Descriptions of selected courses are provided below. Consult the listings of the Departments of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (G77), Anthropology (G14), Hebrew and Judaic Studies (G78), History (G57), and Politics (G53); the Institute of Fine Arts (G43); and the Program in Religious Studies (G90) for additional course offerings and descriptions.

NEAR AND MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES

Internship in Near Eastern Studies
G68.2996  Feldman. 1-4 points.

Master’s Thesis Research
G68.2998  Staff. 1-4 points.

Problems and Methods in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
G77.1687  Staff. 4 points.
Introduction to key issues and methods in the study of the Middle East.

ANTHROPOLOGY

Cities of the Middle East
G77.1626  Gilsenan. 4 points.

Anthropology for Middle Eastern Studies
G77.1636  Gilsenan. 4 points.

POLITICS, ECONOMICS, AND SOCIOLOGY

Sociology of the Middle East
G68.2785  Staff. 4 points.

Comparative Political Economy of the Middle East
G53.2533  Mitchell. 4 points.

Government and Politics of North Africa
G53.2538  Staff. 4 points.

Middle Eastern Government and Politics
G53.2590  Kazemi, Mitchell. 4 points.

JOURNALISM

Reporting the Middle East
G68.1720  Identical to G54.1720 and G77.1720. Staff. 4 points.
Critical approach to the process and forms by which political developments are brought to the attention of the Western public and the problems of providing fast, accurate information to a target public whose knowledge base is usually low or skewed. Provides a theoretical and practical grasp of current issues; the nature of news gathering and reporting in the region; and the roles of local media and regional government.

MIDDLE EASTERN HISTORY

Gender, Empire, and the Nation in the Middle East and South Asia
G68.1999  Balaghi. 4 points.
Examines the shifting paradigms of gender in the Middle East and South Asia throughout the process of building, imposing, resisting, and dismantling empire. The ruptures of colonialism recast gender relations, and the alchemy of race, gender, and ethnicity figured prominently in the formation of anticolonial nationalisms. The historical memory of empire continues to play an important role in the discourses of postcolonial antifeminist movements. Examines the history of women in Iran, India, and Algeria in the 19th and 20th centuries.

History and Memory in the Middle East and South Asia
G68.2000  Balaghi. 4 points.
Examines the contentious politics of memory at moments of rupture, dislocation, and displacement in the construction of nationalism in the Middle East and South Asia. Nations create and recall memories as a means of articulating communalism, coalescing distinct identities, and justifying political positions. Popular memory can serve as an effective means of resistance to the national canon and its erasures by groups who are marginalized in the national narrative. Movements of peoples, advances in transportation, and developments in the new media in the 19th and 20th centuries gave rise to particular expressions of national memories with commensurate modes of political behavior.

History of the Middle East, 600-1200
G77.1640  Staff. 4 points.

History of the Middle East, 1200-1800
G77.1641  McChesney. 4 points.

History of the Middle East, 1750-Present
G77.1642  Fahmy, Lockman. 4 points.

Topics in Medieval Islamic History
G77.1646  Staff. 4 points.

Seminar in the History of the Modern Middle East I, II
G77.1653, 1654  Fahmy, Lockman. 4 points per term.

Modern Iran (1800 to the Present)
G77.1661  Chelkowski. 4 points.

Egypt in Modern Times
G77.1664  Fahmy, Lockman. 4 points.

Topics in Ottoman History
G77.2680  Peirce. 4 points.

The Mandate System in the Middle East
G77.2754  Zweig. 4 points.

History of Contemporary Israel
G78.1693  Staff. 4 points.

LAW, PHILOSOPHY, AND RELIGION

Introduction to the Qur’an
G77.1609  Katz. 4 points.

Classical Islamic Literature of Ethics and Advice
G77.1708  Rowson. 4 points.

Shi’i Islam
G77.1750  Chelkowski. 4 points.

Islamic Law and Society
G77.1852  Haykel. 4 points.

Women and Islamic Law
G77.1854  Haykel. 4 points.

Muhammad and the Qur’an
G77.1857  Peters. 4 points.

Islamic Philosophy and Theology
G77.2720  Rowson. 4 points.

Problems and Methods in the Study of Islam
G77.2725  Katz. 4 points.

Islam in the Modern World
G90.1803  Gilsenan. 4 points.

LITERATURE, CULTURE, AND ART

Medieval Arabic Literature: History, Fiction, and Narrative
G77.1114  Kennedy. 4 points.

Arabic Literature: Modern Poetry and Prose
G77.1117  Kennedy. 4 points.

Persian Historical and Biographical Texts
G77.1412  Khorrami. 4 points.

Turkish Literary Texts: Modern Turkish Literature
G77.1514, 1515  Erol. 4 points per term.

Imaging Palestine/Israel: Issues in the Politics of Representation
G77.1735  Shohat. 4 points.

Drama and the Mass Media in the Arabic World
G77.1778  Mikhail. 4 points.

Seminar in Medieval Arabic Literature: Abbasid Poetics
G77.3192  Kennedy, Khoury. 4 points.

Seminar in Modern Arabic Literature I
G77.3193  Khoury. 4 points.

Topics in Hebrew Poetry: Varieties of Modernism
G78.3506  Feldman. 3 points.

Art and Architecture in the Eastern Islamic World, 7th–19th Centuries
G43.2015  Soucek. 4 points.

Art and Architecture of Early Kingship in Egypt
G43.2016  O’Connor. 4 points.

Islamic Art: Theory and Practice of Portraiture
G43.3015  Soucek. 4 points.

Ethnicity, Archaism, and Innovation: The Art of Third Intermediate Period Egypt (ca. 1070-664 BCE)
G43.3016  O’Connor. 4 points.

Ancient Near Eastern Art: Neo-Assyrian Relief Sculpture
G43.3017  Hansen. 4 points.

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