Following an extended introduction, the class will be divided into nine topics. The textbook reading should be read by the first day of the topic, and the additional readings will be divided evenly among the class and will be discussed briefly at the end of each segment. All readings will be accessible on the class’ webpage. Blackboard will only be used for assignments.
Prof. Louis Fishman
Office Hours: Tuesdays 10-12 or by appointement
Course objectives:
-to improve critical thinking, reading, and writing skills
-to to be able to place events into a general and global context
-to understand the relation between economic, cultural, political, and social issues
-to encourage respect for cultural diversity
Requirements: article review (20%), 5-7 pg. paper (20%), midterm (20%), final (30%), and participation (10%). ALL LATE PAPERS WILL RECEIVE A 20% REDUCTION
Guidelines concerning participation and attendance
Both your attendance and participation will be evaluated and factored into your final grade (10% of the total). I highly encourage you to participate in class discussions, and I will work to ensure an environment in which all opinions are treated respectfully.
If you need to miss class for a religious observation, please notify me in advance. Missing more than 3 class sessions for any reason other than illness or religious observance will lead to a zero in your participation grade and then a reduction in your final grade. For extreme circumstance, such as personal issues, please inform me as soon as possible so that we can decide on how you can make up what you have missed.
University Policy On Academic Integrity:
The faculty and administration of Brooklyn College support an environment free from cheating and plagiarism. Each student is responsible for being aware of what constitutes cheating and plagiarism and for avoiding both. The complete text of the CUNY Academic Integrity Policy and the Brooklyn
College procedure for implementing that policy can be found at this site: http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/policies. If a faculty member suspects a violation of academic integrity and, upon investigation, confirms that violation, or if the student admits the violation, the faculty member MUST report the violation.
Center for Disability Services:
In order to receive disability-related academic accommodations students must first be registered with the Center for Student Disability Services. Students who have a documented disability or suspect they may have a disability are invited to set up an appointment with the Director of the Center for Student Disability Services, Ms. Valerie Stewart-Lovell at 718-951-5538. If you have already registered with the Center for Student Disability Services please provide your professor with the course accommodation form and discuss your specific accommodation with him/her.
Textbook (attached to online syllabus): Anderson, Betty S. A History of the Modern Middle East: Rulers, Rebels, and Rogues. Stanford University Press, 2016.
You must be able to login to your Brooklyn College Library account in order to read this textbook.
A History of the Modern Middle East by You can reach each section by going to the above "Unit" section: For example, "General Discussion on class" is Unit 1, Topic 1, and "Before Nation States" is Unit 1, Topic 2.
Any changes in the readings to the syllabus will be shared with the class at least a week before
1. General discussion on class and Syllabus (Wednesday, August 28):
An Introduction: Mapping the Middle East and its Peoples
2. Before Nation States: The Ottoman and Safavid Empires (September 4-9)
Anderson, “Prologue,” 1-10. (September 4)
Anderson, Chapter 1. “Birth of Empires: The Ottoman and Safavid Empires through the 18th century, 11-58. (September 9)
3. Nationalism, Religion, and Identity during the 19th Century (September 11-16)
Anderson, Chapter 2. “Reform and Rebellion: The Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and Qajar Iran.” 59-106.
4. “Egypt for the Egyptians” and the rise of Ottoman Constitutionalism (September 18-23)
Anderson, Chapter 3. “Social Transformation: Workers and Nationalists in Egypt, Mount Lebanon, and the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century,” 107-153.
5. World War One and a Survey of Documents (September 25-30)
Anderson, Chapter 4. “The Great War: Qajar Iran and the Ottoman Empire,” 155-198.
6. Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran until WWII (October 7-9)
Anderson, Chapter 5. “State Formation and Colonial Control: Turkey, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Transjordan and Saudi Arabia in the 1920s and 1930s,” 199-239.
Maktabi, Rania. “The Lebanese Census of 1932 Revisited. Who Are the Lebanese?,” The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Nov., 1999), pp. 219-241.
Choose one of the two articles for class discussion on October 15 (will be divided in class):
Khoury, Philip S. "Syrian Urban Politics in Transition: The Quarters of Damascus during the French Mandate." International Journal of Middle East Studies 16, no. 4 (1984): 507-40.
Hanna Batatu “Of the Diversity of Iraqis, the Incohesiveness of their Society, and their Progress in the Monarchic Period toward a Consolidated Political Structure,” in his book The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements in Iraq (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978), Chapter 2.
7. Palestine: the British Mandate in Palestine and the post-1919-1948, 1948, Israel and the Nakba, and Regional War (October 16-21)
Anderson, Chapter 6. “Rebels and Rogues: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Palestine, and Israel in the interwar years,” 241-289.
Khalidi, Rashid. “The Palestinians and 1948: the underlying causes of failure,” in Rogan, E., & Shlaim, A. (Eds.). (2007). The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948(Cambridge Middle East Studies). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; pp. 12-36.
8. Revolutionary Politics Enter the Picture (October 23-28)
Anderson, Chapter 7. “Military Coups, Politics and Violence: Iran, Turkey, and the Arab States, 1952-1980,” 291-323.
James Jankowski “Nasserism and Egyptian State Policy 1952-1958,” in James Jankowski and Gershoni, Israel (eds.) Rethinking Nationalism in the Arab Middle East, New York 1997 (hereafter: Rethinking), Chapter 8.
Midterm October 30 Online Exam
9. The Cold War Years: Peace Resolutions and Civil Conflicts (November 4-6)
Anderson, Chapter 8. “The Suez Crisis, Arab-Israeli conflicts, and the Lebanese Civil War,” 325-359.
Quandt, William. “Camp David and Peace Making in the
10. The Baath Party in Syria and Iraq (November 11)
Anderson, Chapter 9. “Rulers for Life: State Construction, Consolidation, and Collapse,” 361-401.
John F. Devlin. "The Baath Party: Rise and Metamorphosis." The American Historical Review 96, no. 5 (1991): 1396-407.
11. The Rise of Islamism and Challenges to the Ruling Elites (November 13-18)
Anderson, Chapter 10. “Islamism, Invasion, and Rebellion from the 1990s into the 21st century,” 403-445.
Salwa Ismail, “Confronting the Other: Identity, Culture, Politics, and Conservative Islamism in Egypt,” in IJMES, Vol. 30, No. 2 (May 1998), pp. 199-225.
Hilal Khashan, “The New World Order and the Tempo of Militant Islam,” in the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 24, no. 1 (May 1997).
Oliver Roy “The Crisis of Religious Legitimacy in Iran” in Middle East Journal 53/2 (Spring 1999), 201-216.
12. Gender and migration in the Middle East (November 20-25)
Soha Bayoumi; Gender, Sexuality, and the Politics of Writing History in the Middle East: Interview with Afsaneh Najmabadi. Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 1 July 2020; 16 (2): 213–226. doi:
Kozma, Liat. "Women’s Migration for Prostitution in the Interwar Middle East and North Africa,” Journal of Women's History 28, no. 3 (Fall, 2016): 93-113,188
Koçak, Mert. "Who is “Queerer” and Deserves Resettlement?: Queer Asylum Seekers and Their Deservingness of Refugee Status in Turkey." Middle East Critique 29.1 (2020): 29-46.
13. December 2-4: Music and Literature
14. December 9: The New Order: Stalemate, Division, and Alliances
Anderson, “Epilogue,” 447-455.
Fishman, Louis. "The 'Successful Failure' of the Post-World War I Middle East."
15. December 11: The Middle East Today—Class Discussion
