Yoav Di-Capua

9/11: A History

Twenty years ago, on 9/11 2001, an obscure but resolute group of terrorists stunned the world with a series of coordinated attacks on American soil. The American empire that won the Cold War and presided over a decade of intense economic globalization that was supposed to end all wars was caught off guard. Following the attacks, the public wanted to know who attacked America and why. Seeking to answer these and other questions, this research seminar offers a comprehensive historical analysis of the 9/11 attacks. Most of the class will be devoted to the examining the historical realities of the Middle East in the second half of the 20th century. In addition to taking a close look at general political, economic and cultural history of the Middle East, we will also examine the slow but steady rise of Islamic fundamentalism and its Jihadi worldview. What was Islamic fundamentalism and how come it became the generational choice of so many young people in the region? We will then juxtapose this inquiry with the history of the American neoconservative movement and its decisive response the attacks. Student do not need prior knowledge of US or Middle East histories. The final product of this seminar is a 5000-600 words research paper on of a relevant topic of the students’ choice.


Readings:

9/11 Commission Report
UN Arab Human Development Reports
Gilles Kepel, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam
Ussama Bin Laden, Messages to the World
Sayyid Qutb, The Sayyid Qutb Reader
Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower
Andy Bacevich, America's War for the Greater Middle East
Robert Draper, To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America into Iraq
Elizabeth Kassab, Contemporary Arab Thought: Cultural Critique in Comparative Perspective


Grading:

Final Research paper 50%
Participation: 20%
Midterm 30%

This course is designed to introduce all incoming history graduate students to a variety of theoretical, methodological, or historiographical approaches to the past.

Readings will represent a range of approaches: micro- and macro-, local and transnational, cultural, political, intellectual, and economic.

Grading:
Grades will be based on class participation and several short to medium writing assignments.

HIS 301J - Globalization: A Modern History
Yoav Di-Capua, Professor
Tracie Matysik, Associate Professor

COURSE DESCRIPTION:    
This course is a history of globalization, roughly 1500-present.  While cognizant of the general course of World History, our goal is to concentrate on five themes that have shaped that history:  (1) economic developments (rise of capitalism and its discontents); (2) migration of humans, ideas, technologies; (3) imperialism and decolonization; (4) modern forms of political and social order; and (5) environmental transformations.  Students will learn about the processes that have created both the interconnected world we have today and the related global destitution in resources, political and economic power, and cultural influence.


Books for purchase:
Robert Tignor, et al., Worlds Together, Worlds Apart:  From 1000 CE to Present, Concise Edition (New York:  Norton, 2014).  ISBN:  039391848
Jůrgen Osterhammel and Niels Petersson, Globalization:  A Short History  (Princeton, NJ:  Princeton University Press, 2009).  ISBN:  0691133956
A collection of primary sources that we post through Canvas

GRADING:
Midterm:  30%
Final Exam: 40%
Quizzes and Assignments:  20%
Participation and Attendance:  10%

HIS 381 - Revolution, Counter-Revolution and Violence in the Modern Mediterranean
Yoav Di-Capua, Professor
Ben Brower, Associate Professor

This seminar will examine the problem of political violence across the Mediterranean world in the last 150 years.  The violence of political upheavals transformed states and societies around the Mediterranean in the modern era.  Colonization and decolonization both were typified by extreme violence, including assassinations, mass killings, torture, and the “uncivil wars” that claimed an untold number of non-combatant lives. The post-colonial period also witnessed costly wars, revolutions, and counter-revolutions, leading to tropes that figure the Mediterranean as a theater of “fire and blood.” We will critically interrogate this history of violence from 19th century colonialism to political Islam of the last 50 years.  Readings come from both at the accounts of historians and other scholars as well as the political theories and original documents that influenced how actors at the time understood the relationship between violence and political power.


Primary Source Readings
•    Emir Abd al-Qadir, “On the Minor and Major Combat,” Mawqif 73 (ca. 1870)
•    Georges Sorel, Reflections on Violence (1908)
•    Lenin’s Notes on Clausewitz (1915)
•    Walter Benjamin “Critique of Violence” (1921)
•    Antonio Gramsci, “Political Struggle and Military War,” from Prison Notebooks (ca. 1930s)
•    Benito Mussolini, Fascism: Doctrine and Institutions (1935)
•    Franz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth (1961)
•    S. Qutb, Signposts (1964)
•    Hannah Arendt, On Violence (1970)
•    Shock and Awe doctrine

Secondary Source Readings
•    Alessandro Orsini, Anatomy of the Red Brigades: The Religious Mind-Set of Modern Terrorists
•    Achille Mbembe On the Postcolony
•    Gilles Kepel, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam
•    Talal Asad, On Suicide Bombing
•    Faisal Devji, Terrorist in Search of Humanity


Assignments:
•    Lead seminar discussion: working with a partner, you will lead two discussions sessions.  You should be prepared to field questions concerning the author’s biography and reception of the book, as well as the book’s sources, method, principle argument, as well as its contribution to the field and significance to the seminar’s work.  
•    Book review:  This review should be around 1,000 words long and should provide both an accurate summary of the book’s argument and sources and critically evaluate its achievements.  (See full description of assignment on Canvas).
•    Final paper: in this paper, you will be provided the opportunity to pursue a topic of your own choice (such as a possible dissertation project) which you will read and develop through the perspectives offered by the seminar readings.  We will take time during the semester to workshop possible topics and critically evaluate your proposals.
•    Presentation: in our final meeting, you will informally present your final paper to the seminar in a short (15 mins) communication.

HIS 394H - Introduction to Historical Inquiry
Fall 2020                               Yoav Di-Capua, Professor and Lina Del Castillo, Associate Professor

This course is designed to introduce all incoming history graduate students to a variety of theoretical, methodological, or historiographical approaches to the past.

Readings will represent a range of approaches: micro- and macro-, local and transnational, cultural, political, intellectual, and economic.

Grading:
Grades will be based on class participation and several short to medium writing assignments.

Please check back for updates.

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.

• 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).

In less than a century Egypt experienced four radically different forms of political community, economic organization and public culture as it swiftly moved from Colonialism to Liberalism, Arab-Socialism and Authoritarian Capitalism. A fifth shift, Islamic Republicanism is pending. In each stage Egypt went through a complete reshuffling of the state structure and public culture. Each of these phases was experienced with great emotional intensity. The aim of this class is to critically examine the social, political and intellectual dynamics which shaped these experiences. What sort of expectations did Egyptians have in each phase, who came up with these revisionist ideas, and who put them to work and how?

Alaa Al Aswani, The Yacoubian Building (Cairo: AUC, 2004)
Latifa al-Zayyat, The Open Door (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000).
James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000)
James Jankowski, Israel Gershoni, Egypt, Islam and the Arabs: The Search for Egyptian Nationhood, 1900-1930 (Oxford, 1986),
Selma Botman, “The Liberal Age, 1923-1952,” Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. II,
Magda Baraka, The Egyptian Upper Class Between Revolutions, 1919-1952 (Reading: Ithaca Press, 1998), pp. 141-209.
Michael Haag, Alexandria: City of Memory (New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 2004),
Hamied Ansari, Egypt: The Stalled Society (New York: SUNY, 1986  

Midterm (25%), Final (40%), two Written reports of two single spaced pages each (25%), Participation 10%  Periodical quizzes.

Modern thinkers have approached the Mediterranean Sea and its people with a wide variety of expectations and understandings.  The Italian writer and anti-fascist Carlo Levi argued that outsiders define the Mediterranean, powerful people who impose their will and prejudices. "No one has come to this land except as an enemy, a conqueror, or a visitor devoid of understanding," he wrote in 1935.  Certainly, various black legends have proliferated over the last two centuries that figure the Mediterranean as a place of reaction, ignorance, suffering, disease and (most of all) violence and war.  At the same time, others invest this place with positive attributes, seeing in it a “sea of brotherhood,” nurturing pluralistic and democratic values within a vibrant place of convergence and exchange. Moreover, utopian thinkers have invested the Mediterranean with their hopes, seeing it a trans-temporal space of free-spirited entanglements in which people, ideas, technologies and goods came together to create an ideal human reality. In this seminar we examine shifting investments in the Mediterranean through the contemporary historiography of the Mediterranean. By critically reviewing the best of recent scholarship in the fields of intellectual, cultural, social, gender and legal history, this course introduces students to a broad array of methodological, theoretical and historiographical concerns. With the Mediterranean serving as a canvas, we seek to teach students how to read and write about books that cross, transcend and unite scholarly fields.

In less than a century Egypt experienced four radically different forms of political community, economic organization and public culture as it swiftly moved from Colonialism to Liberalism, Arab-Socialism and Authoritarian Capitalism. A fifth shift, Islamic Republicanism is pending. In each stage Egypt went through a complete reshuffling of the state structure and public culture. Each of these phases was experienced with great emotional intensity. The aim of this class is to critically examine the social, political and intellectual dynamics which shaped these experiences. What sort of expectations did Egyptians have in each phase, who came up with these revisionist ideas, and who put them to work and how?
Alaa Al Aswani, The Yacoubian Building (Cairo: AUC, 2004)

Latifa al-Zayyat, The Open Door (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000).

James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000)

James Jankowski, Israel Gershoni, Egypt, Islam and the Arabs: The Search for Egyptian Nationhood, 1900-1930 (Oxford, 1986),

Selma Botman, “The Liberal Age, 1923-1952,” Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. II,

Magda Baraka, The Egyptian Upper Class Between Revolutions, 1919-1952 (Reading: Ithaca Press, 1998), pp. 141-209.

Michael Haag, Alexandria: City of Memory (New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 2004),

Hamied Ansari, Egypt: The Stalled Society (New York: SUNY, 1986

Midterm (25%), Final (40%), two Written reports of two single spaced pages each (25%), Participation 10%  Periodical quizzes.

This is an introductory class to the history of the Middle East in the 20th 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.

·        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).

In less than a century Egypt experienced four radically different forms of political community, economic organization and public culture as it swiftly moved from Colonialism to Liberalism, Arab-Socialism and Authoritarian Capitalism. A fifth shift, Islamic Republicanism is pending. In each stage Egypt went through a complete reshuffling of the state structure and public culture. Each of these phases was experienced with great emotional intensity. The aim of this class is to critically examine the social, political and intellectual dynamics which shaped these experiences. What sort of expectations did Egyptians have in each phase, who came up with these revisionist ideas, and who put them to work and how?

Alaa Al Aswani, The Yacoubian Building (Cairo: AUC, 2004)

Latifa al-Zayyat, The Open Door (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000).

James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000)

James Jankowski, Israel Gershoni, Egypt, Islam and the Arabs: The Search for Egyptian Nationhood, 1900-1930 (Oxford, 1986),

Selma Botman, “The Liberal Age, 1923-1952,” Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. II, 

Magda Baraka, The Egyptian Upper Class Between Revolutions, 1919-1952 (Reading: Ithaca Press, 1998), pp. 141-209.

Michael Haag, Alexandria: City of Memory (New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 2004),

Hamied Ansari, Egypt: The Stalled Society (New York: SUNY, 1986  

Midterm (25%), Final (40%), two Written reports of two single spaced pages each (25%), Participation 10%  Periodical quizzes.

What is a cultural defeat? What happens after cataclysmic experiences such as war, colonization and occupation that pushes societies to conclude that that which has failed is not simply their military organization or their infrastructure but their very culture? What was the collective response of societies as diverse as Germans, Japanese, Americans, Russians and Arabs to the pain of defat? Why a sense of euphoria and invincibility is the most immediate response to a crushing defeat? Why is it that in the aftermath of defeat the ruthless and violent aggressors often describe themselves as victims? Do defeated societies heal themselves by remembering and commemorating the catastrophe or by suppressing and forgetting it? Drawing conceptually on Trauma and Memory Studies, this seminar examines the aftermath of defeat and its cultural internalization. We will explore “slow defeats” such as in colonialism/decolonization as well as rapid ones such as quick military setbacks. Specifically, we will be looking at Post WW II Japan, Germany in WW I, the Collapse of the Soviet Union, The Vietnam War and the post 1960s Arab World. In dissecting the collective mechanisms that characterize defeated societies we will explore how the trauma of defeat is manifested in politics, literature, cinema, plastic art and history writing. Students are required to submit a final seminar paper on a relevant topic of their choice. This research seminar is open to all fields.

Key Words:

Cultural Defeat, Trauma, Collective Memory, Cultural Memory, Dissociation, Amnesia, Victimization, Loss.

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.

·        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).

In less than a century Egypt experienced four radically different forms of political community, economic organization and public culture as it swiftly moved from Colonialism to Liberalism, Arab-Socialism and Authoritarian Capitalism. A fifth shift, Islamic Republicanism is pending. In each stage Egypt went through a complete reshuffling of the state structure and public culture. Each of these phases was experienced with great emotional intensity. The aim of this class is to critically examine the social, political and intellectual dynamics which shaped these experiences. What sort of expectations did Egyptians have in each phase, who came up with these revisionist ideas, and who put them to work and how?

Texts:

Alaa Al Aswani, The Yacoubian Building (Cairo: AUC, 2004)

Latifa al-Zayyat, The Open Door (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000).

James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000)

James Jankowski, Israel Gershoni, Egypt, Islam and the Arabs: The Search for Egyptian Nationhood, 1900-1930 (Oxford, 1986),

Selma Botman, “The Liberal Age, 1923-1952,” Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. II,

Magda Baraka, The Egyptian Upper Class Between Revolutions, 1919-1952 (Reading: Ithaca Press, 1998), pp. 141-209.

Michael Haag, Alexandria: City of Memory (New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 2004),

Hamied Ansari, Egypt: The Stalled Society (New York: SUNY, 1986 

Grading:

Midterm (25%), Final (40%), two Written reports of two single spaced pages each (25%), Participation 10%  Periodical quizzes.

What is a cultural defeat? What happens after cataclysmic experiences such as war, colonization and occupation that pushes societies to conclude that that which has failed is not simply their military organization or their infrastructure but their very culture? What was the collective response of societies as diverse as Germans, Japanese, Americans, Russians and Arabs to the pain of defat? Why a sense of euphoria and invincibility is the most immediate response to a crushing defeat? Why is it that in the aftermath of defeat the ruthless and violent aggressors often describe themselves as victims? Do defeated societies heal themselves by remembering and commemorating the catastrophe or by suppressing and forgetting it? Drawing conceptually on Trauma and Memory Studies, this seminar examines the aftermath of defeat and its cultural internalization. We will explore “slow defeats” such as in colonialism/decolonization as well as rapid ones such as quick military setbacks. Specifically, we will be looking at Post WW II Japan, Germany in WW I, the Collapse of the Soviet Union, The Vietnam War and the post 1960s Arab World. In dissecting the collective mechanisms that characterize defeated societies we will explore how the trauma of defeat is manifested in politics, literature, cinema, plastic art and history writing. Students are required to submit a final seminar paper on a relevant topic of their choice. This research seminar is open to all fields.

Key Words:

Cultural Defeat, Trauma, Collective Memory, Cultural Memory, Dissociation, Amnesia, Victimization, Loss.

Selected Bibliography:

Wolfgang Schivelbusch, The Culture of Defeat: On National Trauma, Mourning, and Recovery (New York, 2003).

Akiko Hashimoto, The Long Defeat: Cultural Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Japan (New York: 2015)

Stephan Feuchtwang. After the Event: The Transmission of Grievous Loss in Germany, China, and Taiwan, (New York: Berghahn Books. 2011).

Fritz Stern, The Politics of Cultural Despair: A Study in the Rise of the Germanic Ideology (Berkeley, 1974).

Kamran Rastegar, Surviving Images: Cinema, War, and Cultural Memory in the Middle East (Oxford University Press, 2015).

In less than a century Egypt experienced four radically different forms of political community, economic organization and public culture as it swiftly moved from Colonialism to Liberalism, Arab-Socialism and Authoritarian Capitalism. A fifth shift, Islamic Republicanism is pending. In each stage Egypt went through a complete reshuffling of the state structure and public culture. Each of these phases was experienced with great emotional intensity. The aim of this class is to critically examine the social, political and intellectual dynamics which shaped these experiences. What sort of expectations did Egyptians have in each phase, who came up with these revisionist ideas, and who put them to work and how?

Texts:

Alaa Al Aswani, The Yacoubian Building (Cairo: AUC, 2004)

Latifa al-Zayyat, The Open Door (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000).

James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000)

Grading:

Midterm (25%), Final (40%), two Written reports of two single spaced pages each (25%), Participation 10%  Periodical quizzes.

Introduction to the Middle East:  Adjustment and Change in Modern Times

This is an introductory class to the history of the Middle East in the 20th 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.

Texts:

·        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).

This is an introductory class to the history of the Middle East in the 20th 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.

Texts:

·        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).

By critically reviewing recent scholarship on the Middle East in the fields of political science, history, international relationship and intellectual history this course hopes to introduce graduate students to the professional study of the Middle East. It is designed to aid prospective researchers in this field in gaining an understanding of the history of their craft, of current professional debates and of ongoing historiographical trends and fashions. Specifically, the course is designed to help students to chose and define their topic of interest and frame it as an MA thesis or a PhD dissertation research project. To achieve this goal we will critically review various historiographical traditions and debates while at the same time introduce the students to modern historical realities in Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon and Yemen.

Grading

Students will write a bi-monthly book reviews and lead discussion in class.  In addition, participants will submit a final twenty-page research paper in their field of interest. The course welcomes students in other area studies such as African and Asian Studies.

Texts

Jeffrey T. Kenney, Muslim Rebels: Kharijites and the Politics of Extremism in Egypt (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006).

Richard Jacquemond, Conscience of the Nation: Writers, State, and Society in Modern Egypt(Cairo: AUC Press, 2008).

Omnia El Shakry, The Great Social Laboratory Subjects of Knowledge in Colonial and Postcolonial Egypt (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007).

Robert Vitalis, America’s Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2007).

Orit Bashkin, The other Iraq : Pluralism and Culture in Hashemite Iraq (Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2009).

Asef Bayat, Making Islam Democratic Social Movements and the Post-Islamist Turn (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2007).

Ussama Makdisi, Artillery of Heaven: American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle East (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008).

Arang Keshavarzian, Bazaar and state in Iran : the politics of the Tehran Marketplace(Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007).

Lisa Wedeen, Peripheral Visions: Publics, Power, and Performance in Yemen (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008).

Lara Deeb, An Enchanted Modern:  Gender and Public Piety in Shi’i Lebanon (Princeton University Press, 2006).

Ilana Feldman, Governing Gaza: Bureaucracy, Authority, and the Work of Rule, 1917-1967(Durham: Duke University Press, 2008).

Fred H. Lawson, Constructing International Relations in the Arab World (Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2006).

Please check back for updates.

In less than a century Egypt experienced four radically different forms of political community, economic organization and public culture as it swiftly moved from Colonialism to Liberalism, Arab-Socialism and Authoritarian Capitalism. A fifth shift, Islamic Republicanism is pending. In each stage Egypt went through a complete reshuffling of the state structure and public culture. Each of these phases was experienced with great emotional intensity. The aim of this class is to critically examine the social, political and intellectual dynamics which shaped these experiences. What sort of expectations did Egyptians have in each phase, who came up with these revisionist ideas, and who put them to work and how?

Texts

Alaa Al Aswani, The Yacoubian Building (Cairo: AUC, 2004)

Latifa al-Zayyat, The Open Door (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000).

James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000)

James Jankowski, Israel Gershoni, Egypt, Islam and the Arabs: The Search for Egyptian Nationhood, 1900-1930 (Oxford, 1986),

Selma Botman, “The Liberal Age, 1923-1952,” Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. II,

Magda Baraka, The Egyptian Upper Class Between Revolutions, 1919-1952 (Reading: Ithaca Press, 1998), pp. 141-209.

Michael Haag, Alexandria: City of Memory (New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 2004), 

Hamied Ansari, Egypt: The Stalled Society (New York: SUNY, 1986   

Grading

Midterm (25%), Final (40%), two Written reports of two single spaced pages each (25%), Participation 10%  Periodical quizzes.

This is an introductory class to the history of the Middle East in the 20th 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.

Texts:

·        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).

In less than a century Egypt experienced four radically different forms of political community, economic organization and public culture as it swiftly moved from Colonialism to Liberalism, Arab-Socialism and Authoritarian Capitalism. A fifth shift, Islamic Republicanism is pending. In each stage Egypt went through a complete reshuffling of the state structure and public culture. Each of these phases was experienced with great emotional intensity. The aim of this class is to critically examine the social, political and intellectual dynamics which shaped these experiences. What sort of expectations did Egyptians have in each phase, who came up with these revisionist ideas, and who put them to work and how?

Course Packet: Course packet is available at Jenn’s Copy and Binding

Course Requirements and Grading:

Midterm (25%), Final (40%), two Written reports of two single spaced pages each (25%), Participation 10% Periodical quizzes.

This class (research seminar) examines the political, intellectual, social and scientific aspects of the Arab project of modernity, the Nahda. We will review the first encounters with European enlightenment, the initial cultural optimism that characterized Arab thinkers, the birth of the modern Arab intellectual, the great schism between religious and secular thought, the rejection of Western-style modernity and the search for an indigenous path to progress and prosperity. Considering several different projects of Nahda, from early 19th century encounters to the radical thought of the early 21st century, we conclude by exploring the question: What is Arab modernity?

Texts 

Avishai Margalit, Ian Buruma. Occidentalism: the West in the Eyes of its Enemies (New York: Penguin Press, 2004) Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939 (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1989 Press, Banna, Hasan, Five tracts of Hasan Al-Banna' (1906-1949 : a Selection from the Majmu'at rasa'il al-Imam al-shahid Hasan al-Banna' (Berkeley, 1978) Musallam, Adnan, From Secularism to Jihad: Sayyid Qutb and the Foundations of Radical Islamism (Westport, Conn. 2005). Sayyid Qutb, Milestones (New Delhi: Islamic Book Service, 2005.) Rifa'a Rafi' al-Tahtawi, An Imam in Paris: Account of A Stay in France By an Egyptian Cleric, 1826-1831 (London: Saqi, 2004). Salama Musa, The Education of Salama Musa (Leiden, Brill, 1961). Taha Hussein, The Days (Cairo: The American University of Cairo Press, 1997). Usama Bin Laden, Message to the World: the Statements of Osama Bin Laden (London ; New York : Verso, 2005)

This course covers the troubled history of the Arab East since World War I. It proposes to examine in some detail part of the Middle East which is considered its heart. This class is designed to cater for the needs of (a) students who evince interest in the recent history of the region but do not have prior knowledge and (b) students who want to continue to study the region. The main question for consideration is which forces shaped the Arab East during the past century and gave it its current radical form? By exploring critical political, intellectual, cultural and economic themes such as colonialism and international intrigue, Arab and Pan Arab nationalism, secular modernism, the impact of Zionism, the Palestinian Revolution, military conflict, the rise of political Islam and the oil revolution, we would identify and examine the main internal and external forces, as well as the critical processes, that shaped the region and turned it into one of the most troubled corners of the world.

Texts

Adeed Dawisha, Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: From Triumph to Despair (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003) 

Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab Israeli Conflict (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001) 

Charles Tripp, A History of Iraq (Cambridge; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2002) 

James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East; A History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) 

Kepel, Gilles, Jihad: the Trail of Political Islam (London; New York: I.B. Tauris, 2004) Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian identity: the Construction of Modern National Consciousness (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997). pp. 177-209 

Roger Owen & Sevket Pamuk, A History of Middle East Economies in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1999) 

Raymond William Baker, Islam Without Fear: Egypt and the New Islamists (Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press, 2003). 

Yapp, M E. The Near East Since the First World War: a History to 1995 (London; New York: Longman, 1996). 

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.

Grading: Midterm 25% Final 40% 3 Written reports 25% Attendance and Participation 10%

Students read and discuss Arabic language materials related to the subject matter of another designated course.     

In less than a century Egypt experienced four radically different forms of political community, economic organization and public culture as it swiftly moved from Colonialism to Liberalism, Arab-Socialism and Authoritarian Capitalism. A fifth shift, Islamic Republicanism is pending. In each stage Egypt went through a complete reshuffling of the state structure and public culture. Each of these phases was experienced with great emotional intensity. The aim of this class is to critically examine the social, political and intellectual dynamics which shaped these experiences. What sort of expectations did Egyptians have in each phase, who came up with these revisionist ideas, and who put them to work and how?

Texts

Alaa Al Aswani, The Yacoubian Building (Cairo: AUC, 2004)

Latifa al-Zayyat, The Open Door (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000).

