Important information:

*This course will be conducted in English including lectures, class discussions, presentations, and written assignments. Sound and video media will be presented in original language with English subtitles.
*There is a substantial amount of work for this course. Students are 100% responsible for completing the work. This includes attending class, reading texts at home, completing assignments, and participating in class activities (discussions and presentations, etc.).
*Cheating will result in an AUTOMATIC *F* IN THE ENTIRE COURSE (not just the assignment).
*No late work will be accepted unless there are important health or life issues.
*Depending on circumstances related to COVID, it may be necessary to run this course online (on a program like Cisco Webex) at some point in the semester.
*Taking this course indicates acceptance of the conditions in this syllabus.


Course description:

This course introduces students to modern Middle Eastern history from the early nineteenth century to the “Arab Spring” movements in 2010. Our study of this region will focus on political history. Before the 1800s, Muslims, Christians, Jews, and other groups lived in the Middle East under various political formations. In the “early modern” period of the 1500-1700s, these included the Ottoman Empire (eastern and southern Mediterranean shores/Arabia), Safavid Empire (Iran), and Mughal Empire (India). In the 1700s, these empires began to weaken.

We start in 1798, when France then Britain and other European states invaded the Middle East. These conquests began a new era in history. In response to the European threat, Ottoman, Egyptian, and Iranian governments instituted fundamental military, economic, and political reforms. Inevitably these reforms also led to social and cultural transformations.

In the early twentieth century, World War I (1914-1918) disrupted the Ottoman Empire and Iran. After the war, a variety of new states emerged from the destruction such as Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and the Gulf kingdoms. These new polities tried to function as “nation-states.” We will study the efforts of these nation-states, along with those of Egypt and Iran, to achieve independence and find new political identities and social structures for their communities.

The end of World War II marked a dramatic period of decolonization. Many Middle Eastern states, now fully independent, developed military-authoritarian regimes. We will study the dynamics of these governments, the socio-economic changes they enacted, and the socio-religious groups that mobilized in reaction. This course then moves toward the twenty-first century to understand the imbalance of increasing wealth, stagnation, and violence in the region up to the “Arab Spring” that began in 2010.

This course will address a number of important themes in the lives of Middle Easterners in the past. It will provide students with the vital tools and skills to perform this study. More broadly, we will seek to understand 1) how Middle Easterners have engaged with and contributed to “modernity;” 2) how traditions and customs have helped them shape and understand the world around them; 3) and how individuals have related to their society and state.

The Middle East has played critical roles in international affairs. While the study of contemporary politics and of religions is important, this is a history class. Consequently, we will focus on the past that led to the present, not the present time itself. To be productive in this class, we must leave to the side preconceptions about the region and keep an open mind.