HUAS95615 - "Orientalism" and the Study of the Middle East

Course Description

More than just an artistic style, “Orientalism” is a groundbreaking concept that revealed the deep influences that European scholarship and attitudes had on the making of the Middle East. By studying how European--and American--scholars and politicians have historically viewed and studied the region, this course will show the relationship between imagination and reality in the making of the contemporary Middle East. This course will begin with an overview of how Western views of the Middle East shifted by the 19th century and follows how it continues to shift to present day. In so doing, students will chart how representations of the region--scholarly or otherwise--affected the development of the region during the European colonial period until modern day. Through lectures, readings, and short films, students will examine the fissures that exist among the experts and will begin to understand the deep currents of European and American thought on the making of the modern Middle East.