The

Emergence of the Modern Middle East

Marc Michael (mm6685@nyu.edu)
Fall 2013
Tue/Thu: 8:30-9:45 am
N-209
Office hours: Tue, 10:00am-12:00pm

1. Course Overview:
What is the Middle East? How did this region of the world come about as a
distinct geo-political entity and object of study? When does its modern period
start, and what relation does it entertain with other geo-political groupings,
notably the West? This class will seek to answer these questions with a tripartite
approach: meta-historical, macro-historical and micro-historical. First, we will
work on the emergence component of the course, and trace the genealogy of the
Middle-East as a concept. This will involve understanding the Middle-East as a
representational category inscribed in geo-strategic power relations but it will
also initiate a reflection on the writing of history and its sources. Second, we will
approach the historical evolution of the region through macro-historical
narrativesfocusing on the larger picture rather than on specific national
histories, and on multi-level analysis rather than military-diplomatic history.
The last part of the course will attempt, through various case studies and micro-
histories, to give a more tangible context to the idea of modernity in Middle
Eastern historical perspective. This will involve looking at modernization theory
and the civilizing mission in its specific Middle-Eastern formation. As such,
particular attention will be paid to colonialism as a vector of modernization and
as the primary Western mode of relating to the Middle-East as a region.
Modernization will allow us to look into the Middle-East along multiple axes:
race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexuality, the economy and the state.

2. Requirements:
Students will mainly be required to READ, read, read and read some more.
Beyond the heavy reading load, grade components for the class will be based on:
A) Class participation (10%)
B) Weekly blackboard postings (15%): For each class, students will be
expected to submit a 1 page critical summary of the weeks readings. This
should happen no later than 12 hours before our meeting, aka by 8:30
pm on Monday and Wednesday evenings. Late submission will count as
no submission. Students will be exempted of two postings of their choice
for the semester.
C) Oral Presentation (15%): Students will present two readings of their
choice to the rest of the class. The presentations should last no longer
than 15 minutes, and include a summary of the events under discussion, a
discussion of the sources and methodology, some analysis of the

conceptual tools and ideological allegiances, as well as some possible

criticisms of the piece.
D) Midterm (20%): For the midterm, students will be asked to answer,
concisely, aka. 5-8 pages, two out of a total of five possible questions on
the material covered during the first half of the semester.
E) Research Paper (40%): Students will be expected to produce an original
research paper, 12-15 pages, by the end of the semester on a topic of their
choice. It is imperative that each student books an appointment to meet
with me as soon as possible, and before mid-term, to discuss their choice
of topics.

3. Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this course, students will be in a position to reflect critically on a
range of topics pertaining to the recent history of the region. They will have
acquired a strong foundation in the central economic, social, political and
cultural aspects of the ME, both at the macrohistorical and at the microhistorical
levels. They will also have become familiar with some of the more thematic
histories of the region, such as gender, sex, religion, the economy, race and the
state. Furthermore, they should be able to develop their own thoughts about
historiographical debates and methods, particularly in relation to Middle Eastern
history including world-systems history, global history, comparativism, national,
subaltern and Annales history. Last, they will have learnt to prepare, research,
organize, and structure an original argument about a related topic of their
choice.

4. Class Books:
Abu El-Haj N. 2012. The Genealogical Science: The Search for Jewish Origins and
The Politics of Epistemology. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Abu-Lughod JL. 1989. Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-
1350. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ahmed L. 1992. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate.
New Haven: Yale University Press.
Akam T. 2004. From Empire to Republic: Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian
Genocide. London: Zed Books.
Asad T. 2003. Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity. Palo Alto:
Stanford University Press
Ayubi NN. 2006[1995]. Overstating the Arab State: Politics and the State in the
Middle East. London: IB Tauris.
Bayly C. 2004. The Birth of the Modern World 1780-1914: Global Connections and
Comparisons. London: Blackwell.
Devji F. 2008. The Terrorist in Search of Humanity: Militant Islam and Global
Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.

