The Global Middle East

Catalog description

This course positions the Middle East in global cultural processes since the rise of Islam. It focuses on linguistic, commercial, religious, imperial and national development and interaction in the region between the Nile and Indus Rivers. The first part of the course considers Arab, Persian and Turkish cultural and historical contributions to the rise and expansion of Islam from roughly 600-1500. The second part of the course examines the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires with an emphasis on literary and artistic developments until about 1800. The third part examines European colonialism and nationalist activity in Palestine and Iran, and projections of American interests through educational exchange and development programs from the Cold War through the present.