Readings and Videos

[C] = Cleveland, William L., and Martin Bunton. A History of the Modern Middle East. 5th ed. Westview Press, 2012. ISBN: 9780813348339.

*Note: The readings in the book can also be found in earlier editions.

[G] = Gelvin, James L. The Modern Middle East: A History. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780199766055.

*Note: The readings in the book can also be found in earlier editions.

WEEK # TOPICS READINGS AND VIDEOS
1 Introduction to the Class

Readings

Yilmaz, Huseyin. "The Eastern Question and the Ottoman Empire: The Genesis of the Near and Middle East in the Nineteenth Century." Chapter 1 in Is There a Middle East? The Evolution of a Geopolitical Concept. Edited by Michael Bonine, Abbas Amanat, et al. Stanford University Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780804775274. [Preview with Google Books]

Spinney, Laura. "Human Cycles: History as Science." Nature 488, no. 7049 (2012): 24–26.

Andrews, Thomas, and Flannery Burke. "What Does it Mean to Think Historically?" Perspectives on History, January 2007.
2 Introduction and Overview: The Middle East in the 19th Century: Reform and "Decline"

Readings

[C] Chapter 4: Forging A New Synthesis: The Pattern of Reforms, 1789–1849.

[C] Chapter 5: The Ottoman Empire and Egypt During the Era of the Tanzimat.

[G] Chapter 4: War, Diplomacy, and the New Global Balance of Power.

[G] Chapter 5: Defensive Developmentalism.
3 The Ottoman and Iranian Constitutional Revolutions

Readings

[C] Chapter 8: The Era of the Young Turks and the Iranian Constitutionalists.

[G] Chapter 10: Constitutionalism, pp. 150–57.

Sohrabi, Nader. "Historicizing Revolutions: Constitutional Revolutions in the Ottoman Empire, Iran and Russia, 1905–1908." American Journal of Sociology 100, no. 6 (1995): 1383–1447.
4 Orientalism and its Critiques

Readings

Said, Edward. "Introduction." In Orientalism. Vintage, 1979, pp. 1–9. ISBN: 9780394740676.

———. "The Scope of Orientalism: Knowing The Oriental." Chapter 1, Part 1 in Orientalism. Vintage, 1979. ISBN: 9780394740676.

Lockman, Zachary. "Said's Orientalism: A Book and its Aftermath." Chapter 6 in Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780521133074.

Lewis, Bernard. "The Question of Orientalism." New York Review of Books, June 24, 1982.

Video

Palestine Diary. "Edward Said On Orientalism." October 28, 2012. YouTube.
5 Western Imperialism in the Middle East: World War I and its Aftermath

Readings

[C] Chapter 9: World War I and the End of the Ottoman Order.

[G] Part III: World War I and the Middle East State System, pp. 180–95.

Rogan, Eugene. "Conclusion: The Fall of the Ottomans." In The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East. Basic Books, 2015. ISBN: 9780465023073. 

Fawaz, Leila Tarazi. "A Changing Middle East." Chapter 1 in A Land of Aching Hearts: The Middle East in the Great War. Harvard University Press, 2014. ISBN: 9780674735491. [Preview with Google Books]
6 Nation–State Nationalism in the Middle East I: The Interwar Period

Readings

[C] Chapter 10: Authoritarian Reform in Turkey and Iran.

[C] Chapter 11: The Arab Struggle for Independence: Egypt, Iraq, and Transjordan from the Interwar Era to 1945.

[C] Chapter 12: The Arab Struggle for Independence: Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia from the Interwar Era to 1945.

Video

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk: The Birth of a Republic. Directed by Severine Labat. Color and black and white, 52 min. 2005.
7 Nation–State Nationalism in the Middle East II: Post WWII

Readings

[C] Chapter 14: Democracy and Authoritarianism: Turkey and Iran.

[C] Chapter 15: The Middle East in the Age of Nasser: The Egyptian Base.

[C] Chapter 16: The Middle East in the Age of Nasser: The Radicalization of Arab Politics.

Videos

Shereen Hamdy. "Four Women of Egypt (Part 1)." June 17, 2013. YouTube.

Shereen Hamdy. "Four Women of Egypt (Part 2)." June 25, 2013. YouTube.

Shereen Hamdy. "Four Women of Egypt (Part 3)." June 25, 2013. YouTube.

Shereen Hamdy. "Four Women of Egypt (Part 4)." June 25, 2013. YouTube.

Shereen Hamdy. "Four Women of Egypt (Part 5)." June 25, 2013. YouTube.
8 The Iranian Revolution and its Impact on the Middle East

Readings

[C] Chapter 18: The Iranian Revolution and the Revival of Islam.

[G] Chapter 19: The Iranian Revolution.

Videos

onlyforyou clutti. "Iran & Persia The Fall of a Shah BBC History Documentary Part 1 2." May 13, 2014. YouTube.

onlyforyou clutti. "Iran & Persia The Fall of a Shah BBC History Documentary Part 2 2." May 13, 2014. YouTube.
9 Palestine, Israel and the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict I

Readings

[C] Chapter 13: The Palestine Mandate and the Birth of the State of Israel.

