History of Islamic Civilization and the Middle East, 1500-Present

History 176 Mr. J. Berkey
Fall 2005 Chambers 3252 (ext. 2529)



On line at http://www.davidson.edu/academic/history/Berkey/Hist176/syllabus.doc


Readings

I. Available at the Bookstore:

John Donohue and John Esposito, Islam in Transition: Muslim Perspectives
Norman Itzkowitz, Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition
Naguib Mahfouz, Palace Walk
Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict

II. A packet of xeroxed readings (hereafter PACKET)

III. Web pages, including electronic reserves (URLs provided in links below)

IV. On reserve in Little Library:

William Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East


Course Requirements

1. A mid-term examination (25%)

2. A final examination (25%)

3. A short critique of Marshall Hodgson’s discussion of the “great Western transmutation” (10%)

4. A review of Naguib Mahfouz, Palace Walk (20%)

5. Three one-page critical responses of the following films: “Ashura at Skardu,” “Hollywood Harems,” and “Alexandria, Why?” (10%)

6. Class participation. This involves: regular class attendance; completion of reading assignments prior to class; participation in class discussion (10%)
- Class participation will be judged according to the following scale:
A = regular attendance + completion of readings + energetic, sensible, and regular voluntary participation in discussions
B = regular attendance + completion of readings + (slightly less) energetic, sensible, and regular voluntary participation in discussions
C = regular attendance + completion of readings + coerced participation in discussions
F = anything less


Please note the following:

IN WRITING AND FORMATTING PAPERS, STUDENTS SHOULD FOLLOW PROPER CONVENTIONS REGARDING FORM, NOTES, ETC. HISTORY DEPARTMENT POLICY IS TO REQUIRE CITATIONS IN THE FORM OF FOOTNOTES OR ENDNOTES. MLA-STYLE PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS ARE NOT GENERALLY USED BY HISTORIANS. PLEASE FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (sixth edition, 1996), A COPY OF WHICH IS AVAILABLE IN THE LIBRARY. FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE, A BRIEF SUMMARY OF PROPER FOOTNOTE/ENDNOTE FORM CAN BE FOUND ON THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT HOME PAGE.

WRITTEN WORK MUST BE TURNED IN ON TIME. PAPERS HANDED IN AFTER THE DUE DATE/TIME, FOR ANY REASON, WILL BE MARKED DOWN ONE LETTER GRADE FOR EVERY 24 HOURS (OR PORTION THEREOF) THEY ARE LATE.


THE HONOR CODE IS IN FORCE AT ALL TIMES IN THIS COURSE. ALL WRITTEN WORK MUST BE ORIGINAL, PROPERLY CITED, AND PLEDGED. EACH STUDENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF, AND RULES REGARDING, PLAGIARISM. PLEASE NOTE THAT, AS AN ACADEMIC OFFENSE, A PLAGIARIZED PAPER IS A PLAGIARIZED PAPER, WHETHER OR NOT ONE AINTENDED@ TO PLAGIARIZE. A PLAGIARIZED PAPER WILL RESULT IN A FAILING GRADE FOR THE COURSE.

=> For your reference, there is an outstanding definition and discussion of plagiarism at the Bates College; see http://www.bates.edu/pubs/Plagiarism/plagiarism.html. All students are strongly encouraged to read this page.


Course outline


1. August 22: Introduction


PART I: THE MIDDLE EAST BEFORE IMPERIALISM

Background reading:
Cleveland, History of the Modern Middle East, 1-56





2. August 24: Classical Islamic Civilization
Reading:
Itzkowitz, Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition, 3-36
PACKET, Doc. # 1: Usama bin Ladin, “Fatwa”

3. August 26: State and Society in the Ottoman Empire (1)
Reading:
Itzkowitz, Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition, 37-61
PACKET, Doc. # 2: Busbecq, Letters

4. August 29: State and Society in the Ottoman Empire (2)
Reading:
Itzkowitz, Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition, 63-109

5. August 31 Ottoman Decline
Reading:
PACKET, Doc. # 3: Sari Mehmed Pasha, The Book of Counsel for Vezirs and Governors

6. September 2: The Shici Alternative
Reading:
Bernard Lewis, “The Shia in History,” Islam and the West (Oxford, 1993) [on electronic reserve]
Web sites:
http://www.ashura.com
- This site will give you a brief and colorful introduction to the events surrounding the death of Husayn, the Prophet Muhammad=s grandson, at Karbala in the year 680, and the ways in which Shici Muslims remember those events during the festivities of Ashura, the 10th of the Muslim month of Muharram.
Film:
“Ashura at Skardu” (showings Thursday, September 1 at 7:00 and 9:00, in Chambers 2068)

7. September 5: The Safavid Empire
Web sites:
http://isfahan.anglia.ac.uk/isfahan.html
- Visit this site for a splendid visual tour of the Safavid city of Isfahan. Note especially the pages on the Safavids, and on the architecture of the 16th and 17th centuries, such as the Masjed-e Imam.