Hourani A. 1981. The Emergence of the Modern Middle East. Berkeley: University
of California Press.
Jankowski J. and Gershoni I (eds). 1997. Rethinking Nationalism in the Arab
Middle East. New York: Columbia University Press.
Mamdani M. 2009. Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and The War on Terror.
New York: Pantheon Books.
Massad JA. 2006. The Persistence of the Palestinian Question. London: Routledge.
Massad JA. 2007. Desiring Arabs. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Mitchell T. 1988. Colonizing Egypt. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Mitchell T. 2002. Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Mitchell T. 2011. Carbon Democracy: Political power in the age of oil. London:
Verso.
Northrop D. 2004. Veiled Empire: Gender and Power in Stalinist Central Asia.
Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Pollard L. 2005. Nurturing the Nation: The Family Politics of Modernizing,
Colonizing, and Liberating Egypt, 1805-1923. Berkeley: University of California
Press.
Salt J. 2008. The Unmaking of the Modern Middle East: A History of Western
Disorder in Arab Lands. Berkeley: University of California Press. [Part II]
Tolan J., Veinstein G. and Laurens H. 2013. Europe and the Islamic World: A
History. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Vitalis R. 1995. When Capitalists Collide: Business Conflict and the End of Empire
in Egypt. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Yiftachel O. 2006. Ethnocracy: Land and identity politics in Israel/Palestine.
University of Pennsylvania Press.

5. Course Schedule:
What is the Middle East?
August 27: Introduction
a) Culcasi K. 2010. Constructing and Naturalizing the Middle East. The
Geographical Review, 100(4):583-597
b) Bloch M. 1953. The Historians Craft: Reflection on the nature and uses of
history, and the techniques and methods of those who write it. London:
Vintage.

August 29: The Middle-East as Geo-strategic formation:

a) Yilmaz H. 2011. The Eastern Question and the Ottoman Empire. In Bonine
ME., Amanat A. and Gasper ME. (eds). 2011. Is there a Middle East? The
Evolution of a Geopolitical Concept, pp.11-35. Palo Alto: Stanford
University Press.
b) Adelson R. 2011. British and US Use and Misuse of the Term Middle East.
Is there a Middle East?, pp.36-55
c) Hazbun W. 2011. The Middle East through the Lens of Critical Geopolitics.
Is there a Middle East?, pp.207-230

September 3: The Middle East as a discipline:
a) Said E. 1975. Orientalism, pp. 1-73. London: Vintage.
b) Mitchell T. 2002. The Middle East in the Past and Future of Social Science.
In David Szanton, ed., The Politics of Knowledge: Area Studies and the
Disciplines. Berkeley: University of California Press.
c) Optional: Lewis B. 1982. The Question of Orientalism. + Said E. 1982.
Orientalism: An Exchange. In New York Review of Books. URL:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1982/aug/12/orientalism-
an-exchange/?pagination=false

The Middle East before European colonialism
September 5: The World System
a) Abu-Lughod JL. 1989. Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D.
1250-1350. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [introduction + Part II,
pp.137-212]

September 10: The World System II
a) Amin S. 1992. The Ancient World-Systems versus the Modern Capitalist
World-System. Review (Fernand Braudel Center), 14(3):349-385
b) Voll JO. 1994. Islam as a Special World-System. Journal of World History,
5(2):213-226

The Global Historical Context
September 12: The Birth of the Modern World
a) Bayly C. 2004. The Birth of the Modern World 1780-1914: Global
Connections and Comparisons. London: Blackwell. [Intro + Chapter I]

September 17: The Birth of the Modern World II
a) Bayly C. 2004. The Birth of the Modern World 1780-1914: Global
Connections and Comparisons. London: Blackwell. [Chapters 2+3]

September 19: The Birth of the Modern World III
a) Bayly C. 2004. The Birth of the Modern World 1780-1914: Global
Connections and Comparisons. London: Blackwell. [Chapters 4+6]

September 19: Global History vs. Comparative History
a) Bayly C. 2004. The Birth of the Modern World 1780-1914: Global
Connections and Comparisons. London: Blackwell. [Chapter 13]

b) Subrahmanian S. 2005. A Tale of Three Empires: Mughals, Ottomans, and

Habsburgs in a Comparative Context. Common Knowledge, 12(1):66-92

The European era
September 24: European Colonialism I
a) Tolan J., Veinstein G. and Laurens H. 2013. Europe and the Islamic World:
A History, pp.257-337. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

September 26: European Colonialism II
a) Salt J. 2008. The Unmaking of the Modern Middle East: A History of Western
Disorder in Arab Lands. Berkeley: University of California Press. [Part II]

The Post-Colonial moment

October 1: The Two World Wars and the transformations of European Rule.
a) Tolan J., Veinstein G. and Laurens H. 2013. Europe and the Islamic World:
A History, pp.338-407. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

October 3: The American Ascendency
a) Salt J. 2008. The Unmaking of the Modern Middle East: A History of Western
Disorder in Arab Lands. Berkeley: University of California Press. [Part III]

October 8: Nationalism, Pan-Arabism, Republicanism
a) Jankowski J. and Gershoni I (eds). 1997. Rethinking Nationalism in the
Arab Middle East. New York: Columbia University Press. [Chapter 1, 5, 8
and 11]
b) Optional: Bayart JF. 1994. Republican Trajectories in Iran and Turkey: A
Tocquevillian reading. In Democracy without Democrats.

