History of the Middle East: 1500-Present

This class is a survey of Middle East history spanning from the 16th century during the period of the time of the great Ottoman and Persian empires, to the present. The goal of this course is to introduce modern Middle East history through the voices of the makers of that history and, consequently, the majority of the primary sources are translations of works written by scholars, intellectuals and artists from the region. In addition, films in English or subtitled will be shown during the semester and students are expected to be present for these showings as they will be a part of the examinations.