Course and Contact Information
Course: Anthropology of the Middle East, Anth 3707, Section 10
Anthropology Department and Elliott School of International Affairs
Semester: Fall, 2016
Classes: MW 2:20-3:35pm
Location: Bell Hall, Room 309
Instructor
Name: Randa Kayyali
Campus Address: Building X (2112 G St NW), Room 101
Phone: (571) 278-3251
Email:
Office Hours: Wednesdays 12-2, or by appointment
Course Description
“Geographic environment, language, religion, and social structure of settled and nomadic peoples of the Middle East; emphasis on the Arab world.”
This course will cover a number of important themes in the cultural anthropology of the Middle East, including media, religion, health, gender, sex, minorities and education. Throughout the semester we will consider a variety of contemporary cultural forms and life experiences in the Middle East, while examining the debates and challenges that anthropologists face when they study this region. The course is not meant as a survey and will not address every aspect of the cultures of the Middle East but is intended to sharpen your analytical and critical thinking skills regarding the region and to spark interest in new topics.
Prerequisite
This is an upper-level course and requires a familiarity with cultural anthropology. Students should have already taken Sociocultural Anthropology (ANTH 1002) or Language in Culture and Society (ANTH 1004).
Required Texts
Required readings are available on class’ Blackboard site or the library website.
The three books that are options for the book review are on Reserve at the Library. The only book I encourage you to purchase is:-
Fernea, Elizabeth Warnock. Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village (Anchor Books, reissue edition 1995) ISBN 978-0385014854
Learning Outcomes
1. Recognize the richness, complexity and diversity of Middle Eastern societies in the plural
2. Analyze the ways of thinking and approaches – old and new – in anthropological scholarship on the Middle East
3. Evaluate questions and issues in the anthropology of the Middle East
4. Synthesize materials from geography, history, religion and politics in contemporary cultures
5. Hone and apply analytical skills in discussions, exams and essays
Course Expectations
The success of the course – and your individual success in the class – requires regular attendance, participation, and preparation. Students are expected to come to class having done the assigned readings for the day, ready to actively engage in discussion about those readings and their connection to the broader themes of the class. You should bring your copy of the day’s readings to each class.
Average minimum amount of independent, out-of- class, learning expected per week:
Since this is a 3-credit course, there will be 2.5 hours of direct instruction and homework (reading, note-taking and writing) of a minimum of 5 hours and a maximum of 7.5 hours per week.
Class Schedule
29 August
Class 0: Introductions & revision of the syllabus - no reading assigned
Stereotypes and Challenges of Studying Arabs and Muslims
31 August
Class 1: Arab and Muslim Stereotypes in the U.S. media
Alsultany, Evelyn. Chapter 1, “Challenging the Terrorist Stereotype” in Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11. (New York: New York University Press, 2012), pp. 18-38 [a PDF will be provided on Blackboard, usually listed under author last name]
(Labor day – no class September 5)
7 September
Class 2: Gender, U.S. media and military intervention
Lila Abu-Lughod, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others,” American Anthropologist 104, 3 (2002): 783-790 [Available through the library website, under journals, type in the title of the journal, i.e. American Anthropologist]
Alternative if you have already read Abu-Lughod’s path-breaking article above:
Alsultany, Evelyn. Chapter 3, “Evoking Sympathy for the Muslim Woman” in Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11, pp. 71-99 [PDF provided]
* First Blackboard Post
Cultural Theories
12 September
Class 3: Orientalism
Said, Edward. “Shattered myths,” in Macfie, A. (ed). Orientalism: A Reader. (New York: NYU Press, 2000), 89-103
Said, Edward. 1979. Excerpts from “Orientalism” [PDF provided]
14 September
Class 4: Culture Talk
Mamdani, Mahmood. “Culture Talk” in Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War and the Roots of Terror (New York, Pantheon Books, 2004), 17-62 [PDF provided]
The Ottoman Empire, Colonialism and States (with an emphasis on maps and geography)
19 September
Class 5: The End of the Ottoman Empire & the Sykes-Picot Agreement
Watch “Promises and Betrayals - the Middle East” (1-hour documentary) History Channel documentary on YouTube. Write a timeline as you watch this!
