Two Exciting New Courses for Fall 2012: Undergraduate & Graduate
We would like to alert you to a new courses available this fall that will be taught by Professor Kashani-Sabet:
HISTORY 188: T/Th, 12-1:20 pm, Undergraduate Course
Revolutionary Ideas, Ideologies of Revolution
in the Middle East
Ideas play an intangible role in defining culture and politics. In the contemporary Middle East, mass movements and revolutions have become a familiar feature of social and political life. This course surveys some of the major revolutions and ideologies that have caused significant change in the Middle East over the last century. We will examine icons of imperialism and consider varying sources of conflict within and between states. Novels, essays, and secondary works will comprise the bulk of the readings. The weekly assignments will focus on particular themes or on works that show the nature of political change in various contexts and geographic settings. Thematic texts will be supplemented with factual information to help the students put the ideas of revolt and protest in the proper historical context.
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HISTORY 640: Tuesdays, 1:30-4:20 pm, Graduate Course
From Coffeehouses to Internet Cafes: Consumer Culture in the Middle East
Why does consumer culture matter? Situated at the crossroads of economic, social, and cultural history, the history of consumption considers both the production of goods and patterns of expenditure deriving in part from consumer needs and tastes. Traditional economic historians did not always grapple with the ways in which people’s preferences for goods and services affected commerce and trade. Critics of these ideas have pointed out that, even when large economic processes such as mercantilism and imperialism imposed top-down economic policies, people showed agency in their consumer choices. The readings in this course will help us to identify consumer trends in Middle Eastern societies and to explain their significance in discourses of modernity.