October 10: The Bush Wars
a) Salt J. 2008. The Unmaking of the Modern Middle East: A History of Western
Disorder in Arab Lands. Berkeley: University of California Press. [Part IV]

Thematic Micro-Histories
October 22: Black Gold:
a) Vitalis R. 2002. Black Gold, White Crude: An Essay on American
Exceptionalism, Hierarchy and Hegemony in the Gulf. Diplomatic History,
26(2):185-213
b) Mitchell T. 2011. Carbon Democracy: Political power in the age of oil.
London: Verso. [Intro, Chapter 1, 6 and 8]

October 24: Israel/Palestine I
a) Massad J. 2005. The Persistence of the Palestinian Question. [Introduction +
Chapter 1, 3, 10, and 11]
b) Yiftachel, Oren. Ethnocracy: Land and identity politics in Israel/Palestine.
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. [TBA]


October 29: Israel/Palestine II
a) Robinson S. 2013. Citizen Strangers: Palestinians and the Birth of Israels
Liberal Settler State. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press. [TBA]
October 31: Race and modernity
a) Mamdani M. 2001. The Hamitic Hypothesis, When Victims become killers,
pp.76-87. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
b) Mamdani M. 2009. Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and The War on
Terror. New York: Pantheon Books. [TBA]

November 5: NO CLASSES
November 7: Race and Modernity II
a) Akam T. 2004. From Empire to Republic: Turkish Nationalism and the
Armenian Genocide. London: Zed Books. [Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6]

November 12: Gender and modernity I
a) Ahmed L. 1992. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern
Debate, pp.1-38 + 125-207

Noveber 14: Gender and Modernity II
a) Pollard L. 2005. Nurturing the Nation: The Family Politics of Modernizing,
Colonizing, and Liberating Egypt, 1805-1923. Berkeley: University of
California Press. [Chapter 3 and 6]
b) Northrop D. 2004. Veiled Empire: Gender and Power in Stalinist Central
Asia. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. [Chapter 1 and 2]

November 19: Sexuality and Modernity
a) Massad JA. 2007. Desiring Arabs. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
[Chapter 1, 2 and 3]

November 21: Religion and Modernity

a) Asad T. 2003. Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity.

Palo Alto: Stanford University Press. TBA
b) Bayly, C. A. 2002. Representing Copts and Muhammadans: Empire,
Nation, and Community in Egypt and India, 18801914. Modernity and
Culture from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, New York, 158-203.
c) Michael M. 2011. Is Liberalism Killing the Copts?, in Al Jazeera Online
English. URL:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/20111116163178
13239.html

November 26: Religion and Modernity II

a) Devji F. The Terrorist in Search of Humanity: Militant Islam and Global

Politics. New York: Columbia University Press. [Chapter 1, 2, 3 and 4]

November 28: The Economy and Modernity

a) Mitchell T. 2002. Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity.

Berekely: University of California Press. [Chapter 3, 7, 8]

December 3: Economy and Modernity II

a) Vitalis R. 1995. When Capitalists Collide: Business Conflict and the End of
Empire in Egypt. Berkeley: University of California Press. [Chapter 1, 5 and
6]

December 10: Race And Modernity III OR Gender and Modernity IV [Class
decision]
a) Abu El-Haj N. 2012. The Genealogical Science: The Search for Jewish
Origins and The Politics of Epistemology. Chicago: Chicago University
Press.
VERSUS
b) Al Rasheed M. 2013. A Most Masculine State: Gender, Politics and Religion
in Saudi Arabia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

December 12: Revolution
a) Salt J. 2012. Containing the Arab Spring. Interface, 4(1):54-66
b) Armbrust W. 2011. Egypt: A Revolution Against Neoliberalism? Al Jazeera
Online English. URL:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/02/20112241431524
9621.html
c) Film TBA.