This course will map Israel’s social structure, identify its implications for social and economic inequality, and shed light on its role in structuring political loyalty, conflict and action. It will introduce students to relevant concepts and theories from sociology and political science, and findings from comparative research, that aid understanding of the Israeli case and place it in a broader perspective.

The religion-state question was and still is at the center of the intellectual and religious discourse in Israel and the Middle East. This course traces this discourse and its implications on various spheres of life with special emphasis on the tensions and the compromises between religion and state in the various spheres of political, social, cultural, economic, and intellectual interaction in Israel and the Middle East. Some fundamental questions to be addressed pertaining to the meaning of citizenship, national identity, human rights, ethnic and religious minorities, gender relations, democracy. The course consists of three main parts. The first part provides an overview of the critical history and philosophy of the separation of religion and state. The second part is dedicated to the modern discourse of religion-state in Israel and the Middle East through selected issues of religion and nationalism, secularism, religion and democracy, separation of religion and state, etc. The third part will be devoted to some case studies through which we will conduct a comparative analysis between four countries: Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel. These countries represent different and central paradigms of religion-state relations in the Middle East.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills