WGSS 24.02 Gender and The Modern Middle East and North Africa
In this course, we will study histories of the modern Middle East and North Africa and examine the ways that issues relating to gender and sexuality have affected the politics and social worlds of the region over the course of the past several centuries. This course begins with the medieval Islamicate Empires — Mughal, Safavid, and Ottoman — and then moves through the end of empire, the colonial era, the establishment of the nation state, and the emergence of modern cultural, political, and religious movements. In doing so, we will situate the histories and social worlds of the region in a global frame, asking how global political and economic transformations have affected the region. At the same time that we attend closely to these histories, we will also examine the ways in which the category of “woman” has been mobilized in popular and political discourses in the 18th-21th centuries, paying particular attention to how Muslim and Middle Eastern women have been represented in various political discourses, as well as how they have represented themselves. Through close readings of both primary sources (in translation) and secondary literature — including historiographical, theoretical, and literary texts as well as film and music— we will also tackle the questions, controversies, and stereotypes that have animated debates in both scholarly and popular literature on such topics as the veil, feminism, revolution, human rights, LGBT issues, masculinity, and war.
Cross Listed Courses
HIST 70; MES 19.04