MMES 1102a / HIST 1681a / NELC 1020a / SOCY 1002a, Introduction to the Middle East  Jonathan Wyrtzen

Introduction to the history, politics, societies, and cultures of the Middle East. Topics and themes include geopolitics, environment, state formation, roles of Judaism/Christianity/Islam, empire&colonialism, nationalism, regional & global wars, Palestine-Israel conflict, US and other Great Power intervention.  HU, SO  0 Course cr
HTBA

* 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
HTBA

MMES 1148b / HIST 1645b / JDST 3265b / RLST 2020b, Jews in Muslim Lands from the Seventh to the Sixteenth Centuries  Ivan Marcus

Jewish culture and society in Muslim lands from the time of the Prophet Muhammad to that of Suleiman the Magnificent. Topics include Islam and Judaism; Jerusalem as a holy site; rabbinic leadership and literature in Baghdad; Jewish courtiers, poets, and philosophers in Muslim Spain; and the Jews in the Ottoman Empire.  HU  0 Course cr
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

MMES 1149a / ER&M 2519a / HIST 1219a / 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 1150a / HEBR 1500a / JDST 213 / JDST 4204, Advanced Modern Hebrew: Daily Life in Israel  Orit Yeret

An examination of major controversies in Israeli society. Readings include newspaper editorials and academic articles as well as documentary and historical material. Advanced grammatical structures are introduced and practiced. Conducted in Hebrew. Prerequisite: HEBR 1400 or equivalent.  L5  RP
TTh 1:05pm-2:20pm

* 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-11:20am

* MMES 1168a / HEBR 1580a / JDST 2505a, Contemporary Israeli Society in Film  Shiri Goren

Examination of major themes in Israeli society through film, with emphasis on language study. Topics include migration, gender and sexuality, Jewish/Israeli identity, and private and collective memory. Readings in Hebrew and English provide a sociohistorical background and bases for class discussion. Prerequisites: HEBR 1400 or permission of instructor.  L5, HU  RP
MW 2:35pm-3:50pm

* MMES 1170a / ARBC 1680a, Modern Arab Writers  Muhammad Aziz

Study of novels and poetry written by modern Arab writers. Such writers include Taha Hussein, Zaid Dammaj, Huda Barakat, Nizar Qabbani, al-Maqalih, and Mostaghanimi.   Prerequisite: ARBC 1510 or permission of instructor.  L5
MW 1:05pm-2:20pm

* MMES 2201b / CPLT 1780b / HUMS 2330b / NELC 2560 / NELC 256b, Classics of the Islamic World  Shawkat Toorawa

Islamic civilization has produced numerous works that would make it onto almost anyone’s list of wondrous books. In this course, we read a selection of (or from) those books and study the literary and intellectual cultures that produced them in an attempt to deepen and nuance our understanding of Islamic civilization. Readings include the Qur’an, classical Arabic poetry, the Shahnameh,  Leyli ve Mejnun, the Conference of the Birds, the Hang Tuah Epic, and much else besides. All readings in translation. Previously offered as Classics: The Arabic-Islamic World.  HU
Th 1:30pm-3:25pm

* MMES 2240b / HELN 2240b / HIST 2240b / NELC 2950b, Late Ottoman History  Charalampos Minasidis

This seminar explores the Ottoman Empire from the late 18th century until its dissolution in 1923. It examines the Late Ottoman period through a historical lens, focusing on the political, social, economic, and cultural transformations that shaped the empire from the failed reforms of Selim III and the Greek Revolution, to the Tanzimat reforms, the autocracy of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and the regime of the Young Turks. The course analyzes the origins, impact, and legacy of these changes, reconstructing the contours of Ottoman statehood, society, and culture. It pays particular attention to the rise of competing imperialisms and nationalisms among the empire’s diverse populations, as well as the experiences of ethno-religious minorities. Special focus is given to the emergence of ethnonational majoritarianism and its radicalization, which culminated in genocide and the compulsory population exchange between Greece and Turkey. The seminar aims to familiarize students with the key chronology, events, and figures of the Late Ottoman Empire, while introducing them to current historiographical debates, conceptual frameworks, and methodological approaches.  WR, HU
W 1:30pm-3:25pm

* MMES 2940a / HSAR 4357a / NELC 2940a / OTTM 2940a, Motifs, Patterns, and Painting Techniques in Traditional Turkish Arts  Ozgen Felek

This painting class focuses on classical motifs and patterns in traditional Turkish arts in an Ottoman context.  While learning motifs and patterns, students will learn not only the manuscript culture, but also non-manuscript items produced in the Ottoman Empire. Students will practice drawing and painting stylized flowers (such as “panch” and “khatayi”), animals, and abstract patterns used in Turkish manuscript paintings, miniatures, calligraphy, rugs, kilims, stonework, tiles and ceramics, pottery, metal and leather work, and architecture. Materials used in traditional Turkish arts will be studied in detail as well. Students also create their own compositions incorporating traditional Turkish artistic principles. In addition to developing painting skills through individualized attention and support in class, a scheduled visit to the Beinecke Library enhances applied learning by encouraging students to examine artistic aspects in Turkish manuscripts.  HU
Th 4pm-5:55pm

* MMES 3300a / HIST 3498a / RSEE 3329a / RUSS 3329a, Introduction to Modern Central Asia  Claire Roosien

An overview of the history of modern Central Asia—modern-day Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. This course shows Central Asia to be a pivotal participant in some of the major global issues of the 20th and 21st centuries, from environmental degradation and Cold War, to women’s emancipation and postcolonial nation-building, to religion and the rise of mass society. It also includes an overview of the region’s longer history, of the conquests by the Russian and Chinese empires, the rise of Islamic modernist reform movements, the Bolshevik victory, World War II, the perestroika, and the projects of post-Soviet nation-building. Readings in history are supplemented by such primary sources as novels and poetry, films and songs, government decrees, travelogues, courtly chronicles, and the periodical press. All readings and discussions in English.  HU
TTh 1:05pm-2:20pm

* 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
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

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

This seminar invites students to explore how gender and citizenship intersect across the Middle East and North Africa, examining how these identities shape—and are shaped by—forces like nationalism, migration, capitalism, family, and religion. Drawing from ethnography, history, and literature, we trace how gender and sexuality simultaneously reify and trouble colonial legacies that uphold racialized ideas of “modernity.” And ask: How do global border regimes and the political economy of intimacies that sustain them reshape what it means to be—or not to be—a citizen? Our approach extends beyond laws to include everyday acts of citizenship across national and cultural divides. Readings highlight how people navigate their lives in the everyday, from the ordinary poetry of identity, love, and belonging to the spectacular drama of war and conflict.  SO
W 1:30pm-3:25pm