Middle East Studies

MEST 1999. Tutorial. (1 Credit)

Independent research and reading with supervision from a faculty member.

MEST 2000. Introduction to the Modern Middle East. (4 Credits)

A multidisciplinary introduction to the modern Middle East and North Africa from the perspectives of history, anthropology/sociology, economics, political science and international affairs. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: AFAM, AFSS, AFST, GLBL, INST, ISME, JWST, POSC.

MEST 2400. Middle East Dilemmas. (4 Credits)

This course examines intellectual, political, and social change and reaction to it in the Middle East from 18c to the 21c. Focus is on the impact of the West, the transformation of identities, the constancy of tradition, the establishment of modern nation-states, and the effects of globalization. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

MEST 2600. Medieval Islam. (4 Credits)

This course surveys the rise of Islam in Arabia and its spread throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. It examines Muslim civilization and its institutions in the medieval period, the impact of Turkic and Mongol invaders, and the rise of the Ottoman and Safavid Empires. Emphasis is on the political and cultural role of the religious and military classes, on the impact of Islam on gender and minorities, and on the various exchanges with Christendom. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attribute: ISTP.

MEST 2999. Tutorial. (2 Credits)

Independent research and reading with supervision from a faculty member.

MEST 3324. Israel in Fiction and Film. (4 Credits)

This course draws upon fiction and film to expore notions of Jewish and Israeli realities and collective memories. Films, novels, and short fiction created in Israel and by Israelis, with additional cinematographic and literary sources, will be examined to highlight relevant issues. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: COLI, INST, ISME.

MEST 3500. Modern Egypt. (4 Credits)

This course will survey the transformation of Egypt from the end of the 18th century to the present. A dormant Ottoman province when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded it in 1798, by the end of the 19th century, Egypt had turned into the region's entrepot while evolving as a center of political and cultural dynamism. During the Cold War, the country emerged as the USSR's main client in the Middle East until the Camp David Accords of 1979 when it became a strategic partner for the US. Topics to be covered include British economic and French cultural imperialism; the genesis and growth of Egyptian nationalism; urbanization; gender issues; foreign resident minorities; the Muslim Brotherhood; the formation of a modern indigenous bourgeoisie; Nasser's revolution, its impact, and his pan-Arabism; Sadat's domestic and regional policies, crony capitalism under Mubarak; and the re-Islamization of society. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: GLBL, INST, ISME.

MEST 3501. Modern Turkey and Iran. (4 Credits)

This course will assess the ideas, events, and personalities that contributed to the transformation of the Ottoman and Persian Empires into modern Turkey and Iran respectively in the past two centuries. topics examined comparatively will include the impact of the west, the internal forces of modernization, Islamist and other reactions to such developments, the formation of nationalist identities, authoritarian transition to modern democracy in Turkey and Islamist republic in Iran education, industrialization, urbanization, religion, and mass politics, gender and minorities, and the impact of regional dynamics since the end of World War II. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

MEST 3502. Palestine-Israel Conflict. (4 Credits)

This course examines the issues, events, and personalities that shaped dynamics between Jews and Palestinians from 19th-century nationalism to the present. Topics include land and its symbolism, religious identity, political aspirations and frustrations, the origins and consequences of wars, as well as regional and global interplay. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: INST, ISME, JWST.

MEST 3620. Islam in America. (4 Credits)

This course will examine the history of Islam and the experience of Muslims in American from the time of the slave trade to the present day. Through a close analysis of both primary and secondary materials, students will explore – through speaking and writing exercises – the rich diversity of US Muslim communities and their multi-faceted contributions to the global umma and the formation of an “American Islam”. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ADVD, AFAM, AMST, ASHS, HIUL, ISAC, PLUR, RSCS, THEO, THHC.

MEST 3701. Urban Theatre Dance and Music. (4 Credits)

By viewing and visiting performances in the forms that define theater, dance, and music in differing Middle East cultures, the course contrasts devotion, philosophy, and gender to performance styles as viewed from both the Middle Eastern perspective and Western sensibilities. Focus will be on sociocultural context for these performing arts disciplines and the resilience and luminosity they offer to daily life in this diverse region. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: COLI, GLBL, INST, ISME, REST.

MEST 3702. Urban Theatre, Music, Dance: Culture and the Formation of Middle East Identities. (4 Credits)

Performances, productions, and some museum and gallery trips will enable students to witness bold, artistic works of the Middle East as seen through the lens of the art world of urban New York and Paris. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: COLI, GLBL.

MEST 3800. Internship. (3 Credits)

Internship.

MEST 3901. The Middle East in Film. (4 Credits)

Using documentaries and features from Algeria to Yemen, this course examines politics, religion, gender, and minorities as well as love, comedy, and music, sometimes all together, and their impact on the region's diverse societies. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attribute: COLI.

MEST 3999. Tutorial. (3 Credits)

Independent research and reading with supervision from a faculty member.

MEST 4001. Seminar: Middle East. (4 Credits)

This course is an advanced, research-oriented seminar for students who have completed one or more introductory and elective courses in Middle East studies. While the primary focus of this seminar is the Middle East, students with interests in other regions of the world (Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe) are encouraged to consider the course. Their research may address issues and topics in their fields, as they intersect with the Middle East or North Africa. Required of all MEST majors and minors. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: AFAM, GLBL, INST, IPE, ISME.

MEST 4331. U.S. in the Middle East: 1945-Present. (4 Credits)

Examines how the US replaced Great Britain as the pre-eminent power in the Middle East in the post-WWII era. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: INST, ISIN, ISME.

MEST 4701. Urban Theatre, Music, Dance: Culture and the Formation of the Middle East Identities. (4 Credits)

This course draws on the two disciplines of the performing arts (as viewed through performance studies) and anthropology to examine how Middle East identities are embodied, constructed, and transcended through gesture, sound and enactment – both religious and aesthetic -- in the cities of Casablanca, Cairo, & Istanbul. Anthropological approaches to the study of Muslim ritual traditions and devotional practices (e.g., dhikr, ziyarāt, majlis, hajj, ta’zīya, ṣalāt and tajwīd) that seek to discern a more transcendent human experience, nature and identity in relation to the divine, will be compared/contrasted with performing studies’ approaches to speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle that emphasize contingency, aesthetics, and shifting social, political, and cultural influences on identity formation over time. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: COLI, GLBL, ICC, INST, ISME, REST.

MEST 4999. Tutorial. (4 Credits)

Independent research and reading with supervision from a faculty member.