Winter

This course will examine the development of the Turkish state following WWI including questions of economy, institutions, and identity formation. The first quarter make be taken as a free-standing colloquium, or students may take both quarters and produce a research paper.

This course offers an overview of the history of Mesopotamia from its origins down to the Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods, when Mesopotamia became part of larger empires. Weeks 1 to 5, preceding mid-term exam, cover the periods ranging from the late Chalcolithic down to the end of the Middle Bronze age (late fifth to mid-second millennia BCE). Weeks 6 to 10 study the developments of the Late Bronze and Iron Ages, from the period of the archives of El-Amarna in the fourteenth century BCE down to the time of Alexander the Great in the late fourth century BCE.

This two-quarter seminar focuses on the transformation of the Muslim Ottoman principality into an imperial entity--after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453--that laid claim to inheritance of Alexandrine, Roman/Byzantine, Mongol/Chinggisid, and Islamic models of Old World Empire at the dawn of the early modern era. Special attention is paid to the transformation of Ottoman imperialism in the reign of Sultan Süleyman the Lawgiver (1520-1566), who appeared to give the Empire its “classical” form. Topics include: the Mongol legacy; the reformulation of the relationship between political and religious institutions; mysticism and the creation of divine kingship; Muslim-Christian competition (with special reference to Spain and Italy) and the formation of early modernity; the articulation of bureaucratized hierarchy; and comparison of Muslim Ottoman, Iranian Safavid, and Christian European imperialisms. The first quarter comprises a chronological overview of major themes in Ottoman history, 1300-1600; the second quarter is divided between the examination of particular themes in comparative perspective (for example, the dissolution and recreation of religious institutions in Islamdom and Christendom) and student presentations of research for the seminar paper. In addition to seminar papers, students will be required to give an oral presentation on a designated primary or secondary source in the course of the seminar.

Television is one of the major media phenomena of the 20th and 21st centuries. Television had a significant part in the building of the modern nation-state and is, nowadays, one of the main manifestations of global capitalism. The Israeli television market went from one public channel, dominated by the government, to become a leading exporter of television content to the Western World. During the semester we will review the political history of global and Israeli TV, we will learn to distinguish between different TV genres such as soap opera, sitcom, "reality" TV and quality drama series. We will explain how the growth of various creative products and different genres reflected both the political and economic zeitgeist. Likewise, we will focus on how the unique characteristics of the Israeli television market brought about its international success. We will focus on the narratives of Israeli successful drama series such as Fauda (a series about an under-cover IDF unit aired on Netflix), In treatment (a psychological drama which was aired on HBO) and Homeland (an Israeli action format aired on Show-time) and try to explain their global success. We will also focus on how the various political minorities in Israel are represented on television and the political and social impact of their representation. In addition, we will discuss concepts such as "quality" and "trash" TV as concepts reflecting social, political and economic struggles. We will also discuss the changes which the digital era is bringing about and its impact on television at large and television in Israel.

In consultation with a faculty research adviser and with consent of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, students devote the equivalent of a one-quarter course to the preparation of their Research Project. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Please indicate that you wish to register for NEHC 29995 Section 01 with the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

This course examines responses to the Mongol destruction of the Abbasid caliphate in 1258 and the background to formation of regional Muslim empires. Topics include the opening of confessional boundaries; Ibn Arabi, Ibn Taymiyya, and Ibn Khaldun; the development of alternative spiritualities, mysticism, and messianism in the fifteenth century; and transconfessionalism, antinomianism, and the articulation of sacral sovereignties in the sixteenth century. All work in English. This course is offered in alternate years.

What are the major developments in thinking and in literature in the Islamic world of the “middle periods” (c. 950 – 1800 C.E.). How did noteworthy Muslims at various points and places think through questions of life & death, man & God, faith & belief, the sacred & the profane, law & ethics, tradition vs. innovation, power & politics, class & gender, self & other? How did they wage war; make love; shape the built environment; eat & drink; tell stories; educate their youth; preserve the past; imagine the future; perform piety, devotion and spirituality; construe the virtuous life and righteous community, etc.? How did these ideas change over time? What are some of the famous, funny, naughty and nice books read in the pre-modern Muslim world?
We will survey a broad geographic area stretching from Morocco and Iberia to the Maldives and India – even into the New World – through lectures, secondary readings and discussion. You will engage with a variety of primary texts in English translation, as well as various visual, aural and material artifacts. How do the ideas, institutions, and literary works evolve in response to changing historical, demographic and religious circumstances? How do culture, ethnicity, gender, history, politics and religion interact to create individual Muslim identities and a multi-faceted intellectual milieu (consisting of the scientific, philosophical and theological production; the religious, educational, governmental, commercial and social institutions; the literary, artistic, musical, and constructs which together make up "Islamic Civilization).

This course is the continuation of Islamic History and Society 1 and presumes a familiarity of early Islamic history, 600-1100. This course covers the period from roughly 1000 to 1750 and deals with, among other topics, the coming of the steppe people (Turks and Mongols), the Mongol successor states, and the rise of the great early modern Islamic empires (Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals), the relation of Islamic political entities with Russia and China. Mid-term and final exam required for Undergraduates

This course introduces students to the Hittite Empire of ancient Anatolia. In existence from roughly 1750-1200 BCE, and spanning across modern Turkey and beyond, the Hittite Empire is one of the oldest and largest empires of the ancient world. We will be examining their history and their political and cultural accomplishments through analysis of their written records – composed in Hittite, the world’s first recorded Indo-European language – and their archaeological remains. In the process, we will also be examining the concept of “empire” itself: What is an empire, and how do anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians study this unique kind of political formation?

At archaeological sites following the invention of pottery roughly 10,000 BCE, ceramics are the single most frequent and ubiquitous class of artefact that archaeologists uncover. This class, which will be conducted in the Oriental Institute Museum as a combination of lectures, discussions, and hands-on interactions with ancient and modern ceramics, surveys the methods and interpretive techniques that archaeologists use when studying this important category of material culture. Specific topics include manufacturing techniques, craft specialization, typology and chronology, production and exchange, scientific analyses, stylistic and functional analysis, and socio-political organization.