Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: MODERN MIDDLE EAST

Department: History

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course is an introduction to the history of the Modern Middle East: the Arab countries of the Levant and North Africa, as well as Turkey, Iran, and Israel. It covers the main events that shaped the region from the final years of the Ottoman empire, to the creation of the nation-states by Western colonialism, to the struggles for independence and decolonization. The course tackles some of the following themes: reform and modernization in the Ottoman Empire; World War One and its impact on the Middle East; the emergence of a new world order, and modern states and their political systems since World War I; and the transformation of Middle Eastern societies during this same period under the impact of colonialism, independence, regional wars, and oil. It also sheds light on particular social and cultural phenomena: the role of women in society; changing notions of gender roles; class formation and relations; and cultural expressions through art, literature and new modes and spaces of sociability.