* This SINQ & cluster no longer offered as of Fall 2010 *

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Cluster: Middle East Studies

The Middle East is a region of great ethnic and cultural diversity and intense nationalist rivalry. Its near monopoly of world energy supplies and geopolitical location have long made it a focus of international capital flow, labor migration and world power competition. This cluster addresses key issues facing Middle Eastern societies in the 21st century, issues which face the United States as well: ethnicity, transnational culture, migrant labor, the politics of energy, and distribution of wealth in the context of both regional and world power structures.

Sophomore Inquiry: The Original Melting Pot

Middle East Ethnics, Politics and Culture (UNST 247)

This course introduces students to the distinctive cultural histories of the ethnic groups of the region and their interrelationships from Roman times to the present, examining at the same time larger political, economic and cultural patterns at work in the region in the same period. Specific contemporary issues such as transnational culture, migrant labor, distribution of wealth are also addressed. Selections of scholarly and literary sources are used to introduce the student to both professional views and those of the people themselves of the region.

Cluster Courses
Academic Year 09-10

AR 441U    Major Arabic Works in Translation
EC 445U    Comparative Economic Systems
EC 450U    Third World Economic Development
ENG 308U    Cultural Studies in Literature: Post-Colonial
ENG 399U    Jewish and Israeli Literature (will become 330)
ENG 410U    Trans-National Literature
FL 331U    Women in the Middle East
GEOG 364U    Geography of the Middle East
HST 385U    Middle East in Modern Times: 19th and Early 20th Century
HST 386U    Middle East in Modern Times: 20th Century
INTL 331U    Women in the Middle East
INTL 399U    Model Arab League
INTL 410U    Islamic Movements in the Contemporary Muslim World
PER 330U    Persian Culture and Civilization
PER 341U    Persian Literature in Translation
PS 361U    Introduction to the Politics of the Middle East
PS 362U    The Arab-Israeli Conflict
PS 407U    The Politics of North Africa
SOC 483U    Sociology of the Middle East
TUR 330U    Topics in Turkish Culture and Literature
TUR 341U    Turkish Literature in Translation
TUR 361U    Turkey through Film
WS 331U     Women in the Middle East