2020-2021

This course assumes that students have full mastery of the grammatical and lexical content of the intermediate level (second year Hebrew or the placement exam are prerequisites). The main objective is literary fluency. The texts used in this course include both academic prose, as well as literature. Students are exposed to semantics and morphology in addition to advanced grammar. Requirements include a weekly class presentation, regular essay writing, two take-home exams, and several quizzes per quarter.

a three-quarter course designed primarily for college students. Meets three times a week: two 1:20hr sessions with the instructor and one 50-minute tutorial with a TA.
This course would follow the existing model. It will focus on gaining basic command in the four language skills: speaking, reading, listening, and writing, in that order.

This course assumes that students have full mastery of the grammatical and lexical content of the intermediate level (second year Hebrew or the placement exam are prerequisites). The main objective is literary fluency. The texts used in this course include both academic prose, as well as literature. Students are exposed to semantics and morphology in addition to advanced grammar. Requirements include a weekly class presentation, regular essay writing, two take-home exams, and several quizzes per quarter.

a three-quarter course designed primarily for college students. Meets three times a week: two 1:20hr sessions with the instructor and one 50-minute tutorial with a TA.
This course would follow the existing model. It will focus on gaining basic command in the four language skills: speaking, reading, listening, and writing, in that order.

This course assumes that students have full mastery of the grammatical and lexical content of the intermediate level (second year Hebrew or the placement exam are prerequisites). The main objective is literary fluency. The texts used in this course include both academic prose, as well as literature. Students are exposed to semantics and morphology in addition to advanced grammar. Requirements include a weekly class presentation, regular essay writing, two take-home exams, and several quizzes per quarter.

a three-quarter course designed primarily for college students. Meets three times a week: two 1:20hr sessions with the instructor and one 50-minute tutorial with a TA.
This course would follow the existing model. It will focus on gaining basic command in the four language skills: speaking, reading, listening, and writing, in that order.

This course surveys Muslim history-writing in Arabic from its beginnings to the nineteenth century. Through reading the work of historians such as al-Baladhuri, al-Tabari, Miskawayh, Ibn ‘Asakir, Ibn Khaldun, and al-Jabarti, we investigate different genres of historical writing and examine the various methodologies employed by Muslim historians.

This course explores the Islamic tradition of doxography—the study of sectarian differences. We read works by al-Balkhi, (pseudo?)al-Jubba’i, al-Ash‘ari, al-Nawbakhti, al-Shahrastani, and Ibn Hazm to understand what the genre of doxography consisted of, which methods its authors deployed, and how they envisioned the Muslim community and sectarian identities within it.

This course covers the period from ca. 1700 to the present. It explores Muslim intellectuals’ engagement with tradition and modernity in the realms of religion, politics, literature, and law. We discuss debates concerning the role of religion in a modern society, perceptions of Europe and European influence, the challenges of maintain religious and cultural authenticity, and Muslim views of nation-states and nationalism in the Middle East. We also give consideration to the modern developments of transnational jihadism and the Arab Spring. This course sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.