The breaking of pre-modern empires and the formation of national states in the Arab world, Turkey, and Iran; Islam and nationalism.

This course challenges students to engage critically with the sweeping history of the formation of the modern Middle East from the late 18th century to the present day. The geographic focus of the course will be on the lands of the Ottoman and Qajar empires, and their successor states: Egypt, the countries of the Fertile Crescent and Arabian Peninsula (including Israel), Turkey, and Iran. The region's history in this period is marked by broad transformations of state and society through modernizing reforms, with the rise of European influence and colonialism, the breakdown of early modern empires, development of nationalisms, shifts to liberalism, socialism, and authoritarian capitalism, the rise of political Islam, the Arab/Israeli conflict, and the impact of US and Soviet interests in the twentieth century. This course will critically examine the social, political, intellectual, and economic dynamics that shaped each of these shifts, with special attention paid to issues of culture, class, and gender. The readings for the course embody contemporary approaches and methods of historical scholarship in Middle East history.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills