HIS 129 — Intro to the Middle East
Recent events have seen a growing interest in that part of the world commonly referred to as the Middle East. This course aims to introduce students to the Middle East, from the rise of Islam to contemporary times. It takes a cross-disciplinary approach, designed to allow students the chance to examine the region from a number of different perspectives; not only an historical one, but also those of literature, religion, economics, politics and international relations. It is hoped that, at minimum, the course will provide a sound basis by which students might better frame their understanding of the region; at maximum, that it might stimulate a desire to further explore the region in greater depth. Particularly, given the tendency if the media to view the region largely in terms of current events, it is hoped that by taking a cross-disciplinary approach, students will come to conceive of the region as a multi-dimensional; as a region with rich and varied cultural, historical and intellectual traditions; most importantly, as a region made up of people, of individuals who have many of the same desires and aspirations, the same fears and concerns, as ourselves. Given that the course constitutes a broad cross-disciplinary survey of the Middle East, it will, at times, be necessarily selective, focusing in depth on specific but representative aspects of Middle Eastern civilization. Students are thus encouraged to make reference to the "additional reading list" towards the end of the syllabus. An additional goal of the course is to consider in a more critical way the manner in which the region is portrayed in the media. Thus, periodically, we will be examining issues of topical interest.