University Bulletin (2016-2017)

IMES 98a Independent Study
Usually offered every year.
Staff

IMES 98b Independent Study
Usually offered every year.
Staff

IMES 99a Senior Thesis
Usually offered every year.
Staff

IMES 99b Senior Thesis
Usually offered every year.
Staff

IMES 104a Islam: Civilization and Institutions
[ hum nw ]
Provides a disciplined study of Islamic civilization from its origins to the modern period. Approaches the study from a humanities perspective. Topics covered will include the Qur'an, tradition, law, theology, politics, Islam and other religions, modern developments, and women in Islam. Usually offered every year.
Mr. El-Tobgui

IMES 105a War and Revolution in the Middle East
[ hum nw wi ]
Considers the impact of war and revolution in the shaping of the modern Middle East starting with the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. Focuses on the violent turning points that have changed the lives of millions of people.
Staff

The following courses are approved for the program. Not all are given in any one year. Please consult the Schedule of Classes each semester.

AAAS 80a Economy and Society in Africa
[ nw ss wi ]
Perspectives on the interaction of economic and other variables in African societies. Topics include the ethical and economic bases of distributive justice; models of social theory, efficiency, and equality in law; the role of economic variables in the theory of history; and world systems analysis. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Nyangoni

AAAS 126b Political Economy of the Third World
[ nw ss wi ]
Development of capitalism and different roles and functions assigned to all "Third Worlds," in the periphery as well as the center. Special attention will be paid to African and Afro-American peripheries. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Nyangoni

AAAS 163b Africa in World Politics
[ nw ss ]
Explores the impact of African states in world affairs; the African and Afro-Asian groups in the United Nations; relations with Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the Americas; the Afro-Asian movement; nonalignment; the Organization of African Unity; and Pan-Africanism. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nyangoni

AAAS 175a Comparative Politics of North Africa
[ nw ss ]
Explores the formation and development of political cleavages and cleavage systems, and of mass-based political groups, analyzing the expansion of mass political participation, elections, the impact of the military on political groups, and international factors. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Nyangoni

ANTH 118b Culture and Power in the Middle East
[ ss ]
Examines the peoples and societies of the Middle East from an anthropological perspective. Explores problems of cross-cultural examination, the notion of the Middle East as an area of study, and the role of anthropology in the formation of the idea of the “Middle East.” To this end, the course is divided into sections devoted to understanding and problematizing key concepts and themes central to our understanding of the region, including tribe and state, family and kinship, gender and sexuality, honor and shame, tradition and modernity, and religion and secularism. Course materials will include critical ethnographies based on field work in the region as well as locally produced materials such as literature, music, film and other visual arts. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Menoret

ARBC 103a Lower Advanced Arabic
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: ARBC 40b or the equivalent. Four class-hours per week.
Designed to help the student attain advanced proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and understanding. The syllabus includes selections from modern texts representing a variety of styles and genres, advanced composition, and sustained development of oral-aural proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic. A grade of C- or higher in ARBC 103a is required to take ARBC 103b. Usually offered every year.
Mr. El-Tobgui

ARBC 103b Middle Advanced Arabic: Contemporary Arab Media
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in ARBC 103a or the equivalent. Four class hours per week.
Continuation of ARBC 103a. Intensive honing primarily of oral-aural skills and vocabulary building with concentration on the spoken media of the contemporary Arab world. Review and reinforcement of major grammatical topics as needed. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ARBC 106a Advanced Arabic I: Contemporary Arabic Literature
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in ARBC 103b or the equivalent. Four class hours per week. May be repeated for credit.
Develops advanced reading competence through a variety of modern literary texts focusing on contemporary Arab society, culture, and intellectual life. Continued solidification of advanced grammar and style with application through frequent writing assignments, both analytical and creative. Class conducted entirely in Arabic. Usually offered every year.
Mr. El-Tobgui

ARBC 106b Advanced Arabic II: Classical Arabic & Islamic Literature
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in ARBC 106a or the equivalent. Four class hours per week. May be repeated for credit.
Continuation of ARBC 106a. Develops advanced competence in reading and understanding classical texts, including a systematic introduction to some of the grammatical features typical of this genre. Readings include a variety of materials – including poetry – related to classical Arabic and Islamic literature, religion, history, and culture. Class conducted entirely in Arabic. Usually offered every year.
Mr. El-Tobgui

