01:563:100
(cross-listed with 01:685:100)
This is the foundational course for Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University. The course introduces students to Middle East Studies as an interdisciplinary academic field. Throughout the semester, we study key debates, events, and literature in several of the disciplines that constitute the field. Three major “modules” comprise the course but history is a defining discipline. The first module introduces Middle East Studies as a professional academic field in Euro-American universities by focusing on the relationship between power and knowledge. The second module explores major debates in the field from the vantage point of three major disciplines - History, Political Science, and Anthropology – as well as the key interdisciplinary framework of Political Economy. The third module provides a curated overview of major events, ideologies, and encounters that continue to shape the Modern Middle East: colonialism, nationalism, war, the nation-state system, and political Islam.
Introduction to the Modern Middle East is an intensive undergraduate level course meeting Core Curriculum learning goals and requiring 25-35 pages per session. The classes are a mixture of lectures and discussions. Students are expected to come to classes having prepared the reading(s) for the day and ready to discuss them in detail.
This course fulfills Core requirements CCO, SCL.
