New Fall 2008 Courses

CHECK OUT THESE EXCITING NEW COURSES BEING OFFERED THIS FALL 2008:

Introduction to Modern African History
MDES 3942, Professor Mamadou Diouf
The seminar is an interdisciplinary exploration of the history of the African continent, examining very closely the colonial and postcolonial periods. Its focus is the intersection of politics, economics, culture and society. Using colonialism, empire, and globalization as key analytical frames, it pays special attention to social, political and cultural changes that shaped the various African individual and collective experiences.

The Andalusian Symbiosis: Arabs and the West
SPME W4200, Professors Muhsin Al-Musawi and Patricia Grieve
The course closely examines the cultural symbiosis between Arab Muslims and Christian Europeans during the eight centuries of their coexistence in Andalusia. Through a critical reading of an appropriately chosen set of texts, translated into English from Arabic, Latin, Spanish and other Iberian dialects, students will study the historical, literary, linguistic, religious, artistic, architectural, and technological products that were created by the remarkable symbiosis that took place in Andalusia.

Fourth Year Arabic I - Readings in Modern Arabic Prose
MDES W4212, Professor Taoufik Ben-Amor

Hagop Oshagan: Prison to Prison
CLME G4323, Professor Nanor Kenderian
An exploration of subjecthood, subjection and subjectivity in Western-Armenian literature, taking Ottoman-Armenian writer Hagop Oshagan's (1883-1948) prison-themed novels as its point of departure. Readings will also include Dostoyevsky, Hugo, Bakhtin, Lukács and Foucault alongside the works of other Armenian writers. Special attention will be paid to the impact of the Armenian nationalist movement and representations of "the Turk."

Hebrew Love
MDES G4524, Professor Uri Cohen
Hebrew Love will examine the Hebrew literary and visual canon in search of its discourse of love and the larger implications of such a discourse. Notoriously love is impossible to define and very difficult to engage as a critical category, and yet it forms the core of national revival and is the main vehicle of linkage between the work and the individual. Moving from the biblical foundation across time, works written in and out of the land of Israel and later in the state, will be read as formations of a Hebrew heart but also of gender, the nation and the polity. These contexts and intertexts will be examined together as the poetics of emotional experience and another effort to understand what we talk about when we talk about love.

Readings in Classical Persian Literature I
MDES W4722, Professor Hossein Kamaly
This semester-long course aims to introduce students to a wide range of Persian texts from a variety of literary genres. The objective is to provide a solid foundation for further in-depth study of Persian literature. This course is strongly oriented toward textual reading and linguistic analysis. Representative works are included from the canon: poetry, prose, courtly, religious, etc.

Constitutionalism, Ataturk, and Reza Shah
HSME G4941, Professor Nader Sohrabi
The emergence of modern Turkey and Iran has been linked to two strong figures of Ataturk and Reza Shah. Depicted as "men of order," they have been held responsible for the major transformations associated with the rise of the modern nation states of Turkey and Iran. This course critically examines the legacy of these two leaders by placing them within the long term history of social and political transformations in the Ottoman Empire and Iran in the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Particular emphasis will be placed on the relationship between the emergence of these leaders and the constitutional movements that preceded them. Of interest here is the degree to which they were in continuity with, a reaction to, or a break from these movements. Of further interest is the creation of modern citizenship, authoritarianism, commitment to constitutionalism, radical reforms from above, rise of the middle class, social and political programs directed toward homogenization, and republicanism.

The Modern Jewish Literary Complex: Its Fragmentary Nature
MDES 6522, Professor Dan Miron
Introduction to the problematics of the modern Jewish literary complex; the history and the nature of Jewish multilingualism and multi-culturalism; differential and integral bilingualisms; the modalities of literary contiguity. Reading material: Achad ha'am (The Renaissance of the Spirit); Berdizcewski (Jewish bilingualism and bi-culturalism); Sadan (Masat mavo); Niger (Di tveyshprakhkeyt).


