Middle East Studies

MES


MES 1170 Iranian Art: Sites and Sights 
Monday, 3:00-5:30 p.m.
Professor: Samine Tabatabaei
Sayles Hall 204

This course introduces students to the modern and contemporary history of art in Iran, including architecture, visual art, cinema, theatre, and politics. It starts with the transition from the Qajar period (1781-1925) and its visual culture to the modern 20th-century nation-state, addressing; processes of urbanization; spread of modern technologies; revolutionary sentiment of 1979; displacement and formation of diasporic communities after the Islamic revolution; and the emergence of Internet technology in the 21st century. This historical backdrop informs investigation into artistic milieus, platforms, and the ever-changing notion of creativity. Course readings consist of excerpts from primary sources in addition to textbook assignments.
DIAP

MES 1968 Approaches to the Middle East
Wednesday, 3:00 – 5:30 p.m.
Professor: Beshara Doumani
Smith-Buonanno Hall 106

This seminar introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of Middle East Studies in the broader context of the history of area studies in the humanities and social sciences. Why and when did the Middle East become an area of study? What are the approaches and topics that have shaped the development of this field? And what are the political implications of contending visions for its future? The readings sample canonical and alternative works and the classes feature visits by leading scholars who research and write on this pivotal and amorphous region.
WRIT


LANGUAGES


Arabic

ARAB 0100 First-Year Arabic (Alla Hassan)
ARAB 0300 Second-Year Arabic (Mirena Christoff)
ARAB 0450A Beginning Levantine Colloquial (Elsa Belmont Flores) DIAP
ARAB 0500 Third-Year Arabic (Miled Faiza)
ARAB 0700 Advanced Arabic: Tales of the City (Alla Hassan)
ARAB 0850 Advanced Reading and Composition: Kalila wa-Dimna (Miled Faiza)

Hebrew

HEBR 0100 Elementary Hebrew (Ruth Adler Ben Yehuda)
HEBR 0300 Intermediate Hebrew (Ruth Adler Ben Yehuda)
HEBR 0500 Writing and Speaking Hebrew (Ruth Adler Ben Yehuda)

Turkish

TKSH 0100 Introduction to Turkish Language and Culture I (Esra Ozdemir) Flyer
TKSH 0300 Intermediate Turkish
 (Esra Ozdemir) 
TKSH 0500 Advanced Turkish I (Esra Ozdemir)


ELECTIVES


Courses that may count towards electives, meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies to discuss

Anthropology

ANTH 2253 Transnational Feminist Politics and Knowledge Production (Nadje Al-Ali) Graduate seminar

Archaeology and the Ancient World

ARCH 2710 The Archaeology of Nubia and Egypt (Laurel Bestock) Graduate seminar

Assyriology

ASYR 2400 Akkadian Literary and Religious Texts (Matthew Rutz)

Comparative Literature

COLT 1610W Whites, White Jews and Us: Radical Black, Arab & Jewish Thinkers (Ariella Azoulay) DIAP | WRIT
COLT 1710C Literary Translation Workshop (Emily Drumsta) 
COLT 1814S The Balkans, Europe's Other?: Literature, Film, History (Vangelis Calotychos)

Egyptology

EGYT 0500 The Pyramids in Context: Archaeology of Life and Religion of Death in Old Kingdom Egypt (M. Almansa Villatoro)
EGYT 1310 Introduction to Classical Hieroglyphic Egyptian Writing and Language (Middle Egyptian I) (C. Alvarez)
EGYT 1330 Selections from Middle Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts (James Allen)
EGYT 2410 Late Egyptian (Leo Depuydt)
EGYT 2610 Introduction to Demotic (Leo Depuydt)

French

FREN 1410R Images d'une guerre sans nom: The Algerian War in Literature and Film (Ourida Mostefai) DIAP | WRIT

History

HIST 1202 Formation of the Classical Heritage: Greeks, Romans, Jews, Christians, and Muslims (Kenneth Sacks) DIAP | WRIT
HIST 1969A Israel-Palestine: Lands and Peoples I (Omer Bartov) WRIT
HIST 1969C Debates in Middle Eastern History (Sreemati Mitter) DIAP | WRIT
HIST 2971U Population Displacements and the Making of the Modern World 
(Beshara Doumani) Graduate seminar

International and Public Affairs

IAPA 1803 Humanitarian Response in Modern Conflict (David Polatty) WRIT

Judaic Studies

JUDS 0065 Ancient Israelite and Jewish Narrative and Artistic Image (Larry Wills) WRIT
JUDS 1635 Problems in Israelite History (Saul Olyan)

Modern Culture and Media

MCM 1504R Iranian Cinema (Joan Copjec) DIAP
MCM 2120P Photography on the Picket Line: Unlearning Imperial Formations of Photography (Ariella Azoulay) Graduate seminar

Religious Studies

RELS 0090A Women and Gender in Ancient Religions (Susan Harvey) First Year Seminar (FYS) | WRIT 
RELS 0090M Islam, Violence and Media (Nancy Khalek) FYS
RELS 0600E Islamic Modernities: Religion, Culture, and Power (Nancy Khalek)

Turkish

TKSH 0720A Understanding Modern Turkey Through Film and Literature (Esra Ozdemir) 



DIAP

MES 1170 Iranian Art: Sites and Sights (Samine Tabatabaei)
ARAB 0450A Beginning Levantine Colloquial (Elsa Belmont Flores)
COLT 1610W Whites, White Jews and Us: Radical Black, Arab & Jewish Thinkers (Ariella Azoulay)
FREN 1410R Images d'une guerre sans nom: The Algerian War in Literature and Film (Ourida Mostefai)
HIST 1202 Formation of the Classical Heritage: Greeks, Romans, Jews, Christians, and Muslims (Kenneth Sacks)
HIST 1969C Debates in Middle Eastern History (Sreemati Mitter)
MCM 1504R Iranian Cinema (Joan Copjec)