Global Arc

The Arabian Nights (The Thousand and One Nights) is a masterpiece of world literature. However, its reception and popularity are fraught with challenges and problems. This course traces the origins of this authorless collection, examines its transmission in the Arabic tradition, and its entry into Europe. Students will read some of its most famous story cycles and become familiar with the major debates surrounding them. Besides reading related literary works from medieval Arabic literature, we will look at the influence of the Nights on modern authors and filmmakers. All readings will be in English.

This course in comparative feminist thought begins with a short survey of feminist thought in the West, studying first-wave liberal feminism, second-wave feminism, and Marxist feminism, before moving to feminist thought and critiques of feminism in 20th and 21st century Iran. It explores how conservative and reformist thinkers in Iran argue for reform in shari'a law as it relates to women, define the scope of political rights for women, depict the status of women in Islam, address Western feminisms, and draw connections between how women fare in the private sphere and how they fare intellectually, spiritually, socially, and politically.

The course will introduce students to the history of the Iranian world through the lens of memory. Organized by theme, students will be introduced to a wide variety of ancient, medieval, and modern sources as they investigate the history of the various elements that are frequently invoked as essential to Iranian identity. The course will attempt to interrogate the notion of "Iranian civilization" through an investigation of a variety of themes ranging from geography and ethnicity to art and humanism to kingship and revolution. Students will work closely with archival and visual material in collections in and around Princeton.

The major works of Near Eastern literature (in translation) from the earliest texts to those of the present day, with emphasis on close reading and analysis. The course will focus on individual texts and problems, such as narration, the representation of reality and mental events, the idea of character, and notions of form and unity. Readings will include: Gilgamesh, Genesis, the Qur'an, early Arabic poetry, Persian lyric poetry, short stories, and other genres by modern writers (Hedayat, Jamalzadeh, Pamuk, and Nafisi).

An introduction to modern Hebrew literature, represented by selected translations from major works of the last hundred years, in prose (Agnon, Almog, Izhar, Kahana-Carmon, Mendele, Oz, and Yehoshua) and in poetry (Alterman, Amichai, Bialik, Rabikovitch, Zach, and others). Two 90-minute classes.

This course will explore how the fundamental human issues of love and death are treated in the art of narrative in the Hebrew literary tradition, a tradition that spans three millennia. We will read closely and discuss diverse works ranging from Biblical narrative to contemporary Israeli fiction (short stories and novels), noting shifts in genre, narrative technique, and focus. The larger question the course asks is about the interplay and tension between the past and the present in this rich literary tradition.

Focusing on the ethnic cleansing of the Ottoman Muslims in Europe from the eighteenth to early twentieth centuries, this course examines the nationalization of religious identities. Special attention will be devoted to the expulsion of the Ottoman Muslims into Turkey and their gradual amalgamation into the Turkish nation. Students will develop a framework within which to evaluate some of the most significant recent and current events in former Ottoman lands: conflict in the Middle East; the Armenian catastrophe; Kurdish nationalism; the Balkan Wars; recent conflicts in Kosovo, Bosnia and Chechnya.

An introduction to the history and culture of the Jews in the Middle Ages (under Islam and Christendom) covering, comparatively, such topics as the interrelationship between Judaism and the other two religions, interreligious polemics, political (legal) status, economic role, communal self-government, family life, and cultural developments. Two 90-minute classes.

Jerusalem is considered a holy city to three faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In this course, students will learn the history of Jerusalem from its founding in pre-biblical times until the present. Over the course of the semester, we will ask: What makes space sacred and how does a city become holy? What has been at stake - religiously, theologically, politically, nationally - in the many battles over Jerusalem? What is the relationship between Jerusalem as it was and Jerusalem as it was (and is) imagined?

An introduction to Classical Arabic Literature from pre-Islamic Arabian poetry to 17th century burlesque tales from Cairo, this course familiarizes you with the authors and texts that shaped the classical Arabic literary heritage. Poetry, tales, and fables will acquaint you with genres such as the qasida, ghazal, and the maqamat, providing a sense of literature at a time when Arabic was the language of writing from Spain to India. Keeping in mind our positionality in relation to the material, we will address questions of genre, periodization, translation, and aesthetic judgment.