In this course we will explore how migration shaped and connected Asia by land and transoceanic routes from the seventh to eighteenth centuries. In this course we will trace people moving across long spans of space, which includes merchants, soldiers, pilgrims, laborers, pirates, spies, and travelers. We will examine how cultural, religious, economic, and political institutions enabled and benefited from migration; how towns, ports, and cities developed and supported migration; how individuals and communities understood and documented their experiences about what it meant to be mobile and/or foreign; and theories of migration that help us make sense of a premodern global Asia. Sample readings include Abdul Sheriff's "Dhow Culture of the Indian Ocean: Cosmopolitanism, Commerce and Islam"; Janet L. Abu- Lughod's "Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350"; and selections from the "Asia Inside Out" series ("Itinerant People", "Connected Places", and "Changing Times") edited by Helen Siu and Eric Tagliacozzo. An early assignment for the students is a map exercise. Students will be asked to create a map that highlights migration across Asia based on readings for the week. Students will be trained in an online mapmaking application and will work in pairs to create layers that address different aspects and forms of migration.

Humor in ethnic societies has two dimensions: internal and external. The inside humor of an ethnic group is accessible to its members; it draws upon their respective social structures, historical and social experiences, languages, cultural symbols, and social and economic circumstances and aspirations. The external humor of an ethnic group targets members of other ethnic groups, and draws upon their stereotypes, and attributed characteristics by other ethnic groups. The external ethnic humor flourishes in immigrant and ethnically heterogenic societies. In both cases jokes and humor are an integral part of social interaction, and in their performance relate to the social, economic, and political dynamics of traditional and modern societies.

By focusing on the scientific analysis of archaeological remains, this course will explore life and death in the past. It takes place in the new Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials (CAAM) and is team taught in three modules: human skeletal analysis, analysis of animal remains, and analysis of plant remains. Each module will combine laboratory and classroom exercises to give students hands-on experience with archaeological materials. We will examine how organic materials provide key information about past environments, human behavior, and cultural change through discussions of topics such as health and disease, inequality, and food.

This seminar offers an introduction to Muslim political thought. Chrnologically the course ranges from the medieval period to the present. Particular attention will be given in the later part of the coruse to the renaissance of Muslim potical thought in recent years and to the development of politicial Islam, including the work of such thinkers as Said Qutb and Hasan Turabi. We will also study the roots of this renaissance in classical philosophy of the medieval period (Al Farabi, Al Ghazali, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Tufayl) and the liberal age.

The Hebrew Bible stands as the basis of the three most influential monotheistic religions. In recent years these religions have come under attack for promoting misogyny and advancing a patriarchal worldview. The extent to which the allegations of misogyny and promulgation of a patriarchal power structure can be traced back to the Bible will be investigated in this course. This is done by investigating the role women play in the narratives and legal materials found in the Bible. Utilizing modern biblical criticism, we analyze stories such as the expulsion from Eden, the matriarchs, and the rape of Dinah. We also examine the status of women as sisters, wives and mothers while taking into consideration the contributions women made to prophecy and leadership. Finally, a more abstract conceptualization of the feminine in poetry and wisdom writings will be explored. The study of biblical women will not only allow for a renewed appreciation of the feminine in the Bible, it will also lead to an improved understanding of male characters against which the women of the Bible are often cast.

Course topics will vary; they have included The Binding of Isaac, Responses to Catastrophes in Jewish History, Holy Men & Women (Ben-Amos); Rewriting the Bible (Dohrmann); Performing Judaism (Fishman); Jewish Political Thought (Fishman); Jewish Esotericism (Lorberbaum) Democratic culture assumes the democracy of knowledge - the accessibility of knowledge and its transparency. Should this always be the case? What of harmful knowledge? When are secrets necessary? In traditional Jewish thought, approaching the divine has often assumed an aura of danger. Theological knowledge was thought of as restricted. This seminar will explore the "open" and "closed" in theological knowledge, as presented in central texts of the rabbinic tradition: the Mishnah, Maimonides and the Kabbalah. Primary sources will be available in both Hebrew and English.

Iraq: Ancient Cities and Empires is a chronological survey of the ancient civilization that existed in the drainage basin of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers from the early settled village farming communities of the 7th millennium BCE to the middle of the 1st millennium BCE, when Nebuchadnezzar II ruled Babylon and much of the Middle East. Though organized period by period, NELC 241 explores various social, political, economic, and ideological topics, exposing students to various strands of evidence, including settlement survey data, excavated architectural remains, artifacts, and documentary sources, as well as an eclectic mix of theoretical perspectives. The course aims to provide students with a strong foundation for the further study of the ancient and pre-modern Middle East.

In the tenth century, a scholar named Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq produced an Arabic manuscript called Kitab al-Tabikh (The Book of Cooking). This volume, which c ompiled and discussed the recipes of eighth- and ninth-century Islamic rulers (caliphs) and their courts in Iraq, represents the oldest known surviving cookbook of the Arab-Islamic world. Many more such cookbooks followed; in their day they represented an important literary genre among cultured elites. As one food historian recently noted, there are more cookbooks in Arabic from before 1400 than in the rest of the worlds languages put together. Ibn Sayyars cookbook can help us to think about the historical and cultural d ynamics of food. In this class, we will focus on the Middle East across the sweep of the Islamic era, into the modern period, and until the present day, although many of the readings will consider the study of food in other places (including the contemporary United States) for comparative insights. The class will use the historical study of food and foodways as a lens for examining subject s that relate to a wide array of fields and interests. These subjects include economics, agricultural and environmental studies, anthropology, literature, religion, and public health. With regard to the modern era, the course will pay close attention to the consequences of food for shaping memories and identities including religious, ethnic, national, and gender-b ased identities particularly among people who have dispersed or otherwise mig rated. It will also focus considerably on the politics of food, that is, on the place of food in power relations.Among the questions we will debate are these: How does food reflect, shape, or inform history? By approaching the study of Middle Eastern cultures through food, what new or different things can we see? What is the field of food studies, and what can it offer to scholars? What is food writing as a literary form, and what methodological and conceptual ch allenges face those who undertake it?

The Middle East boasts a rich tapestry of cultures that have developed a vibrant body of modern literature that is often overlooked in media coverage of the region. While each of the modern literary traditions that will be surveyed in this introductory course-Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Turkish-will be analyzed with an appreciation of the cultural context unique to each body of literature, this course will also attempt to bridge these diverse traditions by analyzing common themes-such as modernity, social values, the individual and national identity-as reflected in the genres of poetry, the novel and the short story. This course is in seminar format to encourage lively discussion and is team-taught by four professors whose expertise in modern Middle Eastern literature serves to create a deeper understanding and aesthetic appreciation of each literary tradition. In addition to honing students' literary analysis skills, the course will enable students to become more adept at discussing the social and political forces that are reflected in Middle Eastern literature, explore important themes and actively engage in reading new Middle Eastern works on their own in translation. All readings are in English.

Foe or friend, Satan or saint - America has often been depicted in the Middle East either as a benevolent superpower or an ill-meaning enemy. In America, too, stereotypes of the Middle East abound as the home of terrorists, falafels, and fanatics. This undergraduate lecture course will explore the relationship between the United States and the Middle East by moving beyond such facile stereotypes. Our goal is to understand why a century of interaction has done little to foster greater understanding between these two societies. By reading novels, memoirs, and historical accounts, we will examine the origins of this cultural and diplomatic encounter in the twentieth century. The readings wills hed light on America's political and economic involvement in the Middle East after the Second World War. We will consider the impact of oil diplomacy on U.S.-Middle East relations, as well as the role of ideology and religion, in our effort to comprehend the current challenges that face these societies.