AMCL 388b - A Particular Universalism:US Efforts to Remake the Middle East

Institution:

Vassar College

Subject:

Description:

Why have the majority of Arabs and Muslims resisted the West's civilizational project with its accompanying rhetoric of universalist values for more than two centuries Why has the United States, especially recently, insisted-at least rhetorically--on bringing liberty, democracy, and peace to the Middle East To engage these questions, the course approaches U.S.-Arab encounters from the vantage point of the ongoing debate about the meanings of universalism, implied (or exemplified) in the notion of U.S./Western universalist values. This course examines the history of that rhetoric as well as the history of its opposition. Using legal texts, policy documents and media, it explores how the battle over meaning and definition is tied to the realities of the uneven and unequal flows of cultural influence and to politico-economic dependency. Finally, this course reflects on the possibility of a genuine universalism or a multiplicity of universalisms. Khadija Fritsch-El Alaoui

Credits:

1.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.vassar.edu

Phone Number:

(845) 437-7000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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