2018-2019 Academic Catalog 
    
    Mar 29, 2024  
2018-2019 Academic Catalog [Archived Catalog]

PSCI 371 - The Crescent & The Globe: Histories of Islam & The Middle East


Credits: Three (3)
What do we mean by the “middle east”? How can we understand the history of a region that fostered humanity’s first written laws and urban settlements, yet now – according to some – is the epicenter of a “clash of civilizations”? This class will explore these and other questions about the history and governments of the Middle East, from Hammurabi to Mehmed the Conqueror to the rise of Daesh (ISIS). The course is divided into three broad chronological units. The first explores the middle east before Islam, the subsequent expansion of Muslim societies under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, and the changes wrought by Mongol invasions in the 13th century. The second unit examines the rise and dominance of the Ottoman Empire, and the kinds of cross-cultural exchanges which occurred between the peoples of the Middle East and other regions during the early modern period. The final section interrogates the legacy of European incursions in the region, beginning with the French and British in Egypt, through both world wars and the present conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Mediterranean. [P,M;N;C,I] 
Cross-listed: HIST-371