ARAB 5000 Independent Work

Prerequisites: senior standing, and permission of the instructor and the Department Chair.

Credit 6 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ARAB 5001 Seminar & Practicum in Language Training

Seminar includes faculty lectures and student reports on theories and methods of teaching less-commonly taught languages, such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Persian and Turkish. The practicum includes classroom teaching and observation in the language of student's specialization with supervision by the relevant language section head. Prerequisite, open only to graduate students in the Department or instructor's permission.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Spring

ARAB 5710 Topics in Modern Arabic Literature in Translation

Modern Arabic narratives read in English translation foregrounding themes such as the conflict between tradition and modernity, civil war, poverty, alienation, religion and politics, and changing gender roles.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: ETH, HUM EN: H

HINDI 5000 Religion and Culture in South and Southeast Asia

Although it is now common to differentiate between South and Southeast Asia, historically these regions have often been conceptualized as part of a single geographical area. Known as the (East) Indies, this area is marked by a rich history of (earlier) Hindu and Buddhist influences, as well as (later) Islamic and Christian influences. The present course will take an in-depth look at the four aforementioned religious traditions, and examine how they have shaped local forms of culture in premodern and modern times. Students will be introduced to host of phenomena in South and Southeast Asian societies, including religious worship, education, law, traditional governance, colonial governance, art, architecture, economic production, kinship, gender, and sexuality. Countries to be studied in the course include India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC BU: ETH, HUM, IS

JIMES 5000 Independent Work in Jewish, Islamic and Near Eastern Studies

PREREQUISITES: SENIOR STAND AND PERMISSION OF THE CHAIR OF THE JEWISH, ISLAMIC AND NEAR EASTERN STUDIES PROGRAM.

Credit 6 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

JIMES 5004 Capstone Seminar

The capstone course for Jewish, Islamic, & Near Eastern Studies majors, Arabic majors, and Hebrew majors. The course content is subject to change.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall

JIMES 5007 Biblical Law and the Origins of Western Justice

This course will explore how law developed from the earliest periods of human history and how religious ideas and social institutions shaped law. The course will also illuminate how biblical law was influenced by earlier cultures and how the ancient Israelites reshaped the law they inherited. It will further analyze the impact of biblical law on Western culture and will investigate how the law dealt with those of different social classes and ethnic groups, and we will probe how women were treated by the law.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD BU: ETH, HUM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Spring

JIMES 5013 Kings, Priests, Prophets, and Rabbis: The Jews in the Ancient W

We will trace Israelite and Jewish history from its beginnings in the biblical period (circa 1200 BCE) through the rise of rabbinic Judaism and Christianity until the birth of Islam (circa 620 CE). We will explore how Israel emerged as a distinct people and why the rise of the imperial powers tranformed the political, social, and religious institutions of ancient Israel. We will illuminate why the religion of the Bible developed into rabbinic Judaism and Christianity and how rabbinic literature and institutions were created.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Art: HUM BU: BA, HUM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

JIMES 5036 Antisemitism: History, Causes, Consequences

Why do people hate other people? Why have religion, race, gender, ethnicity and so on led to sectarian violence with terrifying regularity throughout history? Focused on antisemitism from Biblical times to today, this class will grapple with those questions. Please note: L75 5035 is intended for graduate students only.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA, HUM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall

JIMES 5043 Race and Ethnicity in the Middle East and North Africa

This seminar explores formations, articulations, and legacies of race in the Middle East and North Africa. The main purpose is to acquaint students with different theories and methodological approaches to studies of race and racialization in the region. Given the large scope of the topic, the course will mainly focus on Egypt and Sudan, as well as the Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf. In dialogue with a transnational body of scholarship, political theory, as well as artistic and literary production, we will read about the following set of topics: slavery and abolition; race and racialization; empire and colonialism; third world-ism and nationalism; revolution and solidarity; ethnicity and nationality; migration and minorities. By studying how peoples of the region have debated issues of race and racialization, from the Abbasid era to the contemporary moment, we come to realize the legibility and urgency of race as an analytics in Middle East studies. In considering pre-modern and modern articulations of race across the region, we begin to understand how race has functioned as a technology of power and hierarchization, and its intersectional role in forming categories of ethnicity, nationality, or even gender and sexuality. This section is intended for graduate students only. Undergraduate students should enroll in L75 4043.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

