NMC478H1: Modern Arab Societies

24S

A weekly seminar built around thematic readings of social and economic history of the modern Arab world. Sometimes, the course is geographically extensive, encompassing the predominantly Arabic-speaking lands of North Africa and the Middle East from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east. At other times, the course focuses on a more narrowly defined geographic region—one country or a group of countries in the Arabic-speaking lands. Readings and discussions emphasize the experiences of broad sectors of the population, not just of elites. This framework of “history from below” also invites scrutiny of historically-marginalized populations (“subalterns”), or at least of silences in the literature about these populations.

NMC378H1. Students who do not meet the prerequisite are encouraged to contact the Department.
Society and its Institutions (3)