James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000)

James Jankowski, Israel Gershoni, Egypt, Islam and the Arabs: The Search for Egyptian Nationhood, 1900-1930 (Oxford, 1986),

Selma Botman, “The Liberal Age, 1923-1952,” Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. II, 

Magda Baraka, The Egyptian Upper Class Between Revolutions, 1919-1952 (Reading: Ithaca Press, 1998), pp. 141-209.

Michael Haag, Alexandria: City of Memory (New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 2004),

Hamied Ansari, Egypt: The Stalled Society (New York: SUNY, 1986   

Grading

Midterm (25%), Final (40%), two Written reports of two single spaced pages each (25%), Participation 10%  Periodical quizzes.  

This class examines the political, intellectual, social and scientific aspects of the Arab project of modernity, the Nahda. We will review the first encounters with European enlightenment, the initial cultural optimism that characterized Arab thinkers, the birth of the modern Arab intellectual, the great schism between religious and secular thought, the rejection of Western-style modernity and the search for an indigenous path to progress and prosperity. Considering several different projects of Nahda, from early 19th century encounters to the radical thought of the early 21st century, we conclude by exploring the question: What is Arab modernity?

Texts 

Avishai Margalit, Ian Buruma. Occidentalism: the West in the Eyes of its Enemies (New York: Penguin Press, 2004) Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939 (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1989 Press, Banna, Hasan, Five tracts of Hasan Al-Banna' (1906-1949 : a Selection from the Majmu'at rasa'il al-Imam al-shahid Hasan al-Banna' (Berkeley, 1978) Musallam, Adnan, From Secularism to Jihad: Sayyid Qutb and the Foundations of Radical Islamism (Westport, Conn. 2005). Sayyid Qutb, Milestones (New Delhi: Islamic Book Service, 2005.) Rifa'a Rafi' al-Tahtawi, An Imam in Paris: Account of A Stay in France By an Egyptian Cleric, 1826-1831 (London: Saqi, 2004). Salama Musa, The Education of Salama Musa (Leiden, Brill, 1961). Taha Hussein, The Days (Cairo: The American University of Cairo Press, 1997). Usama Bin Laden, Message to the World: the Statements of Osama Bin Laden (London ; New York : Verso, 2005)

Students read and discuss Arabic language materials related to the subject matter of another designated course.     

The aim of this class is to engage directly with the writings of leading Middle Eastern Arab and Islamic intellectuals during the past 150 years. It designed for students with some previous background in Middle East Studies. Main topics for consideration will be: Jurisprudence, Rational Science, Theory of Knowledge, Political Theory, Style of Living, Women's Civil Rights, Social Liberalism and more. Through a close textual analysis of writers such as Jurji Zaydan, Muhammad Abduh, Taha Husayn, Sayyid Qutub (and more contemporary texts). We will examine multiple vernacular intellectual traditions such as Arab Liberalism, Islamic Modernism, Reformism, Salafism, and Radicalism.

Texts

Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939 (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1989 Press)

Banna, Hasan, Five tracts of Hasan Al-Banna' (1906-1949 : a Selection from the Majmu'at rasa'il al-Imam al-shahid Hasan al-Banna' (Berkeley, 1978)

Charles Kurzman, Modernist Islam 1840-1940: A Sourcebook (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002)

Mansoor Moaddel, Kamran Talattof (eds.), An Anthology of Modernist and. Fundamentalist Thought (NY: Palgrave, 2002)

Rifa'a Rafi' al-Tahtawi, A n Imam in Paris: Account of A Stay in France By an Egyptian Cleric, 1826-1831 (London: Saqi, 2004).

Salama Musa, The Education of Salama Musa (Leiden, Brill, 1961).

Smith, Charles, Islam and the Search for Social Order in modern Egypt : a biography of Muhammad

Husayn Haykal (NY: Albany, 1983).

Taha Hussein, The Days (Cairo: The American University of Cairo Press, 1997).**

Grading

Class participation           25%

Two short papers             30%

Final seminar Paper                     45%

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.

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

Course Requirements and Grading:

2 Exams: Midterm (25%), Final (40%)

2 short reports (5 double-spaced pages each) (25%)

Participation 10%

Periodic Quizzes

Modern Egypt: A History
Yoav Di-Capua
Fall 2010

HIS 364G
MES 322K
ISL 372

Classes TTH  3:30 - 5:00    UTC 3.112

Office Hours:  TTH 2 - 3.30 and by appointment.

E-mail: ydi@mail.utexas.edu

TA: James Casey, Office hours by Appointment. jfbcasey@gmail.com

Course Description:

In less than a century Egypt experienced four radically different forms of political community, economic organization and public culture as it swiftly moved from Colonialism to Liberalism, Arab-Socialism and Authoritarian Capitalism. A fifth shift, Islamic Republicanism is pending. In each stage Egypt went through a complete reshuffling of the state structure and public culture. Each of these phases was experienced with great emotional intensity. The aim of this class is to critically examine the social, political and intellectual dynamics which shaped these experiences. What sort of expectations did Egyptians have in each phase, who came up with these revisionist ideas, and who put them to work and how? 

Course’s Website: http://laits.utexas.edu/modern_me/

Course Requirements and Grading:

Midterm (25%), Final (40%), two Written reports of two single spaced pages each (25%), Participation 10%  Periodical quizzes.   

Attendance is mandatory (One grade off (+, -) for more than three classes skipped).

Course Packet: Course packet is available at Jenn’s Copy and Binding 2200 Guadalupe • jenns@io.com • 512-473-8669

Deadlines:

-       First Report: date and time will be announced (The Open Door)

-       Mid-term exam: October 14^th   (Take home exam)

-       Second Report:  date and time will be announced (Imarat Yaqubyian)

-       Final exam: date and time will be announced.

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

Mandatory Reading Available at Co-op or at bookfinder.com
Alaa Al Aswani, The Yacoubian Building (Cairo: AUC, 2004)
Latifa al-Zayyat, The Open Door (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000).
James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000)

Film: selected screening:
Adrift on the Nile (Hussein Kamal, 1971. 115 Min.)
Four Women of Egypt (Tahani Rached Canada/Egypt, 1997, 90 min)
Terrorism and the Kebab (Sherif Arafa, 1992. 105 Min.)

Part I: Liberalism without Democracy

Class 1: Introducing Modern Egypt
August 26^th

• Introductory Lecture and Agenda

Class 2: Out of the Ottoman Order: the 19^th Century
September 1^st

• James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000), 70-110.
• Khaled Fahmi, “The Era of Muhammad Ali Pasha, 1805-1848,” Cambridge History of Egypt Vol. II, pp. 139-180.

Class 3: Nationalism and the Spirit of 1919
September 7^th

• Blank Map Quiz
• M. W, Daly, “The British Occupation, 1882-1922,” Cambridge History of Egypt Vol. II, pp. 239-251.
• James Jankowski, Israel Gershoni, Egypt, Islam and the Arabs: The Search for Egyptian Nationhood, 1900-1930 (Oxford, 1986), pp. 40-55, 77-104.

Class 4: Liberalism without Democracy
September 9^th

• Selma Botman, “The Liberal Age, 1923-1952,” Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. II, pp. 285-308. 
• James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000), 111-134. 

Class 5: Literary Renaissance and the Middle Class
September 14^th

• Israel Gershoni, “The Evolution of National Culture in Modern Egypt: Intellectual Formation and Social Diffusion, 1892-1945,” Poetics Today, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Summer 1992), pp. 325-350.
• Lucie Ryzova, “Egyptianizing Modernity: The "New Effendiyya" Social and Cultural Constructions of the Middle Class in Egypt under the Monarchy” in Arthur Goldschmidt, Amy Johnson and Barak Salmoni (eds.), Re-envisioning Egypt (Cairo: AUC Press, 2005), pp. 124-163.

Class 6: Political Economy, 1919-1952: Part I
September 16^th

• Joel Beinin, “Egypt: Society and Economy, 1923-1952,” Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. II, pp. 309-333.
• Eric Davis, Challenging Colonialism: Bank Misr and Egyptian Industrialization, 1920-1941 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1983), pp. 108-133.

Class 7: Political Economy, 1919-1952: Part II
September  21^st

• Robert Tignor, “Bank Misr and Foreign Capitalism,” International Journal of  

       Middle East Studies Vol. 8, No. 2 (Apr. 1977), pp. 161-181.

