Race and Ethnicity in the Histories of the Middle East and Africa

Catalog description

How have the inhabitants of the Middle East and Africa conceived of social difference? Beginning in Late Antiquity and then with the spread of Islam into the Middle East and North Africa, this course will explore the social, cultural and political contingencies that gave rise to ethnic and racial identities within and beyond the Muslim world. How did these identities and categories change over time and in which ways were they impacted by the Indian Ocean, Atlantic, and Saharan slave trades, local social and political factors, European colonialism and then de-colonization in the twentieth century? What are the terms and meanings attached to skin color or social difference in the Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Berber, Swahili, Songhai, Amharic, or Turkish speaking worlds? How are these constructed and controlled? Who gave these categories meaning and why? What are the obstacles to discussing and identifying race particular to the histories of these regions, their peoples, and their histories? In order to answer these questions, the course will draw extensively on primary sources, historical research, as well as theoretical writings on race and ethnicity.