Dr. Jeffrey T. Leigh, Ph.D.
HIS275
THE
MODERN MIDDLE EAST
SPRING 2003
REQUIRED TEXTS
·
William L. Cleveland, A
History of the Modern Middle East;
·
Huda Shaarawi,
Harem Years: The Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist;
·
John Esposito, The
Islamic Threat; and
·
A really big documents reader.
·
There may be additional handout
readings during the semester.
OBJECTIVES
The goal of this course is to familiarize the student with the major contours of Middle Eastern history from the times of Muhammad, during the seventh century C.E., to the present, with special emphasis on the twentieth century. We will treat issues of politics, economics, diplomacy, war, and social, cultural, and intellectual change and continuity, placing particular importance on developing an understanding of nationalism and Islam in the modern Middle East.
Because
the essence of history is not memorization but understanding, we will spend much
of our time discussing the broad significance of important events and trends.
Single topics can usually be placed under a number of the above-mentioned
categories, and the impact of events taking place in one country are often felt
far beyond its borders. By the end
of the course, students will have a firm grasp of the broad outlines of Middle
Eastern history, and a perspective from which to assess the continuing dynamics
of this volatile region.
It
is expected that students will have completed all readings and be prepared to
discuss the course materials each week before class meets.
EVALUATIONS
Grades
will reflect performance on:
·
Three essays:
20% + 20% + 20% = 60%
·
A news reportage project,
20%
·
Classroom participation,
20%
Each essay will answer a single
essay question, which broadly relates course themes from preceding class
periods. The essays are to
be completed outside of class. Students may not seek assistance from anyone other than the instructor
or the TRIO or Writing Centers. Essays must be 5 to 7 pages long with one-inch margins,
double-spaced with a 12-point font. Students
must follow commonly accepted standards for citing published sources.
There will be a separate handout on citations and plagiarism.
Late papers will be marked down at a progression of 1/3 letter grade per
calendar day, unless special arrangements have been made with me. The essay assignments will help students to learn the skills
of historical analysis and the synthesis of materials from each third of the
course.
The news reportage project will consist of the writing of four 2-3 page
papers and a capstone 4-6 page paper. Each
of the four shorter papers will be due the Wednesday of every third week of
class. The capstone paper will be
due Wednesday of the fifteenth week of class. Each student will choose a topic in the news to research
over the course of the semester. The
topic may be an issue related to international relations, economics, civil
strife, gender relations, religious developments, or reportage related to an
individual Middle Eastern country. In
the latter case, the student will identify the most important story(ies) related
to that country and follow their development.
For each of the papers, students are to find three
near simultaneous printed or internet news sources, at least one of which
originated outside of the U.S. Internet
sources must be credible news, governmental, or international organizations.
For each of the latter papers, the news sources must originate during the
interval between the news reportage due dates.
In each paper, students should:
1.
Provide a brief summary of the
event and/or development under discussion.
2.
Uncover the editorial opinion
behind each publications' analysis/description/presentation of the issues under
discussion. Each news source may
generate an entirely separate notion of what issues are at stake related to the
event or development they are reporting. Pay
attention to:
·
The journalist's choice of
adjectives, adverbs, and verbs to describe the actions of individuals and
countries. In what light are the
various actors in the report presented?
·
The relative space given to various
spokesmen. Is one side in a
conflict being given a greater chance to express its perspective?
·
In terms of public opinion, whose
position might be strengthened by each report.
3.
How do these news sources make use of historical arguments?
Do they appeal to a particular history or sequence of events as
authoritative?
For the final, 4-6 page paper, students will include their analysis of a
fifth set of news reports and summarize the story and editorial opinion as it
developed throughout the semester.
Students who merely summarize the news stories will not receive higher
than a C for any of these papers.
During the final week of class, we will have an informal discussion of
recent events, during which students should be prepared to summarize their
projects. These informal, oral
presentations will not be graded.
This project will give students the opportunity to stay abreast of
current events in the Middle East while it helps them develop the historian's
skills of analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing primary sources.
Determining the relative value of evidence and the most effective means
of communicating the results of their analysis is in essence what historians do.
