The Modern Middle East

This course explores the history of the Middle East from the late 18th century to the present. Rather than narrate it as a series of wars and conflicts, however, it focuses on the principal cultural, intellectual, political, and social factors that have shaped the countries of the region

The Middle East to 1800

This course is designed to introduce students to the history of the Middle East by analyzing the region from the formative period of Islamic civilization in the 6th century CE to the dawn of the modern period in the 18th century.

The Algerian Revolution in Film, Fact, and Fiction

Questions concerning the role of terrorism and its efficacy in achieving political ends, the use of torture, the participation of women in armed struggle, the making and remaking of memory, are topics of ongoing debate in France and Algeria.  We shall investigate these themes and others through the rich sources now available in English. 

Modern World History

This is a course in the history of the world since 1789 that highlights eight themes: the Enlightenment and the rise of the “modern;” global formations of capitalism and industrialism; Empire and state-formation; science, progress, and racism; warfare and techno-politics; the rival ideologies of liberalism, fascism, and communism; nationalism, decolonization and revolutionary struggles; and globalization.

The History of North Africa in the Modern World

Proceeding more or less chronologically, each week we shall engage with a different problem relating to the North African colonial experience and its aftermath. Film and fiction will give us a “feel” for how individuals traversed this long moment in Maghribi history.

(De-) Colonizing the Middle East: Theories & Methods​

This seminar addresses the academic scholarship on the modern Middle East. Instead of learning facts about specific events, we study how scholars have interpreted the region’s past. Each week, we deal with a different theoretical and methodological approach, including social, environmental, religious, gender, intellectual, and political history. Our goal is to understand that different interpretations of the same historical processes can not only coexist, but might even be necessary to increase our comprehension of past events.