Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies
Course Catalog
- Current Year Courses
- Three-year Planner
- Tri-Co Course Search
- HC Academic Catalog Course Search
- About the Course Listings
About the Course Listings
Four views and tools each provide different ways of exploring the curriculum.
- Current Year Courses for this Department or Program lists only currently-offered classes, and includes scheduling and instructor information.
- The Three-Year Planner for this Department or Program lists all courses (in numerical order) offered during the current year and the last two years. Use it to understand the full course offerings from the department and how frequently courses are offered. This list does not include any scheduling information; instructor information is only historical and is likely to change in future years.
- The Tri-Co Course Search Engine lists the current offerings for all departments and programs at Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Swarthmore Colleges, and includes scheduling and instructor information.
- The HC Academic Catalog Course Search Engine includes faceted searching (by division, domain, department, major, minor, and other fields) for all courses offered in the current year and the last two years. It does not contain scheduling information, but like the Three-Year Planner, can help you discover related interests and understand the typical pattern of offerings from year to year. This tool does not include all Bryn Mawr offerings.
Courses
Anthropology Courses
ANTH H277 MEDIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST (1.0 Credit)
Zeynep Sertbulut
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
What can we learn about the Middle East by examining media? What can we about media by studying institutions of production and practices of consumption in the Middle East region? In this course, we will read ethnographies of media from the Middle East and look at and listen to media. We will explore cases from different countries, from Egypt to Syria, Turkey to Afghanistan, from Lebanon to Palestine/Israel. Crosslisted: VIST. Pre-requisite(s): 100-level course in social sciences, or humanities. Lottery Preference: Senior anthropology students have a priority to take the class.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
ANTH H339 ANTHROPOLOGY OF EMPIRE (1.0 Credit)
Ezgi Guner
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This advanced seminar is an anthropological exploration of empire both as an analytic category and a historical phenomenon. It begins by introducing the discipline's historical entanglements with empire and the anthropological critique of this epistemological legacy. Focusing on cases from the Caribbean, Africa, America, and the Middle East, it discusses the emergence of the anthropology of empire. Key concepts and debates for this course are race, genocide, settler colonialism, security, diaspora, material culture and museums.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
History Courses
HIST H341 TOPICS COMPARATIVE HISTORY (1.0 Credit)
Bethel Saler
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
Seminar meetings, reports and papers. May be repeated for credit with change of topic.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
Political Science Courses
POLS H151 INTERNATIONAL POLITICS (1.0 Credit)
Barak Mendelsohn
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course offers an introduction to the study of international politics. It considers examples from history and addresses contemporary issues, while introducing and evaluating the political theories that have been used by scholars to explain those events. The principal goal of the course is to develop a general set of analytical approaches that can be used to gain insight into the nature of world politics – past, present and future.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
POLS H151 INTERNATIONAL POLITICS (1.0 Credit)
Barak Mendelsohn, Staff
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course offers an introduction to the study of international politics. It considers examples from history and addresses contemporary issues, while introducing and evaluating the political theories that have been used by scholars to explain those events. The principal goal of the course is to develop a general set of analytical approaches that can be used to gain insight into the nature of world politics – past, present and future.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
POLS H256 THE EVOLUTION OF THE JIHADI MOVEMENT (1.0 Credit)
Barak Mendelsohn
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course explores the evolution of the jihadi movement, focusing on its ideological development throughout the twentieth century, and the structural changes it has gone through since the jihad to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan during the 1980s.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
POLS H297 POLITICS AND SOCIETY IN THE ARAB GULF STATES (1.0 Credit)
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course seeks to: first, uncover and explain the societal impact of rapid shifts in the Gulf states with a specific focus on youth, women, religious actors, tribal groups, migrant workers and human rights; Second, examine the rentier state and the functioning of the social contract in rentier states; And finally, explore why political liberalization does not coincide with the socio-economic and cultural reforms in the Arab Gulf states. Lottery Preference: MEIS and political science majors first
POLS H298 FROM NATIONAL-LIBERATION REPUBLIC TO POPULIST STATE: THE STATE AND ECONOMY IN TURKEY (1.0 Credit)
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course offers a comprehensive review of modern Turkish history, delving into the origins and consequences of its current challenges. It examines these issues in the broader context of semi-peripheral countries and dependence. The topics encompass various social, political, and economic challenges that Turkey has faced since late Ottoman times, including underdevelopment, problems in democratic consolidation, relations with the West, industrialization, class conflict, military coups, economic liberalization, economic crises, political cleavages, and the rise of AKP’s authoritarian populism. Pre-requisite(s): One semester of Political Science is recommended but instructor's permission is sufficient.