• Robert Vitalis, “On the Theory and Practice of Compradors: The Role of Abbud  

       Pasha in the Egyptian Political Economy” International Journal of Middle East            

       Studies, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Aug., 1990), pp. 291-315.

Class 8: The Radicalization of the 1930s
September 23^rd

• Lia Brynjar, The Society of The Muslim Brothers in Egypt: The Rise of An

     Islamic Mass Movement, 1928-1942 (Reading, England: Ithaca, 1998), pp. 1-      

            49.

• James Jankowski and Israel Gershoni, Redefining the Egyptian Nation, 1930-1945 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 1-31.
  

Class 9: Liberal Thought: Taha Hussein
September 28^th

• Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, pp. 324-340.
• Primary Source: Taha Hussein, The Future of Culture in Egypt (New York: Octagon Books, 1977), Chapters, 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12.

Class 10: The Cosmopolitan Upper Class
September 30^th 

• Magda Baraka, The Egyptian Upper Class Between Revolutions, 1919-1952 (Reading: Ithaca Press, 1998), pp. 141-209. 
• Michael Haag, Alexandria: City of Memory (New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 2004), pp. 1-10.

• Samir W. Raaft, Cairo: The Glory Years: Who Built What, When, Why and for Whom (Alexandria: Harpocrates, 2003), pp.25-35. 

Class 11: The Collapse of the Liberal Order
October 5^th

• Hamied Ansari, Egypt: The Stalled Society (New York: SUNY, 1986), pp. 57-78.
•  Joel Gordon, Nasser's Blessed Movement: Egypt's Free Officers and the July revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 14-38.

Part II: Nasserism

Class 12: Nassersim: 1952-1961
October 7^th

• James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000), pp. 135-153.
• Adeed Dawisha, Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: From Triumph to Despair (Princeton, N.J. 2003), chapters 7-8.

Class 13: The New Generation
October 12^th

• Latifa al-Zayyat, The Open Door (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000).
• The Burning of Cairo: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/570/special.htm
• Book report due.

Class 14:  Nasserism as a Civic Experience
October 14^th

• Film shown in class. A Drift on the Nile
• Raymond William Baker, Egypt's Uncertain Revolution under Nasser and Sadat (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978), pp. 70-114.
• Joel Gordon, Nasser: Hero of the Arab Nation, pp. 37-94.
  

Class 15: The Demise of Nasserism
October 19^th

• Film shown in class. A Drift on the Nile
• Raymond, Hinnebusch, Egyptian Politics under Sadat: The Post-Populist Development of an Authoritarian-Modernizing State (Cambridge 1985), pp. 11-39.
• Joel Gordon, Nasser: Hero of the Arab Nation, pp. 95-116.

Part III: Public Life under Sadat and Mubarak

Class 16: Authoritarian Capitalism: Part I
October 21^st

• James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000), pp. 163-198.
• Raymond, Hinnebusch, Egyptian Politics under Sadat: The Post-Populist Development of an Authoritarian-Modernizing State (Cambridge 1985), pp. 40-77.

Class 17: Authoritarian Capitalism: Part II
October 26^th

• Kirk J. Beattie, Egypt During the Sadat Years (New York, Palgrave, 2001), pp. 1-38.
• Raymond, Hinnebusch, Egyptian Politics under Sadat: The Post-Populist Development of an Authoritarian-Modernizing State (Cambridge 1985), pp. 223-256, 289-303.

PART IV: Political Islam

Class 18: The Intellectual History of Political Islam
October 28^th

• Kepel, Gilles, The Roots of Radical Islam (London: Saqi, 2005), pp. 23-69. 
• Zollner, Barbara. "Prison Talk: the Muslim Brotherhood's Internal Struggle During Gamal Abdel Nasser's Persecution, 1954 to 1971," International Journal of Middle East Studies 39, no. 03 (August 2007). 

Class 19: Political Islam in Action
November 2^nd

• Carrie Rosefsky Wickham, Mobilizing Islam: Religion, Activism, and Political Change in Egypt (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), pp. 21-62.

Class 20: Islamism and Education
November 4^th

• Starrett, Gregory, Putting Islam to Work Education, Politics, and Religious Transformation in Egypt (Berkeley: Berkeley U. Press, 1998), Ch. 7.
• Carrie Rosefsky Wickham, Mobilizing Islam: Religion, Activism, and Political Change in Egypt (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), Chas. 5-6.

Part V: Themes

Class 21: Religious Minorities
November 9^th

• Pieternella Van Doorn-Harder, “Copts: Fully Egyptian, but for a Tattoo?” in Maya Shatzmiller, Nationalism and Minority Identities in Islamic Societies (Montreal: McGill UP, 2005), pp. 22-57.
•   “The Egyptian Copts: Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Definition of Identity for a Religious Minority,” in Maya Shatzmiller, Nationalism and Minority, pp. 58-84.
• Gudrun Kramer, The Jews in Modern Egypt, 1914-1952 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1989), pp. 205-222.

Class 22: The Urban Poor
November 11^th

• Diane Singerma, Avenues of Participation: Family, Politics and Networks in Urban Quarters of Cairo (Princeton, NJ: Princeton U. Press, 1995), pp. 41-73.
• Unni Wikan, Life Among the Poor in Cairo (New York: Tavistock Publications, 1980), pp. 16-64.

Class 23+24: Feminism, Nation and State
November 16^th and 18^th

• Film: Four Women of Egypt: http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c452.shtml
• Beth Baron, Egypt as a Women: Nationalism, Gender, Politics (Berkeley: UCP, 2005), pp. 40-56.
• Margot Badran, Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt (Princeton: PUP, 1995), pp. 207-219.
• Selma Botman, Engendering Citizenship in Egypt (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), pp. 50-74.
  

Part VI: Concluding Thoughts

Class 27: Imarat Yaqubyian
November 23^rd  

• Discussion of Imarat Yaqubyian
• Report Due

Class 28: Terrorism and Kabab
November 25th^d and 30^th

Class 29: Preparation for Final Exam
December 2^nd

By critically reviewing recent scholarship on the Middle East in the fields of political science, history, international relationship and intellectual history this course hopes to introduce graduate students to the professional study of the Middle East. It is designed to aid prospective researchers in this field in gaining an understanding of the history of their craft, of current professional debates and of ongoing historiographical trends and fashions. Specifically, the course is designed to help students to chose and define their topic of interest and frame it as an MA thesis or a PhD dissertation research project. To achieve this goal we will critically review various historiographical traditions and debates while at the same time introduce the students to modern historical realities in Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon and Yemen.

Grading

Students will write a bi-monthly book reviews and lead discussion in class.  In addition, participants will submit a final twenty-page research paper in their field of interest. The course welcomes students in other area studies such as African and Asian Studies.

Texts

Jeffrey T. Kenney, Muslim Rebels: Kharijites and the Politics of Extremism in Egypt (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006).

Richard Jacquemond, Conscience of the Nation: Writers, State, and Society in Modern Egypt (Cairo: AUC Press, 2008).

Omnia El Shakry, The Great Social Laboratory Subjects of Knowledge in Colonial and Postcolonial Egypt (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007).

Robert Vitalis, America’s Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2007).

Orit Bashkin, The other Iraq : Pluralism and Culture in Hashemite Iraq (Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2009).

Asef Bayat, Making Islam Democratic Social Movements and the Post-Islamist Turn (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2007).

Ussama Makdisi, Artillery of Heaven: American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle East (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008).

Arang Keshavarzian, Bazaar and state in Iran : the politics of the Tehran Marketplace (Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007).

Lisa Wedeen, Peripheral Visions: Publics, Power, and Performance in Yemen (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008).

Lara Deeb, An Enchanted Modern:  Gender and Public Piety in Shi’i Lebanon (Princeton University Press, 2006).

Ilana Feldman, Governing Gaza: Bureaucracy, Authority, and the Work of Rule, 1917-1967 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2008).

Fred H. Lawson, Constructing International Relations in the Arab World (Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2006).

In the wake of World War I, the British combined three separate Ottoman administrative and cultural units into the newly created state of Iraq. Fusing together Sunis, Shi`is, Kurds and several other ethnic and religious minorities into one political community, Iraqis were given limited time to re-invent themselves as a viable modern entity. In this introductory class we examine the short and log-term consequences of this process from World War I to the fall of Sadam Hussein in 2003. Specifically, we will explore critical themes such as political culture, anti-colonial resistance, literary history, history of oil, nationalism, revolutionary politics (Ba`thisim), sectarian relationship, Iran-Iraq war, Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and state repression of Iraqi citizens. In examining these topics we would identify the main internal and external forces, as well as the critical processes, that are responsible for the making of modern Iraq; a state which was born out of colonial necessity and survived ever since in a perpetual state of emergency.

