Faculty of Arts & Sciences

An introduction to the Semitic language of Akkadian, primarily through the Old Babylonian dialect and cuneiform writing system as used during the time of Hammurabi (c. 1750 BCE). Students learn the fundamentals of grammar and the writing system, as well as the most common cuneiform signs in official and cursive script. Readings span a variety of genres, including private letters, judicial documents, literary and religious texts, divinatory compendia, legal code, and royal inscriptions. The course also briefly introduces students to examples of texts from other periods and dialects of the Akkadian language for cultural and comparative purposes.

The Gilgamesh Epic.

An introduction to the reading and copying of cuneiform tablets. As part of the class, students will have an opportunity to study a wide range of tablets from the Harvard Semitic Museum collection, dating from the Pre-Sargonic through the Seleucid period. The course will also provide general information on the history of cuneiform script, tablet types and shapes, organization of script on various types of documents, and sealing practices.

Readings in representative historical, epistolary, literary, and economic texts with emphasis on the grammar.

Focuses on juridical aspects of every-day life in 1st millennium BCE Babylon. Reports of legal cases, letters and contracts allow vivid insights into interactions between persons and enhances their sometimes moving biographies. Explores the fates of murderers, thieves, slaves and foundlings; characteristics of legal decision-making bodies and the royal interventions in private law will be discussed.

Readings of texts in the Assyrian dialect of the period c. 1920-1720 BCE. Examples include loans and quittances, caravan texts, commercial records, partnership contracts, business letters, family and state law, political treaties, royal inscriptions, incantations and literature. The course will integrate the textual record with an overview of Anatolian history and material culture during the period in question.

This course provides an overview of the history of the ancient Near East, with a focus on ancient Mesopotamia. It begins with the advent of writing in the late fourth millennium BCE and ends with the fall of Babylon to Cyrus the Great, in 539 BCE. The course combines archaeological, art historical, and textual data to explore the extraordinarily rich history of this region.

A survey of the history and major concerns of ancient Mesopotamian religion from prehistoric times down to the reign of Alexander the Great. Among the topics treated are the key figures of the Sumero-Babylonian pantheon, the major mythological compositions (read in translation), personal religion, cosmogonies and theogonies, magic and divination, Mesopotamian temples, and cult and ritual. The course makes rich use of ancient iconography.

What are the essential elements of human society? Have our fundamental conditions developed, and how? Can we use themes from ancient history to think about contemporary society and culture? These questions are in focus in this Societies of the World (SW) course for the Harvard College Program in General Education, which explores the earliest human civilizations in the region of Mesopotamia c. 3500-300 bce. Few elements in the way we live and organize ourselves today are to be taken for granted. There is - and has always been - a wealth of ways in which humans live. But biologically we are the same as our ancestors of 5500 years ago, at the dawn of history. Any likeness or difference between `us and them' is therefore likely to be a product of history and culture. `Ancient Lives' builds upon this realization to inspire a critical way of thinking about society in the broadest possible scope. Areas explored during the course are selected for their relevance across the range of contemporary life - they include freedom, music, public health, food, jurisprudence, trade, the visual arts, science, sexuality, religion and political power. You will learn about how societies and individuals have dealt with change on multiple levels, from large-scale societal revolutions to personal transformation. Having taken this course, you will have gained a fundamental understanding and appreciation of human life in the broadest scope, as well as of your own life as a part of history. You will be able to critically assess contemporary discourses on the study of `the other' in past and present; engage with core concepts of human society, such as justice, beauty, value and belief on a broad historical base; be familiar with examples of classical social theory and thinkers through concrete cases in which their work has been applied to or shaped by the study of the past; and acquire skills in presenting scholarly work to a general audience.

An examination of what law was and how it operated in ancient Israel through its primary expression in the Hebrew Bible. Attention to the wider contexts of law in the ancient Near East, especially Mesopotamia, in which biblical law originated, and to the legacy of biblical law in the subsequent traditions of early Judaism.

