Language & Society in the Arab World

Catalog description

Course content varies. Last offered topic: Negotiating Arab Identities and amp; Gender Roles in Film and amp; Literature. This course focuses on the processes of self-definition by Arab men and women in conflict zones in the Middle East and North Africa with relation to national and religious identities, social stratification, sexuality/homosexuality, and gender roles. Students will learn about the social, economic, and political contexts of the films and literary works representing the Maghreb, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, the Gulf countries, and Yemen. This course fosters a better understanding of Arab societies and the hybrid identities that negotiate their presence and space within. Students will have the opportunity to engage in a video-conference dialogue with students in the American University in Cairo, Egypt, attend an Arab film during CMU's International Film Festival, and interview native speakers of different Arab countries to further their learning of Arab culture.