JIMES 5082 From the Temple to the Talmud: The Emergence of Rabbinic Judaism

This course offers a survey of the historical, literary, social, and conceptual development of Rabbinic Judaism from its emergence in late antiquity to the early Middle Ages. The goal of the course is to study Rabbinic Judaism as a dynamic phenomenon -- as a constantly developing religious system. Among the topics to be explored are: How did Judaism evolve from a sacrificial cult to a text-based religion? How did the Rabbis emerge as a movement after the destruction of the Second Temple and how could they replace the old priestly elite? How did Rabbinic Judaism develop in its two centers of origin, Palestine (the Land of Israel) and Babylonia (Iraq), to become the dominant form of Judaism under the rule of Islam? How did Jewish ritual and liturgy develop under Rabbinic influence? How were the Rabbis organized and was there diversity within the group? What was the Rabbis' view of women, how did they perceive non-Rabbinic Jews and non-Jews? As Rabbinic Literature is used as the main source to answer these questions, the course provides an introduction to the Mishnah, the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds, and the Midrash-collections -- a literature that defines the character of Judaism down to our own times. All texts are read in translation.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

JIMES 5183 The Jews of North Africa

This course examines the colonial and postcolonial experiences of Jews living in North Africa (mainly Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) in the context of the region's connections with and relationships to the European powers in the 19th and 20th centuries. We will focus on how the intrusion of foreign powers disrupted and shifted long-standing relationships between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbors, particularly the Muslim populations. We will also explore changes that occurred within the Jewish community as Jews negotiated their place within the new European Imperial system and its subsequent dismantling. Students will have the opportunity to engage with European ideas of regenerating North African Jews living under Ottoman Rule, the changing political and social statuses of Jews throughout the French and British regions, the changing relationship between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbors, the rupture caused by both World Wars, and how Jews coped with and responded to the dismantling of European empires and the birth of nation-states in the region, including Israel.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA, HUM, IS EN: H

Typical periods offered: Spring

JIMES 5184 A Rainbow Thread: A History of Queer Identities in Judaism and Islam

The notion that gender and sexuality minorities are forbidden or simply do not exist within traditional judaism and islamic traditions is an assumption that has been questioned in recent years. For these scholars and activists, it is not up for debate whether someone can be queer and Jewish or queer and Muslim. Therefore, what follows is an exploration of how to resurrect gender non-conforming interpretations of religious texts and rediscover the spectrum of gender and sexual identities that have always existed within Judaism and Islam. The course is divided into three parts. First, we will examine the religious textual traditions of both faiths to establish the space for queer identities in both the Qur'an and Torah as well as the traditions of Hadith and Talmud. Second, we will study key communities such as medieval Iberia, the Ottoman Mediterranean, Hasidic communities in Eastern Europe, Qajar Iran, and the colonial empires of the Middle East. This survey will show the influence European christian dominance had (or did not have) on the evolution of jewish and islamic gender and sexual norms from pre-modern times through the 20th century. Finally, we will examine the 21st century by reading the memoirs of trans muslims and trans Jews in order to analyze the ways in which contemporary queer jewish and islamic individuals frame their experiences and tell their stories of faith with agency, in their own words.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Spring

JIMES 5274 Introduction to Israel Studies

An exploration of Israel in the Jewish experience from antiquity to modernity and in the history and culture of the Middle East. Special attention will be paid to the modern state of Israel and current issues in its politics, economy, and society. L75 5273 is intended for graduate students only.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM, IS EN: H

JIMES 5410 Jews and American Popular Culture

History of the Jews in North America from the colonial era to the present. Close reading of primary sources, with an emphasis on the central issues and tensions in American Jewish life; political, social, and economic transformations; and religious trends.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Spring

JIMES 5455 Mesopotamian Mythology: Stories From Ancient Iraq

In this course we will read, explore, and interpret various ancient myths originating from the fertile crescent, especially ancient Iraq, between the years 2500 and 400 BCE. The Epic of Gilamesh, the Enuma Elish, myths of the goddess Ishtar as well as various flood and creation accounts will be among those we read. Cultural background information will be examined to situate each myth in its ancient context. Various theories of interpreting myth will also be explored in order to appreciate the power and the many uses of these multivalent stories. Several basic questions will underlie all that we do throughout the semester: What is myth?, How should we understand the conceptualization of the category myth (in other words, How does myth work?), and Does myth still play a role in our own modern cultures?