This course deals with major changes in climate and environment affecting humans, and the various ways in which Near Eastern societies have endured, mastered, or destroyed themselves, from an ecological perspective. Importance is placed on a diachronic outlook on dynamic human-environment interactions as understood through archaeology, particularly with reference to the challenge of sustainability in the so-called Anthropocene. A major focus of this course will be on case studies from around the eastern Mediterranean and greater Near East during the Holocene, but particularly dealing with examples from the Levant (modern Israel/Palestine, Syria, southern Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan). Topics will cover different types of environments and geological processes found in the Near East, practical sampling and analytical procedures, and major categories of anthropological interpretation.

This course combines biblical historiography and archaeology to critically evaluate many of the debatable incongruities between text and material evidence. Various periods of biblical history will be studied within their greater Near Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean context, looking specifically at results of archaeological excavations and evidence from extra-biblical textual sources. Beginning with the composition of biblical text and biblical chronology, readings and lectures will then navigate through biblical theories and archaeological evidence from the primordial creation stories until post-exilic Second Temple Judaism. Additionally, the history of "biblical archaeology" will be traced until the present day, especially including portrayals in popular media, while highlighting the good, the bad, and the very ugly.

A survey of the Hebrew Scriptures as viewed in their historical and cultural setting in the ancient Near East and as interpreted by modern scholarship, with attention to this literature as an expression of the religious thought of Israel and one of the formative influences on Western civilization.

A critical introduction to the literature and theology of the Hebrew Bible, considered in light of the historical contexts of its formation and the interpretive contexts of its reception within Judaism and Christianity. The course, the first part of a divisible, year-long sequence, will focus on the major biblical narrative traditions, the Pentateuch and Former Prophets.

A critical introduction to the literature and theology of the Hebrew Bible, considered in light of the historical contexts of its formation and the interpretive contexts of its reception within Judaism and Christianity. The course, the second part of a divisible, year-long sequence, will focus on the Latter Prophets and the Writings.

The study of ancient Israelite religion and culture in comparative historical context. Topics examined include conceptions of divinity, prophecy, law, kingship, and cult. Through such topics the aim is to see how Israel related to other cultures of the ancient Near East and, thus, of what value the study of the other cultures has in understanding the character of Israelite religion itself.

This course aims to increase facility with Septuagint Greek by reading representative prose portions of the Septuagint and studying the peculiarities of the grammar inductively. The basics of Hellenistic Greek will be reviewed as necessary.

A close critical reading and interpretation of works thought to derive from the Wisdom tradition of ancient Israel, through the Second Temple period. The workings of the world and the ways of God as they appear in works such as Proverbs, Job, Qohelet, Ben Sira, some Psalms, the Wisdom of Solomon, Fourth Maccabees, and Pseudo-Phocylides as well as narratives about such figures as Joseph, Esther, and Daniel. Egyptian and Mesopotamian antecedents and parallels briefly considered. Emphasis on matters of worldview and literary form.

A close critical reading in English of the book of Genesis with an eye both to the storytellers' techniques and to the moral and theological dimensions of the text. Emphasis will be given to literary and religious rather than historical and editorial issues.

This course will provide an in-depth examination of the biblical idea of divine election, that is. the notion that God specially favors certain individuals and nations, a notion that sits at the heart of ancient Israel's theological self-understanding. Beginning with the narratives of sibling rivalry in Genesis and then turning to other relevant texts from the Hebrew Bible (all read in English), as well as on occasion from the Apocrypha, the New Testament and rabbinic literature, we shall explore how the Hebrew Bible conceives of election, what it entails for those chosen, and what the Hebrew Bible's election theology implies about the three-way relationship among God, Israel, and the nations of the world, and conclude by surveying how early Christianity and rabbinic Judaism each appropriated ancient Israel's election theology in unique but related ways.

Not your usual introduction to the Hebrew Bible. Through a close study of biblical texts (in translation) that are at once strange, shocking, raw, even bawdy, this course aims to reveal the variety and excitement of biblical literature and the ancient Israel that lies behind it.

