21H.365

Minorities and Majorities in the Middle East

3-0-9 units. HASS-H · Undergraduate

Seminar considers "difference" and "sameness" as they have been conceived, experienced, and regulated by peoples of the Middle East, with a focus on the 19th and 20th centuries. First half discusses the Ottoman Empire. Explores how this multiethnic, polyglot empire survived for several relatively peaceful centuries and what happened when its formula for existence was challenged by politics based on mono-ethnic states. Second half focuses on post-Ottoman nation-states, such as Turkey and Egypt, and Western-mandated Arab states, such as Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq. Concludes with a case analysis of Israel.

Spring 2014 · Cultural Pluralism in Modern Middle East

Topics

Introduction and Dhimmi-tude
Ottoman Basics
Becoming and Maintaining Empire
The Conquest of Arab Lands
Legal Pluralism
Early Modern Gender and Religion
19 th Century Disruption
Reform Era
The Armenian Genocide and the Historical Background
WWI, the Armenian Genocide, the Arab Lands
Ethnic Pluralism in Early Turkish Republic I
Ethnic Pluralism in Early Turkish Republic II
The Question of Cosmopolitanism
Ethnic Pluralism in Egypt
Ethnic Pluralism in Israel I (Past)
Ethnic Pluralism in Israel II (Present)
Conclusions and Discussions of Student Papers

