HIST 246 Fall 2021 Modern Middle East and North Africa Place
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HIST 246 Fall 2021 Modern Middle East and North Africa Place: UNIV 203 Day and Time: M-W-F, 9:30 am – 10: 20 am Instructor: Professor Holden Office: UNIV 127 Office Hours: M-W 11 am – 12 pm Email: [email protected] Face-to-Face This course analyzes events in Middle East and North Africa from the early-nineteenth century to the present day. For 200 years, peoples in this region of the world have grappled with democracy, religion and national identity as well as conflicting reactions toward various forms of Western interventions. In this class, I will draw your particular attention to the legacy of The Great War, which led to the death of 25% of the population in the Arab world and the end of Ottoman rule. Learning Outcomes --To assess how the past shapes life in the present-day Middle East and North Africa --To increase understanding of political and economic forces shaping the Middle East and North Africa, going beyond common interpretations of religion as engine of history --This class fosters skills necessary long-term career success. According to Dr. David Deming at Harvard University’s Kennedy School: “...although liberal arts majors start slow, they gradually catch up to their careers in STEM fields...A liberal arts education fosters valuable ‘soft skills’ like problem-solving, critical thinking and adaptability. Such skills are hard to quantify...But they have long-run value in a wide variety of careers.” Class Preparations: The assignment for each class is listed underneath the specific day and lecture. Students are expected to prepare the assignments for each topic before each class meeting. I am asking you to acquire two books: a) James L. Gelvin, The Modern Middle East: A History, 5th ed. (Oxford Univeristy Press, 2020. b) Karnig Panian, Goodbye Antoura: A Memoir of the Armenian Genocide (Stanford University Press, 2015). Course Requirements: Take Home Exam #1 20% Take Home Exam #2 20% Take Home Exam #3 25% Book Review 25% Engagement 10% You are expected to check your @purdue.edu email on a daily basis, since I (and other professors) communicate to you through class emails. You can email me at [email protected]. Students will have three take-home exams. Each exam will consist of 2 essay questions. I will provide a review sheet of possible questions one week before the exam. I will email the exam the night before the exam and also upload it on Brightspace. Your responses—as will be described on the actual review sheet—should evaluate material from lectures and class preparations. You must upload your exam to Brightspace by 11 am on the day it is scheduled. I deduct five points for each hour the exam is late. After 5 pm I will not accept the exam, and students receive a 0. Students submit an analytical review of a memoir about the Armenian Genocide of World War I. Karnig Panian’s Goodbye Antoura: A Memoir of the Armenian Genocide provides a firsthand account of the war’s devastating effects. Your review of this book must be between 750 and 1,000 words (not more, not less). You will have a week to read this book, and we will devote an entire class period to discussing it. I will provide guidelines to help you write the review. You must write it in 12-point type-face, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. I will expect you to upload your review by 12 noon on 15 October. I will take off five points for each day this essay is late. This class is face-to-face. Attendance is expected, and engagement will be taken into consideration. I reserve the right to raise grades based on consistent attendance and engagement in class or on Blackboard’s discussion board. I encourage you to contact me if you are unable to attend a class in person, and we can figure out via email a way for you to engage the material. There are a few classes when I will ask you to fill out a worksheet responding to questions on a film. This informal worksheet is not graded, but turning it in demonstrates your engagement. Grading A = 94-100 A- = 90-93 B+ = 87-89 B = 84-86 B- = 80-83 C+ = 77-79 C = 74-76 C- = 70-73 Class Guidelines • Prepare (i.e. read or watch assigned material) before class! • Turn in book review and exams on time, or suffer a grading penalty! • Be considerate! Don’t come late to class, or surf the web during lectures! Disclaimer: In case of a major campus emergency, the requirements on this syllabus are subject to changes required by a revised semester calendar. Any changes will be posted, once the course resumes, on the course website. It may also be obtained by contacting the instructor via email. Introduction to the Middle East August 23 (M) Class Introductions Class Preparations upload a photo (of yourself!) to Brightspace introduce yourself in 3-5 sentences August 25 (W) Where Is the