Sykes-Picot Agreement [PDF provided]
21 September –
Class 6: Before World War I in Palestine, under the Ottoman Empire
Campos, Michelle. “Introduction” in Ottoman Brothers: Muslims, Christians and Jews in early twentieth-century Palestine (Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press, 2011), 1-19 [PDF provided]
Watch “1913 – Seeds of Conflict” YouTube (1-hour documentary)
26 September
Class 7: Minorities and Belonging
Storm, Lise. “Ethno-national minorities in the Middle East: Berbers, Kurds, and Palestinians,” in A Companion to the History of the Middle East. Choueiri, Y. (ed). (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008), 462-485 [PDF provided]
Shifts in Anthropology of the Middle East and Islam
28 September
Class 8: The Critical Turn in Anthropology
Lara Deeb and Jessica Winegar, “Anthropologies of Arab-Majority Societies,” Annual Review of Anthropology Vol. 41 (2012): 537-558.
[Available through the library website, under journals, type in the title of the journal (Annual Review of Anthropology), and then click on the “Annual Reviews” database, and then find the volume of the journal (41), scroll down to the “International Anthropology and Regional Studies” bar and you will be able to download the PDF of this article.]
3 October
Class 9: A 1950s Ethnography
Fernea, Elizabeth Warnock. Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village (Anchor Books, 1969) Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2: “Night Journey” & “The Sheik’s Harem”, 1-48
5 October
Class 10: Studying Shia’ Islam
Fernea, Elizabeth Warnock. Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village (Anchor Books, 1969) Chapters 17 and 18: “Muharram” & “Pilgrimage to Karbala”, 194-248
10 October
Class 11: The Islamic City
Janet Abu-Lughod, “The Islamic City – Historic Myth, Islamic Essence and Contemporary Relevance,” International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 19(2) (1987): 155-176
Midterm Exam
Class 12: 17 October
Prep for midterm and revision of maps
Class 13: 19 October
*Midterm
(Fall Break – no class 24 October)
Class 14: 26 October
Revision of midterm and presentation from Amanda Steinberg, Librarian
*Begin research for your final paper and come to class ready to say a couple of sentences about a topic that you are interested in.
Tourism and Selling Arab Culture
31 October
Class 15: Bedouin and Nomadic life
Donald Cole “Where Have the Bedouin Gone?” Anthropological Quarterly 76, 2 (2003): 235-67
The Bedouin Way blog: http://www.thebedouinway.com/bedouin-blog/
2 November
Class 16: Gay (male) Tourism
Jared McCormick, “Hairy chest, will travel: tourism identities and sexualities in the Levant” Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies 7(3) (2011): 71-97
Gender
7 November
Class 17: Masculinity in Saudi Arabia
Menoret, Pascal. Joyriding in Riyadh: Oil, Urbanism and Road Revolt (Cambridge University Press, 2014). Chapter 2: “Repression and Fieldwork”, 21-60 [PDF provided]
9 November
Class 18: FGC and female sexuality
Gruenbaum, Ellen. 2006. “Sexuality Issues in the Movement to Abolish Female Genital Cutting in Sudan,” Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 20 (1): 121-138 [PDF provided]
*Last Blackboard post
14 November
Class 19: Education of Girls
Fida Adely, Gendered Paradoxes (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012)
Chapter 6: “Education for What? Women, Work and Development in Jordan” & Conclusion, 137-175 [PDF provided]
Media and Journalism
16 November
Class 20: Mobilizing Social Media Platforms
Stein, Rebecca. “StateTube: Anthropological Reflections on Social Media and the Israeli State” Anthropological Quarterly (2012), 85 (3), 893-916
Article stands in for Adi Kuntsman and Rebecca Stein, Digital Militarism
21 November
Class 21: Journalism and Ethnography
Fish, Adam. “Multi-sited Anthropology and New Media Journalism” Anthropology News, October 2009 p. 27 [PDF provided]
Shadid, Anthony. “Family Trees” and “Introduction: Bayt” in House of Stone, (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing New York, 2013), xiii-13 [PDF provided]
(Thanksgiving Break - no class 23 November)
Nations, States and Refugees
28 November
Class 22: No Class
30 November
Class 23: Refugees
Tobin, Sarah. MERIP. Spring 2016. “NGO Governance and Syrian refugee ‘’Subjects’ in Jordan” Middle East Report 278 (46): 4-11. Available online at MERIP.org
5 December
Class 24: Nation and State/Egypt
Lila Abu-Lughod, “The Ambivalence of Authenticity: National Culture in a Global World,” in Dramas of Nationhood: The Politics of Television in Egypt (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), 135-161 [PDF provided]
7 December
Class 25: Wrap up and class discussion
Final Paper
14 December
Final Paper due
18 December
Grades submitted
NOTE: In accordance with university policy, the final exam will be given during the final exam period and not on the last week of the semester
Assignments and Grading
Grading
Blackboard Posts: 25%
Midterm: 25%
Final Paper or Book Review: 40%
Class Participation/Attendance: 10%
Assignment / Description / Total PointsBlackboard Posts / Reflections on the readings and documentaries assigned for that class, 7 @ 10 points each / 70