Readings

[Cleveland] = Cleveland, William. A History of the Modern Middle East . 3rd ed. Westview Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780813340487.
Listed reading
SES #: 1–2 · TOPICS: Introduction and Dhimmi–tude · READINGS: Emon, Anvar M. “Dhimmis, Sharia, and Empire.” In Religious Pluralism and Islamic Law–Dhimmis and Others in the Empire of Law . Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 33–76. ISBN: 9780199661633. [Preview with Google Books ] ↗
Reading assignment
Zilfi, Madeline. “Empire to Imperium.” In Women and Slavery in the Late Ottoman Empire: The Design of Difference. Cambridge University Press, 2012, pp. 1–22. ISBN: 9781107411456. [Preview with Google Books ] ↗
Listed reading
SES #: 5 · TOPICS: Becoming and Maintaining Empire · READINGS: Barkey, Karen. “Maintaining Empire: An Expression of Tolerance.” In Empire of Difference: The Ottomans in Comparative Perspective . Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 109–53. ISBN:9780521715331. [Preview with Google Books ] ↗
Reading assignment
Masters, Bruce. “The Limits of Tolerance: The Social Status of Non-Muslims in the Ottoman Arab lands.” In Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Arab World: The Roots of Sectarianism . Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 16–40. ISBN: 9780521005821. [Preview with Google Books ] ↗
Listed reading
Barkey, Karen. “Aspects of Legal Pluralism in the Ottoman Empire.” In Legal Pluralism and Empires, 1500–1850 . NYU Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780814708361. [Preview with Google Books ] ↗
Listed reading
SES #: 7 · TOPICS: Legal Pluralism · READINGS: No readings.
Reading assignment
Baer, Marc. “ Islamic Conversion Narratives of Women: Social Change and Gendered Religious Hierarchy in Early Modern Ottoman Istanbul .” Gender & History 16, no. 2 (2004): 425–58. ↗
Listed reading
Semerdjian, Elyse. “ Naked Anxiety: Bathhouses, Nudity, and The Dhimmī Woman In 18th–Century Aleppo .” International Journal of Middle East Studies 45, no. 4 (2013): 651–76. ↗
Listed reading
Erdem, Hakan. “Do Not Think of the Greeks as Agricultural Labourers” Ottoman Responses to the Greek War of Independence." In Citizenship and the Nation State in Greece and Turkey. 1 st ed. Edited by Faruk Birtek and Thalia Dragonas. Routledge, 2009. ISBN: 9780415543545. [Preview with Google Books ] ↗
Listed reading
Campos, Michelle. Ottoman Brothers: Muslims, Christians and Jews in Early Twentieth Century Palestine . Stanford University Press, 2010, pp. 74–80. ISBN: 9780804770682. [Preview with Google Books ] ↗
Listed reading
Bloxham, Donald. “ The Armenian Genocide of 1915–16: Cumulative Radicalization and the Development of a Destruction Policy .” Past and Present 181, no. 1 (2003): 141–91. ↗
Listed reading
Khalidi, Rashid. “Arab Nationalism in Syria: The Formative Years, 1908–1914.” In Nationalism in a Non-National State, The Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire . Ohio State University Press, 1977. ISBN: 9780814201916.
Listed reading
Jacobson, Abigail. “ Negotiating Ottomanism in Times of War: Jerusalem during World War I through the Eyes of a Local Muslim Resident .” International Journal of Middle East Studies 40, no. 1 (2008): 69–88. ↗
Listed reading
Chehabi, Houchang E. “ Staging the Emperor’s New Clothes: Dress Codes and Nation‐building under Reza Shah .” Iranian Studies 26, no. 3–4 (1993): 209–33. ↗
Listed reading
Ekmekcioglu, Lerna. “ The Republic of Paradox: Post–war European Minorities Regime and the new Turkey’s Step Citizens .” International Journal of Middle East Studies 46, no. 3 (2014). ↗
Listed reading
Bayraktar, Hatice. “ The Anti–Jewish Pogrom in Eastern Thrace in 1934: New Evidence for the Responsibility of the Turkish Government .” Patterns of Prejudice 40, no. 2 (2006): 95–111. ↗
Listed reading
Mills, Amy. “ The Place of Locality for Identity in the Nation: Minority Narratives of Cosmopolitan Istanbul .” International Journal of Middle East Studies 40, no. 3 (2008): 383–401. ↗
Listed reading
Erdentug, Aygen. “ The ‘Christmas Tree’ and ‘Santa Claus’ on New Year’s Eve in Turkey .” Anthropology of the Middle East 4, no. 2 (2009): 14–33. ↗
Listed reading
Hanley, Will. “ Grieving Cosmopolitanism in Middle East Studies .” History Compass 6, no. 5 (2008): 1346–67. ↗
Listed reading
Minkin, Shane. “ Simone’s Funeral: Egyptian Lives, Jewish Deaths in Twenty–first–century Cairo .” Rethinking History: The Journal of Theory an 16, no. 1 (2012): 71–89. ↗
Listed reading
SES #: 18 · TOPICS: Ethnic Pluralism in Egypt · READINGS: Mahmood, Saba. “ Sectarian Conflict and Family Law in Contemporary Egypt .” American Ethnologist 39, no. 1 (2012): 54–62. ↗
Reading assignment
SES #: 19–20 · TOPICS: Ethnic Pluralism in Israel I (Past) · READINGS: Robinson, Shira. Selections from Citizen Strangers: Palestinians and the Birth of Israel’s Liberal Settler State . Stanford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780804788007.
Reading assignment
Shoat, Ella. “Sephardim in Israel: Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Jewish Victims.” In Dangerous Liaisons: Gender, Nation, and Postcolonial Perspectives . 1 st ed. University of Minnesota Press, 1997, pp. 39–66. ISBN: 9780816626496. [Preview with Google Books ] ↗
Listed reading
Gabriella, Djerrahian. “Diasporas Collide: Competing Holocausts, Imposed Whiteness, and the Seemingly Jewish Non–Jew Researcher In Israel.” In Ethnographic Encounters in Israel: Politics and Ethnics of Fieldwork . Indiana University Press, 2013, pp. 112–32. ISBN: 9780253008619.
Listed reading
Roginsky, Dina. “ Nationalism and Ambivalence: Ethnicity, Gender and Folklore as Categories of Otherness .” Patterns of Prejudice 40, no. 3 (2006): 237–58. ↗
Listed reading
Plitnick, Mitchell, and Chris Toensing. “ “The Israel Lobby.” in Perspective .” MERIP , no. 243. ↗
Listed reading
Cavari, Amnon. “ Religious Beliefs, Elite Polarization, and Public Opinion on Foreign Policy: The Partisan Gap in American Public Opinion toward Israel .” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 25, no. 1 (2013): 1–22. ↗
Listed reading
Reilly, Molly. “ Chris Christie Apologizes For ‘Occupied Territories’ Remark, Says He ‘Misspoke’ .” Huffington Post , March 30, 2014. ↗
Listed reading
SES #: 23–24 · TOPICS: Conclusions and Discussions of Student Papers · READINGS: No readings.
Reading assignment

Prerequisites & course information

Prereq: None Acad Year 2027-2028: U (Fall) Acad Year 2028-2029: Not offered 3-0-9 units. HASS-H

Sources

Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Spring 2014
MIT OCW syllabus ↗
MIT OCW calendar ↗
MIT OCW readings ↗
Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.