* MMES 086b / HIST 086b, Cairo, 1850-Present  Omnia El Shakry

This course explores the history of Cairo from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present. We examine various facets of modern Cairo ranging from architectural modernism to urban expressions of Christian and Muslim piety, while focusing on the principal political, cultural, and social factors that have shaped the city. Themes include political technologies; colonial modernity; artifacts and architecture; workers and students; capitalism, commodities, and consumerism; gender and sexuality; policing and surveillance; urban expansion; piety; the everyday; soundscapes; and the 2011 Uprising. We mobilize a diverse array of primary and secondary sources, novels, films, music, art, and architecture in our exploration, with an emphasis on work produced in Cairo. Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program.  WR, HU
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm

* MMES 126a / ARCH 271a / HSAR 266a / SAST 266a, Introduction to Islamic Architecture  Staff

Introduction to the architecture of the Islamic world from the seventh century to the present, encompassing regions of Asia, North Africa, and Europe. A variety of sources and media, from architecture to urbanism and from travelogues to paintings, are used in an attempt to understand the diversity and richness of Islamic architecture. Besides traditional media, the class will make use of virtual tours of architectural monuments as well as artifacts at the Yale University Art Gallery, accessed virtually.  HU  0 Course cr
HTBA

MMES 138a / HUMS 138a / LITR 428a / NELC 131a / RLST 165a, The Quran  Travis Zadeh

Introduction to the study of the Quran. Topics include: the literary, historical, and theological reception of the Quran; its collection and redaction; the scriptural milieu of late antiquity; education and religious authority; ritual performance and calligraphic expression; the diversity of Muslim exegesis.  HU
TTh 11:35am-12:25pm

MMES 148b / HIST 345b / JDST 265b / RLST 202b, 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 149a / ER&M 219a / HIST 219a / JDST 200a / RLST 148a, 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 150a / HEBR 150a / JDST 213a, 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 140 or equivalent.  L5  RP
MW 11:35am-12:50pm

* MMES 157b / JDST 306b / NELC 157b, 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  Tr
W 9:25am-11:15am

* MMES 162a / HEBR 169a / JDST 403a / LING 165a, 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 140, or placement test, or permission of the instructor.  L5, HU  Tr  RP
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm

* MMES 166a / HEBR 167a / JDST 402a, Creative Writing in Hebrew  Orit Yeret

An advanced language course with focus on creative writing and self-expression. Students develop knowledge of modern Hebrew, while elevating writing skills based on special interests, and in various genres, including short prose, poetry, dramatic writing, and journalism. Students engage with diverse authentic materials, with emphasis on Israeli literature, culture, and society. Prerequisite: HEBR 140 or placement exam.   L5  RP
MW 9am-10:15am

* MMES 170a / ARBC 168a, 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 151 or permission of instructor.  L5
MW 2:30pm-3:45pm

* MMES 179a / PERS 180a, Reading Persian Texts  Farkhondeh Shayesteh

Students are presented with opportunities to enhance their knowledge of Persian, with primary focus on reading skills. The course involves reading, analyzing, and in-class discussion of assigned materials in the target language. Authentic reading excerpts from history, art, philosophy, and literature, as well as art history materials from medieval to modern times are used. This course is taught in Persian. Prerequisite: L4 and instructor permission.  L5
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* MMES 216b / HEBR 156b / JDST 405b, Dynamics of Israeli Culture  Shiri Goren

Controversies in Israeli society as revealed in novels, films, poetry, newspaper articles, Web sites, art, advertisements, and television shows. Themes include migration and the construction of the Sabra character; ethnicity and race; the emergence of the Mizrahi voice; women in Israeli society; private and collective memory; the minority discourse of the Druze and Russian Jews; and Israeli masculinity and queer culture. Conducted in Hebrew. Papers may be written in English or Hebrew. Prerequisite: HEBR 140 or permission of instructor.  L5, HU  RP
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* MMES 237a / LITR 423a, Politics and Literature in Modern Iran and Afghanistan  Bezhan Pazhohan

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 4pm-5:15pm

* MMES 268a / JDST 268a, The Cairo Genizot and their Literatures

Ancient and medieval Jews did not throw away Hebrew texts they considered sacred, but rather, they deposited and/or buried them in dedicated rooms known as Genizot. The most famous of these depositories was in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo, which contained perhaps the single most important trove ever discovered of Jewish literary and documentary sources from around the Mediterranean basin, sources dating as early as the ninth century and extending into the early modern period. This course introduces students to the Jewish manuscript remains of the medieval Cairo Genizah as well as other important Cairo manuscript caches. Students study the wide 
variety of types of literary and documentary genres in these collections, and gain familiarity with the history of the Genizah’s discovery in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as well as the acquisition of these manuscripts by institutions outside the Middle East (including Harvard).  Readings, including primary Genizah sources, are in English translation, but students with knowledge of Arabic will be offered an additional weekly session providing instruction in reading Judeo-Arabic and centered on readings of sources in the Judeo-Arabic original.  HU
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

