Nationalism/Identity in Gulf

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Nationalism and National identity have become two of the most common themes and concepts in the 21st century. Although these are modern concepts and have to do with the modern statecraft post Enlightenment and French Revolution, they manifest differently in various contextual realties in the modern world. These concepts remain vague and undefined to a certain extent in the Gulf region This course aims to explore and examine nationalism and national identity construction in the Gulf States post-independence from an interdisciplinary perspective. Gulf States are fairly young states with unique demographics, specific history and multi-layered identities. This course will enable students to understand some of the complexities of the nationalism and national identity constructions in the Gulf and evaluate the progress, gaps and directions. Nationalism and National identity will be studied through various factors including conflict, migration, politics, media, Arabism, tribalism, pandemic and gendered identities. The course will start with general theory on the topic and then move towards specific case studies on Gulf countries. The readings selected for this course are a combination of international scholars and local experts in the area to provide wide range of perspectives on such a complex topic and to root it within contextual realities of the region.