Re-Forming the 20th Century Arab East
Fall 2009
Yoav Di-Capua
HIS 364G
MES 322K
Classes: T TH 8:00-9:30 UTC 3.112
Office Hours: Garrison 0.136 (History Department). T TH 9:30-11:00
e-mail ydi@mail.utexas.edu
Teaching Assistant: Kate Wright tucknroll@gmail.com
Office hours by appointment
Course Description
This is an introductory class to the history of the Middle East in the 20^th century. The main question for consideration is which forces and what sort of developments transformed this region from a relatively peaceful region to a radicalized environment and a source for opposition against the “West.” By exploring critical political, social, intellectual and economic themes such as colonialism, Arab nationalism, secular modernism, the impact of Zionism and military conflict, the rise of political Islam, the status of women and the oil revolution, we would identify the main internal and external forces, as well as the critical processes, that shaped the region during the last century.
Course Requirements and Grading:
2 Exams: Midterm (25%), Final (40%)
2 short reports (5 double-spaced pages each) (25%)
Participation 10%
Periodic Quizzes
Attendance is mandatory (One grade down for every three classes skipped).
Mandatory Textbooks (available at the Co-op or bookfinder.com):
-James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East; A History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
-James Gelvin, The Israel-Palestine Conflict : One Hundred Years of War
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Course Packet: Course packet is available at Jenn’s Copy and Binding 2200 Guadalupe jenns@io.com 512-473-8669
Deadlines:
- September, 8th Mid-East Blind Map Quiz.
- First Report: October, 15th
- Second Report: November, 20th
- October 22^nd , Midterm Due.
Note: All papers and exams are due at 8 a.m. in class. No late submissions.
Accommodations: At the beginning of the semester, students with disabilities who need special accommodations should notify me by presenting a letter prepared by the Services for Students with Disabilities Office (SSD tel. 471-6259)
Academic Integrity: Students should maintain a high standard of individual honor in his or her scholarly work. All work handed in by students should be their own work, prepared without unauthorized assistance. All cases of academic dishonesty will be treated with due severity. For further information visit the Student Judicial Services website at http://www.utexas.edu/depts/dos/sjs or call 471-2841
Please bring a hard copy of the reading material with your own annotations to class
The “Troubled Century”
August 27th
-Introductory Lecture: What is there to Understand about the Middle East?
-Imperialism and the Close of the Ottoman Era, 1882-1914
September 1st
-James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East; A History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 9-68, 69-99, 132-146.
- Roger Owen, “Egypt and Europe: From French Expedition to British Occupation,” The Modern Middle East a Rader ed. Albert Hourani et al. (London: I. B. Tauris, 1993), pp, 111-124.//
World War I in the Middle East: Part I
September 3rd
-Cleveland William, History of the Modern Middle East, Chapter 9 (146-167).
- David Lesch, The Arab Israeli Conflict: A History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 45-93.
World War I in the Middle East: Part II
September 8th
-Middle East Map Quiz
-James Gelvin, The Modern/Middle East; A History, pp. 171-205.
- C. Ernest Dawn, “From Ottomanism to Arabism: The Origin of an Ideology,” in The Modern Middle East: a Reader (eds.). Hourani, Khoury, and Wilson, (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993), pp. 375-393.
The Emergence of the Arab Nation State System: 1914-1952: Part I
September 10th
-Cleveland, William, History of the Modern Middle East, Chapter 10, 11, 12 (172-181, 190-233.)
The Emergence of the Arab Nation State System: 1914-1952: Part II
September, 15th
-Roger Owen, State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East (Routledge, 2004), pp. 1-26.
-Thabit Abdullah, A Short History of Iraq: From 636 to the Present (Pearson-Longman, 2003), pp. 122-154.
Arab Israeli Conflict 1882-1948: part I
September, 17th
-James Gelvin, The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War, pp. 1-75.
-Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian identity: the Construction of Modern National Consciousness (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997). Chapter 3.
Arab Israeli Conflict 1882-1948: part II
September, 22nd
-James Gelvin, The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War, pp. 76-143.
-Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, pp. 1-29. (Introduction).
-David Lesch, The Arab Israeli Conflict: A History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 126-161.
Socio-Economic Malaise and the End of Liberal Experiments
September, 24th
-Stephen Humphreys, Between Memory and Desire: the Middle East in a Troubled Age (Berkeley, UC Press, 1999). Conclusion, pp. 113-130.
