NEHC

The course provides a general introduction to the theology and ritual practice of Ancient Egypt from the Predynastic Period to the late Roman Empire (ca. 3100 BC to AD 543).  Illustrated lectures will  survey primary mythology, the nature of Egyptian “magic,” the evolving role of the priesthood, the function of temple and tomb architecture, mummification and funerary rites, the Amarna revolution and the origins of monotheism, as well as the impact of Egyptian religion on neighboring belief systems.  Students will read a wide array of original texts in translation in addition to modern interpretive studies.  Course requirements include two (2) papers and a final exam.  In the first paper the student should discuss in 5-10 pages a specific deity or temple site.  The second paper should contain a concise analysis (5-10 pages) of a theological issue pertinent to class discussion and readings.  All topics must be cleared in advance with the instructor. Proper bibliographies and footnotes are expected, and any internet sources must be cleared with the instructor.

Designed for those with no previous knowledge of the Middle East, this course aims to facilitate a general understanding of some key factors that have shaped life in this region, with primary emphasis on modern conditions and their background, and to provide exposure to some of the region's rich cultural diversity. The course can serve as a basis for the further study of the history, politics, and civilizations of the Middle East.

Imagining the Text: Books and Manuscripts in the Ancient Middle East offers a unique perspective within the larger paradigm of approaches to the written word known as the “History of the Book.” While many such courses look only briefly at pre-printed textual material, this course will provide an overview on the use of texts from antiquity (from the earliest writing to the Middle Ages) in the Middle East. Site visits to local repositories will provide hands-on experience with papyri, clay tablets, parchment, vellum, and rare books. Readings and discussions will explore what is meant by the term “text” in order to deeply investigate the methodologies of book history and textual criticism.The course will be organized around two primary themes: methodology and pre-print manuscript culture. During the first five weeks, we will look at how texts are studied, thereby setting a foundation for looking at actual examples in the second part of the course. The central component of the course will be spent deeply studying the pre-print manuscript culture from across the ancient Middle East in a roughly chronological order. We will devote significant time to the transmission of texts in the ancient Mediterranean world, an area of particular interest to me that is rarely covered with such depth in a "book history" class. During this time, we will have several site visits to area institutions to see firsthand treasures from their collections, including cuneiform tablets preserving the epic of Gilgamesh, papyrus copies of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Coptic prayer books, Syriac hagiographies, ancient Greek biblical manuscripts, medieval monastic literature, and much more. In the final weeks of the course, we will turn to the early revolution of paper and print technology.

This course will cover the history of the Fatimid (Shiite) caliphate, from its foundation in the North Africa about 909 until its end in Egypt 1171. Most of the material will be presented in classroom lectures. Sections of the course deal with Fatimid history treated chronologically and others with separate institutions and problems as they changed and developed throughout the whole time period. Readings heavily favored or highly recommended are all in English.

The course introduces students to Islamic texts of the first two centuries, covering early Islamic poetry, history, sira, hadith collections, law, theology, and political polemics. In the process, we address the overall questions of how and to what extent historical events and ideas of the early period can be reconstructed, what hitherto un- or underused sources might be at our disposal, and what approaches and methods could be appropriate for examining these sources.

This is a course about the rise of the graphic novel and comics culture in the Middle East. We will apply key theoretical materials from the field of comics studies to help us understand the influences, motivations and interventions of these graphic narratives in their cultural contexts. While we will primarily focus on the Arabic-speaking regions of the Middle East, the course will also include texts from Iran, Turkey, and the US and Europe.

This two-quarter seminar is offered as part of an ongoing collaborative research project called “Coping with Changing Climates in Early Antiquity: Comparative Approaches Between Empiricism and Theory,” developped jointly at the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan and Purdue University. Using a shared syllabus at the three institutions, and some joint sessions in the form of webinars, the seminar will cover the theoretical framework that allows for an in-depth understanding of the relations between human societies and their environments, and on social response to change in their social, political and environmental climates (Winter quarter); it will present a series of case studies in three key geographic areas: Egypt and Nubia; the Eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia; and Mesopotamia (Spring quarter). Students will be exposed to cross-cultural approaches and will be able to interact with partners at other institutions through an online discussion group. Students will have the opportunity to work collaboratively (2-3 students) within their institution and across institutions on a research project of their choice, whose results will be presented at a poster session during the project's final conference in 2020, and will then be exhibited at the three partner institutions in the course of Academic Year 2020-2021.

This two-quarter seminar is offered as part of an ongoing collaborative research project called “Coping with Changing Climates in Early Antiquity: Comparative Approaches Between Empiricism and Theory,” developped jointly at the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan and Purdue University. Using a shared syllabus at the three institutions, and some joint sessions in the form of webinars, the seminar will cover the theoretical framework that allows for an in-depth understanding of the relations between human societies and their environments, and on social response to change in their social, political and environmental climates (Winter quarter); it will present a series of case studies in three key geographic areas: Egypt and Nubia; the Eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia; and Mesopotamia (Spring quarter). Students will be exposed to cross-cultural approaches and will be able to interact with partners at other institutions through an online discussion group. Students will have the opportunity to work collaboratively (2-3 students) within their institution and across institutions on a research project of their choice, whose results will be presented at a poster session during the project's final conference in 2020, and will then be exhibited at the three partner institutions in the course of Academic Year 2020-2021.

This course is designed to acquaint the student with the basic problems and concepts as well as the sources and methodology for the study of premodern Islamic history. Sources will be read in English translation and the tools acquired will be applied to specific research projects to be submitted as term papers. Offered in alternate years.

This course is part of the new curricular initiative Course Cluster on Climate Change, Culture and Society. Using primarily case studies from the Ancient Near East (from prehistory to the first millennium BCE) as a basis for discussion, the course will investigate the nature of the relationship between human societies and their environment, with a specific focus on situations of climatic change. Students will be invited to reflect on discourses on human-environment interactions from Herodotus to the IPCC, on notions such as environmental or social determinism, possibilism and reductionism, societal collapse and resilience, and on recent academic trends at the crossroads of Humanities, Social Sciences and Environmental Studies. This will allow them to develop critical skills that nurture their reflexions on current debates on anthropogenic climate change and the Anthropocene.