* MMES 1121a / PLSC 3107a, International Relations of the Middle East  Katherine Ingram

In this course, students develop the tools needed to understand contemporary international relations between the states of the Middle East and North Africa. The course focuses on two fundamental aspects of politics: historical context and strategic incentives. Most weeks focus on major events in a specific country or subregion, developing a historical background for that area and for how those events shaped the region more broadly. We also discuss broader topics that affect the region as a whole, including sectarianism, oil wealth, violent non-state actors, and extraregional powers.  SO
W 9:25am-11:15am

MMES 1149a / ER&M 2519a / HIST 1219a / JDST 200 / JDST 2000a / RLST 1480a, Jews and the World: From the Bible through Early Modern Times  Ivan Marcus

A broad introduction to the history of the Jews from biblical beginnings until the European Reformation and the Ottoman Empire. Focus on the formative period of classical rabbinic Judaism and on the symbiotic relationships among Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Jewish society and culture in its biblical, rabbinic, and medieval settings. Counts toward either European or non-Western distributional credit within the History major, upon application to the director of undergraduate studies.  HU  RP  0 Course cr
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* MMES 1152a / PERS 1500a, Thematic Survey of Modern Persian Literature  Farkhondeh Shayesteh

A content-base advanced course focusing on continuing development of language skills for nonnative speakers. Emphasis on reading, writing, and discussion through modern Persian literary prose and poetry. PERS 1400 and permission from the instructor.  L5, HU
TTh 1pm-2:15pm

* MMES 1157b / JDST 3060b / NELC 1570b / NELC 157b and NELC 1570b, Israeli Narratives  Shiri Goren

This course looks at contemporary representations of social, political, and domestic space in Israel through cultural production such as literature, visual work, and art. It focuses on close reading of major Israeli works in translation with attention to how their themes and forms relate to the Israeli condition. Reading and viewing include: Amos Oz’s major novel A Tale of Love and Darkness, Anne Frank: The Graphic Diary, Maya Arad’s novella “The Hebrew Teacher,” TV show Arab Labor and writing by Yehudah Amichai, Etgar Keret, and Sayed Kashua, among others. We discuss topics and theories of personal and collective identity formation, war and peace, ethnicity and race, migration, nationalism, and gender. No knowledge of Hebrew required.  WR, HU
W 9:25am-11:15am

* MMES 1159a / HEBR 1510a / JDST 4209, Conversational Hebrew: Israeli Media  Shiri Goren

An advanced Hebrew course for students interested in practicing and enhancing conversational skills. Focus on listening comprehension and on various forms of discussion, including practical situations, online interactions, and content analysis. Prerequisite: HEBR 1400 or permission of instructor.  L5
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* MMES 1162b / HEBR 1690b / JDST 4203 / LING 1650b, Languages in Dialogue: Hebrew and Arabic  Dina Roginsky

Hebrew and Arabic are closely related as sister Semitic languages. They have a great degree of grammatical, morphological, and lexical similarity. Historically, Arabic and Hebrew have been in cultural contact in various places and in different aspects. This advanced Hebrew language class explores linguistic similarities between the two languages as well as cultural comparisons of the communities, built on mutual respect. Students benefit from a section in which they gain a basic exposure to Arabic, based on its linguistic similarity to Hebrew. Conducted in Hebrew. Prerequisite: HEBR 1400, or placement test, or permission of the instructor.  L5, HU  RP
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm

* MMES 1164b / CPLT 4730b, Politics and Literature in the Middle East  Robyn Creswell

This course considers the relationship between literature and politics in Turkey, Iran, and the Arab world since the late 19th century. We read novels, short stories, poetry, essays, play scripts, and comics, and watch movies, while situating them in their artistic and political contexts. This course considers the ways that an artwork can intervene in the political debates of its time, while taking seriously the distinctive modes of political thought that are possible only through art. Topics include gender relations, the legacies of European colonialism, modernization and modernism, revolutionary movements, the role of religion in society, experiences of violence and trauma, and the drastic changes to Middle Eastern societies wrought by the oil boom. All readings are in English translation, but if sufficient students with relevant language skills enroll, an additional biweekly session may be arranged for selected course readings in the original languages.  HU
HTBA

* MMES 1167b / HEBR 1640b / JDST 4217, Biblical to Modern Hebrew for Reading Knowledge  Dina Roginsky

Instruction in the linguistic needs of students who have reading knowledge of Biblical Hebrew but cannot read or converse in Modern Hebrew. Concentration on reading comprehension of Modern Hebrew for research purposes, particularly scholarly texts tailored to students’ areas of interest. Two years of Biblical or Modern Hebrew studies, or permission of the instructor.  RP
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* MMES 2237a / CPLT 4230a, Politics and Literature in Modern Iran and Afghanistan  Homeira Qadari

This course traces the emergence of modern Persian literature in Iran and Afghanistan, introducing the contemporary poets and writers of fiction who created this new literary tradition in spite of political, social, state, and religious constraints. Our readings include Iranian novelists working under censorship, Afghan memoirists describing their experience in a warzone, and even contemporary writers living in exile in the US or Europe. Major writers include Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh, Sadegh Hedayat, Simin Behbahani, Forugh Farrokhzad, Homeira Qaderi (who will visit the class), and Khaled Hosseini.  HU
TTh 1pm-2:15pm

* MMES 3312b / CPLT 1960b / JDST 3812b / NELC 3230b / NELC 323b and NELC 3230b, Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Spain  Peter Cole

Introduction to the Golden Age of Hebrew poetry in Muslim Andalusia from the tenth century through the twelfth. Major figures of the period and the cultural and philosophical questions they confronted. The Judeo-Arabic social context in which the poetry emerged; critical issues pertaining to the study and transmission of this literature. Readings from the works of several poets. Readings in translation. Additional readings in Hebrew available.  HU
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

* MMES 3321b / ANTH 3821b / SOCY 3433b / WGSS 3321b, Middle East Gender Studies  Marcia Inhorn

The lives of women and men in the contemporary Middle East explored through a series of anthropological studies and documentary films. Competing discourses surrounding gender and politics, and the relation of such discourse to actual practices of everyday life. Feminism, Islamism, activism, and human rights; fertility, family, marriage, and sexuality.  SO
Th 3:30pm-5:20pm

* MMES 3342a / HIST 3232a / HUMS 4430a / JDST 3270a / RLST 2010a, Medieval Jews, Christians, and Muslims In Conversation  Ivan Marcus

How members of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities thought of and interacted with members of the other two cultures during the Middle Ages. Cultural grids and expectations each imposed on the other; the rhetoric of otherness—humans or devils, purity or impurity, and animal imagery; and models of religious community and power in dealing with the other when confronted with cultural differences. Counts toward either European or Middle Eastern distributional credit within the History major, upon application to the director of undergraduate studies.  WR, HU  RP
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

* MMES 3396a / CPLT 3042a / GMAN 202 / JDST 3856a, Introduction to Jewish Literatures  Hannan Hever

The course will explore Jewish poetics and identities through literary genres like novels, stories, poems, and legends written in Jewish languages such as Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino, and also, Jewish literatures written in French, German, Arabic, Russian, and Italian. The course emphasizes the literary and political contexts of the "Jewish Question" by reading texts written by Jews in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, Israel, and the United States. The course begins with Jeremiah's prophecies, then explores the Mishnaic "Ethics of Our Fathers" and Hebrew poetry written by Medieval Jewish Spanish poets like Judah ha-Levi and Shmuel HaNagid. Among the authors we will discuss are Franz Kafka, Paul Celan, Edmond Jabès, Primo Levi, Philip Roth, and Israeli writers such as S. Y. Agnon, Shimon Ballas, Dalia Ravikovitz, and A.B. Yehoshua. The poetics of Jewish literatures will be studied alongside religion, ethnicity, class differences, diaspora, and family relationships, as well as gender issues, minorities, and nationalism.    HU  RP
Th 3:30pm-5:20pm

* MMES 4430b / ANTH 441 / ANTH 4841b / WGSS 4430b, Gender and Citizenship in the Middle East  Eda Pepi

This seminar explores the complex interplay between gender, sexuality, and citizenship in the Middle East and North Africa. We examine how they are both shaped by and shape experiences of nationality, migration, and statelessness. Highlighting how gender and sexual minorities, and the gendered regulation of life, more broadly, both animate and contest colonial legacies tied to a racialized notion of “modernity.” Through ethnography, history, and literature, students confront a political economy of intimacies that continuously reshape what it means to be or not to be a citizen. Our approach extends beyond borders and laws to include the everyday acts of citizenship that rework race, religion, and ethnicity across transnational fronts. We discuss how people navigate their lives in the everyday, from the ordinary poetry of identity and belonging to the spectacular drama of war and conflict. Our goal is to challenge orientalist legacies that dismiss theoretical insights from scholarship on and from this region by labeling it as focused on exceptional cases instead of addressing “universal” issues. Instead, we take seriously that the specific historical and social contexts of the Middle East and North Africa reveal how connections based on gender and sexuality within and across families and social classes are deeply entwined with racial narratives of state authority and political sovereignty on a global scale.  SO
Th 3:30pm-5:20pm

* MMES 4465b / ARBC 1650b, Arabic Seminar: Early Adab  Kevin van Bladel

Study and interpretation of classical Arabic texts for advanced students. The subtitle of this course changes depending on the materials covered. This term the course focuses on "Early Adab."  Prerequisite: ARBC 1460, 1510, or permission of instructor. May be repeated for credit.
W 3:30pm-5:20pm