Middle East? Class Preparations I have posted a map on Brightspace. I would like each student to download a copy and then draw the borders of the region referred to as the Middle East. Send it to me as an email the day before class and justify the borders that you drew. We will review your responses in class. August 27 (F) What Is the Middle East? Class Preparations Cemil Aydin, “Introduction: What is the Muslim World,” The Idea of the Muslim World: A Global Intellectual History (Harvard University Press, 2017), 1-13. Michael Ezekiel Gasper, “Conclusion: There Is a Middle East,” in Is There a Middle East?: The Evolution of a Geopolitical Concept, ed. M. Bonine, A. Amanat and ME Gasper (Stanford University Press, 2012), 231-240. How did Aydin and Gasper further your understanding of the Middle East? What are the categories that can be used to define this region? How would they define Middle East? The Ottoman Empire August 30 (M) The Rise of the Ottoman Empire Class Preparations Gelvin, The Modern Middle East, 22-55. Cleveland and Bunton, The Modern Middle East, 35-48. September 1 (W) Ottoman Defeats, and Looming Imperial Decline Class Preparations Cleveland and Bunton, The Modern Middle East, 58-60. September 3 (F) Napoleon in Egypt Class Preparations Napoleon’s Proclamations in Egypt, 1798, from The Napoleon Series Archive. Abd al-Rahman Jabarti, “The Destruction Caused by the French and the Ottomans in Cairo,” in Al-Jabarti’s History of Egypt, ed. Jane Hathaway (Princeton University Press, 2009), 197-201. September 6 (M) No Class September 8 (W) Modernization in Egypt Class Preparations Gelvin, The Modern Middle East, 70-88. Cleveland and Bunton, The Modern Middle East, 61-70. Rifa’a Rafi’ al-Tahtawi, “The Extraction of Gold or an Overview of Paris,” in Gelvin, The Modern Middle East, 178-179. September 10 (F) synthesis day September 13 (M) Forging an Ottoman Identity Class Preparations William L. Cleveland and Martin Bunton, A History of the Modern Middle East, 76-86. Gelvin, The Modern Middle East, 140-165. “Decrees from the Ottoman Tanzimat,” in Gelvin, The Modern Middle East, 167-172. Abdullah Cevdet Pasha, “A Muslim Intellectual on the Emancipation of Ottoman Non-Muslims (1856),” in Sephardi Lives: A Documentary History, 1700-1950, ed. Julia Phillips Cohen and Sarah Abrevaya Stein (Stanford University Press, 2014), 120-121. Ludwig August Frankl, “The Ottoman Chief Rabbi’s Ambivalent Response to the Proclamation of Jewish Equality (1856),” in in Sephardi Lives: A Documentary History, 1700-1950, ed. Julia Phillips Cohen and Sarah Abrevaya Stein (Stanford University Press, 2014), 121-123. Reflection: What reforms did Ottoman rulers implement in the nineteenth century? How might these reforms have contributed to a new sense of political identity among Ottoman subjects? And what might be potential challenges to forging an inclusive imperial identity? September 15 (W) British Egypt Class Preparations Gelvin, The Modern Middle East, 89-105. Cleveland and Bunton, The Modern Middle East, 87-102. Evelyn Baring, First Earl of Cromer, “Why Britain Acquired Egypt in 1882 (1908),” Internet Modern History Sourcebook, accessed 23 June 2021. Reflection: Why did the British colonize Egypt? How does Lord Cromer illuminate British decision-making? How did the colonization of Egypt serve British interests? September 17 (F) French Algeria Class Preparations Phillip C. Naylor, North Africa: A History from Antiquity to Present (University of Texas Press, 2015), 152-155. Assia Djebar, “Women, Children, Oxen Dying in Caves,” Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade (1993; reprint, Heinemann, 2003), 64-79. fill out worksheet on Djebar excerpt, upload it to Assignments in Brightspace, bring it to class September 20 (M) Ottoman Baghdad Class Preparations Charles Tripp, “The Ottoman Provinces of Baghdad, Basra and Mosul,” in A History of Iraq, 3rd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2007), 8-29. “The Wedding of Regina, 1903,” in A Documentary History of Modern Iraq, Stacy E. Holden, ed. (University Press of Florida, 2012), 18-21. What elements of political, social and cultural change were highlighted in these readings? September 22 (W) Ottoman Palestine Class Preparations Gelvin, The Modern Middle East, 106-116 (ch. 7). watch, Alexandre Promio, “Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, 1897,” by “Film Rescue” on YouTube. Ilan Pappé, “Palestine Was an Empty Land,” Ten Myths about Israel (Verso Books, 2017), 3-10. September 24 (F) Zionist Settlement Class Preparations watch Ben Loeterman, “1913: Seeds of Conflict,” PBS, 2015 (53 min.) fill out worksheet on “Seeds of Conflict,” and upload it to Assignments on Brightspace This website reviews the historical personalities or commentators in the film: http://1913seedsofconflict.com/. See also, https://www.pbs.org/show/1913-seeds-conflict/.