Expository writing based on analysis of selected texts or literature in translation or writings interpreting the material culture of the ancient or modern Middle East. Specific topics vary with the instructor. R1A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement, and R1B satisfies the second half.

This course will teach critical approaches to thinking and writing about representations of “the Middle East” in words and images. The course will proceed by offering close looks at a diverse range of image creation in film and literature, focusing on Algeria, Egypt, Iran, and Turkey, on the way to understand different individual experiences and group identities in a geopolitical context. Through a series of written assignments, students will undertake to develop analyses of a set of “moving images” that converge, distill, and/or represent some significant facets of Middle Eastern political, cultural, and social life. Thematic focus will include concerns of gender, ethnic minorities, modern nation formation, and religious (mis-)understandings through convergent and sometimes conflictual histories.

Requisites

• Satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing Requirement.

Credit Restrictions

Students will receive no credit for NE STUD R1A after completing NE STUD 1A.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills