Near East Studies

This course analyzes the major upheavals that have shaped the Middle East and North Africa's strategic landscape in the post-Cold War era. It is structured around three key modules. The first provides a chronological overview, from the 1990s "Unipolar Moment" to the collapse of the Syrian regime in December 2024. The second focuses on the persistence of authoritarianism, along with the violent backlash and counterrevolutions that followed the Arab Spring. The third examines U.S. foreign policy and the Global War on Terror. Special attention is given to the Proxy Wars and Culture Wars that will define the future of the region, to the shifting alliances within a context of competitive multipolarity, and to civil societies, literature, cinema, cultural and intellectual fault lines.

This course introduces urban studies in the Middle East, drawing on textual, visual, and collaborative resources to critically explore contemporary urban life in the region. It situates the region within broader discussions on the global “urban age,” an era where purportedly half of the world’s growing population lives and works in cities. The course explores the structural and everyday forces and actors—states, people, culture, nature, wars, and disasters—that shape and connect cities across the region. It draws on debates and methodologies in urban sociology, political economy, and anthropology. The course blends theory and practice through collaborative, experiential methods such as urban diary writing, visual ethnography, and field visits.

The course introduces students to 20th century Persian-language literary texts available in translation as a means of understanding the efforts of an ever-expanding Iranian intellectual class to address issues surrounding the rise of the modern nation-state in the Middle East generally and Iran in particular over this period via use of both the short story and the novel. The course can intersect with other departmental courses on modern Middle Eastern Studies, allowing students to explore their particular interests generally. But, it also intersects in particular with a course in modern Persian history which considers the political and socio-economic history of Iran since the 16th century.
 

Through the reading of a selection of Arabic literary texts in English translation by leading authors from across the Arab world, the course introduces students to the language, style, and themes of postcolonial Arabic literature. Students look at the features and significance of the "postcolonial voice" in Arabic literature produced in the aftermath of national independence and the end of colonial rule, and analyze some theoretical concepts in the context of postcolonial literary criticism. The course also develops understanding of the political, historical, and cultural contexts of the postcolonial approach to Arabic literature. 

This course students to the study of a rapidly changing Middle East and North Africa from a multidisciplinary angle. The course debunks preconceived stereotypical ideas students might have acquired through the media about a region often typified as a war zone and an area rife with conflict. Students gain a comprehensive understanding of the MENA from multifarious angles including history, politics, and culture.

This course is an introduction to sociology of the Arab region. It focuses on the processes of change and continuity that have helped establish the main elements of contemporary Arab societies. This course analyzes the linguistic, ethnic, and religious structures of the region, as well as the different trajectories of state formation, gender policies, family structures, the relationships between religion and power, and the main transformations since 2011 as a result of Arab Spring.

This course is a survey of the architectural output of the Islamic world from from Spain to Indonesia from the 7th century to the present. It presents major examples of religious and secular architecture, including mosques, madrasas, palaces, and caravanserais and offers an insight into different Islamic dynastic styles in their respective geographic territories beginning with the Umayyads in Syria and ending with the contemporary architecture. With the help of visual material and field trips, the course analyzes major monuments with the objective of arriving at an understanding of each dynasty’s contribution in the context of the continuous development that nurtured it. The course facilitates enjoyment of Islamic architecture, provides an understanding of how art historians think and argue with one another, and expands visual memory.

The Ottoman Empire was one of the four principal political, military, and cultural forces in the premodern world (together with the Qing, Mughal and Habsburg empires), and still a power to be reckoned with in the modern period until 1918. With its core in the Aegean and Balkans, the empire exercised hegemony over large parts of the Middle East, North and East Africa, and Central Europe for many centuries. Taking the perspective of world history, this course provides a basic knowledge of Ottoman history and culture, especially during the last three hundred years of its more than six centuries long existence. In a more general sense, the course introduces the developing historical fields of empire studies and court studies. The course reviews the current historiographical debates about the nature and impact of Ottoman rule, including the question of ‘modernization’. Special attention is paid to the entanglements of politics, religion and ethnic identity in the region. This includes a critical appraisal of hackneyed terms and binaries, such as the east-west dichotomy, the ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis, and the very concept of ‘the Middle East’ itself. In addition, the course introduces students to Ottoman institutions of imperial rule, such as the court and the palace, the army, the role of religion, and Ottoman architecture.

The death of the Prophet and his succession gave rise to two different and sometimes rival conceptions of religious authority and political power in Islam. The historical perspective enables us to understand the changing relationships, reconfigurations, and contemporary dynamics in the Middle East. This course, based on a multidisciplinary approach, examines the impact of relations between Sunnis and Shiites on the geopolitics of the Middle East, and the extent to which they are also shaped by regional geopolitics. As these divisions are part of specific political and regional contexts, it is necessary to go beyond a strictly confessional reading of regional geopolitical issues. This course develops critical thinking skills, as well as the capacity for analysis and reflection, in order to shed light on the multidimensional dimension of these interactions.

The death of the Prophet and his succession gave rise to two different and sometimes rival conceptions of religious authority and political power in Islam. The historical perspective will enable us to understand the changing relationships, reconfigurations and contemporary dynamics in the Middle East. The aim of this course, based on a multidisciplinary approach, is to understand the impact of relations between Sunnis and Shiites on the geopolitics of the Middle East, but also to grasp the extent to which they are also shaped by regional geopolitics. As these divisions are part of specific political and regional contexts, it is necessary to go beyond a strictly confessional reading of regional geopolitical issues. This study will enable students to develop their critical thinking skills, as well as their capacity for analysis and reflection, in order to shed light on the multidimensional dimension of these interactions.