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM

JIMES 5460 Islamic Law

This course will present a general overview of Islamic law and an introduction to the study of religious legal authority, which values consensus. It will then explore the formation of the major schools of law. Next, it will debate the notions of ijtihad and taqlid and discuss how open and independent legal decisions have been in the Islamic world. It will also trace the transmission of legal knowledge in religious institutions across time and place by focusing on medieval Muslim societies and by closely examining the education of a modern-day Ayatollah. Note: L75 546 is intended for graduate students only.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: ETH, HUM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall

JIMES 5490 Yidishkayt: Yiddish Literature in English Translation

This course will trace the emergence, development, flourish, and near-decline of Yiddish literature, beginning with some of the earliest writings to appear in Yiddish in the late middle ages and early modern period, continuing with 19th-century attempts to establish a modern Yiddish literature and the 20th-century emergence of both a classical canon and a literary avant-garde, and ending with post-Holocaust attempts to retain a Yiddish literary culture in the near absence of Yiddish-speaking communities. Focusing on the role of Yiddish as the national language of Ashkenaz, the course will examine the ways in which Yiddish literature has responded to the social conditions of European Jewish life, exploring among others the relationship between Yiddish and the non-Jewish cultures in which it existed, the tensions between secular trends versus religious tradition, life in the shtetl and in the metropolis, immigration from the old world to the new, and Yiddish literary responses to the Holocaust.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Art: HUM BU: HUM, IS EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

JIMES 5501 Israeli Culture and Society

An examination of critical issues in contemporary Israeli culture and society, such as ethnicity, speech, humor, religious identity, and the Arab population, using readings in English translation from a variety of disciplines: folklore, literary criticism, political science, sociology, psychology, anthropology. Prerequisite: sophomore standing, or permission of instructor.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM, IS EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

JIMES 5511 Muhammad: His Life and Legacy

This course intends to examine the life and representations of the Prophet Muhammad from the perspective of multiple spiritual sensibilities as articulated in various literary genres from medieval to modern periods. The course is divided roughly into two parts. One part deals with the history of Muhammad and the related historiographical questions. The second part deals with the representations of Muhammad in juristic, theological, Sufi, etc. literature. Because of the availability of primary sources in English translation, there will be a healthy dose of primary source reading and analysis throughout the semester. Those students with advanced Arabic (and Persian and Turkish) skills will be encouraged to engage sources in their original language.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC BU: ETH, HUM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

JIMES 5520 Subgenres and Modern Arabic Literature

Genre is a category, or to use Aristotle's term, a species. It is a category of literature, arts, music, and other forms of composition, to classify works of shared conventions, practices, and aesthetics. A typical example would be poetry. Subgenre is a single division of a given genre. In this example, epic poetry, the sonnet, haiku are subgenres of poetry. But who gets to decide what is genre, subgenre, and how? These would be some of the main questions we willl address in this course. Genre theory can teach us a fascinating history of how various cultures imagine their forms of creative expression. The development of genres and subgenres reveal complex histories on who has the power to define and redefine creative expression. For example, the novel, now a dominant and prestigious global literary genre, was once considered an inferior and working-class genre in Europe over a century ago. The novel genre then developed into numerous subgenres, which are today placed under one large umbrella that is genre-fiction, such as sci-fi, fantasy, horror, gothic, mystery etc.. However, the borders between these subgenres and the larger genre itself are always contested and reformulated. Through the history of genre and subgenre, we get to learn about literary taste and literary criticism, and whose definitions and conventions have changed the course of literature and the arts, and for what reason. The dominance of the historical novel today, for example, is attributed to larger phenomenon such as decolonization, feminism, and anti-racism. The sociopolitical urge to utilize fiction to address larger issues has not only boosted the impact of the historical novel but elevated it to become a common form of the genre itself. Within this grand history, Arabic literature has a complex and rich story to tell about genre and subgenre. The most obvious example here, which will be our entry point in this course, is 1001 Nights (also known as The Nights, or The Arabian Nights). This multi-volumed masterpiece has influenced fiction writers across the globe, especially in the past three centuries as the novel began to formulate into a modern genre. It is an exceptional work where we see a cosmology of subgenres of storytelling, narrative, but also of poetry, and in some editions, illustration and drawing, as well as translation. The Nights is often seen as the first hybrid work of literature where subgenres and forms co-exist but also blur and converge. This dynamic, revolutionary, and mobile nature of The Nights expresses the meeting of various cultures, experiences, and traditions of storytelling during the Abbasid empire. Today, it remains ever more relevant and inspiring in a cosmopolitan world. The question and history of sub/genre, however, will guide us through an exploration of modern and contemporary Arabic literature. We will get to engage with these texts thematically, stylistically, and intellectually. The aesthetic choices made in literat

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Spring

JIMES 5540 Anthropological and Sociological Study of Muslim Societies

This course introduces students to anthropological and sociological scholarship on Muslim societies. Attention will be given to the broad theoretical and methodological issues which orient such scholarship. These issues include the nature of Muslim religious and cultural traditions, the nature of modernization and rationalization in Muslim societies, and the nature of sociopolitical relations between Islam and the West. The course explores the preceding issues through a series of ethnographic and historical case studies, with a special focus on Muslim communities in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Case studies address a range of specific topics, including religious knowledge and authority, capitalism and economic modernization, religion and politics, gender and sexuality, as well as migration and globalization. Please note: L75 554 is intended for graduate students only.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: LCD, SSC, SC Art: SSC BU: IS EN: S UColl: CD

Typical periods offered: Fall

JIMES 5560 Research Seminar for M.A. Students in Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies

This course is meant to support graduate students as they write and revise their M.A. papers for defense in the spring. Central to the undertaking is serious editorial response to others' ongoing research and writing, and the refining effort of revision. Each paper will be work-shopped at least once during the semester. Students will develop their peer-review skills while making progress on their own research. Three credits. Permission of instructor.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

JIMES 5562 Islam, Gender, Sexuality

In this course, we examine discourses of gender and sexuality across historical period and geographical region. We analyze encounters with Western imperialism, investigating how gender informs social, political, religious, and family life in Islamic cultures. Our course materials include histories, ethnographies, graphic novels, and films, and we examine how these sources approach the study of Islam, gender, and sexuality through the lens of various topics: from women in the earliest years of Islam in 7th century Arabia to revolutionary Iran and American Muslim women in the 21st century. Throughout the course, we examine how notions of gender and sexuality have changed over time and played various roles in the political and social life of Muslim nations, societies, and communities. By the end of the course, students will be able to critically assess scholarly and non-scholarly (media) discussions of gender in Islam.    This section is intended for Graduate students only. Undergraduates should enroll in L75 362A

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

JIMES 5590 Travelers, Tricksters, and Storytellers: Jewish Travel Narratives and Autobiographies, 1100-1800

Jewish literature includes highly fascinating travel accounts and autobiographies that are still awaiting their discovery by a broader readership. In this course, we will explore a broad range of texts originating from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. They were written by both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews hailing from countries as diverse as Spain, Italy, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire. Among the authors were pilgrims, rabbis, merchants, and one savvy businesswoman. We will read their works as responses to historical circumstances and as expressions of Jewish identity, in its changing relationship to the Christian or Muslim environment in which the writers lived or traveled. Specifically, we will ask questions such as: How do travel accounts and autobiographies enable their authors and readers to reflect on issues of identity and difference? How do the writers produce representations of an other, against which and through which they define a particular sense of self? This course is open to students of varying interests, including Jewish, Islamic, or Religious Studies, medieval and early modern history, European or Near Eastern literatures. All texts will be read in English translation. Please note: L75 559 is intended for graduate students only.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM, IS EN: H

Typical periods offered: Spring

JIMES 5623 Topics in Islam: Islam and Human Rights

Selected themes in the study of Islam and Islamic culture in social, historical, and political context. The specific area of emphasis will be determined by the instructor. Please note: L75 5622 is intended for graduate students only.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM, IS EN: H UColl: CD

Typical periods offered: Fall

JIMES 5660 The Sephardic Experience: 1492 to the Present

In the public perception, modern Jews divide into two subethnic groups: Ashkenazi and Sephardi, or European and Middle Eastern Jews. However, this is an oversimplification that does not do justice to the diversity and complex history of Jewish identities, which are often multilayered. Strictly speaking, Sephardi Jews trace their ancestral lines or cultural heritage to the medieval Iberian Peninsula, present-day Spain and Portugal. That said, according to some scholars, Sephardi Judaism did not even exist before the general expulsion of Spanish Jewry in 1492 and is the result of their subsequent migrations within the Mediterranean and transatlantic worlds. We will start with an introduction into the history of Spanish Jews prior to 1492, asking to what extent memories of pre-expulsion Iberia are at the heart of Sephardi identity. We will then follow the migratory path of Sephardi exiles to North Africa, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, the Netherlands, and the Americas. The questions we will explore include: in what sense did Sephardim form a transnational community? How did they transmit and transform aspects of Spanish culture in form of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) language and literature? How did they become intermediaries between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire? What was their role in Europe's transatlantic expansion and the slave trade? How did Ottoman and North African Jews respond to European cultural trends in the nineteenth century and create their own forms of modernity? How did the Holocaust impact Sephardi Jews?

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

JIMES 5730 Topics in Near Eastern Cultures: Freedom in the Middle East

The topic for this course will change each semester; the specific topic for each semester will be given in Course Listings.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM, IS EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

JIMES 5740 Of Dishes, Taste, and Class: History of Food in the Middle East

This course will cover the history of food and drink in the Middle East to help us understand our complex relation with food and look at our lives from perspectives we intuitively feel or by implication know, but rarely critically and explicitly reflect on. Food plays a fundamental role in how humans organize themselves in societies, differentiate socially, culturally, and economically, establish values and norms for religious, cultural, and communal practices, and define identities of race, gender, and class. This course does not intend to spoil, so to speak, this undeniably one of the most pleasurable human needs and activities, but rather to make you aware of the social meaning of food and reflect on how food shapes who we are as individuals and societies. We will study the history of food and drink in the Middle East across the centuries until the present time, but be selective in choosing themes, geographic regions, and historical periods to focus on. Please consult the instructor if you have not taken any course in the humanities. Enrollment priority given to seniors and juniors.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA, HUM, IS EN: H UColl: CD

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

JIMES 5770 History of Slavery in the Middle East

This course examines slavery and its abolition in the Middle East and North Africa from 600 C.E. to the 20th Century. It addresses slavery as a discourse and a question of political economy. We begin with an overview of slavery in late antiquity to contextualize the evolution of this practice after the rise of Islam in the region. We then examine how it was practiced, imagined, and studied under major empires, such as the Umayyads, the Abbasids, the Fatimids, the Mamluks, the Ottomans, and the Safavids. In addition to examining the Qur'anic discourse and early Islamic practices of slavery, to monitor change over time we address various forms of household, field, and military slavery as well as the remarkable phenomenon of slave dynasties following a chronological order. We discuss, through primary sources, theoretical, religious, and moral debates and positions on slavery, including religious scriptures, prophetic traditions, religious law, and a plethora of narratives from a range of genres. We highlight a distinct theme each week to focus on until we conclude our discussion with the abolition of slavery in the 19th and 20th centuries. Topics of discussion include various forms of male and female slavery, Qur'anic and prophetic discourse on slavery, legal and moral views on slavery, slavery as represented in religious literature, political, military, and economic structures of slavery, issues of race and gender as well as slave writings to reflect on the experiences of slavery from within. The goal is to enable students to understand the histories of slavery in the Middle East and eventually compare it to that of other regions and cultures, such as European and Atlantic slavery. No second language required.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA, HUM, IS EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall

JIMES 5850 Topics in Jewish Studies:

Consult Course Listings for current topics. Please note: L75 585A is intended for graduate students only.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM, IS EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

JIMES 5870 Topics in Jewish Studies

Consult Course Listings for current topics. Please note: L75 587 is intended for graduate students only.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: LCD BU: IS EN: H

JIMES 5910 Directed Writing: Thesis

Directed writing: Thesis

Credit 6 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

JIMES 5999 Jewish & Islamic Studies Elective (GRAD)

Credit 0 units. EN: H

JIMES 7883 Master's Continuing Student Status

Master's Continuing Student Status

Credit 0 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

JIMES 7885 Masters Nonresident

Credit 0 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall