Near East Studies

The history of Jewish education spans millennia. This course examines the history of Israeli education from its religious roots in the 18th century to its current national expressions in the 21st century. In the process of communicating this historical overview of Jewish and Israeli education, students witness the different roles of religion, nationalism, languages, politics, gender, and culture in the formation of Israeli education. These forces also had a role in separating and integrating different segments of Israeli population, including European and Mizrahi Jews and Arabs. This education system and its forces of integration and segregation emanated both from internal forces within the Jewish and Zionist world as well as from foreign forces and influences. Education in the Zionist movement and Israel played a crucial role in formulating the identity and nature of Israeli nationalism and in forming the state.

The course explores the rich body of literature on multiculturalism that has developed and raises questions regarding the advantages and disadvantages, the freedom, and the limits that a society of separate and sometimes semi-autonomous culture presents. The course examines various theories regarding multiculturalism and applies them as part of an analysis of the complicated relations between political authorities and the many minorities in Jerusalem, including Ultra-Orthodox Jews, various Christian sects, and the large Moslem minority. The course addresses the conflicting interests of these groups on both municipal and national levels, as well as the international aspects and ramifications of recognizing the various ethnic, religious, and national groups. The lecturer draws on their experience with timely issues as a member of Jerusalem's City Council.

This course is an introduction to the history of the Islamic world from 550 to 1050 CE. It covers the pre-Islamic background to Islam, the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the Arab conquests, the formation of the first Muslim world empire (the Caliphate), the emergence of the "orthodox" Islamic traditions of Sunni and Shi'i Islam, and the fragmentation of the Caliphate into a "commonwealth" of successor states.

This course begins with a brief history of Islam in Ireland. It will subsequently examine the Islamic “other,” and Muslim identities in Europe from historical and modern perspectives. The focus of the course then shifts to the modern era and to debates concerning Muslims living in Europe, including discussions around secularism, human rights, and religious freedoms.

This course charts the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the rise of political Zionism and Palestinian-Arab nationalism to the present day. It provides an understanding of the political and scholarly debates surrounding the causes for the dispute through the eyes of the belligerent societies, and the efforts that have been made to resolve it (and their degree of success or failure). It includes an evaluation of attempts to resolve the conflict and the factors shaping peace-making efforts to the present day.

This course offers a study of Arab-Islamic culture in the context of cultural anthropology. Topics include: gender, marriage, family, and kinship; perceptions of Arab-Islamic culture; the Arabic language; myths, legends, and traditions.

This course introduces modern Turkish literature, by addressing its origination, formation, and impact on the cultural milieu. It focuses on the making and predicament of modernity, its innate contradictions, and the implications of nostalgia, anxiety of influence, and globalism. It studies Turkish authors (particularly novelists), as caught between a past that was read, misread, or misunderstood, and a present that has a large body of challenge, attraction, and difference. They fathom the cultural underpinnings of the Ottoman past and non-western legacies while negotiating a western legacy of many facets. The course reads criticism in line with novelistic production, the role of the novelist as public intellectual (terms and applications are defined and set in ethnic, national, social, and cultural terms and contexts).

This course provides students with an in-depth understanding of human rights in the Middle East and North Africa from theoretical and practical perspectives. The course gives an overview of the state of international human rights discourse and looks at the implementation of human rights law in the regions of the Middle East and North Africa. The theoretical perspective both engage the international human rights system and also consider debates around the universality of rights and the relationship between Islam and human rights.

Jerusalem's glory rests not only in the archeological sites and ancient monuments which shed light on its past, but also in the multiple dynamic religious groups whether of Jewish, Christian, Islamic, or other origin, which flourish in it today. This unique course tours the city, meeting representatives of these religious groups, visiting their communities, and thus understanding the complex but also amazing fabric of this exquisite city.