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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
History & Tradition Sector. All classes. Kashani-Sabet. A survey of the modern Middle East with special emphasis on the experiences of ordinary men and women as articulated in biographies, novels, and regional case studies. Issues covered include the collapse of empires and the rise of a new state system following WWI, and the roots and consequences of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Iranian revolution and the U.S.-Iraq War. Themes include: the colonial encounter with Europe and the emergence of nationalist movements, the relationship between state and society, economic development and international relations, and religion and cultural identity. Requirements: one paper and two take-home exams.
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3.00 Credits
Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Kashani-Sabet. If "the clash of civilizations" is the first image that jumps to mind when thinking about the modern Middle East, then this is the course for you. From the familiar narratives about the creation of modern nation-states to the oft-neglected accounts of cultural life, this course surveys the multi-faceted societies of the twentieth-century Middle East. Although inclusive of the military battles and conflicts that have affected the region, this course will move beyond the cliches of war and conflict in the Middle East to show the range of issues and ideas with which intellectuals and governments grappled throughout the century. The cultural politics and economic value of oil as well as the formation of a vibrant literary life will be among the topics covered in the course. Ty considering illustrative cultural moments that shed light on the political history of the period, this course will adopt a nuanced framework to approach the Arab/Israeli conflict, the history of the Gulf States, the Iran-Iraq War, and U.S. involvement in the region.
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3.00 Credits
Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Sharkey. Freshman Seminar. During the past hundred years, Egypt has been the cultural and political pacesetter in the Middle East. It has been on the cutting edge of developments in Arabic literature, movies, and music, and has produced intellectual leaders ranging from feminists to Muslim activists. In the 1950s and '60s, the Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser inspired the pan-Arab movement and at the same time made his country a central player in postcolonial Africa. Meanwhile, Egypt led the Arab countries in opposing the state of Israel until breaking ranks in 1978 to sign peace accords at Camp David. In this class, we will approach the history of twentieth-century Egypt through the lives of a spectrum of its peoples, including Muslims, Christians, and Jews; presidents and peasants; singers, writers, and radical thinkers. Along the way we will examine the social pressures that have inspired modern Egyptian revolutionaries and militants, and attempt to explain the reasons for the country's continuing prominence in the Arab and Muslim worlds.
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3.00 Credits
Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Allen. Have you ever read the Tales of Sindbad and his travels Do you like narratives about journeys, both ancient and contemporary The purpose of this seminar is to introduce freshmen to a variety of narratives in different literary genres; to do so through the theme of the journey, whether it be a physical journey from one place to another, a process of change--a rite of passage perhaps, or an inward psychological quest. Female and male authors are presented, as are different periods in the long history of the Middle East and Africa. All the texts to be read are in English translation.
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3.00 Credits
History & Tradition Sector. All classes. Frame. This course will survey the religions of the ancient Middle East, situating each in its historical and socio-cultural context and focusing on the key issues of concern to humanity: creation, birth, the place of humans in the order of the universe, death, and destruction. The course will cover not only the better-known cultures from the area, such as Egypt and Mesopotamia, but also some lesser-known traditions, such as those of the Hurrians, or of the ancient Mediterranean town of Ugarit. Religion will not be viewed merely as a separate, sealed-off element of the ancient societies, but rather as an element in various cultural contexts, for example, the relationship between religion and magic and the role of religion in politics will be recurring topics in the survey. Background readings for the lectures will be drawn not only from the modern scholarly literature, but also from the words of the ancients themselves in the form of their myths, rituals, and liturgies.
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3.00 Credits
Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Tinney. Freshman Seminar. From sympathetic rituals to cure sexual dysfunction to the sages' esoteric creation of worlds through the manipulation of words, we will learn from the ancient writings of Assyria and Babylonia just what knowledge was, what it was good for, and how it was divided up. This interdisciplinary course will combine literary, anthropological, historical and cultural approaches to textual, archaeological and iconographic data to bring to life the world, words and beliefs of these ancient intellectuals.
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3.00 Credits
History & Tradition Sector. All classes. Tinney. This class provides a chronologically organized survey of ancient Mesopotamian culture and history from the dawn of urbanization to the advent of the Greeks. Material culture and primary texts in translation are discussed in their contexts, introducing alongtside the history such topics as urbanization and state formation; the invention of writing and the development of education; the king and his scholars in the Assyrian empire; the epic of Gilgamesh and other major works of Sumerian and Akkadian literature. One class will be held at the Penn Museum and will include hands-on experience of cuneiform school texts.
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3.00 Credits
Tinney. Sometimes offered as a Freshman Seminar. Iraq's ancient civilizations, Sumer, Babylon and Assyria, have emerged spectacularly from their ruin mounds over the last century and a half. In this class we will read the core myths of these cultures in translation and situate them in their literary, historical, religious and cultural contexts. The case of characters includes, among other, Enki, trickster and god of wisdom; Inana, goddess of sex and war; and Marduk, warrior son, slayer of the sea, king of the gods and founder of Babylon. Themes range from creation to flood, from combat to the dangers of humans acting in the worlds of the divine, to the heroic peregrinations of Gilgamesh as he wrestles with monsters, fate and the pain of mortality.
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3.00 Credits
History & Tradition Sector. All classes. Dohrmann. A broad introduction to the history of Jewish civilization from its Biblical beginnings until the Middle Ages, with the main focus on the formative period of classical rabbinic Judaism and on the symbiotic relationship between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Fulfills History & Tradition Sector (all classes) and Cross Cultural Analysis - Class of '10 and after.
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3.00 Credits
History & Tradition Sector. All classes. Ruderman. Exploration of intellectual, social, and cultural developments in Jewish civilization from the dawn of rabbinic culture in the Near East through the assault on established conceptions of faith and religious authority in 17th century Europe. Particular attention will be paid to the impact of Christian and Muslim "host societies" on expressions of Jewish culture.
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