Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Summer 2024 - HIST 485 D100

Studies in History I (4)

Middle East Through Popular Culture

Class Number: 4773

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    May 6 – Aug 2, 2024: Thu, 11:30 a.m.–2:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    45 units including nine units of lower division history.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Special topics.

COURSE DETAILS:

The Middle East Through Popular Culture Materials: From the Late Ottoman Empire to the Interwar Period

The overall aim of the course is to explore the groundbreaking changes that the Ottoman Empire underwent during the long 19th century and to discuss the nation-building projects and struggles in the Interwar period. Although a significant portion of the Ottoman Empire was officially transformed into the Republic of Turkey as a modern nation-state, it is a nationalistic fallacy to dismiss the shared Ottoman context for the newly emerging countries that were formerly part of the empire. The prevalence of nationalist historiography both in Turkish Studies and Arab and Middle East Studies can be well observed in the courses offered not only at universities in the region but in European and North American Universities. One can find number of courses that examine transition from the Ottoman Empire to Turkish Republic; and also courses that investigate History of Arab World or specific Middle Eastern countries during the 19th and early 20th century.

This course attempts to treat the shared Ottoman context well and go beyond the aforementioned binary and examine the experiences and challenges of the post-Ottoman Middle Eastern History concurrently. Our main endeavor in this course will be examining the transformation of the Middle Eastern societies and more specifically how these changes were treated by the novelists, intellectuals, and directors. To this end, even though we will be consulting academic articles, textbooks, and book chapters to lay the groundwork for further discussion, predominantly, we will be using less-conventional sources including novels, short stories, and TV series and movies.

Grading

  • Active class participation 20%
  • In-class presentation of one of the week’s readings 20%
  • Research paper outline 10%
  • In-class presentation of the research paper 15%
  • Research paper 35%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

1-)Felâtun Bey and Râkim Efendi: An Ottoman Novel

2-) The Time Regulation Institute

3-)Stepmother Earth

 


Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

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