In
addition to the locally available newspapers and newsweeklies the following
websites might be helpful:
General
http://www.nytimes.com
http://www.economist.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.msnbc.com
http://www.csmonitor.com
http://www.cnn.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk
http://www.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek
Middle Eastern and African
http://metimes.com
http://www.wnmideast.com/
http://www.menewsline.com
http://www.arabicnews.com/
http://www.middleeastwire.com
http://www.jpost.com
http://www.africanperspective.com
http://www.israelnews.net/
The final grading component is classroom
participation. The
participation grade will be based upon attendance and performance in the
classroom. Students will receive no
lower than a C for participation if they attend all class periods.
There are, of course, instances when an absence is unavoidable. In such cases, the instructor must be informed of the nature
of the unavoidable absence, preferably in advance. Excused absences will be granted on a case-by-case basis.
Participation grades higher than a C will be based upon active
involvement in classroom discussions. Active
involvement is defined as verbal participation in the classroom.
Each class period, those who verbally participate will receive either a
check or plus based upon their verbal participation.
Final participation grades will be based upon the sum of these marks.
While the quality of participation is noted, student participation is not
to be understood as an examination. It
is not essential that students have a "polished" statement on the
course materials or a "correct" answer to my questions in order to
participate. Often their questions
are of equal pedagogical benefit. Active
involvement and interaction are the goals of this grading mechanism.
The participation grade is designed for the purpose of recognizing the
very important learning that goes on in the classroom, which might not always be
reflected written work.
HOW TO CONTACT THE PROFESSOR
Office
Hours:
Room 317, M, W 3:45-4:30; T, 4:00-4:30, and by appointment.
Phone:
261-6276,
E-mail:
jleigh@uwc.edu.
If students need accommodations because of a
disability, if they have emergency medical information that I should be aware
of, or if they need special arrangements in the case of an evacuation, please
contact me at the earliest possible convenience.
All conditions contained in the student handbook related to academic dishonesty will be in effect during the semester. It would behoove students to familiarize themselves with these conditions. Cheating will not be tolerated. See the special sheet on plagiarism.
LAST DAY TO DROP
THE CLASS
This semester’s deadline to drop classes is April 1. See Student Services for procedures.
It is conceivable that necessary alterations to the syllabus will arise during the course of the semester. These will be communicated to the students with as much advance notice as possible.
SEMESTER SCHEDULE
Jan
22: Orientation
Week II
Jan
27: The Middle East, Islam, and the West.
Documents: Armstrong.
Jan
29: The "Middle East"
before Muhammad. Cleveland
Part I, I, 4-8;
Documents:
Hitti, The Hanged Poems.
Week III
Feb
3: Muhammad and the
Founding of Islam. Cleveland
I, 8-12;
Documents:
Ibn Ishaq.
Feb
5: The Ummah with and
after Muhammad. Cleveland
I, 13-19;
Documents: the Constitution
of Medina.
FIRST
NEWS REPORTS DUE
Feb
12: The Islamic Arab Empires:
Political Breakdown and Cultural
Continuity.
Cleveland II, 20-39; Documents:
Baghdad, Al-Hasan,
Mansur
al-Hallaj, Jalal ad-Din Rumi.
Week V
Feb
17: The Rise of the Ottomans and
the Safavids. Cleveland
III;
Document: Kunt, 3-29, Kritovoulous, Ludlow, de Busbecq.
Feb
19: The Circumstances of Ottoman
Power. Documents:
Sultan Selim I and Shah
Isma'il, Woodhead, Holt, Imber, and Woodhead.
FIRST ESSAY ASSIGNED
Feb
24: Challenges to the Integrity
of the Ottoman Empire. Cleveland
III, 51-53;
Part
II, IV, 62-77; Documents: Eton.
Feb 26:
Ottoman and Egyptian Reform.
Cleveland IV, 77-80, V.
SECOND NEWS REPORTS DUE
Week VII
Mar
3: Britain in Egypt and
France in Algeria. Cleveland
VI, 102-108;
Documents:
Cromer.
Mar
5:
Islamic Revival and Nationalism.
Cleveland VII; Documents: Rashid
Rida,
Abd
al-Rahman al-Kawakibi, Negib Azoury, Shafer.
FIRST ESSAY DUE
Week VIII
Mar
10: The Young Turks and the
Middle East in WWI. Cleveland
VIII, 130-140;
Cleveland
IX; Documents: Young Turks, the McMahon Letter, the Sykes-
Picot
Agreement.
Mar
12: The Republic of Turkey. Cleveland
Part III, X, 172-182;
Documents:
Mustafa Kemal.
Mar
24: Iran to WWII.
Cleveland, VI, 108-116, VIII, 140-145, X, 182-189;
Documents:
Agreement Concerning Persia.
Mar
26: The British Middle Eastern
Mandates. Cleveland
XI, 190-211; Shaarawi, all.
THIRD NEWS REPORTS DUE
Week X
Mar
31: The French Mandates and
Saudi Arabia. Cleveland
XII, 212-228.
Apr
2: Arabism. Cleveland XII,
228-232, Documents: Edmond Rabbath, First
Arab Students' Congress, Abdullah al-Alayili, Qustantin Zuraiq,
Abd al-Rahman al-Bazzaz.
Week XI
Apr
7: The Roots of the
Israeli-Arab Conflict.
Cleveland XIII; Document:
Herzl,
Balfour
Declaration, Agreement between Emir Feisal and Dr. Weizmann,
the
Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, Declaration of
Israel’s
Independence.
Apr
9: Middle Eastern
International Relations through WWII and the
Early
Cold War and Internal Developments in Turkey and Iran.
Cleveland, Part IV, XIV; Documents: Soviet Reaction to the Baghdad
Pact, the Eisenhower Doctrine, TASS.
SECOND ESSAY ASSIGNED
Week XII
Apr
14: Nasser, Arab Radicalism,
Arab Conservatism, and Crises. Cleveland XV,
XVI;
Document: Nasser, Taha Hussein.
Apr
16: Continuation and
Consequences of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Israel,
Egypt,
Lebanon, and the Palestinians to the 1970s. Cleveland XVII, XVIII; Docments: The Palestinian National Charter.
FOURTH
NEWS REPORTS DUE
Week XIII
Apr
21: Ba'thism: Syria, and Iraq.
Cleveland XIX; Document:
Constitution,
Michel
Aflaq.
Apr
23: Islamic Revivalism and
Islamic Revolution in Iran. Cleveland
XX;
Documents:
Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi, Ayatollah Khomeini.
Esposito,
1-211.
SECOND ESSAY DUE
Week XIV
Apr 28:
The Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf War.
Cleveland XXI, XXII;
Documents:
Douglas Jehl.
Apr 30:
The Intifada and the Middle
East Peace Process.
Cleveland, XXIII;
Documents:
Hamas Covenant, Wye River Memorandum.
FINAL ESSAY ASSIGNED
May
5-7: The Contemporary
Middle East. Cleveland,
XXIV; Esposito, 212-289.
FIFTH NEWS REPORTS DUE
How
to write an essay
The Thesis Statement:
The most important part of any essay is the thesis statement. The thesis statement usually consists of a single sentence at
the end of the first paragraph. Its
objective is to tell the reader the purpose of the essay.
In the case of an essay exam, it answers the exam question.
When beginning an essay, make certain that you have a simple, clear
thesis statement. Not only will
this guide the reader through the essay, but it will also help you to organize
your writing.
Organization and Clarity:
The entire essay must be
organized to support the thesis statement.
The purpose of the first paragraph, the introduction, is to introduce
your reader to the subject. The
main body of your essay (often three paragraphs for an exam question)
illustrates the thesis statement. In
these paragraphs you develop the idea(s) that you introduced in the thesis
sentence. Each paragraph must be
clearly relevant to the thesis statement. This
is most easily accomplished by including a topic sentence in each paragraph.
The topic sentence functions in much the same way as the thesis sentence.
It defines the paragraph and should make the connection between the
paragraph and the thesis statement clear. Do
not include material that is irrelevant to the thesis.
Such material 'muddies' the paragraph with unnecessary information and
takes the readers attention away from your purpose.
Concentrate on clarity. Spelling,
grammatical and syntactical mistakes also make the essay difficult to comprehend
and therefore detract from its quality.
Evidence: Evidence is the
information you present to support your thesis.
Each paragraph must include sufficient evidence to show that you have a
solid understanding of the assigned material and can relate it to the question.
Factual mistakes and vague statements detract from an essay, but not
nearly so detrimentally as analytical errors.
Make certain that the evidence you present supports your thesis.
As mentioned above, the inclusion of irrelevant details does not improve
the essay.
The grading of all essays will be based on the criteria mentioned above.
The essay must have a thesis statement, be logically and clearly
organized and include sufficient information to support the thesis.
The assignment of a letter grade will be based on how well you have
fulfilled these requirements. In
answering an essay question, the most important task is to answer the
question. Do not make the mistake of 'data dumping,' simply throwing
down all the information you know related to the topic. All information must be shown to be relevant.
Spend a couple of minutes thinking about the question, write an outline,
and then construct your essay with the question in mind.
Refer to the question after you have written the essay so that you are
certain that you have answered it.
DOCUMENTS
READER
Table of Contents
1.
Karen Armstrong, “Muhammad the Enemy”
2.
Philip K. Hitti, “The Original Arab, the Bedouin”
3.
Pre-Islamic Arabia, The Hanged Poems;
a.
The Poem of Imru-Ul-Quais
b.
The Poem of Antar
c.
The Poem of Zuhair
4.
Ibn Ishaq, selections from The Life of Muhammad
5.
The Constitution of Medina
6.
The Rightly-Guided Caliphs
7.
Islam and the Jews, The Pact of Umar
8.
Gaston Wiet, Baghdad: Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate
9.
Sufi Writings:
a.
Al-Hasan
b.
Mansur-al-Hallaj
c.
Jalal ad-Din Rumi
10.
Metin Kunt, “State and
sultan up to the age of Sueleyman: frontier principality to world empire”
11.
Kritovoulos, The History of Mehmed the Conqueror
12.
James M. Ludlow: The Tribute of Children, 1493
13.
Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, The Turkish Letters, 1555-1562
14.
Letters Between Sultan Selim I
and Shah Isma’il
15.
Christine Woodhead, Introduction
16.
P.M. Holt, The Sultan as Ideal Ruler: Ayyubid and Mamluk Prototypes
17.
Colin Imber, Ideals and Legitimation in Early Ottoman History
18.
Christine Woodhead, Perspectives on Sueleyman
19.
Sir William Eton, A Survey of the Turkish Empire, 1799
20.
The Earl of Cromer, Why Britain Acquired Egypt in 1882
21.
Rashid Rida, Islam and the National Idea
22.
Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi, The Excellence of the Arabs
23.
Negib Azoury, Program of the League of the Arab Fatherland
24.
Boyd Shafer, Nationalism: Myth and Realty
25.
The Young Turks: Proclamation for the Ottoman Empire, 1908
26.
The McMahon Letter
27.
The Sykes-Picot Agreement
28.
Mustafa Kemal, Speech to
the Congress of the People’s Republican Party
29.
Agreement Concerning Persia
30.
First Arab Students’ Congress, Arab Pledge, Definitions, Manifesto
31.
Edmond Rabbath, The Common Origin of the Arabs’
32.
Abdullah al-Alayili, What is Arab Nationalism?
33.
Qustantin Zuraiq, Arab Nationalism and Religion
34.
Abd al-Rahman al-Bazzaz, Islam and Arab Nationalism
35.
Theodor Herzl, On the Jewish State, 1896
36.
The Balfour Declaration
37.
Agreement between Emir Feisal and Dr. Weizmann
38.
Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, Chapter X
39.
Declaration of Israel’s Independence, 1948
40.
Soviet Reaction to the Baghdad Pact, 1955
41.
The Eisenhower Doctrine on the Middle East, A Message to Congress,
January 5, 1957
42.
TASS: Statement on the Eisenhower Doctrine, January 14, 1957
43.
Nasser and Arab Nationalism: The Egyptian Revolution of 1952
44.
Nasser Speaks on Arab Nationalism
45.
Nasser: Denouncement of the Proposal for a Canal Users’ Association,
1956
46.
Taha Hussein, from The Future of Culture in Egypt, 1954
47.
The Palestinian National Charter: Resolution of the Palestinian National
Council,
1968
48.
The Party of the Arab Ba’th, Constitution
49.
Michel Aflaq, Nationalism and Revolution
50.
Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi, My Father
51.
Ayatollah Khomeini, Islamic Government
52.
Douglas Jehl, “Saudi Heartland is Seething with Rage at Rulers and
U.S.”
53.
Hamas Covenant 1988, The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement
54.
The Wye River Memorandum