C. Anderson
History of the Modern Middle East
History 508: 205
Rutgers University
Instructor: Charles Anderson
Office: Van Dyck Hall, room 107; Office hrs by appointment
Email: cwa203@nyu.edu
This is a survey class designed to introduce students to the broad contours of Middle Eastern
history since the eighteenth century. Together we will explore through lectures, discussion
and other exercises major themes in the history of the region, including: transformations in the
Ottoman empire in the 18th and 19th centuries; its dissolution in the 20th century; imperialism
and colonialism; regional incorporation into the world economy; anti-colonialism, nationalism
and the emergence of the contemporary state system; the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; the
effects of the Cold War; the rise of Islamism; and postwar US policy in the region.
Throughout, our focus will be on analyzing themes and developments within their historical
contexts. The geographic concentration of the class will largely be the Arab East (the
mashriq), Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, with more limited attention on Iran and North
Africa as well.
While building a basic knowledge of the region this course also aims at strengthening and
utilizing analytical and interpretive skills and at building a conceptual vocabulary adequate to
understanding and thinking about Middle Eastern history.
REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING
1. Weekly response papers: One page (two pages max) reaction papers that treat
materials read for class are due each week. Responses may take the form of
summarizing the key points of a reading or readings, or they may be a comment or
critique of readings. Students may miss two weeks of responses without penalty.
(20% of grade)
2. Mid-term paper: You will write a paper answering one of a prepared set of questions,
citing from class materials. The paper will be 5-6 pages in length. (25% of grade)
3. Final paper: Similar in format to the mid-term. Length 7-8 pages. (35% of grade)
4. Attendance and classroom participation: mandatory at all classes. (20% of grade)
***Please note: plagiarism is grounds for failure of the course. Do not plagiarize.***
REQUIRED TEXT:
James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East: A History (New York: Oxford UP, 2005)
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COURSE SCHEDULE AND READINGS:
September 10: The Ottoman Empire in historical perspective
• Gelvin, part I introduction, and chapter 1: p. 9-26
• Albert Hourani, “The Ottoman Background of the Modern Middle East” in K.H. Karpat, ed.,
The Ottoman Empire and Its Place in World History (Leiden: EJ Brill, 1981 [1974]),
p. 61-78
September 17: The Ottoman Empire in 18th century: regional autonomy
• Gelvin, chapter 4: 47-59
• Beshara Doumani, Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus,
1700-1900 (Berkeley: U. California Press, 1995), p. 16-53
• Juan Cole, Napolean’s Egypt: invading the Middle East (New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2007) – selection TBA
September 24: The 19th century and the Tanzimat reforms
• Gelvin, part II introduction and chapters 5 and 7: 69-87, 100-110
• Khaled Fahmy, “The Era of Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha, 1805-1848” in M.W. Daly, ed., The
Cambridge History of Egypt, volume 2 (New York: Cambridge University Press,
1998), p. 139-179
• Samir Khalaf, “Communal Conflict in Nineteenth-Century Lebanon” in Bernard Lewis and
Benjamin Braude, eds., Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire, v. 2 (New York:
Holmes & Meier Publishers, 1982), p. 107-134
October 1: The close of the Ottoman era: imperialism and fragmentation
• Gelvin, chapters 6, 8, 10: 88-99, 123-131, 139-146
• The Earl of Cromer, Modern Egypt, v. 2 (London: Macmillan, 1908), p. 123-67
• Martin Daly, “The British Occupation of Egypt, 1882-1922” in The Cambridge History of
Egypt, v.2, p. 239-251
• Ellen Meiksins Wood, Empire of Capital (London: Verso, 2003), p. 89-117
October 8: World War I and the mandates system
• Gelvin, part III introduction and chapters 11-12: p. 171-196
• Roger Owen, State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East (London:
Routledge, 1992), p. 1-22
• Toby Dodge, Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied
(Columbia University Press, 2003), p. 63-82
October 15: Arab nationalism and resistance
• Gelvin, chapter 13: 197-205
• Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: reflections on the origins and spread of
nationalism (London: Verso 2006 [1983]) – selection TBA
• James L. Gelvin, “The Social Origins of Popular Nationalism in Syria: Evidence for a New
Framework”, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, v. 26, n. 4 (Nov 1994),
p. 645-661
October 22: Palestine, Zionism, and the birth of Israel
• Gelvin, chapter 14: 206-214
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• Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab world (New York: Norton and Co., 2000),
p. 1-27
• Avi Shlaim, “The Debate about 1948”, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 27:3
(August 1995), p. 287-304
• Rashid Khalidi, The Iron Cage: the story of the Palestinian struggle for statehood (Boston:
Beacon Press, 2006), p. 31-64
October 29: The cold war, Arab socialism, and the politics of pan-Arabism
• Kathleen Christison, Perceptions of Palestine: their influence on U.S. Middle East policy
(Berkeley: UC Press, 1999), p. 95-123
• Malcolm Kerr, The Arab Cold War: Gamal ‘Abd al-Nasir and his Rivals, 1958-1970
(Oxford: Oxford UP, 1965), p. 1-25
• Fawaz Gerges, “The 1967 Arab-Israeli War: U.S. actions and Arab perceptions” in David
Lesch, ed., The Middle East and the United States: a historical and political
reassessment (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2003), p. 191-210
November 5: Oil, Islamism, and geopolitics: the US, Saudi Arabia and Iran
• Gelvin, chapter 16: 247-256
• Robert Vitalis, “Black Gold, White Crude: An Essay on American Exceptionalism,
Hierarchy, and Hegemony in the Gulf”, Diplomatic History, v. 26, n. 2 (Spring 2002),
p. 185-213
• Fred Halliday, Islam and the Myth of Confrontation: religion and politics in the Middle East
(London: I.B. Tauris, 1995), p. 42-75
• Tim Mitchell, “McJihad: Islam in the US Global Order”, Social Text, v. 20, n.4 [73],
(Winter 2002), p. 1-18
November 12: the end of the Cold War and the New World Order
• Joost Hiltermann, A Poisonous Affair: America, Iraq, and the Gassing of Halabja (New
York: Cambridge UP, 2007) – selection TBA
• Bernard Lewis, “The Roots of Muslim Rage”, The Atlantic Monthly (September 1990), p.
47-60
• Anders Strindberg and Mats Wärn, “Realities of Resistance: Hizballah, the Palestinian
Rejectionists, and al-Qa‘ida Compared”, Journal of Palestine Studies, v. 34, n. 3,
Spring 2005, p. 23-41
• screen: Adam Curtis (BBC), The Power of Nightmares, part 1: “Baby it’s cold outside”
http://www.archive.org/details/ThePowerOfNightmares
November 19: Palestine-Israel: from occupation to ‘peace process’ and beyond
• Samih K. Farsoun and Naseer Aruri, Palestine and the Palestinians: a social and political
history (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2006), ch 8: p. 239-274
• Tamir Sorek, “Soccer Fandom and Citizenship in Israel”, Middle East Report, No 245,
Winter 2007
• Darryl Li, “Disengagement and the Frontiers of Zionism”, Middle East Report Online, Feb
16, 2008: http://www.merip.org/mero/mero021608.html
• Neve Gordon, Israel’s Occupation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), p. 197222
November 26: Thanksgiving break – no class
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December 3: the Iraq wars, 9-11, and the ‘war on terror’
• Joe Stock and Ann M. Lesch, “Why War?” in Cynthia Peters, ed., Collateral Damage: The
‘New World Order’ at Home and Abroad, (Boston: South End Press, 1992), p. 161180
• Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies – Study Group on a New Israeli
Strategy towards 2000, “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm”
• Project for a New American Century, letter to President Bill Clinton, Jan 26, 1998
• Michael Schwartz, War Without End: The Iraq War in Context (Haymarket Books, 2008), p.
13-29
• Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, “Islamist Perceptions of U.S. Policy in the Middle East” in David
Lesch, ed., The Middle East and the United States: a historical and political
reassessment (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2003), p. 467-490
• Trita Parsi, “Under the Veil of Ideology: The Israeli-Iranian Strategic Rivalry”, Middle East
Report Online, June 9, 2006: http://www.merip.org/mero/mero060906.html
• Jason Brownlee, “Imagining the Next Occupation”, Middle East Report, No 249 (Winter
2008), p. 8-11
December 10: the ‘Arab spring’ and the counterrevolution
• readings TBA
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