Nasserism and Ba`thism: Part I
September, 29th
-Adeed Dawisha, Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: from Triumph to Despair (Princeton, N.J. 2003), pp. 135-159.
Stephen Humphreys, Between Memory and Desire: pp. 60-82.
Nasserism and Ba`thism: Part II
October, 1st
Adeed Dawisha, Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: From Triumph to Despair (Princeton, N.J. 2003), pp. 252-281.
The Palestinian Revolution
October, 6th
-Yezid Sayigh, Armed Struggle and the Search for State: the Palestinian National Movement, 1949-1993 (Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 71-95.
-Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997). pp. 177-209.
Colonialism and Revolution in Algeria
October, 8th
-Benjamin Stora, Algeria, 1830-2000: A Short History (Ithaca: 2001), pp. 1-27.
-Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 (New York: NYRB, 2006), pp. 83-104.
Film: The Battle for Algiers
The Algerian War of Independence
October, 13th
-Benjamin Stora, Algeria, 1830-2000: a Short History, pp. pp. 33-85, 107-115.
-Helie-Lucas, “Women, Nationalism and Religion in the Algerian Liberation Struggle,” in Miriam Cooke and Margot Badran (Eds.), Opening the Gates: An Anthology of Arab Feminist Writing (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2004), pp. 105-114.
The Arab East and the 1967 War
October, 15th and 20th
-Submit First Report on Algerian War of Independence
-Michael Oren, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the
Modern Middle East (Oxford: 2002), pp. 1-32.
-James Gelvin, The Israel-Palestine Conflict, pp. 165- 194.
Film: Six Days in June
The Age of Oil and America: I
October, 22nd
-James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East; A History, pp. 247-267.
-Roger Owen & Sevket Pamuk, A History of Middle East Economies in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1999), pp. 202-229.
The Age of Oil and America: II
October, 27th
-Douglas Little, American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East Since 1945 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), pp. 43-75.
Optional Film: The Prize
Reaction to Secularism and the Rise of Islam
October, 29th
-Kepel, Gilles, Jihad: the Trail of Political Islam (London; New York: I.B. Tauris, 2004), pp. 23-42.
-Kepel, Gilles, The Roots of Radical Islam (London: 2005), pp. 23-69.
Radicalism as an Idea
November, 3rd
-Emmanuel Sivan, Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics (new edition), pp. 1-49.
The Iranian Revolution
November, 5th
-Mehran Kamrava, The Modern Middle East: A Political History Since the First World War (California U. Press, 2005), 138-168.
-Abrahamian, Ervand, Iran Between Two Revolutions (Princeton, N.J.: 1982), pp. 496-529.
Second and Third Waves of Islamic Radicalism
November, 10th
-Kepel, Gilles, Jihad: the Trail of Political Islam, pp. 299-322, 361-376.
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, 1982 to Oslo
November, 12th
-James Gelvin, The Israel-Palestine Conflict, pp. 196-256.
-David Lesch, The Arab Israeli Conflict: A History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 317-364.
State, Tribe and Family in the Middle East
November, 17th
- Halim Barakat, The Arab World: Society, Culture, and State (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), pp. 48-69, 97-118.
-Valentine M. Moghadam, Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East (Boulder, Colo.: L. Rienner, 1993), pp. 99-133.
Women and Society in the Middle East
November, 19th
-Submit Second Report on Women and Society as Reflected in a ME Newspaper of Your Choice
-Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures, Following Entries:
A. Love: Modern Discourses
B. Families: Metaphors for Nation
C. Marriage Practices
D. Divorce and Custody: Contemporary Practices
E. Domestic Violence
F. Friendship
G. Honor: Crimes of...
H. Honor: Feminist Approaches to
I. Gossip
J. Modesty Discourses
K. Motherhood
L. Rape
M. Aging
N. Disabilities
O. Body: Female
P. Child Marriage
Q. Courtship
R. Health: Drug Use
S. Reproduction: Abortion
T. Reproduction: Infertility
U. Sexual Harassment
V. Virginity
- Ellen Fleischmann, “The other “Awakening,” in Margaret L. Meriwether, Judith E. Tucker (eds.), Social History of Women and Gender in the Modern Middle East (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press,1999), pp. 89-139. (not in packet)
Development, Democracy and Beyond
November, 24th
-Mehran Kamrava, The Modern Middle East, pp. 331-358.
-Arab Human Development Report 2003 by the United Nations, Selections. (online
Concluding Thoughts: The Radicalization of the Middle East
December, 1st and 3rd
-Mehran Kamrava,The Modern Middle East, pp. 359-376.