* MMES 271a / GLBL 271a, Middle East Politics  Staff

Exploration of the international politics of the Middle East through a framework of analysis that is partly historical and partly thematic. How the international system, as well as social structures and political economy, shape state behavior. Consideration of Arab nationalism; Islamism; the impact of oil; Cold War politics; conflicts; liberalization; the Arab-spring, and the rise of the Islamic State.  SO
HTBA

* MMES 278b / JDST 278b, Interreligious Encounters: Jews, Muslims and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Medieval Period

The development and spread of Islam and the accompanying diffusion of the Arabic language brought religions in the Near East into contact in unprecedented ways. Judaism, Islam and Christianity were shaped and in turn shaped each other on the basis of the Arabic language, which was the shared medium of written scholarship as well as being the lingua franca of daily life.  In this course we examine various aspects of this interreligious exchange, focusing on major topics in the dialogue between these three religions against the backdrop of a shared Islamicate culture, representing the pre-Islamic period through the early Ottoman period.  Class sessions focus on the close reading of primary sources in translation. Depending on enrollment and student interest, some primary sources may also be read in the original Hebrew, Arabic, and Judeo-Arabic. Students with backgrounds in Arabic are introduced to the Hebrew alphabet for this purpose.  HU
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

MMES 290a / PLSC 435a / RLST 290a, Islam Today: Modern Islamic Thought  Frank Griffel

Introduction to Islamic thought after 1800, including some historical background. The development of Islamic modernism in the 19th century and of Islamic fundamentalism in the 20th. Islam as a reactive force to Western colonialism; the ideals of Shari'a, Islam as a political ideology, and the emergence of Jihad movements. Different kinds of Salafism, Islamic liberalism, and feminism as well as the revival of Islam's intellectual heritage.  HU  0 Course cr
TTh 10:30am-11:20am

* MMES 321a / ANTH 321a / SOCY 318a / WGSS 321a, 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
M 1:30pm-3:20pm

* MMES 342a / HIST 232Ja / HUMS 443a / JDST 270a / RLST 201a, 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-3:20pm

* MMES 360b / AFST 425b / FREN 425b, North African French Poetry  Thomas Connolly

Introduction to North African poetry composed in French during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Works explored within the broader context of metropolitan French, Arabic, and Berber cultures; juxtaposition with other modes of expression including oral poetry, painting, dance, music, the Internet, and film. The literary, aesthetic, political, religious, and philosophical significance of poetic discourse.  HU
M 1:30pm-3:20pm

* MMES 491a, Senior Essay  Jonas Elbousty

The one-term senior essay is a research paper of at least thirty pages prepared under the supervision of a faculty member in accordance with the following schedule: (1) by the end of the second week of classes of the term, students meet with advisers to discuss the essay's topic, approach, sources, and bibliography; (2) by the end of the fourth week of classes a prospectus with outline, including an annotated bibliography of materials in one or more modern Middle Eastern languages and of secondary sources, is signed by the adviser and submitted to the director of undergraduate studies. The prospectus should indicate the formal title, scope, and focus of the essay, as well as the proposed research method, including detailed indications of the nature and extent of materials in a modern Middle Eastern language that will be used; (3) at the end of the tenth week of classes, a rough draft of the complete essay is submitted to the adviser; (4) by 4 p.m. on the last day of reading period, two copies of the finished paper must be submitted to the MMES registrar, 115 Prospect St., room 344. A late essay will receive a lower grade. Senior essays are graded by faculty associated with the Modern Middle East Studies program unless, for exceptional reasons, different arrangements for another reader have been made in advance with the director of undergraduate studies and the faculty adviser.
HTBA

* MMES 493a, The Yearlong Senior Essay  Jonas Elbousty

The yearlong senior essay is a research paper of at least sixty pages prepared under the supervision of a faculty member in accordance with the following schedule: (1) by the end of the second week of classes of the first term, students meet with advisers to discuss the essay's topic, approach, sources, and bibliography; (2) by the end of the fourth week of classes a prospectus with outline, including an annotated bibliography of materials in one or more modern Middle Eastern languages and of secondary sources, is signed by the adviser and submitted to the director of undergraduate studies. The prospectus should indicate the formal title, scope, and focus of the essay, as well as the proposed research method, including detailed indications of the nature and extent of materials in a modern Middle Eastern language that will be used; (3) at the end of February, a rough draft of the complete essay is submitted to the adviser; (4) by 4 p.m. on the last day of reading period in the spring term, two copies of the finished paper must be submitted to the MMES registrar, 115 Prospect St., room 344. A late essay will receive a lower grade. Senior essays are graded by faculty associated with the Modern Middle East Studies program unless, for exceptional reasons, different arrangements for another reader have been made in advance with the director of undergraduate studies and the faculty adviser.
HTBA