2018-19 Pomona College Catalog 
    
    Mar 29, 2024  
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HIST148 PO - The Middle East in Europe and Europe in the Middle East: 1798-2017

When Offered: Last offered spring 2018.
Instructor(s): H. Rezai
Credit: 1

In public discourse in Europe and the US, centuries of social, political, and cultural encounters between diverse Middle Eastern societies and the West are often reduced to interactions between the so-called homogenous religious culture of Islam and heterogeneous secular cultures of the West. At the same time, in some countries of the Middle East the West is reduced to its colonial past and to its military and technological superiority. The aim of this course is to examine the multiple historical aspects of encounters and exchanges between these regions since the late 18th century. Our journey will start with foundational works that mark the beginning of the era of enlightenment, which is characterized by rationalism, secularism, and individualism and which transformed Europe and the world. We will investigate how this progress, alongside the technological revolution, led to the gradual domination of the West across the globe, including in the Middle East. This course will explore a range of conceptual models to investigate how Middle Eastern intellectuals and societies have responded to colonialism, nationalism, socialism, democracy, freedom, and citizenship. Furthermore, we will examine the implications of these historical debates for countries like Sudan, Egypt, Iran, and Turkey in the present. Letter grade only.
Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
Area 3



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