POLS H333 INTERNATIONAL SECURITY (1.0 Credit)
Barak Mendelsohn
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
This course offers an introduction to the study of international security. It considers examples from history and addresses contemporary issues, while introducing and evaluating the political theories that have been used by scholars to explain those events. The principal goal of the course is to develop a general set of analytical approaches that can be used to gain insight into the nature of world politics - past, present and future. The first section introduces key conceptual issues and review main theoretical approaches in the field. The second section addresses specific issues in international security such as war, military doctrines, alliances, crisis, deterrence, grand strategy, and proliferation.
Religion Courses
RELG H106 INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM (1.0 Credit)
Guangtian Ha
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
This course introduces students to the debates about the senses in Islam. What is the relationship between sound and the sacred, between the sensorium and the meanings of Islam? Course readings will include Sufi texts, works by Islamic scholars, ethnographies of Muslim musical practices, as well as philosophical works.
RELG H110 SACRED TEXTS AND RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS (1.0 Credit)
Anne McGuire
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World
An introduction to Religion through the close reading of selected sacred texts of various religious traditions in their historical, literary, philosophical, and religious contexts.
RELG H150 SOUTH ASIAN RELIGIOUS CULTURES (1.0 Credit)
Pika Ghosh
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
An introductory course covering the variegated expressions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, and Sikhism in South Asia.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
RELG H159 GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN ISLAMIC TEXTS AND PRACTICES (1.0 Credit)
Guangtian Ha
Division: First Year Writing
This course introduces students to the different views of gender and sexuality in Islamic thought, and situates these views within Muslim histories and societies. We will draw on primary sources, historiographical work, ethnographies of Muslim societies, fiction, poetry, and play. One major focus will be on homosexuality in Islam and Muslim societies. In the course of this examination we will also have a chance to question what “homosexuality” is and whether this term can be applied cross-culturally and cross-religiously. To think critically about homosexuality in Islam will thus compel us to reconsider homosexuality and Islam at once. Open only to first-year students as assigned by the Director of College Writing.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
RELG H202 THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT (1.0 Credit)
Naomi Koltun-Fromm
Division: Humanities
Why are people always predicting the coming endtime? This course will explore the genre of apocalypse, looking for common themes that characterize this form of literature. Our primary source readings will be drawn from the Bible and non-canonical documents from the early Jewish and Christian traditions. We will use an analytical perspective to explore the social functions of apocalyptic, and ask why this form has been so persistent and influential.
(Offered: Fall 2024)
RELG H212 JERUSALEM: CITY, HISTORY AND REPRESENTATION (1.0 Credit)
Naomi Koltun-Fromm
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
An examination of the history of Jerusalem as well as a study of Jerusalem as religious symbol and how the two interact over the centuries. Readings from ancient, medieval, modern and contemporary sources as well as material culture and art.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
Visual Studies Courses
VIST H277 MEDIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST (1.0 Credit)
Zeynep Sertbulut
Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World
What can we learn about the Middle East by examining media? What can we about media by studying institutions of production and practices of consumption in the Middle East region? In this course, we will read ethnographies of media from the Middle East and look at and listen to media. We will explore cases from different countries, from Egypt to Syria, Turkey to Afghanistan, from Lebanon to Palestine/Israel. Crosslisted: VIST. Pre-requisite(s): 100-level course in social sciences, or humanities. Lottery Preference: Senior anthropology students have a priority to take the class.
(Offered: Spring 2025)
Writing Program Courses
WRPR H159 GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN ISLAMIC TEXTS AND PRACTICES (1.0 Credit)
Guangtian Ha
Division: First Year Writing
This course introduces students to the different views of gender and sexuality in Islamic thought, and situates these views within Muslim histories and societies. We will draw on primary sources, historiographical work, ethnographies of Muslim societies, fiction, poetry, and play. One major focus will be on homosexuality in Islam and Muslim societies. In the course of this examination we will also have a chance to question what “homosexuality” is and whether this term can be applied cross-culturally and cross-religiously. To think critically about homosexuality in Islam will thus compel us to reconsider homosexuality and Islam at once. Open only to first-year students as assigned by the Director of College Writing.
(Offered: Spring 2025)