Khoury)
HIST 1974A The Silk Roads, Past and Present (Cynthia J. Brokaw) (CANCELED)
International Relations
INTL 1803M Reassessing Contentious Politics, and Social Movements (M. Ali Kadivar)
*Fulfills Capstone Requirement
Judaic Studies
JUDS 0050H Israel's Wars (Rachel Rojanski)
JUDS 0061 Foreigners, Refugees, and the Ethics of Minority (Paul E. Nahme)
*Fulfills Capstone Requirement
JUDS 0200 Elementary Hebrew
JUDS 0400 Intermediate Hebrew
JUDS 0600 Issues in Contemporary Israeli Society, Politics, and Culture in Hebrew (David C. Jacobson)
Modern Greek
MGRK 1210 A Migration Crisis? Displacement, Materiality, and Experience (Yannis Hamilakis)
Persian
PRSN 0200 Basic Persian
PRSN 0400 Intermediate Persian Language and Culture
PRSN 0600 Advanced Persian Language and Culture II
Religious Studies
RELS 0095 Islam
Sociology
SOC 1872T Social Innovation and Disruption: The Case of Modern Turkey (Lisa DiCarlo)
Turkish
TKSH 0200 Introduction to Turkish
TKSH 0400 Intermediate Turkish II