Middle Eastern & North African Prison Literature.

Catalog description

This course explores modern and contemporary Middle Eastern and North African literary works-poems, long & short fiction, memoirs-and other forms of cultural production produced in and associated with prisons. We'll first lay theoretical and historical foundations for understanding the modern prison as a site of social control and dehumanization, which has paradoxically given rise to the powerful literary traditions and motifs we'll examine. Arabic and Hebrew texts comprise most of the course materials; we'll place them in dialogue with European and other Western writing. All readings will be undertaken in English translation.