B1943 - History and Institutions of the Modern Middle East

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will be able to articulate informed and coherent arguments about the main aspects of modern and contemporary Middle Eastern political, social and cultural history by referring also to the relevant scholarly literature

Course contents

The course will consist of 30 frontal lectures for a total of 60 hours of class instruction. Lectures will introduce students to the core contents of the discipline while elaborating on how the additional study materials related to weekly key questions.

Lectures will cover the following topic:

Week 1- -Introduction to the Study of the Modern and Contemporary Middle East: working definitions, historical and cultural background.

Week 2- Defensive Modernization (XIX century): Ottoman Empire, Qajar's Persia and Egypt Compared.

Week 3 -WWI and the Making of the Modern Middle East.

Week 4- The Colonial Middle East- State and Nation-building in the Interwar Period

Week 5- The Origins of the Palestinian Question

Week 6- The Middle East in the Bipolar World: the Golden Age of Panarabism and the Radicalisation of Arab Politics.

Week 7- The Middle East in the Seventies: Regional Patterns of War and Peace

Week 8- The Middle East in the Seventies (2): the Resurgence of Political Islam

Week 9- The Middle East and the end of the Cold War

Week 10- Wrap up

SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR BAES STUDENTS:


BAES students are reminded that:


-the course of History and International Relations of the Middle East (the denomination of this course within the BAES study plan) is offered ONLY at the Forlì campus;


-the BAES study plan awards 6 ECTS for the course of History and International Relations of the Middle East. This means that BAES students are not REQUIRED (although surely welcome if they wish) TO ATTEND THE WHOLE COURSE. ATTENDANCE WILL BE COMPULSORY FROM WEEK 6 to WEEK 10 ONLY (30 hours of in class instruction). BAES students will also have to pass a final written test on week 8 (covering the topics of the first part of the attended classes) and the final oral exam (covering the second part of the attended classes).


Further information will be provided in class at the beginning of the course, so ALL STUDENTS , BAES and non-BAES, are very welcome to attend the course presentation, 1st class of week 1.

Readings/Bibliography

Students are required to study the following textbooks:

for a comprehensive chronological and thematic overview, William Cleveland and Martin Bunton, A History of the Modern Middle East, Boulder: Westview Press, [copies available from Ruffilli’s library course collection].

for background information on Islamic history and civilization: Karen Armstrong, Islam: a Short History, New York: Modern Library Chronicles, 2001. (available on line for free: [http://www.archive.org/])

The use of the historical maps is highly recommended. A very good selection of maps can be found here:

 https://gulf2000.columbia.edu/maps.shtml

Additional readings useful for working on relevant weekly key questions and in preparation for the in.sessional written exams will be available on Virtuale.

Non-attending students are kindly requested to contact the lecturer within 1 month after the beginning of the course (hard deadline) to fix an appointment. A first contact will be established and queries about exam preparation and study methods will be answered. Non attending students are required to study the core texts above (Cleveland and Armstrong) and will be assigned a customized bibliography (a book or a selection of scholarly articles) on a topic of their choice among the ones covered during the course.

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures

Assessment methods

For NON- BAES students:

two in-sessional written exam consisting of a number of open questions in week 4 and 8 and a final oral exam.

For BAES students:

one in-sessional written exam consisting of a number of open question in week 8 and a final oral exam.

All exams are aimed at assessing the knowledge of the disciplinary contents of the couse, in addition to the abiity to use critical and analitical skills to elaborate on them and articulate coherent and clear arguments in both written and oral form.

Mock exam papers will be made available on Virtuale. 

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

PC, videos, slides, and maps. 

Office hours

See the website of Francesca Biancani