Oil and Turmoil in the Middle East

Catalog description

This course traces the history of oil in the Persian Gulf region from the nineteenth century to the present, with a special attention to the extraction and export of oil, its role in the transformation of everyday life, and its implications in social and political developments in the region, especially in Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Course readings will investigate the impact of oil on modernity, labor force, racial divisions, urbanization, nationalism, regional and international wars, and social and political tensions.