8 September 7: Catch-up day
Film:
"The Isfahan of Shah Abbas" (in class)


PART II: THE AGE OF IMPERIALISM

Background reading:
Cleveland, History of the Modern Middle East, 57-98





9. September 9: The 18th Century, Europe, and the “Modern” World
Reading:
PACKET, Doc. # 4: Memoirs of Baron deTott Containing the Present State of the Ottoman Empire
PACKET, Doc. # 5: "Treaty of Kuchuk Kaynarca"
Marshall Hodgson, on the “great Western transmutation,” in The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization, volume III: The Gunpowder Empires and Modern Times, pp. 176-205 [on reserve and electronic reserve in Little Library]

10. September 12: Early Muslim Responses to Modernity
Reading:
PACKET, Doc. # 6: Abdallah Abd al-Wahhab, “The History and Doctrines of the Wahhabis”
PACKET, Doc. # 7: Jabarti, “Chronicle of the French Occupation of Egypt”

11. September 14: Egypt from Napoleon to Muhammad Ali
Reading:
PACKET, Doc. # 8: Clot Bey, "The Present State of Medicine in Egypt"
Donohue and Esposito, Islam in Transition, 11-15

12. September 16: Ottoman Reform (1)
Reading:
PACKET, Doc. # 9: Mahmud II, "Firman"
PACKET, Doc. # 10: "Hatt-i Sherif of Gulhane"
PACKET, Doc, # 11: "Hatt-i Humayun"


13. September 19: Ottoman Reform (2)
Reading:
Albert Hourani, “Ottoman Reform and the Politics of Notables,” in Hourani et al., The Modern Middle East: A Reader, pp. 83-109 (on reserve and electronic reserve at Little Library)

14. September 21: Islamic Reform in India
Reading:
Donohue and Esposito, Islam in Transition, 38-47

15. September 23: European Imperialism: Economics
PACKET, Doc. # 12: Edwin de Leon, The Khedive's Egypt
PACKET, Doc. # 13: Earl of Cromer, Modern Egypt
Tim Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, Chapter 3: “ An Appearance of Order”

16. September 26: European Imperialism: Ideologies
Film:
“Hollywood Harems” (showings Sunday, September 25, at 7:00 and 9:00, in Chambers 2068)

17. September 28: Islamic Reform
Reading:
Donohue and Esposito, Islam in Transition, 16-28

September 30: no class



PART III: THE MIDDLE EAST, 1900-1948

Background reading:
Cleveland, History of the Modern Middle East, 99-255




18. October 3: Egypt in the Early Twentieth Century
Reading:
PACKET, Doc. # 14: Mustafa Kamil, What the National Party Wants

Discussion of Palace Walk, through p. 212

19. October 5: Imperialism and Revolution in Iran
Reading:
Donohue and Esposito, Islam in Transition, 287-296

October 7: Mid-term examination

20. October 12: Palestine and Zionism
Reading:
Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 20-54

21. October 14: World War I and the Arab Revolt
Reading:
Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 55-77, 91-96
Web pages:
A map showing one interpretation of the area delineated by Sir Henry McMahon as excluded from a future Arab state





22. October 17: Turkey
Reading:
PACKET, Doc # 15: Ataturk, "Speech to the Assembly"
Film:
“I Stand for Your Dreams” (showings Sunday, October 16 at 7:00 and 9:00, Chambers 2068)

23. October 19: Islam, Communalism and the End of Empire in India
Reading:
Donohue and Esposito, Islam in Transition, 48-54, 91-93

24. October 21: The Mandates and the Origins of Syria
Reading:
PACKET, Doc. # 16: League of Nations Mandate for Syria and Lebanon
Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 78-85, 99-101

25. October 24: Egypt’s “Liberal Experiment”
Reading:
Donohue and Esposito, Islam in Transition, 29-37, 70-77

Further discussion of Palace Walk, through the end of the book

26. October 26: Palestine and the Birth of Israel
Reading:
Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 97-98, 101-105, 105-216


PART IV: THE MIDDLE EAST, 1948-PRESENT

Background reading:
Cleveland, History of the Modern Middle East, 257-452





27. October 28: Egypt and Arab Nationalism
Film:
“Alexandria, Why?” (Showings Tuesday, October 25 at 7:00 pm, Wednesday, October 26 at 7:00 pm, and Thursday, October 27 at 7:00 pm, in Chambers 2068)

28. October 31: The Suez Crisis
Reading:
Donohue and Esposito, Islam in Transition, 84-90, 107-112
Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 217-52

29. November 2: The Arab-Israeli Conflict
Reading:
Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 253-92

30. November 4: 1967 and the Rise of Palestinian Nationalism
Reading:
Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 293-340

31. November 7: After 1967: The Crisis of Nationalism
Reading:
Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 341-538

32. November 9: Islamic “Fundamentalism”
Reading:
Donohue and Esposito, Islam in Transition, 123-128, 252-260

33. November 11: The Regime of the Shah
Reading:
Donohue and Esposito, Islam in Transition, 297-307
Film:
"Flame of Persia" (in class)

34. November 14: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution
Reading:
Donohue and Esposito, Islam in Transition, 308-322

35. November 16: Lebanon
Film:
“Israel vs the PLO: The Invasion of Lebanon” (showings Tuesday, November 15 at 7:00 and 9:00, Chambers 2068)

36. November 18: Saudi Arabia
Film:
“Cities of Salt” (showings Thursday, November 17 at 7:00 and 9:00 pm, Chambers 2068)

November 21: No class

37. November 28: Iraq
Film:
“War in the Gulf” (showings Sunday November 27, 7:00 and 9:00 pm, Chambers 318

38. November 30: Women in the Modern Middle East
Reading:
PACKET, Doc. # 17: Three Egyptian Women on Their “Circumcision”
Film:
"Veiled Revolution" (showing in class)

39. December 2: Afghanistan, Usama bin Ladin, and the Transformation of the Islamic World
Reading:
PACKET, Doc. # 1: Usama bin Ladin, “Fatwa” (again)
Web pages:
“Frontline: Hunting Bin Laden”

December 5: Final examination (may be taken now or during exam period)



© Jonathan P. Berkey