Grading

Class participation: 20%

Midterm: 40%

Final: 40%

Texts

Hanna Batatu, The Old Social Classes and Revolutionary Movements in Iraq.

Elizabeth Fernea, The Guests of the Shaykh.

Phebe Marr, A History of Modern Iraq.

Peter Sluglett, Britain in Iraq: Contriving King and Country

Reeva Spector Simon, Iraq Between the Two World Wars: the Militarist Origins of Tyranny.

Kanan Makiya, Cruelty and Silence.

Charles Tripp, A History of Iraq.

David McDowell, A Modern History of the Kurds.

Modern Egypt: A History

 Yoav Di-Capua

Spring 2010

HIS 364G
MES 322K

Classes: MW 3:30 – 5:00 WAG 101

Office Hours:  Th. W. 1:30- 3:00

E-mail: ydi@mail.utexas.edu

Teaching Assistant: Mikiya Koyagi kmikiya@mail.utexas.edu (Office hours by appointment)

Course Description:
In less than a century Egypt experienced four radically different forms of political community, economic organization and public culture as it swiftly moved from Colonialism to Liberalism, Arab-Socialism and Authoritarian Capitalism. A fifth shift, Islamic Republicanism is pending. In each stage Egypt went through a complete reshuffling of the state structure and public culture. Each of these phases was experienced with great emotional intensity. The aim of this class is to critically examine the social, political and intellectual dynamics which shaped these experiences. What sort of expectations did Egyptians have in each phase, who came up with these revisionist ideas, and who put them to work and how?

Course’s Website: http://laits.utexas.edu/modern_me/

Course Requirements and Grading:
Midterm (25%), Final (40%), two Written reports of two single spaced pages each (25%), Participation 10%  Periodical quizzes.   

Attendance is mandatory (One grade off (+, -) for more than three classes skipped).

Course Packet: Course packet is available at Jenn’s Copy and Binding 2200 Guadalupe • jenns@io.com • 512-473-8669

E-Reserve: For login to the library e-reserve system use the password “Egypt”

Deadlines:
-  First Report: March 1^st (The Open Door)
-  Mid-term exam: March 10^th  (you will get the take home exam at March 3^rd)
-  Second Report:  April 21^st  (Imarat Yaqubyian)
-  Final exam: date and time will be announced.

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

Mandatory Reading Available at Co-op or at bookfinder.com
Alaa Al Aswani, The Yacoubian Building (Cairo: AUC, 2004)
Latifa al-Zayyat, The Open Door (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000).
James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000)

Film: selected screening:
Adrift on the Nile (Hussein Kamal, 1971. 115 Min.)
Four Women of Egypt (Tahani Rached Canada/Egypt, 1997, 90 min)
Terrorism and the Kebab (Sherif Arafa, 1992. 105 Min.)

Part I: Liberalism without Democracy

Class 1: Introducing Modern Egypt
January 20th 

• Introductory Lecture and Agenda

 Class 2: Out of the Ottoman Order: the 19^th Century
January 25^th

• James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000), 70-110.
• Khaled Fahmi, “The Era of Muhammad Ali Pasha, 1805-1848,” Cambridge History of Egypt Vol. II, pp. 139-180.

Class 3: Nationalism and the Spirit of 1919
January 27^th 

• Blind Map Quiz
• M. W, Daly, “The British Occupation, 1882-1922,” Cambridge History of Egypt Vol. II, pp. 239-251.
• James Jankowski, Israel Gershoni, Egypt, Islam and the Arabs: The Search for Egyptian Nationhood, 1900-1930 (Oxford, 1986), pp. 40-55, 77-104.

Class 4: Liberalism without Democracy
February 1^st 

• Selma Botman, “The Liberal Age, 1923-1952,” Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. II, pp. 285-308. 
• James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000), 111-134. 

Class 5: Literary Renaissance and the Middle Class
February 3^rd

• Israel Gershoni, “The Evolution of National Culture in Modern Egypt: Intellectual Formation and Social Diffusion, 1892-1945,” Poetics Today, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Summer 1992), pp. 325-350.
• Lucie Ryzova, “Egyptianizing Modernity: The "New Effendiyya" Social and Cultural Constructions of the Middle Class in Egypt under the Monarchy” in Arthur Goldschmidt, Amy Johnson et Barak Salmoni (eds.), Re-envisioning Egypt (Cairo: AUC Press, 2005), pp. 124-163.

Class 6: Political Economy, 1919-1952: Part I
February 8^th

• Joel Beinin, “Egypt: Society and Economy, 1923-1952,” Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. II, pp. 309-333.
• Eric Davis, Challenging Colonialism: Bank Misr and Egyptian Industrialization, 1920-1941 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1983), pp. 108-133.

Class 7: Political Economy, 1919-1952: Part II
February 10^th

• Robert Tignor, “Bank Misr and Foreign Capitalism,” International Journal of
        Middle East Studies Vol. 8, No. 2 (Apr. 1977), pp. 161-181.

• Robert Vitalis, “On the Theory and Practice of Compradors: The Role of Abbud
         Pasha in the Egyptian Political Economy” International Journal of Middle East           
         Studies, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Aug., 1990), pp. 291-315.

Class 8: The Radicalization of the 1930s
February 15^th

• Lia Brynjar, The Society of The Muslim Brothers in Egypt: The Rise of An
   Islamic Mass Movement, 1928-1942 (Reading, England: Ithaca, 1998), pp. 1- 49.

• James Jankowski and Israel Gershoni, Redefining the Egyptian Nation, 1930-1945 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 1-31.

Class 9: Liberal Thought: Taha Hussein
February 17^th

• Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, pp. 324-340.
• Primary Source: Taha Hussein, The Future of Culture in Egypt (New York: Octagon Books, 1977), Chapters, 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12.
  

Class 10: The Cosmopolitan Upper Class
February 22^nd

• Magda Baraka, The Egyptian Upper Class Between Revolutions, 1919-1952 (Reading: Ithaca Press, 1998), pp. 141-209. 
• Michael Haag, Alexandria: City of Memory (New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 2004), pp. 1-10.

• Samir W. Raaft, Cairo: The Glory Years: Who Built What, When, Why and for Whom (Alexandria: Harpocrates, 2003), pp.25-35. 

Class 11: The Collapse of the Liberal Order
February 24^th

• Hamied Ansari, Egypt: The Stalled Society (New York: SUNY, 1986), pp. 57-78.
•  Joel Gordon, Nasser's Blessed Movement: Egypt's Free Officers and the July revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 14-38.

Part II: Nasserism

Class 12: Nassersim: 1952-1961
February 28^th

• James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000), pp. 135-153.
• Adeed Dawisha, Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: From Triumph to Despair (Princeton, N.J. 2003), chapters 7-8.
• Film shown in class: Nasser 56/film

Class 13: The New Generation
March 1^st

• Latifa al-Zayyat, The Open Door (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000).
• The Burning of Cairo: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/570/special.htm
• Book report due.

Class 14:  Nasserism as a Civic Experience
March 3^rd

• Film shown in class. A Drift on the Nile
• Raymond William Baker, Egypt's Uncertain Revolution under Nasser and Sadat (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978), pp. 70-114.
• Joel Gordon, Nasser: Hero of the Arab Nation, pp. 37-94.

Class 15: The Demise of Nasserism
March 8^th

• Film shown in class. A Drift on the Nile
• Raymond, Hinnebusch, Egyptian Politics under Sadat: The Post-Populist Development of an Authoritarian-Modernizing State (Cambridge 1985), pp. 11-39.
• Joel Gordon, Nasser: Hero of the Arab Nation, pp. 95-116.

Part III: Public Life under Sadat and Mubarak

Class 16: Authoritarian Capitalism: Part I
March 10^th

• James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History (Oxford: One World, 2000), pp. 163-198.
• Raymond, Hinnebusch, Egyptian Politics under Sadat: The Post-Populist Development of an Authoritarian-Modernizing State (Cambridge 1985), pp. 40-77.

---------- SPRING BREAK (March 15-21) -------------

Class 17: Authoritarian Capitalism: Part II
March 2^nd

• Kirk J. Beattie, Egypt During the Sadat Years (New York, Palgrave, 2001), pp. 1-38.
• Raymond, Hinnebusch, Egyptian Politics under Sadat: The Post-Populist Development of an Authoritarian-Modernizing State (Cambridge 1985), pp. 223-256, 289-303.

PART IV: Political Islam

Class 18: The Intellectual History of Political Islam
March 24^th

• Kepel, Gilles, The Roots of Radical Islam (London: Saqi, 2005), pp. 23-69. 
• Zollner, Barbara. "Prison Talk: the Muslim Brotherhood's Internal Struggle During Gamal Abdel Nasser's Persecution, 1954 to 1971," International Journal of Middle East Studies 39, no. 03 (August 2007). 

Class 19: Political Islam in Action
March 29^th

• Carrie Rosefsky Wickham, Mobilizing Islam: Religion, Activism, and Political Change in Egypt (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), pp. 21-62.

Class 20: Islamism and Education
March 31^st

• Starrett, Gregory, Putting Islam to Work Education, Politics, and Religious Transformation in Egypt (Berkeley: Berkeley U. Press, 1998), Ch. 7.
• Carrie Rosefsky Wickham, Mobilizing Islam: Religion, Activism, and Political Change in Egypt (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), Chas. 5-6.

+Part V: Themes

Class 21: Religious Minorities
April 5^th

• Pieternella Van Doorn-Harder, “Copts: Fully Egyptian, but for a Tattoo?” in Maya Shatzmiller, Nationalism and Minority Identities in Islamic Societies (Montreal: McGill UP, 2005), pp. 22-57.
•   “The Egyptian Copts: Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Definition of Identity for a Religious Minority,” in Maya Shatzmiller, Nationalism and Minority, pp. 58-84.
• Gudrun Kramer, The Jews in Modern Egypt, 1914-1952 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1989), pp. 205-222.

Class 22: Peasants
April 7^th

• Timothy Mitchell, "The Invention and Reinvention of the Egyptian Peasant," IJMES 22 No. 2 (1990), pp. 129-150.
• Brown, Nathan, Peasant Politics in Modern Egypt: The Struggle Against the State (New Haven: 1990), pp. 59-82.
• Hamied Ansari, Egypt: The Stalled Society (New York: SUNY, 1986), pp. 97-151
  

Class 23: The Urban Poor
April 12^th

• Diane Singerma, Avenues of Participation: Family, Politics and Networks in Urban Quarters of Cairo (Princeton, NJ: Princeton U. Press, 1995), pp. 41-73.
• Unni Wikan, Life Among the Poor in Cairo (New York: Tavistock Publications, 1980), pp. 16-64.

Class 24+25: Feminism, Nation and State
April 14^th

• Film: Four Women of Egypt: http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c452.shtml
• Beth Baron, Egypt as a Women: Nationalism, Gender, Politics (Berkeley: UCP, 2005), pp. 40-56.
• Margot Badran, Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt (Princeton: PUP, 1995), pp. 207-219.
• Selma Botman, Engendering Citizenship in Egypt (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), pp. 50-74.

Class 26: Family, Demography, Development
April 19^th

• Warren Robinson and Fatma El-Zanaty, The Demographic Revolution in Modern Egypt (Oxford: Lexington Books, 2006), pp. 1- 8, 23-36, 67-97.
• Kamran Asdar Ali, Planning The Family in Egypt: New Bodies, New Selves (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2002), pp. 23-60.
• Timothy Mitchell, The Rule of Experts (Berkeley: UCP, 2002), pp. 209-243.

Part VI: Concluding Thoughts

 Class 27: Imarat Yaqubyian
April 21^st

• Discussion of Imarat Yaqubyian
• Report Due 

Class 28: Terrorism and Kabab
April 23^rd and April 26^th

Class 29: Preparation for Final Exam
April 28^th

THE ARAB EXPERIENCE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

 Yoav Di-Capua

UGS 302 

Classes:  Th. 3:30 – 6:30                        GAR 2.112

Office Hours: Garrison 0.136 (History Department). W. TH 1:30 – 3:00.

e-mail: ydi@mail.utexas.edu

Course Description:

What is the Arab experience of Enlightenment? What are the main historic signposts of Arab civilization in modern times?  The aim of this class is to engage directly with these questions by examining the original writings of leading Middle Eastern Arab and Islamic intellectuals during the past 150 years. Main topics for consideration will be: Jurisprudence, Rational Science, Theory of Knowledge, Political Theory, Style of Living, Women’s Civil Rights, Social Liberalism and more. Through a close textual analysis of writers such as Jurji Zaydan, Muhammad Abduh, Taha Husayn, Sayyid Qutub (and more contemporary texts like those of Usama Bin Laden). We will examine multiple vernacular intellectual traditions such as Arab Liberalism, Islamic Modernism, Reformism, Salafism, and Radicalism.

*This class fills the requirement for Substantial Writing Component*

Course Requirements and Grading:

• Bibliography and Abstract/Synopsis 10%
• A short encyclopedia article on your seminar paper 15%
• Final Seminar research paper of 10-15 double spaced pages: 50%
• Participation and class presentation: 25%

Library Tours: February 25^th and April 8^th

Deadlines:

1. February 25^th Proposed Seminar topics are due
2. March 11^th Seminar’s Bibliography is due
3. April 15^th Seminar’s Synopsis/abstract plus revised bibliography are due
4. April 29th First version of Encyclopedia article is due
5. May 6^th Second version of Encyclopedia article is due.
6. Final Seminar paper is due about a week after class ends

Attendance is mandatory (One letter off for more than three classes skipped).

Course Packet: Course packet is available at Jenn’s Copy and Binding 2200 Guadalupe  jenns@io.com • 512-473-8669

Mandatory Books (Co-Op or bookfinder.com)

Charles Kurzman, Modernist Islam 1840-1940: A Sourcebook (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002)
Mansoor Moaddel, Kamran Talattof (eds.), Modernist and Fundamentalist Debates in Islam: A Reader (NY: Palgrave, 2002)
Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989)

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.

WEEK 1: The Traumatic Modernity of the Arab East
  January 21^st

1. Read: Elizabeth Suzanne Kassab, Contemporary Arab Thought: Cultural Critique in Comparative Perspective (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), Introduction.

WEEK 2:  Sensing the Modern World
January 28^th

• Cole, Juan Ricardo, Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), pp. 1-20, 143-161.

• John W. Livingston, “Shaykhs Jabarti and `At?t??r: Reaction and Response to Western Science in Egypt,” Der Islam, vol. 74, no. i, (1997), pp. 92-106.

• Philipp Thomas, 'Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti's History of Egypt: A Guide (Stuttgart, 1994), pp. Introduction. 

Primary Text:

• Philipp Thomas, 'Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti's History of Egypt ('Aja'ib al- athar fi 'l-tarajim wa-'l-akhbar) (Stuttgart, 1994), Vol. 3-4, pp. 1-9. 

WEEK 3: Meeting Europe
February 4^th

• Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, pp. 67-102. 

• Juan Cole, “Rifa’a al-Tahtawi and the Revival of Practical Philosophy,” The Muslim World 70 (1980), pp. 29-46.

• John W. Livingston, “Western Science and Educational Reform in the Thought of Shaykh Rifaa al-Tahtawi,” IJMES, Vol. 28, No. 4 (November 1996), pp. 543-564.

Primary Text: 

•  Rifa'a Rafi' al-Tahtawi, An Imam in Paris: Account of A Stay in France by an Egyptian Cleric, 1826-1831 (London: Saqi, 2004). pp., Table of Contents, 189-213, 233-237, 248-251, 330-332, 341-344. 

WEEK 4: The Nahda: Part I
February 11^th

• Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, pp. 245-260.

• Sabry Hafiz, The Genesis of Arabic Narrative Discourse: A Study In The Sociology of Modern Arabic Literature (London: Saqi Books, 1993), pp. 37-104.

Primary Text:

• Qasim Amin, “The Emancipation of Women and the New Women,” Charles Kurzman, Modernist Islam 1840-1940, pp. 61-69.

WEEK 5: Islamic Reformism/Modernism I
February 18^th

• Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, pp. 103-129.

• “Introduction” in Charles Kurzman, Modernist Islam 1840-1940: A Sourcebook (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 3-27.

• Nikki Keddie, “Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani,” Pioneers of Islamic revival. Ed. Ali Rahnema. London: Zed, 1994, pp. 11-29.
  
  

Primary Text:

• Al-Afghani, “Answer to Renan,” in Charles Kurzman, Modernist Islam 1840-1940, pp. 103-110. 
• Al-Afghani, “An Islamic Response to Imperialism,” in Esposito and Donhohue, Islam in Transition, pp. 13-15. 
• Al-Afghani, “Islamic Solidarity,” in Esposito and Donhohue (eds.), Islam in Transition, pp. 16-20.
  

WEEK 6: Islamic Reformism/Modernism II
February 25^th

• Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, pp. 130-160.

• John W. Livingstone, “Muhammad Abduh on Science,” Muslim World, vol. 85, no. III, 1995, pp. 215-234.
  
  

Primary Text:

• Muhammad Abduh, “Laws Should Change” and “The Theology of Unity,” in Charles Kurzman, Modernist Islam 1840-1940, pp. 50-60.
• Muhammad Abduh, “Religious Reform” Mansoor Moaddel, Kamran Talattof (eds.), Modernist and Fundamentalist Debates in Islam, pp. 41-53.
• Muhammad Abduh, “Islam, Reason and Civilization,” in Esposito and Donhohue (eds.), Islam in Transition, pp. 20-24.
• “Kawakibi on Stagnation” in Charles Kurzman, Modernist Islam 1840-1940, pp. 152-157. 

WEEK 7: The Nahda: Part II
March 4^th

• Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, pp. 324-341.

• Israel Gershoni, “The Evolution of National Culture in Modern Egypt: Intellectual Formation and Social Diffusion, 1892-1945,” Poetics Today, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Summer 1992), pp. 325-350.

• Elizabeth Suzanne Kassab, Contemporary Arab Thought: Cultural Critique in Comparative Perspective (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), Introduction 18-47.

Primary Text:

• Taha Hussein, The Days, pp. 275-344.
• Taha Hussein, The Future of Culture in Egypt, Ch. 2, 7, 10, 11, 14, 21. 
• Taha Hussein, The Sufferers: Stories and Polemics, pp. 1-9. 

WEEK 8: Arab Nationalism
March 11^th

• Adeed Dawisha, Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: From Triumph to Despair (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), pp. 14-48.

Primary Text:

• George Antonius, The Arab Awakening: the Story of the Arab National Movement (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott company, 1939). Table of Contents.

• Michel Aflaq, “The Arab Personality Between Past and Present,” in Esposito and Donhohue (eds.), Islam in Transition, pp. 87-92.
• The Arab Ba`th, “Constitution,” in Sylvia Haim, Arab Nationalism an Anthology, pp. 233-241.

SPRING BREAK
 

WEEK 9: The Salafiyya Movement I
March 25^th

• Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, pp. 222-244.

• David Commins, “Religious Reformers and Arabists in Damascus, 1885-1914,”International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 18, No. 4. (Nov., 1986), pp. 405-425.

• Rashid Rida, Christian Criticisms, Islamic Proofs: Rashid Rida's Modernist Defense of Islam (Oxford: Oneworld, Translation and analysis by Simon A. Wood 2008), pp. 17-29, 48-64.

Primary Text:

• Muhammad Rashid Rida, “Renewal, Renewing, and Renewers,” in Charles
     Kurzman, Modernist Islam 1840-1940, pp. 77-85.

WEEK 10: Islamic/Arab Liberalism
April 1^st

• Charles Kurzman, Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), Introduction.

• Anke von Kügelgen, “A Call for Rationalism: "Arab Averroists" in the Twentieth Century,” Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, (1996), pp. 97-132.

• Binder, Leonard, Islamic Liberalism: A Critique of Development Ideologies (Chicago: 1988), pp. 128-169.

Primary Text:

• Ali Abd al-Raziq, “Message not Government Religion Not State,” in Kurzman, Liberal Islam, pp. 2-29.

• `Ali `Abd al-Raziq, “The Problem of the Caliphate,” Mansoor Moaddel, Kamran  
      Talattof (eds.), Modernist and. Fundamentalist Debates in Islam, pp. 95-100.

• Muhammad Khalaf-Allah, “Legislative Authority,” in Kurzman, Liberal Islam, pp. 37-45. 

WEEK 11: The Salafiyya Movement II
April 8^th

• Lia, Brynjar, The Society of The Muslim Brothers In Egypt: The Rise Of An    
    Islamic Mass Movement, 1928-1942 (Reading, England: Ithaca, 1998), pp. 1-49.

Primary Text:

• Banna Hasan, Five Tracts of Hasan Al-Banna' (1906-1949 : a Selection from the
     Majmu'at rasa'il al-Imam al-shahid Hasan al-Banna' (Berkeley, 1978).

1. “Our Mission”, pp. 40-69
2.  “On Jihad,” pp. 133-156.

WEEK 12:  Sayyid Qutb and the Rejection of the Modern 
April 15^th

• Musallam, Adnan, From Secularism to Jihad: Sayyid Qutb and the Foundations of Radical Islamism (Westport, Conn. 2005), pp. 27-52, 53-111.[1]
  
   

Primary Text:

• Qutb, Sayyid, A Child from the Village 1903-1966 (Syracuse, NY: 2004), translator’s introduction and pp. 97-112. 

• Sayyid Abul A`la Maududi, “Fallacy of Rationalism, “in Modernist and Fundamentalist Debates in Islam, pp. 207-221.

• Sayyid Qutb, “Islam and the Foundation of knowledge,” Mansoor Moaddel, Kamran Talattof (eds.), Modernist and. Fundamentalist Debates in Islam, pp. 197-206.

• Sayyid Qutb, “War, Peace and Islamic Jihad,” Mansoor Moaddel, Kamran Talattof (eds.), Modernist and. Fundamentalist Debates in Islam, pp. 223-246.

• Sayyid Qutb, Milestones, in the Sayyid Qutb Reader, pp. 35-43.

WEEK 13: The Iranian Disenchantment with Modernity 
April 22^nd

• Abrahamian, Ervand, Iran Between Two Revolutions (Princeton, N.J.: 1982), pp. 496-529.

• Nabavi, Negin, Intellectuals and the State in Iran: Politics, Discourse and the Dilemma of Authenticity (Gainesville, Florida: 2003), pp. 67-106.
  
  
• Ali Rahnema, “Ali Shariati: Teacher, Preacher, Rebel,” in Pioneers of Islamic Revival. Ed. Ali Rahnema. London: Zed, 1994, pp. 208-250.

Primary Text:

• Ali Shariati, “Critical Attitude…” in Mansoor Moaddel, Kamran Talattof (eds.), Modernist and. Fundamentalist Debates in Islam, pp. 315-324.
• Jalal Al-I Ahnad, “Westoxication,” in Mansoor Moaddel, Kamran Talattof (eds.), Modernist and. Fundamentalist Debates in Islam, pp. 343-358.
• Ruhullah Khomeini, “The Pillars of the Islamic State,” and “The necessity of Islamic Government,” in Mansoor Moaddel, Kamran Talattof (eds.), Modernist and. Fundamentalist Debates in Islam,  pp. 247-262.

WEEK 14: Radical Thought in the age of Globalization
April 29^th

• Kepel, Gilles, Jihad: the Trail of Political Islam (Cambridge, Mass. 2002), pp. 299-323 
• Ian Buruma, Avishai Margalit, Occidentalism: the West in the Eyes of its Enemies (New York: Penguin Press, 2004), pp. 13-47, 101-136. 

Primary Text:

• Osama Bin Laden, Messages to the World: the Statements of Osama Bin Laden.

1. The Betrayal of Palestine, pp. 3-15.
2. Declaration of Jihad, pp. 23-31.
3. The Crusaders Wars, pp. 133-139.
4. To the Americans, pp. 160-172.
   

WEEK 14:   Concluding Thoughts
May 6^th

• Students’ presentations 

[1] Optional reading: Sayed Khatab, The Power of Sovereignty: the Political and Ideological Philosophy of Sayyid Qutb (London; New York: Routledge, 2006). JC 49 K474 2006

Carre, Olivier, Mysticism and politics: a critical reading of Fi Zilal al-Qur'an by Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) (Leiden, 2003) BP 80 Q86 C3613 2003.

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.