MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES PROGRAM

Winter 2024

Class Schedule

Course Descriptions

MENA 290-4-1: The Holocaust and its Memory in Israel

This course examines the origins, development, course, and consequences of the most comprehensive genocide in history and the ways it has been remembered by Israeli society. The first part of the course will focus on the persecution of Jews during the first half of the 20th century culminating in their genocide between 1939-1945. We will discuss Nazi ideology; the complex interface between the Nazi regime's espousal of racism and the motivation of perpetrators on the ground; the interface between politics and law; the victims' reactions to persecution; conditions of life in the ghettos and camps; the response of the international community; and the aftermath of the war. In the second part of the course, we will examine Israeli society's different and even contradicting attitudes toward the Holocaust. We will probe how the establishment of the State of Israel, the 1950s mass immigration, and the evolving Arab-Israeli conflict shaped Israelis’ understanding and memory of the Holocaust. We will analyze various primary documents and watch videos throughout the course.

MENA 290-4-2: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - Competing Narratives

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the world’s most complicated and vexing conflicts. It has fascinated and puzzled scholars, politicians, and the broader public, creating the impression that everyone has an opinion about it. This course explores its roots, its major historical milestones, and the different narratives of the conflict, viewed from the perspective of Palestinians and Israelis. The approach of the course is historical, so emphasis will be placed on understanding the shifting historical local and international contexts in which the conflict has evolved, and the ways it has been interpreted and remembered by both Israelis and Palestinians. The course will combine not only academic writing but also literature, film, posters, and documentaries. Students will engage in historiographical debates as well as in the analyses of primary sources.

MENA 290-5-20: Introduction to Islam

This course introduces Islam, one of the major religious traditions of world history. We will develop a framework for understanding how Muslims in varying times and places have engaged with Islamic scripture and the prophetic message of the Prophet Muhammad through diverse sources: theological, philosophical, legal, political, mystical, literary and artistic. While we aim to grasp broad currents and narratives of Islamic history, we will especially concentrate on the origins and development of the religion in its formative period (the prophetic career of the Prophet Muhammad, the Qur'an, Islamic belief and ritual, Islamic law, mysticism, and popular spirituality) and debates surrounding Islam in the contemporary world (the impact of European colonialism on the Muslim world, the rise of the modern Muslim state, women's experiences, and the rise of jihadi activism in the late twentieth century).

MENA 290-6-1: Foodways of Turkey: A Multi-ethnic Look at Food, Culture and Identity 

Food represents an integral part of livelihood, culture and identity. Food production, consumption and sharing also have symbolic and ideological meanings. In this course we will explore the complex relationships between food, culture and society through the lens of Turkish food from the Middle Ages to the present. Using an array of primary and secondary sources from history, anthropology, literature, film and media, we will situate culinary practices and their use in constructing and expressing cultural, regional and national identities within the social, historical and political context of Turkey and the wider Middle East. We will study the consumption of and attitudes toward specific foodstuffs, gauging the relevance of items like coffee in the pre-modern world and baklava in modern politics. We will investigate the role of minorities and immigrants in shaping culinary practices in and outside Turkey; the effects of climate change on food production and scarcity; the role of globalization on national cuisine; and representations of Turkish food culture in world literature and film.  

MENA 290-6-2: We’re Here, We’re Queer: Queer Narratives in Israeli Literature and Culture

The corpus of Hebrew prose works and Israeli cultural representations that focus on LGBT characters and queer life stories is on the rise. Such texts and films are no longer inherently considered completely marginal, despite not yet being a major part of the Israeli culture and the literary canon. This course presents a broad examination of LGBT/queer Israeli literature and culture – from the new wave of gay and lesbian literature in the 1990s up to some more contemporary works. What stories and questions do Hebrew queer literary texts and films present? Is queerness in the Israeli context being celebrated or is it still fighting for acceptance and tolerance? Throughout the course, we will explore Israeli prose works and films that engage with LGBT/queer identities and topics, and examine questions and themes, such as "coming out of the closet," "queer identity," "the lesbian continuum," "heteronormativity/ homonormativity," and the queer notion of "no future." The literary and cultural texts will be accompanied by theoretical texts from Adrienne Rich, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Lee Edelman, J. Halberstam, and more. No previous knowledge of Hebrew, Israel, or Judaism is required! All the Hebrew texts will be read in translation, and all the films will be accompanied by English subtitles.

