Provisional Syllabus—Subject to Change
Emergence of the Modern Middle East
Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
MEIS-UA 690
Summer Session II (6 July–16 August 2016)
Monday & Wednesday, 5–8 pm
Instructor: Alex Winder
Email: adw273@nyu.edu
Office hours by appointment
Course Description: This survey course is designed to introduce students to significant trends and
phenomena in the history of the modern Middle East. The course will begin at the height of the
Ottoman period, when large swathes of the Arab world were brought under Ottoman rule, the
empire expanded its engagement with the world economy, and the relationship between ruled and
ruler in the Ottoman domains began to undergo significant changes. The majority of the course will
be devoted to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with particular attention to critical themes
such as colonialism, secular modernism, nationalism and sectarianism, gender and the status of
women, the impact of Zionism and military conflict, the influence of oil on the region, and the rise
of political Islam. The final weeks of the course will address the tumultuous twenty-first century in
the region, closing with discussions of the origins and impact of the uprisings throughout the region
since 2011, collectively known as the Arab Spring. Throughout, the course will emphasize the varied
experiences of Middle Easterners and will seek to provide historical context for political, social,
economic, and intellectual developments, with emphasis on aspects of both continuity and rupture.
Through discussions and assignments, students will engage in historical analysis and develop an
understanding of major approaches to scholarly understandings of the Middle East.
Readings: The primary textbooks for this course is James Gelvin’s The Modern Middle East: A History,
3rd ed. (Oxford Univ. Press, 2011); and Marvin E. Gettleman and Stuart Schaar, eds., The Middle East
and Islamic World Reader (Grove Press, 2012). Additional readings will be provided.
Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on the basis of:
• Class Participation (20%): Please come on time and ready to engage in discussion on readings,
bringing relevant questions/comments and connecting them to earlier readings and major course
themes. Students are expected to participate in activities during class.
• Map Quiz (5%): A map and list of places will be distributed in the first class; the map quiz will
take place during the second meeting.
• Weekly Questions (25%): Each week, bring three questions based on the readings. These questions
should be essay questions of exam quality (i.e., not questions of fact, but questions engaging the
themes and ideas of the readings and of the course overall). This exercise will be more difficult
at the beginning of the semester, but it will get us in the habit of asking strong, analytic questions
of the readings, and in class. This will be important for the final exam, as we shall see below.
• Response Papers (25%): These responses should use the primary sources provided in the Gelvin
text and elsewhere to discuss concepts from the previous weeks’ readings. Responses should use
the primary sources to illustrate or put forward a specific argument, drawing on direct quotes
from both primary and secondary sources when appropriate. You can address multiple sources,
primary and secondary, but make sure that you develop connections between primary sources
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Provisional Syllabus—Subject to Change
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and readings in a clear and thoughtful way. Each response paper should be two to three (2–3)
double-spaced pages.
Final Exam (25%): the week before the exam, students will provide six essay questions of exam
quality, having become familiar with the expectations of such questions throughout the course
of the semester, which summarize the principal issues and objectives of the course. The exam
will consist of three of these questions. If you write good questions and prepare well, you should
be ready to succeed! If the questions submitted do not meet the standard that we have set over
the course of the semester, however, the in-class essay questions will be provided by the
instructor (depriving you of the opportunity to prepare for the specific questions ahead of time).
Responses should demonstrate familiarity with a range of readings (not just Gelvin) as well as
class discussion.
Attendance: Attendance and participation are key to the success of individual students and the class
as a whole. Please come on time to all class meetings. Any unexcused absences will result in a lower
participation grade. Students will not be penalized for absences due to legitimate reasons and with
appropriate documentation.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Any incidents of plagiarism will be reported to the
university administration. If you are unsure of what constitutes plagiarism, please refer to
cas.nyu.edu/page/academicintegrity and raise any questions or concerns with the instructor.
Late Assignments: Late assignments will not be accepted without prior approval from the
instructor. To secure prior approval, please bring legitimate and documented explanations.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: Students needing academic accommodations
because of documented disability should speak with the instructor privately on the first day of class.