Home Faculty Programs Courses Languages Events News Affiliates Admissions		New Fall 2008 Courses CHECK OUT THESE EXCITING NEW COURSES BEING OFFERED THIS FALL 2008: Introduction to Modern African History MDES 3942, Professor Mamadou Diouf The seminar is an interdisciplinary exploration of the history of the African continent, examining very closely the colonial and postcolonial periods. Its focus is the intersection of politics, economics, culture and society. Using colonialism, empire, and globalization as key analytical frames, it pays special attention to social, political and cultural changes that shaped the various African individual and collective experiences. The Andalusian Symbiosis: Arabs and the West SPME W4200, Professors Muhsin Al-Musawi and Patricia Grieve The course closely examines the cultural symbiosis between Arab Muslims and Christian Europeans during the eight centuries of their coexistence in Andalusia. Through a critical reading of an appropriately chosen set of texts, translated into English from Arabic, Latin, Spanish and other Iberian dialects, students will study the historical, literary, linguistic, religious, artistic, architectural, and technological products that were created by the remarkable symbiosis that took place in Andalusia. Fourth Year Arabic I - Readings in Modern Arabic Prose MDES W4212, Professor Taoufik Ben-Amor Hagop Oshagan: Prison to Prison CLME G4323, Professor Nanor Kenderian An exploration of subjecthood, subjection and subjectivity in Western-Armenian literature, taking Ottoman-Armenian writer Hagop Oshagan's (1883-1948) prison-themed novels as its point of departure. Readings will also include Dostoyevsky, Hugo, Bakhtin, Lukács and Foucault alongside the works of other Armenian writers. Special attention will be paid to the impact of the Armenian nationalist movement and representations of "the Turk." Hebrew Love MDES G4524, Professor Uri Cohen Hebrew Love will examine the Hebrew literary and visual canon in search of its discourse of love and the larger implications of such a discourse. Notoriously love is impossible to define and very difficult to engage as a critical category, and yet it forms the core of national revival and is the main vehicle of linkage between the work and the individual. Moving from the biblical foundation across time, works written in and out of the land of Israel and later in the state, will be read as formations of a Hebrew heart but also of gender, the nation and the polity. These contexts and intertexts will be examined together as the poetics of emotional experience and another effort to understand what we talk about when we talk about love. Readings in Classical Persian Literature I MDES W4722, Professor Hossein Kamaly This semester-long course aims to introduce students to a wide range of Persian texts from a variety of literary genres. The objective is to provide a solid foundation for further in-depth study of Persian literature. This course is strongly oriented toward textual reading and linguistic analysis. Representative works are included from the canon: poetry, prose, courtly, religious, etc. Constitutionalism, Ataturk, and Reza Shah HSME G4941, Professor Nader Sohrabi The emergence of modern Turkey and Iran has been linked to two strong figures of Ataturk and Reza Shah. Depicted as "men of order," they have been held responsible for the major transformations associated with the rise of the modern nation states of Turkey and Iran. This course critically examines the legacy of these two leaders by placing them within the long term history of social and political transformations in the Ottoman Empire and Iran in the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Particular emphasis will be placed on the relationship between the emergence of these leaders and the constitutional movements that preceded them. Of interest here is the degree to which they were in continuity with, a reaction to, or a break from these movements. Of further interest is the creation of modern citizenship, authoritarianism, commitment to constitutionalism, radical reforms from above, rise of the middle class, social and political programs directed toward homogenization, and republicanism. The Modern Jewish Literary Complex: Its Fragmentary Nature MDES 6522, Professor Dan Miron Introduction to the problematics of the modern Jewish literary complex; the history and the nature of Jewish multilingualism and multi-culturalism; differential and integral bilingualisms; the modalities of literary contiguity. Reading material: Achad ha'am (The Renaissance of the Spirit); Berdizcewski (Jewish bilingualism and bi-culturalism); Sadan (Masat mavo); Niger (Di tveyshprakhkeyt).