MENA 290-6-3: Otherness and Othering in Israeli Film

Since its inception, Israeli society is comprised of various and different social groups; immigrants, Arabs, Jews, foreign workers, religious people, secular people, ultra-orthodox Jews, Christians, to name several. In a society where many feel themselves as outsiders, what does Otherness actually mean? Is it a subjective stance or a definite (and “objective”) position? Does Otherness exist only when juxtaposed with what is supposedly the social norms of “Israeli society” or can it stand by itself? Does Israeli society is othering others to have a false sense of unity? And is there an actual entity of “Israeli society” or is it only imagined by those who seek to be part of it? Film in its nature is an introspective tool, and in the case of Israeli film it has always been a prism through which Israeli directors examine questions of identity, the treatment of “others”, and the relationship between the center and the margins. In this class we will watch various Israeli films that relate to the notion of otherness and to the dilemmas that arise from the characters’ complex position in Israeli society. Among the movies we will watch are “Noodle”, “Borrowed Identity”, “Sandstorm” and “Baba Joon”. We will read texts that will contextualize the movies and will shed light on the stance of otherness in Israeli society. No previous knowledge of Hebrew or Israel or Israeli cinema is required. All the movies will have English subtitles and all the readings will be in English, as well as the lectures and class discussions.

MENA 301-2-1: Between the Middle East and the Americas: Diaspora and Transnational Identities

Since the mid-1800s, migrants from Bilad al-Sham (modern-day Levantine region of the Middle East) have traveled to the Americas and settled in towns and cities from Canada to Argentina. Today, this diasporic community—the modern mahjar—has unique local identities while maintaining cultural, political, and economic links to distant homelands. In this course, students will engage with historical and ethnographic accounts of contemporary Middle East diasporas, discussing similarities and differences within the overlapping transnational networks. Students will read about Palestinians in Santiago, Chile; Iraqis in Dearborn, Michigan; Lebanese in Tijuana, Mexico; and much more. From these accounts, the course will extrapolate lessons about intercultural engagement, global migration, and diasporic connectivity and cover topics including culture (food & music), religion, politics, gender, and more. 

MENA 390-3-1 & 490-0-1: Sexing the Middle East: Gender and Sexuality in the Making of a Region  

Are gender and sexuality useful categories of analysis in contemporary Middle East? What sexual assumptions underpin studies of the Middle East? And what kind of a Middle East grounds gender and sexuality studies in the region? This course engages with queer studies and critical race and feminist scholarship in anthropology, history, and sociology to probe these questions. In this course, we will attend to the formation of “gender” and “sexuality” as categories of sociocultural analysis, surveying the major shifts within the intellectual history of gender and sexuality studies, while interrogating the ways in which race, class, and nationality complicate studies of gender and sexuality and of mobility alike. In other words, if one major question that animates the course is what intersectional studies of mobility have to contribute to historical and anthropological studies of gender and sexuality in the Middle East, the other is what kind of new analytical ground studies of gender and sexuality could open up in sociocultural analysis of mobility, migration and transnationalism across the Middle East and Southwest Asia. 

HISTORY 300-0-42: The Mongol Empire

The Mongol Empire In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Chinggis (or Genghis) Khan and his successors conquered and ruled the largest land empire in world history. At its height, their empire extended from Hungary to Korea, and from Siberia to Burma. This course introduces students to the empire's history - from the Mongols' harsh living conditions as nomads in the Mongolian Steppe to Chinggis Khan's rise to power and extraordinary military success, which facilitated the Mongol Empire's near universal expansion. We will explore how the Mongols ruled over diverse geographical regions and populations, and the impact their expansion had on the territories they ruled and further beyond. We will read sources in translation and discuss how European, Chinese, Arabic and Persian authors viewed the Mongols, but also what we can learn from the Secret History of the Mongols, the Mongols' account of the establishment of their empire. In the past few decades, the image of the Mongols in modern scholarship has changed: no longer only brutal yet highly effective nomadic conquerors, they are recognized also as cultural agents responsible for fostering cross-cultural encounters and facilitating inter-Eurasian exchanges of knowledge and expertise, from warfare to astronomy and medicine. We will explore the results of the transmission and mobility of people, objects, technologies, and ideas between China, the Middle East, and Europe during this era.

HUM 329-0-20/ANTHRO 329-0-1: Archaeology and Nationalism

Archaeology and nationalism have been closely intertwined at least since the idea of the nation-state emerged in Europe following the French Revolution. Archaeology offers nationalist agendas the possibility of elaborating historical records and extending the past far into prehistory. Its results can be displayed in museums and accessed online. In turn, nationalism has contributed to the development of archaeology as a modern discipline within colonial contexts and problematic theories around race. Global heritage and institutions such as UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre have reshaped the political landscape of archaeological sites while introducing new tensions around equitable access to resources and the consequences of increased tourism. This course explores the role of archaeology in creating and elaborating national identities over the last two centuries, emphasizing the critical evaluation of historical and archaeological sources. Issues include the professionalization of archaeology; national museums and practices of display and interpretation; archaeological sites as national monuments and tourist destinations; cultural property legislation and controversies; and archaeology and monuments under totalitarian regimes.