Midterm / The midterm will consist of three sections: (1) map identifications, (2) key terms and (3) short essays / 100
Final Paper / 5-page final research paper on any topic within Anthropology of the Middle East or a book review on one of three books / 100
Class Participation/Attendance / Presence in the classroom for the duration of the class, participation in the discussions and class exercises / 100
Total Possible Points / 370
Blackboard Posts: These are not formal papers, but rather are an opportunity for you to react to and reflect on the readings and/or documentaries prior to class discussions. I will grade on the content and analysis of the class materials but these posts should be at least 150 words. There are some thought-provoking questions on Blackboard that you can use as prompts for your post. There are 13 slots available for 7 postings so you can choose what dates/classes to do your Blackboard posts. These reflections must be posted before the class in which we discuss that reading, and should reflect the full length of the assigned reading for that day. Late postings (i.e. submitted after the start of class) will not be counted. My comments on your posts are visible in the My Grades tab.
Midterm: There will be an in-class mid-term on October 19. In the case of a documented emergency that makes it impossible to sit for the exam as scheduled, students will take a makeup exam in an alternative format. The map portion will test on name of regions, present-day countries, capitals, bodies of water and historical colonial powers. The key terms section will test words and terms from the readings, documentaries and class lectures that you will be asked to define and explain. The short essay portion will require analysis of topics and issues covered in class. There will be a choice of questions for you to answer in 2 paragraphs, handwritten in blue books.
Final Paper: You can chose whether you write a research paper or book review. Both are due by midnight on December 14. Late papers will be docked 10 points for each day they are late and no paper will be accepted after December 17.
Research Paper
If you chose this option, the paper may be written on any topic within the field of Anthropology of the Middle East. I will grade this on the quality of your research, structure (introductory argument, content/proof in the middle, conclusion and references) and argument. The paper should be concise - no more than 5 pages (+references) and will require you to engage with several academic sources from outside the class – including at least 1 academic journal article. I will arrange for the librarian of the Middle East to come in to help orient you towards materials for this paper. (Contact information, Amanda Steinberg, )
Book Review
An alternative to a research paper, the book review should also be approximately 5 pages and based on one of these books:-
Adely, Fida Gendered Paradoxes: Educating Jordanian Women in Nation, Faith, and Progress (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012).
Kuntsman, Adi and Stein, Rebecca. Digital Militarism: Israel’s Occupation in the Social Media Age (Stanford University Press, 2015).
Menoret, Pascal. Joyriding in Riyadh: Oil, Urbanism and Road Revolt (Cambridge University Press, 2014).
While the class will read the assigned excerpts, I expect that you will read the book in its entirety, for your book review. I will grade this assignment on the following points:-
Pinpoint three main points on the content of the book
Explain how this is or is not an ethnography
Place the text in anthropological theory (old or new anthropology? Orientalist or post-Orientalist? How is the treatment of Islam in the text? Etc.), with quotes to prove your point
Discuss the role of the anthropologist in the collection of the material and how their approach to ethnography influenced their research findings (standpoint theory)
This book review may include outside material and answer other topics but must answer the points above.
Class Attendance & Participation: My expectation is that you will attend EVERY class and be on time. I count attendance at the start of class because your presence is crucial to your learning and to the overall class dynamic. In order to foster critical learning on this topic, we will have small group exercises, class discussions (and there maybe an occasional quiz). Nonetheless, even though class attendance is important, I recognize that life sometimes intervenes. If you are facing a situation that will cause you to be late or to miss class due to illness or an emergency, please email me before the start of class. If you will miss more than three sessions over the semester, please arrange a meeting with me to discuss it.
Classroom Electronics policy: While you may bring a laptop or tablet for note-taking and readings, I expect that you will not be checking social media or engaging in any other non-class related electronic activity, including texting, during class. Audio or video recordings of my lectures or classes (including breakout discussions) are not allowed.