[C] Chapter 17: Israel and the Palestinians from 1948 to the 1970s.

[G] Chapter 14: The Origins of the Israeli–Palestinian Dispute.

[G] Chapter 18: Israel, the Arab States, and the Palestinians.

Beinin, Joel, and Lisa Hajjar. "Primer on Palestine, Israel and the Arab–Israeli Conflict." Middle East Research and Information Project, February 2014.

Shapira, Anita. "The Emergence of the Zionist Movement." Chapter 1 in Israel: A History. Translated from the Hebrew by Anthony Berris. Brandeis University Press, 2014. ISBN: 9781611686180.
10 Palestine, Israel and the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict II

Readings

[C] Chapter 22: The Palestinian Intifada and the 1991 Gulf War.

[C] Chapter 23: A Peace So Near, a Peace So Far: Israel–Palestinian Relations Since The Gulf War.

Bergman, Ronen, Daniel Gordis, et al., debaters. "The Opinion Pages–Room for Debate: Can Israel Survive Without a Palestinian State?" New York Times, September 14, 2011.
11 The Rise of Islamic Radicalism: Hamas as a Case Study

Readings

Litvak, Meir. "The Islamization of the Palestinian–Israeli Conflict: The Case of Hamas." Middle Eastern Studies 34, no. 1 (1998): 148–63.

Klein, Menachem. "Hamas in Power." Middle East Journal 61, no. 3 (2007): 442–59.

Shikaki, Dr. Khalil. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."With Hamas in Power: Impact of Palestinian Domestic Developments on Options for the Peace Process." (PDF) Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Brandeis University. Working Paper 1, February 2007.

Feldman, Shai, and Khalil Shikaki. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."Middle East Brief – Stabilizing Gaza–Israel Relations: What Would It Take?" (PDF - 1.6MB) Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Brandeis University, no. 83, August 2014.

The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement, August 18, 1988.

Videos

Paradise Now. Directed by Hany Abu-Assad. Color, 90 min. 2005.

MegaNewsbreak. "Inside Story Fatah and Hamas 04 Aug 08 Part 1." December 5, 2012. YouTube.

MegaNewsbreak. "Inside Story Fatah and Hamas 04 Aug 08 Part 2." December 5, 2012. YouTube.
12 Screening of Encounter Point.

Video

Encounter Point. Directed by Julia Bacha. Color, 85 min. 2006.
13 Islam and Democracy; Islam post September 11

Readings

Voll, John O., and John L. Esposito. "Islam's Democratic Essence." The Middle East Quarterly, September 1994.

Bukay, David. "Can There Be an Islamic Democracy?" The Middle East Quarterly 14, no. 2 (2007): 71–79.

Lockman, Zachary. "After Orientalism?" Chapter 7 in Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780521133074.

Lewis, Bernard. "The Revolt of Islam." The New Yorker, November 19, 2001.

Videos

Al Jazeera English. "Empire-Islam and America." September 13, 2010. YouTube.

Islam & Islamicate Archive. "Bernard Lewis: What Went Wrong?: Western Impact & Middle Eastern Response (Booknotes, 18/12/01)." June 28, 2015. YouTube.
14 The Arab Spring?

Readings

[C] Chapter 25: The 2011 Arab Uprisings: Towards a New Order in the Arab World.

Anderson, Lisa. "Demystifying the Arab Spring: Parsing the Differences between Tunisia, Egypt and Libya." Foreign Affairs, May / June 2011.

Khalidi, Rashid. "The Arab Spring." The Nation, March 21, 2011.

Byman, Daniel L. "Israel's Pessimistic View of the Arab Spring." The Washington Quarterly, Summer 2011.

"The Tragedy of the Arabs," The Economist, July 5, 2014.

Videos

Thiago Czar. "How Facebook Changed the World-the story of the Arab Spring Episode 1." May 4, 2014. YouTube.

CITIZENSYRIA. "How Facebook Changed the World: The Arab Spring Episode 2 (Libya-Bahrain and Syria)." September 20, 2011. YouTube.

AlternateFocus. "James Gelvin: Understanding the Egyptian Elections." February 2, 2012. YouTube.

hnneditor. "Rashid Khalidi: The Roots of Democratic Upheavals in the Middle East." April 20, 2012. YouTube.

"What is Isis and What Are Its Aims? – Video," The Guardian, June 17, 2014.
15 Challenges in Today's Middle East

Readings

Cockburn, Patrick. "Isis Consolidates." London Review of Books 36, no. 16 (2014): 3–5.

Maddy–Weitzman, Dr. Bruce. "The Clash Within." Tel Aviv University, February 1, 2015.

Lister, Charles. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."Profiling the Islamic State." (PDF - 1.2MB) Brooklings Doha Center Analysis Paper, no. 13, November 2014.

Al–Tamimi, Aymenn Jawad. "The Dawn of the Islamic State of Iraq and ash–Sham." Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, January 27, 2014.

Barir, Idan. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."The Yezidis: Traumatic Memory and Betrayal." (PDF) Tel Aviv Notes: An Update on Middle Eastern Developments by the Moshe Dayan Center 8, no. 17 (2014):1-6.
16 Conclusion and student's reflections No readings or videos assigned