FA 33b Islamic Art and Architecture
[ ca nw ]
May not be taken for credit by students who took FA 39b in prior years.
Introduces architecture and arts of the Islamic lands from seventh-century Levant to post-modernism in Iran, India, and the Gulf states. Provides an overview of major themes and regional variations, and their socio-political and historical context. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

FA 68a Israeli Art and Visual Culture: Forging Identities Between East and West
[ ca ]
May not be taken for credit by students who took FA 153a in prior years.
An examination of the visual arts created in Israel since the beginning of the twentieth century. Combines a chronological overview of major trends with an in-depth examination of select case studies of individual artists and specific themes.
Ms. Ankori

FA 174a Art and Trauma: Israeli, Palestinian, Latin American and United States Art
[ ca ]
May not be taken for credit by students who took FA 154b in prior years.
A comparative and critical examination of the various ways in which personal traumas (illness, death, loss) and collective traumas (war, the Holocaust, exile) find meaningful expression in the work of modern and contemporary artists from diverse regions. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Ankori

NEJS 72a Representing the Arab Israeli Conflict
[ hum ]
Explores how the Arab-Israeli conflict is portrayed in literature, film and political writing. The course explores questions such as: what are the ways in which we find conviction, legitimacy, moral support, pain and enjoyment in the images, narratives and ideas surrounding the conflict; what is the relationship between narrative and ideology; how are fictional representations and ideological discourse constructed poetically and rhetorically; what are the ways in which images repress/empower women who partake in the conflict. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Ofengenden

NEJS 104a Comparative Semitic Languages
[ hum nw ]
An introduction to and description of the Semitic languages, the internal relationships within this linguistic family, and the distinctive grammatical and lexical features of the individual languages. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Wright

NEJS 174a Minorities and Others in Israeli Literature and Culture
[ fl hum ]
Taught in Hebrew.
An exploration of poetics and identity in modern Hebrew literature. By offering a feminist and psychoanalytic reading of various Hebrew texts, this seminar explores questions of personal and national identity, otherness, visibility, and marginality in the Israeli context. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Szobel

NEJS 174b Israeli Women Writers on War and Peace
[ fl hum ]
Taught in Hebrew.
An exploration of nationalism and gender in Modern Hebrew literature. By discussing various Hebrew texts and Israeli works of art and film, this course explores women's relationship to Zionism, war, peace, the state, politics, and processes of cultural production. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Szobel

NEJS 178a Love, Sex, and Power in Israeli Culture
[ fl hum ]
Taught in Hebrew.
Explores questions of romance, gender, marriage, and jealousy in the Israeli context by offering a feminist and psychoanalytic reading of Hebrew texts, works of art, and film. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Szobel

NEJS 180b Introduction to Israeli Literature and Culture
[ hum ]
Taught in English.
Surveys the development of Israeli literature and culture over the past 100 years and includes selections of poetry and prose from a wide range of writers. The course aims to illuminate what makes Hebrew literature distinct as well as investigate the themes, symbols, and subject matter that have come to constitute its central concerns since the early 20th century. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Ben-Or

NEJS 185a Conflict and Consensus in Israeli Society; Topics in Israeli Social History
[ hum ]
Not recommended for first year students.
Focuses on key topics in the shaping of the Israeli experience, including Zionist colonization; absorption of immigrants; shaping Jewish identity, personal and national, in a secular sense; and homeland/Diaspora relations. Comparative perspectives are employed. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Troen

NEJS 198a Islam and the West
[ hum ]
Explores the major political, socio-economic, and cultural changes in the Middle East from the rise of Islam to present times with emphasis on Islam's encounter with The West. Focuses on common roots and mutual influences and analysis of (mis)perceptions as historically constructed cultural categories and of their legacy in the modern world. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. El-Tobgui

POL 145b Muslims in the West: Politics, Religion, and Law
[ ss ]
Few issues have caused more public furor than the accommodation of Islam in Europe and the United States. It is often overlooked that Muslims are developing the institutions of their faith in societies that offer everyone the freedom of choice and expression. This seminar looks at religious discrimination as a barrier to the civic and political inclusion of Muslim immigrants, the responses of governments, courts, and the general public, and what we know about the balance among "fundamentalist, " "moderate," and "progressive" Muslim viewpoints. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Klausen

POL 160a The War on Global Terrorism
[ ss ]
Intended for juniors and seniors, but open to all students.
Explores how 9/11 changed our lives. The course surveys the build-up of Al Queda leading up to the 9/11 attacks and ten years of counter terrorism. Students are given an introduction to Jihadist doctrines and Al Queda's structure, as well as theories about the cause of terrorism. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Klausen

POL 166b Seminar: The Middle East in International Relations
[ ss ]
Explores how the concepts, theories, and paradigms from the field of International Relations can be used to analyze the politics of the Middle East. This class provides students a toolbox for understanding current and future developments in the ever-changing relations between the region's states. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Feldman

SOC 119a Deconstructing War, Building Peace
[ ss ]
Ponders the possibility of a major "paradigm shift" under way from adversarialism and war to mutuality and peace. Examines war culture and peace culture and points in between, with emphases on the role of imagination in social change, growing global interdependence, and political, economic, gender, social class, and social psychological aspects of war and peace. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Fellman

SQS 145b Sexuality and Gender in the Middle East
[ ss ]
Explores historical and contemporary debates regarding the construction and organization of gender and sexuality in the Arab world, Turkey and Iran. It aims to simulate genders and sexualities in the region within a complex and multidimensional analytical framework. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Zengin

WMGS 140a Diversity of Muslim Women's Experience
[ nw ss ]
A broad introduction to the multidimensional nature of women's experiences in the Muslim world. As both a cultural and religious element in this vast region, understanding Islam in relation to lives of women has become increasingly imperative. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Shavarini

ANTH 118a Secularism, Religion and Modernity
[ nw ss ]
Explores the role of religion in the public sphere, the changing relations between religion and state, and the various forms secularism takes in countries with different religious traditions, such as the U.S., France, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, and India. Special one-time offering, spring 2016.
Mr. Kocamaner

ANTH 141a Islamism
[ ss ]
Why has Islamism become the most visible political movement in the Arab world? This course advocates for ethnographic work in the study of politics and examines the impact of the Iranian Revolution, Islamist feminism, the war on terror, and the Arab uprisings. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Menoret

ECON 122b The Economics of the Middle East
[ nw ss ]
Prerequisite: ECON 2a or 10a or the equivalent. Does not count toward the upper-level elective requirement for the major in economics.
Examines the Middle East economies – past experiences, present situation, and future challenges – drawing on theories, policy formulations and empirical studies of economic growth, trade, poverty, income distribution, labor markets, finance and banking, government reforms, globalization, and Arab-Israeli political economy. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Habibi

FA/NEJS 183a Breaking Boundaries in Contemporary Israeli Art
[ ca hum ]
Explores how the Creative Arts reflect, challenge, and reconfigure various cleavages and barriers that characterize contemporary Israeli society. This course will focus on literary, visual and cinematic artworks, organized around thematic clusters and major theoretical issues. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Ankori and Ms. Szobel

HIST 111a History of the Modern Middle East
[ nw ss ]
An examination of the history of the Middle East from the nineteenth century to contemporary times. Focuses on political events and intellectual trends, such as imperialism, modernity, nationalism, and revolution, that have shaped the region in the modern era. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Sohrabi

HIST 111b The Iranian Revolution: From Monarchy to the Islamic Republic
[ nw ss ]
An examination of the roots of the Iranian revolution of 1979, the formation of the Islamic Republic, and its evolution over the past 30 years. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Sohrabi

HIST 114a Israel's Foreign Policy
[ ss ]
Presents the historical contexts of Israel's diplomacy, including strategies for gaining regional and international recognition, increasing immigration, and acquiring arms, aid, oil, and water. This course will chart Israel's relations with the super powers, the European Community, and Arab and Afro-Asian States. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Bialer

IMES 105a War and Revolution in the Middle East
[ hum nw wi ]
Considers the impact of war and revolution in the shaping of the modern Middle East starting with the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. Focuses on the violent turning points that have changed the lives of millions of people.
Staff

NEJS 145a History of the State of Israel
[ hum ]
Examines the development of the State of Israel from its foundation to the present time. Israel's politics, society, and culture will be thematically analyzed. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Troen

NEJS 145b Ideology and Society in Contemporary Israel: Major Controversies
[ hum ]
Provides advanced students with a comprehensive understanding of several major trends in contemporary Israeli society, by presenting and representing major controversies among scholars of different approaches, paradigms, and disciplines (sociology, political science, law, cultural studies, etc). Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Troen

NEJS 177a The Holocaust in Israeli and Jewish Literature
[ hum ]
Taught in English.
A broad survey of Holocaust writings in Modern Jewish literature. Examines the psychological, social, moral, and aesthetic challenges involved in representing the Holocaust in Israeli, American, and European context through literary texts, theoretical research, works of art, and film. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Szobel

NEJS 187a Political Islam
[ hum nw wi ]
Traces the recent reemergence of Islam by examining its position in modern Middle Eastern socioeconomic and political life. Uses Egypt, Syria, Algeria, Afghanistan, and Iran as major test cases for assessing the success of political Islam. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

NEJS 194a Modern Arabic Literature
[ hum nw ]
Provides an introduction to modern Arabic literature through the study of texts in translation. We will survey a range of novels, short stories, autobiographies, poems, plays and films from across the Arab world, with a focus on the second half of the 20th century. Special one-time offering, spring 2016.
Ms. Blecker

NEJS 197b Political Cultures of the Middle East
[ hum nw wi ]
Explores the way in which people make assumptions about power, authority, and justice. Focuses on Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq, and works through. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Makiya

POL 133a Contemporary Politics in the Middle East
[ nw ss ]
Introduces the politics of the region through the study of regimes in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, and Israel. Themes include the political legacy of colonialism, the challenge of ethnic pluralism, the rise of political Islam, the politics of gender, the role of the military in politics, the dynamics of regime survival, the persistence of authoritarianism and the prospects for democratization, and the implications of the Arab spring for the future of the region. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Bellin

POL 135b The Politics of Islamic Resurgence
[ nw ss ]
Studies the impact of Islamic resurgence on both international and intra-national politics. It explores the competing explanations for Islamic resurgence (cultural, economic, and political), Islamic movements in comparative perspective (with special emphasis on the cases of Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Britain and France), the successes and failures of Islamic revolution, the ideological content of Islamic revival (and debates over the potential conflict with Western notions of democracy and gender equality). Islamic notions of jihad, terror in the name of Islam, the politics of cultural change, and Islam as a supranational movement. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Bellin

POL 136b Social and Political Movements in Israel
[ oc ss ]
Applies the scholarship on collective action and social movements to the case of Israel. It provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the social, religious, and ethnic conflicts that have shaped Israeli society and politics through a focus on the unique movements and campaigns that have driven them. Special two-time offering, spring 2015 and spring 2016.
Ms. Norwich

POL 143b Israel, Iran, the Bomb and Beyond: Nuclear Proliferation in the Middle East
[ ss ]
Addresses one of the most pressing international issues - the nuclearization of Iran. It focuses on Iran's nuclear ambitions, beginning with the Shah of Iran, the motivations behind the acceleration of its nuclear efforts in recent decades, the reactions of Israel, the U.S., Arab states and the international community to Iran's efforts, the implications of Iranian nuclear weapons for regional and international security, and the dynamics of the negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran which led to the recent Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- the agreement halting Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and lifting international sanctions against it. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Feldman

POL 164a Conflict and Peacemaking in the Middle East
[ ss ]
Provides students with historical and analytic mastery of the Arab- Israeli conflict in a novel way. Through immersion in three competing narratives - Israeli, Palestinian, and pan-Arab - students will gain proficiency in the history of the conflict as well as analytic leverage on the possibility of its resolution. The course is organized as a seminar and is premised on active student participation. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Feldman

