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

This course explores the history of the Middle East (Southwest Asia and North Africa) from the 18th century to the present. Rather than narrate the history of the modern Middle East as a series of wars and conflicts, however, this course focuses on the major intellectual, social, political and cultural transformations of the region, while taking into account both regional and global contexts of interaction and change in a comparative format. Themes include: the late Ottoman Empire, World War I and colonial state formation, Western imperialism, anti-colonial nationalism, Islam, and the Palestine-Israel conundrum. This course will also provide students with a historical understanding of the impact of European colonialism, the discovery of petroleum and its consequences, and the role played by the United States in the region. The course will highlight certain countries with the purpose of critically addressing the dominant themes in both the scholarly and non-scholarly literature on the region. Instructor bio: Dr. Hakeem Naim is a Lecturer in the Department of History. He grew up in Afghanistan and lived in multiple countries as a refugee/immigrant. He received his Ph.D. in Modern Middle East history from the University of California at Davis in 2019. In his research, Dr. Naim focuses on the late 19th century Islamic nationalism, colonialism, post-colonial theories, and comparative intellectual history of the Ottoman Empire, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. He has a command of various languages, including Persian (Dari), Turkish (Modern and Ottoman Turkish), Arabic, Pashto, Uzbek, German, and English. Before moving to Berkeley, Dr. Naim was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Western Washington University. At Western, he taught Introduction to Islam, Modern Middle East history, and history of the Ottoman World.

Students are required to attend lectures during scheduled class times. Lectures will be delivered during scheduled class times via Zoom, and also recorded for asynchronous viewing.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills