University Catalog 2024-2025

History - Middle East & North Africa (HISM)

HISM 1500  Special Topics  (3)  

Courses offered by visiting professors or permanent faculty. For description, consult the department. Notes: For special offering, see the Schedule of Classes.

HISM 1910  Special Topics  (3)  

Courses offered by visiting professors or permanent faculty. For description, consult the department. Notes: For special offering, see the Schedule of Classes. Course may be repeated unlimited times for credit.

Course Limit: 99

HISM 2200  Pre-Modern Islamic World  (3)  

This survey course introduces the rich history of the pre-modern Islamic world from the 7th to 17th century. It explores the intricate political, social, and cultural tapestry of Islamic civilization.

HISM 2210  History of Modern Middle East since 18th Century  (3)  

This survey course revisits the significant transitions from the 18th century to the present in the Middle East and North Africa. These transitions include the reform and collapse of old empires, European colonization and modernization, independent movements and models of self-governance, and the reinvention of political Islam under authoritarian regimes.

HISM 2910  Special Topics  (1-3)  

Courses offered by visiting professors or permanent faculty. For description, consult the department. Course may be repeated up to unlimited credit hours.


Maximum Hours: 99

HISM 2940  Transfer Coursework  (0-20)  

Transfer Coursework at the 2000 level. Department approval may be required.


Maximum Hours: 99

HISM 3000  Historical Methods:  (1)  

Historical Methods Lab. For description, consult the department.

HISM 3220  Arab/Israeli Conflict  (3)  

This seminar traces the course of the Arab-Israeli conflict from the rise of Zionism, through the various Arab-Israeli wars, and up to the recent peace negotiations. Emphasis is on presenting the perspectives of all the parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict, and placing it in the context of the history of the Middle East as a whole.

HISM 3910  Special Topics  (1-4)  

Courses offered by visiting professors or permanent faculty. For description, consult the department. Course may be repeated up to unlimited credit hours.


Maximum Hours: 99

HISM 4910  Special Topics  (1-3)  

Courses offered by visiting professors or permanent faculty. For description, consult the department. Course may be repeated up to unlimited credit hours.


Maximum Hours: 99

HISM 5380  Junior Year Abroad  (1-20)  


Maximum Hours: 99

HISM 5390  Junior Year Abroad  (1-20)  


Maximum Hours: 99

HISM 6060  Sem:Modern Middle E & N Africa  (3)  

Readings and research on the society, economy, and politics of the Middle East and North Africa since the 16th century.

HISM 6110  Religion&Nationalism Mid East  (3,4)  

This seminar concentrates on the crucial role that nationalism and religion played in the history of the Modern Middle East during the period between the late nineteenth century and the present day. It explores the general questions of how the "nation" came to dominate both political thought and political reality in the region and how various nationalist movements and ideologies have imagined and constructed national identities. The seminar also critically considers how religions have contributed to and/or challenged these complex processes. Students will read secondary monographs on various Middle Eastern contexts and become familiar with key historical debates on nationalism and religion. The discussions will not only focus on the intellectual and political elites but we will also examine how non-elite individuals and groups influenced nation-building processes.

HISM 6140  Islam & W Med World, 1000-1900  (3)  

Islam and the Western Mediterranean World, 1000-1900.

HISM 6210  Modern Turkey: Past & Present  (3-4)  

This seminar introduces students to the past and present of modern Turkey. We will explore the complex processes of the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, the formation of a secular, republican Turkish nation-state, and its dramatic socio-political transformation since the 1950s in response to domestic, regional, and international challenges. We will also discuss how religion has contributed to and/or challenged these processes and how these processes have affected ethno-religious minorities, gender, and class relations.

HISM 6310  Ottomans & Middle East  (3,4)  

This seminar is on the history of the late Ottoman Empire. It addresses the complex social and political transformations that the empire went through in the nineteenth- and twentieth centuries. Over the semester we will travel along the long arc of the late Ottoman history, observing the many overlapping identities that shaped it. More specifically, the subjects we will discuss include the changing relationship between the Ottoman state and society, ethno-national and religious conflicts, political revolutions and their far-reaching implications, women, Ottoman cities and the countryside. We will also examine the dynamics of the empire's disintegration into independent nation states in the aftermath of World War I and the legacy that the Ottomans left behind.

HISM 6410  State & Soc in Mod Middle East  (3)  

This seminar addresses how the emergence of modern states in the Middle East reshaped various aspects of the region's politics, economy, social relations, and culture to create distinct adaptations to modernity. It provides an opportunity for in-depth exploration of the last two centuries of the Middle East through the formation of modern state institutions and practices. Temporally, the course moves from the late 1700s to the first half of the twentieth century. Geographically, the area includes the region from Egypt to Iran, the Balkans to Arabia and Eastern Anatolia, in short, those regions under the dominion of the Ottoman and Qajar Empires and successive nation states.

HISM 6910  Special Topics  (1-4)  

Courses offered by visiting professors or permanent faculty. For description, consult the department. Course may be repeated up to unlimited credit hours.


Maximum Hours: 99