POL 166b Seminar: The Middle East in International Relations
[ ss ]
Explores how the concepts, theories, and paradigms from the field of International Relations can be used to analyze the politics of the Middle East. This class provides students a toolbox for understanding current and future developments in the ever-changing relations between the region's states. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Feldman

SOC 157a Sociology of the Israeli-Palestinian Confrontation
[ ss ]
An introduction to Jewish and Palestinian nationalisms; relevant sociological, political, religious, and resource issues; social psychological dimensions; and the conflict in world politics. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Fellman

NEJS 124a Arabic Literature, Hebrew Literature (500-1500)
[ hum ]
A comparative study of Arabic and Hebrew literature from before the rise of Islam through the fifteenth century. Studies major trends in Arabic poetry and fiction and how Jewish authors utilized Arabic motifs in their Hebrew writings, both secular and sacred, and sometimes wrote in Arabic themselves. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Decter

NEJS 140a Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages
[ hum ss wi ]
Surveys Jewish political, social and intellectual history in the domains of Islam and Christianity from the rise of Islam (622) to the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492) and Portugal (1497). Topics include the legal status of Jews, Jewish communal organization, persecution and response, inter-religious polemics, conversion, the origins of anti-Judaism, and trends in Jewish law, philosophy, literature, and mysticism. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Decter

NEJS 144a Jews in the World of Islam
[ hum nw ]
Examines social and cultural history of Jewish communities in the Islamic world. Special emphasis is placed on the pre-modern Jewish communities. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Decter

NEJS 186a Introduction to the Qur'an
[ hum nw ]
Traces the history of the Qur'an as text, its exegesis, and its role in inter-religious polemics, law, theology, and politics. Examines the role of the Qur'an in Islamic teachings and its global impact. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

NEJS 186b The Quran: Composition, Collection, and Commentary
[ hum ]
Prerequisites: IMES 104a or NEJS 186a or permission of the instructor.
Examines the historical development and collection of the Quran, and the emergence of the different schools of Quranic commentary within various branches of Islam throughout the Islamic world and the central themes upon which they focus. Emphasis is placed upon the guiding principles of Quranic commentary and the way in which they give rise to a hermeneutical tradition that is particular to Islam and has shaped the lives of Muslims around the globe. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

NEJS 188a The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1800
[ hum nw ss ]
A historical survey of the Middle East from the establishment of the Ottoman Empire as the area's predominant power to 1800. Topics include Ottoman institutions and their transformation, and the Ottoman Empire as a world power. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

NEJS 188b Islam and Religious Diversity
[ hum nw ]
Examines the myriad ways in which Muslims from varying disciplines and different times have understood the religious other. Drawing upon this historical background, this course also analyzes contemporary approaches to the question of the religious other in Islam. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

NEJS 190b Islamic Philosophy
[ hum ]
Prerequisite: IMES 104a or NEJS 186a or a course on Islam.
An examination of the development and teachings of the Islamic philosophical tradition, covering its development from the Greek philosophical tradition and in response to Islamic teachings, and the relationship between Islamic philosophy and theology up to the Safavid period. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

NEJS 194b Sufi Teachings
[ hum nw ]
An examination of the teaching and practices of the Sufi tradition. Explores the foundations of Sufism, its relation to other aspects of Islam, the development of Sufi teachings in both poetry and prose, and the manner in which Sufism is practiced in lands as diverse as Egypt, Turkey, Iran, India, Malaysia, and Europe. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

NEJS 195a Muhammad: Life, Teachings, and Legacy
[ hum ]
Studies the life of Muhammad based upon the earliest biographical accounts and the academic analyses in both Islamic and non-Islamic sources, accompanied by an examination of his legacy in different aspects of Islam, such as Shi'ism and Sufism. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Laher

NEJS 197a Survey of Islamic Law
[ hum ]
After surveying the development of Islamic law from the classical to the modern period, students explore the principles of juristic interpretation as well as legal doctrine in the fields of ritual, family, and penal law, with some attention also given to Islamic legal education and judicial practice. Underlying themes include the authority and moral-ethical grounding of the law, the law’s conception of the human subject to whom it applies, and the relationship of law to the political organization of the state. Concludes with an examination of the issues surrounding the interpretation and application of Islamic law in contemporary Muslim societies. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. El-Tobgui