GLOBAL HISTORY, THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

Learning Objectives

• Methods and approaches

  Students will acquire approaches, methods and contents of global history. They will be able to situate the history of the Middle East in relation to Europe and to apprehend the internal dynamics of development

• The Modern Middle East and North Africa

  Students will acquire approaches, methods and contents of global history. They will be able to situate the history of the Middle East in relation to Europe and to apprehend the internal dynamics of development

Course Structure

• The Modern Middle East and North Africa

  Lessons are organised around lectures and students’ paper presentations. Historical documents, newspapers, maps, film excerpts, photos and videos will be used during class activities.

Detailed Course Content

• Methods and approaches

  Global History - World History – Transnational History - Internationalism - International Relations, Global Institutions. Empires - Imperialism - Decolonisation - Nationalism - Nation states –Politics and Religion – European Union Foreign Policy - Migration – Human Rights .

• The Modern Middle East and North Africa

  The course is focused on the modern and contemporary history of the Middle East and North Africa from the French invasion of Egypt (1798) to the end of the twentieth century. Local and regional events will be situated within the global context. The main topics to be dealt with are 'defensive developmentalism', imperialism, the national struggles for liberation, the process of nation-state building and contemporary conflicts in the area. Particular attention is devoted to political ideologies such as modernism, pan-Arabism, Islamism, socialism.

Textbook Information

• Methods and approaches

  Norman Lowe, Mastering Modern World History, Palgrave Master Series, New York 2013, 5th edition.

• The Modern Middle East and North Africa

  James L. Gelvin, The Modern Middle East. A History, New York-Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011 (3rd edition).