Featured Faculty Courses Offered Spring ‘24
WGSS/ARABIC 2702
Gender and Citizenship in Modern Arabic Literature
This course explores modern Arabic literature from the 1960s to the present as a space where different understandings of gender and citizenship are analyzed and imagined. Starting with debates about gender and citizenship in the early postcolonial period, we will discuss novels, short stories, and poetry by women writers that speak to different historical and national contexts, such as liberation from colonial powers, the Lebanese Civil War, Palestinian historical memory, and legacies of slavery in the Gulf. We will complement these literary texts with both documentary and narrative film.
In each section of the class, we will consider how literary texts intervene in different conceptions of citizenship and social justice. By participating in ongoing scholarly conversations on modern Arabic literature and gender we will also reflect on how our own learning community is generating questions and knowledge. Prereq: GE foundation writing and info literacy course. Not open to students with credit for 2702H, WGSSt 2702, or WGSSt 2702H. GE lit and diversity global studies course. GE theme citizenship for div and just wrld course. Cross-listed in WGSSt.
ISLAM 3201
Muslims in America and Europe: Citizenship and Living Between Worlds
What does it mean to live as modern Muslims in western societies? How do they cope with prejudice, Islamophobia, traditions, integration, war, migration, and new opportunities?
We explore the experiences of religious minorities in the U.S. and Europe for Muslims whose families are originally from the Arab world, Iran, South Asia, Turkey, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia. Prereq: Not open to students with credit for NELC 3201. GE soc sci indivs and groups and diversity soc div in the US course. GE theme citizenship for div and just wrld course.
HISTORY 3480
Israel/Palestine: History of the Present
This new course will enable students to reflect on the ways in which the past informs interpretations of the present and the ways in which the present informs interpretations of the past. The course will adopt a broad definition of the "present", investigating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict primarily against the background of the collapse of the Oslo peace process in the early 2000s. Prereq or concur: English 1110.xx, or GE foundation writing and info literacy course, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for JewshSt 3480. GE theme citizenship for div and just world course. Cross-listed with JewshSt.
PERSIAN 3350
Iranian Society Today: Internal Conflicts and Social Movements
This new multi-disciplinary course is a journey through political, social, and intellectual history of Iran. The course will discuss intellectual interpretations of post-1979-revolution Iranian society, various new nonviolent social movements in recent two decades, and the role of globalization and media politics in contemporary Iran. GE soc sci indivs and groups and diversity global studies course.
ARABIC 3705
A Thousand and One Nights: Storytelling in Arabic and World Literature
The 1001 Nights – popularly known as the Arabian Nights – is a corpus of Arabic stories that rose from relative obscurity to global fame. The origins of the Nights lie in the Islamic Near East, but the versions we know today are a direct result of the translations of anonymous Arabic manuscripts in late-17th century Paris. The vogue for “oriental tales” spread throughout Europe and back to the Islamic world, where subsequently there appeared several greatly expanded Arabic editions of the collection. The Nights is a remarkable example of a shared, global literary heritage that at the same time has played a major part, for better or worse, in shaping Western perceptions of the Arabo-Islamic world.
In this course, students will read the original stories, which remain delightful to this day, and come to understand the process by which the corpus of Nights was preserved, expanded, translated, dissemination and even forged. Then we will consider the remarkable diffusion and reception of the tales and their characters, especially in cinema and modern literature. This course is taught in English.
POLISCI 4318
The Politics of International Terrorism
This course focuses on the international political, organizational, and
psychological influences on terrorism, as well as governmental perspectives and policies to confront terrorism.
More specifically, the key topics covered are defining terrorism, individual / psychological influences on terrorism, organizational aspects of terrorism, strategic political explanations of terrorism, religion and terrorism, terrorism and the media, an examination of a number of specific terrorist groups, and the future of terrorism. The course has a midterm, final examination, and a course paper in which each student analyzes a specific terrorist group of their choosing.
Donald Avery Sylvan
SASIA 5241
Interdisciplinary Approaches to South Asian Studies
This course is designed (for students in any field) as a multi-disciplinary introduction to South Asia, primarily focusing on India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan, but also referring to Afghanistan, Tibet, and Maldives in geographical, political, cultural, and religious context and connections.
The course presents an overview of research methods to study South Asia and its international relations, and its role in the global economy. The course also introduces students to the diversity of South Asian culture, including South Asian religions, society, art, literature, and cinema.
Prereq: English 1110. Not open to students with credit for NELC 5241.