Course Schedule and Readings
1. Wednesday, 6 July: Introduction / Setting the Scene
• Gelvin, Intro to Part 1 and Ch. 1–2 (pp. 9–32)
• Roger Adelson, “British and U.S. Use and Misuse of the Term ‘Middle East’,” in Bonne,
Amanat & Gasper, eds., Is There a Middle East? (pp. 36–55)
• John Krygier and Denis Wood, “Ce n’est pas le monde (This is not the world),” in Dodge,
Kitchin & Perkins, eds., Rethinking Maps (pp. 189–219)
• Eric Davis, “10 Conceptual Sins in Analyzing Middle East Politics,” New Middle East blog, 29
April 2009 (new-middle-east.blogspot.com/2009/01/10-conceptual-sins-in-analyzingmiddle.html)
2. Monday, 11 July: The Ottoman Empire in Context
• Gelvin, Ch. 3–4 (pp. 33–57)
• Karen Barkey, “Islam and Toleration: Studying the Ottoman Imperial Model,” International
Journal of Politics, Culture & Society 19, no. 1–2 (Dec. 2005), pp. 5–19
• Leslie Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire, pp. 15–27
• Gettleman & Schaar, pp. 62–65
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Provisional Syllabus—Subject to Change
* Response Paper 1, using documents from Gelvin, pp. 58–65
* Map Quiz
3. Wednesday, 13 July: Political, Social, and Economic Transformations
• Gelvin, Intro to Part 2 and Ch. 5–7 (pp. 69–109)
• Gettleman & Schaar, pp. 88–97
• Beshara Doumani, Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700–1900
(University of California Press, 1995), pp. 16–53
4. Monday, 18 July: Science, Religion, and Modernity
• Gelvin, Ch. 8–10 (pp. 133–157)
• Khaled Fahmy, “Modernizing Cairo: A Revisionist Narrative,” in AlSayyad, Bierman &
Rabbat, eds., Making Cairo Medieval (Lexington Books, 2005), pp. 173–199
• Ussama Makdisi, “Reconstructing the Nation-State: The Modernity of Sectarianism in
Lebanon,” Middle East Report 200 (1996), pp. 23–26, 30
* Response Paper 2, using documents and photographs from Gelvin, pp. 110–132, 158–176
5. Wednesday, 20 July: World War I and a New Regional Order
• Gelvin, Intro to Part 3 and Ch. 11–12 (pp. 180–207)
• Linda Schatkowski Schilcher, “The Famine of 1915–1918 in Greater Syria,” in Spagnolo, ed.,
Problems of the Modern Middle East in Historical Perspective (Ithaca Press, 1992), pp. 229–258
• Sara Pursley, “‘Lines Drawn on an Empty Map’: Iraq’s Borders and the Legend of the
Artificial State” (2 parts), Jadaliyya, 2 & 3 June 2015 (www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/21759
and www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/21780)
• Gettleman & Schaar, pp. 113–122, 125–132
• 60 Minutes video, “Battle Over History” (28 February 2010)
6. Monday, 25 July: Nationalism and Anti-Colonial Struggle
• Gelvin, Chs. 13–14 (pp. 208–226)
• Philip Khoury, “Continuity and Change in Syrian Political Life: The Nineteenth and
Twentieth Centuries,” American Historical Review 96, no. 5 (1991), pp. 1374–395.
• Ted Swedenburg, “The Role of the Palestinian Peasantry in the Great Revolt (1936–1939),”
in Burke and Lapidus, eds., Islam, Politics, and Social Movements (Univ. California Press, 1988),
pp. 169–203
• Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers (1966) [Film]
* Response Paper 3, using documents from Gelvin, pp. 227–230; Gettleman & Schaar, pp. 113–18,
125–27; “Battle Over History”; and/or The Battle of Algiers
7. Wednesday, 27 July: State and Society after Independence
• Gelvin, Intro to Part 5 and Ch. 15 (pp. 233–255)
• ‘Isam al-Khafaji, “State Terror and the Degradation of Politics in Iraq,” Middle East Report
(1992), pp. 15–21
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Timothy Mitchell, “The Ear of Authority,” Middle East Report 147 (1987), pp. 32–35
Gettleman & Schaar, pp. 132–35, 288–296
Omar Amiralay, A Flood in Baath Country (2005) [Film]
8. Monday, 1 August: Oil and U.S. Involvement in the Middle East
• Gelvin, Ch. 16–17 (pp. 256–282)
• Robert Vitalis, “Black Gold, White Crude: An Essay on American Exceptionalism,
Hierarchy, and Hegemony in the Gulf,” Diplomatic History 26, no. 2 (2002), pp. 185–213
• Timothy Mitchell, “McJihad: Islam in the U.S. Global Order,” Social Text 73, no. 2 (Winter
2002), pp. 1–18
• Gettleman & Schaar, pp. 244–255
* Response Paper 4, using documents from Gettleman & Schaar, pp. 132–35, 244–255, and 288–
296; and/or A Flood in Baath Country
9. Wednesday, 3 August: The Arab-Israeli Conflict
• Gelvin, Ch. 18 (pp. 283–294)
• Joel Beinin & Lisa Hajjar, “Palestine, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Primer” (pp. 1–
16)
• Helga Baumgarten, “The Three Faces/Phases of Palestinian Nationalism, 1948–2005,”
Journal of Palestine Studies 34, no. 4 (Summer 2005), pp. 25–48
• Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, The Law in These Parts (2011) [Film]
10. Monday, 8 August: Political Islam
• Gelvin, Ch. 19–20 (pp. 294–318)
• Mona El-Ghobashy, “The Metamorphosis of the Egyptian Muslim Brothers,” International
Journal of Middle East Studies 37 (2005), pp. 373–395
• Salwa Ismail, “The Paradox of Islamist Politics,” Middle East Report 221 (2001), pp. 34–39
• Gettleman & Schaar, pp. 255–261, 296–309
* Response Paper 5, using documents from Gelvin, pp. 327–336; Gettleman & Schaar, pp. 244–261,
296–309; and/or Alexandrowicz
11. Wednesday, 10 August: The Arab Spring and After
• Gelvin, Conclusion (pp. 319–326)
• “Introduction” and Bassam Haddad, “Behind the Resilience of the Syrian Regime,” in David
McMurray & Amanda Ufheil-Somers, eds., The Arab Revolts: Dispatches on Militant Democracy in
the Middle East (Indiana Univ. Press, 2013), pp. 1–12, 169–176
• Andrew F. March & Mara Revkin, “Caliphate of Law: ISIS’ Ground Rules,” Foreign Affairs,
15 April 2015
• Gettleman & Schaar, pp. 344–362
• Jehane Noujaim, The Square (2013) [Film]
12. Monday, 15 August: FINAL EXAM
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