The Middle East in the 20th Century

3 units

This course surveys the history of the Middle East since World War I. Major analytical themes include: colonialism; Orientalism; the formation of the regional nation-state system; the formation and political mobilization of new social classes; changing gender relations; the development of new forms of appropriation of economic surplus (oil, urban industry) in the new global economy; the role of religion; the Middle East as an arena of the Cold War; conflict in Israel/Palestine; and new conceptions of identity associated with these developments (Arabism, local patriotism, Islamism).