Social and Cultural History of the Modern Middle East
Social and Cultural History of the Modern Middle East
Dr. Daniel Zisenwine
Course description:
If until the last third of the twentieth century history mostly addressed the lives and deeds of “big men” – rulers, diplomats, generals, or inventors – historians have in recent decades gradually broadened their perspective to include in their narratives women, the middle- and then lower classes, and eventually non-Western people as well. Along these lines, this course examines the history of the modern Middle East from the bottom up. Exploring case studies from Egypt, Israel\Palestine, and Saudi Arabia among other settings, we will examine the shifting media infrastructures, cultural protocols, religious beliefs, class formations, and political agendas of different social groups in the region. Beyond reading recent and innovative academic literature on these issues, instruction will heavily rely on primary materials such as graffiti, cinema, music and recordings of religious materials, poetry and short stories.
Course requirements:
Attendance and active participation are mandatory. Students are expected to have read the weekly assignments closely and critically before coming to the class. When reading a primary source, pay special attention to historical context: who is the author? When did s/he live? What other works did s/he write?
Grading: 25% of your grade in the course will be determined by your performance in the seminar. This portion of the grade will be determined by your attendance and active participation. 15% of the grade will be determined by your take-home midterm exam, a 1,000 word essay on a pre-distributed question. 60% of the grade will be determined by a final take-home exam – again, a 1,000 word essay. Both the mid-term and final exams are individual assignments, which each student is expected to complete by him- or herself. Only Liberal Arts students are entitled to take makeup (moed bet) final exams. OSP students are not entitled to makeup dates in any final assignments.
Course schedule:
Week 1: Types of history, types of sources
- No readings assigned
Week 2: History from below
- Alan Mikhail, “Unleashing the Beast: Animals, Energy, and the Economy of Labor in Ottoman Egypt”
Week 3: From scribal- to print-culture
- Nelly Hanna, “Books and the Middle Class”, In Praise of Books: A Cultural History of Cairo's Middle Class, Sixteenth Through the Eighteenth Century,
- Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, Shmuel Moreh (trans.), Jabarti’s Chronicle of the French Occupation (in class)
- Joseph Marie Moiret, Memoirs of Napoleon’s Egyptian Expedition, 1798-1801 (in class)
Week 4: Steam Power, the Democratization of the Hajj, and World War I
- Jeddah court report
- Lord Jim (film)
- Najwa al-Qattan, “When Mothers Ate their Children: Wartime Memory and the Language of Food in Syria and Lebanon”
- Laurence of Arabia (film)
TAKE-HOME MIDTERM EXAM SUBMITTED IN CLASS
Week 5: The Conflict over Palestine
- Hillel Cohen, Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1929 (selections)
- Ronen Shamir, Current Flow: The Electrification of Palestine (selections)
- Jacob Noris, Land of Progress: Palestine in the Age of Colonial Development, 1905-1948 (selections)
- Clockwork Orange (film)
Week 6: Oil, Road Rage, and Homoerotics
- Pascal Menoret, “Street Terrorism”, Joyriding in Riyadh
- Wajda (film)
Week 7: Urban History and Soundscapes: Political Islam, Music and Noise
- Nezar Alsayyad, “Modernizing the New, Medievalizing the Old: The City of the Khedive”, in Cairo
- Eyal Weizman, “Jerusalem: Petrifying the Old City”, in Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation
- The Yacobian Building (film)
- Charles Hirschkind, “The Ethics of Listening,” in The Ethical Soundscape: Cassette Sermons and Islamic Counterpublics
Week 8: Gender: Girls who want to be Boys and vice versa
· Lucie Ryzova, “Boys, Girls, and Kodaks: Peer Albums and Middle-Class Personhood in Mid-Twentieth-Century Egypt”
Week 9: Food for Thought: Culinary History and Revisions
- No readings assigned
