Syllabus
Due to the pandemic, lectures will be recorded on a weekly basis; there will be no live lectures. Please find the updated lecture and Powerpoint slides uploaded to the seminar page for each week via the Moodle Webpage. Each lecture is accompanied by readings, which must be completed before the seminar for which they are assigned. The readings are not from textbooks, and do not present summaries of lecture topics. They provide information and analysis that the lectures may build upon, question, or refute. The lectures can be followed only if you have done the reading, and your understanding of the readings may change as a result of the accompanying lectures. Lecture slides will be available on the timetable below on the day of the lecture or shortly after.
Most readings can be accessed through the 2020/21 Reading List. Certain readings that are not available through the Reading List may also be available via the webpage syllabus below for each week. Please note that all page numbers correspond to the most recent edition of any cited book. The following books, which we will be using extensively, are available at Warwick Library, and can also be purchased (highly recommended) using the links made available through the Reading List:
William Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East, 6th ed. (2017) [e-book]
John Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path, 5th ed. (2016) [call no. BP161.2.E85]
Nikki Keddie, Modern Iran: Roots and Revolution, 2nd ed. (2006) [call no. DS 316.3.K3]
Timothy Mitchell, Rule of Experts (2002) [e-book]
Charles Smith, Palestine and the Arab Israeli Conflict, 8th ed. (2013) [call no. DS119.7.S618]
Charles Tripp, A History of Iraq, 3rd ed. (2007) [call no. DS 79.591.T7]
Term |
Section |
Week |
Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| TERM 1 | Part I | 1 | Introduction: What, When, Where is the Middle East? |
| 2 | Representing, picturing, imagining the Middle East | ||
| 3 | Islam: dogma, faith and practice | ||
| 4 | Ottoman Heritage | ||
| 5 | European Colonialism and its Impact | ||
| 6 | Reading Week - NO SEMINAR or LECTURE | ||
| Part II | 7 | World War I and Redrawing the Map of the Middle East | |
| 8 | The Middle East in the Interwar Period | ||
| 9 | |||
| 10 | Palestine, Zionism, and Israel (I) | ||
| WINTER BREAK | |||
| TERM 2 | 1 | Palestine, Zionism, and Israel (II) | |
| Part III | 2 | Carbon Democracy and Global Climate Change | |
| 3 | Petroleum Politics (I) | ||
| 4 | Petroleum Politics (II) | ||
| Part IV | 5 | Problems of Democracy and Human Rights - Iraq | |
| 6 | Reading Week - NO SEMINAR or LECTURE | ||
| 7 | Politics of Development (I) | ||
| 8 | Politics of Development (II) | ||
| 9 | Islam and Politics | ||
| 10 | The Arab Spring and Iran's Green Movement | ||
| EASTER BREAK | |||
| TERM 3 | Part V | 1 | Future Challenges |
| 2 |
Revision - themes, questions, and scholarship |