American University in Cairo

This course covers logic and philosophy of qualitative methodology in anthropology and other social sciences. The process of research design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of results and final write-up is elaborated with specific reference to research conducted in Egypt, the wider Arab and Middle Eastern worlds, and elsewhere. The course also discusses the politics and ethics of fieldwork, including protection of the rights of human participants in research projects.

This course offers in-depth analysis and discussion concerning key texts from the history of aesthetics and addresses current debates in aesthetic theory. Issues covered include the beautiful and the sublime, classicism and romanticism, tragedy and the absurd, modernism and post-modernity.

This course investigates the nineteenth-century roots of contemporary issues in the middle east. It introduces the issues, actors, and processes that have shaped the post-Ottoman region and its neighbors during the past two centuries. The course surveys broad trends in the evolution of the Ottoman Sultanate during the nineteenth century, then focus on themes for discussion and analysis. It also examines the Ottoman state, the diverse communities that made up the empire, and the great powers that surrounded it. The course attends to political, military, economic, social, and cultural developments, attempting to understand historical breaks and continuities that continue to affect the region today. Finally, it critiques analytical categories (nation, class, faith, and gender) while relating them to concrete case studies and asking whether they are relevant to different societies.

Topics are chosen according to specific interests, such as sociology of medicine, sex roles, symbolic interaction, or applied sociology. A recurring theme in attempts to understand the nature and emergence of the contemporary world is the relationship between capitalism and colonialism. Not only have the attempts to understand this relationship been important to academic discussions, the have also shaped the rhetoric and actions of policy makers, international institutions, and anti-colonial movements.

This course covers the period between the Predynastic and the Middle Kingdom and includes: reliefs, statuary, architecture, and minor arts, illustrated with images. It focuses on learning how to look at and to analyze Egyptian art and to place it in its context. This course involves a significant amount of memorization to create a mental data-bank that is useful when putting excavated material in context and in analyzing Egyptian art. It includes field trips to the museum and to Giza and Saqqara.

The technical aspects of environmental issues in Egypt are examined taking into account the cultural, social, and political dimensions upsetting the balance of the environment. Major issues such as water scarcity, global warming, desertification, urban pollution, tourism, and demographic pressures are presented and analyzed.

This course involves guided reading, research, and discussion. It treats some of the classics of American literature and examines how each text generated controversy in its own time and continues to do so in the present. From these texts, along with some theoretical readings, the course develops an understanding of cultures of censorship in the United States and their relationship with colonialism and dominant notions of civility. 

This course offers a systematic review of international migration and refugee movements to, through, and from the Middle East and North Africa over the last decade. It addresses their trends, causes, and consequences for individuals and societies, and stresses the universality of international mobility determinants, as well as the specificity of the context in which they operate in the region.

This course concerns the architectural and urban heritage of Fustat - Cairo from 641 CE to the present. It introduces Islamic architecture and the major architectural works of Cairo from the introduction of Islam to the present day. With reference to the historical and social contexts, the course also considers how and why Islamic architecture changed in Cairo over the centuries, and deepen understanding of the culture in which students live and share with the Islamic world. The assignments provide an opportunity to learn how art historians think and argue with one another, and develop perceptual abilities, research, presentation skills, and critical thinking.

This course covers the history of Egypt from the Predynastic period to the Middle Kingdom. The course focuses on the "official" history of Egypt rather than the cultural/social history which is covered in a separate course. The scope of "official" history includes: the rise of the Egyptian state, the different rulers of Egypt and their contributions to the state in terms of buildings, religious changes and foreign policy, the economy, social organization, and Egypt’s foreign relations. Literary sources are augmented by archaeological evidence. Field trips to archaeological sites in the Cairo area are an obligatory aspect of the course.