Ancient Mesopotamia was the world's first literate urban civilization. This class will examine the origins and evolution of cities, temples, and government from two complementary perspectives: the archaeological record and cuneiform inscriptions in translation. Activities will include visits to museum collections (Peabody, Semitic Museum, Boston MFA), hands-on experience with creating cuneiform tablets, and virtual tours of southern Iraq using satellite imagery.

A consideration of the concept of the biblical motif of divine choice of individuals and groups, with close reading of representative texts in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Knowledge of Hebrew not required.

This course focuses on the art of recovering the text of the Hebrew Bible using Hebrew and Greek manuscripts as well as other early textual witnesses.

This course follows human societies in the region of the Levant (modern Israel/Palestine, Syria, southern Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan) from the earliest sedentary communities through the Iron Age. This extensive survey through time focuses on current archaeological research, emphasizing major aspects of: geography and chronology, art and architecture, modes of social organization, explanations for major socio-cultural changes, social identity, domestic life, religious expression, and issues of gender. Societies and areas under investigation include: the Canaanites, Amorites, Phoenicia, Philistia, Israel, Judah, Aram, the Neo-Hittites, Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Arabia.

This course deals with major changes in climate and environment affecting humans, and the various ways in which Near Eastern societies have endured, mastered, or destroyed themselves, from an ecological perspective. Importance is placed on a diachronic outlook on dynamic human-environment interactions as understood through archaeology, particularly with reference to the challenge of sustainability in the so-called Anthropocene. A major focus of this course will be on case studies from around the eastern Mediterranean and greater Near East during the Holocene, but particularly dealing with examples from the Levant (modern Israel/Palestine, Syria, southern Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan). Topics will cover different types of environments and geological processes found in the Near East, practical sampling and analytical procedures, and major categories of anthropological interpretation.

An exploration of social, historical, interpretive, and theological issues associated with the so-called Septuagint and its complex relationship to early Judaism and Christianity. Emphases include origins, eschatology, messianism, halakhah, New Testament backgrounds, and biblical theology.

Introduces students to the phonology and script of classical/modern standard Arabic and covers the basic morphology and syntax of the written language. Emphasis on the development of the four skills (reading, speaking, listening, and writing). Samples of modern (contemporary) and classical styles of writing introduced into basic syllabus, and audio-visual material from the contemporary Arabic media. Required textbooks: (1) Alif Baa (with multimedia), 2nd edition. (2) Al-Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya:, Part I, 2nd edition.

A thorough review and continuation of literary (classic and modern) Arabic grammar with emphasis on reading, writing, speaking and listening comprehension. Course materials draw from both classical and modern Arabic literature and culture. Required textbook: Al-Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-Arabiyya, Part II with DVDs, 2nd edition.

A continuation of Arabic Ba. Textbook: Al-Kitaab, volume II, 2nd edition.

Concentration on readings from classical Islamic texts, with emphasis on Qur'an, hadith, sira, and tafsir literature; directed readings and textual analysis; review of classical Arabic morphology and syntax.

Continuation of Arabic 130a or may be taken separately with permission of the instructor. Readings from corpus of "Adab" (Belles-Lettres) literature, as well as various pieces of classical Arabic poetry.

Reading and discussion of selections from Arabic newspapers and journals on contemporary political, social, religious, and cultural issues in the Arab world. Emphasis on developing advanced reading and speaking skills, with some attention to writing and listening comprehension. Required textbook: al-Kitaab -Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-Arabiyya, Part III with DVDs.

A continuation of Arabic 131a or may be taken separately with permission of the instructor. Continued emphasis on advanced reading and speaking skills, and introduction to contemporary Arabic fiction, with emphasis on short stories and essays. Required textbook: al-Kitaab -Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-Arabiyya, Part III with DVDs.

This course emphasizes the development of advanced speaking and listening skills by exposing students to the contemporary media and academia. Some reading and writing will be required, but classes will revolve around oral presentations and directed conversations.

Introduces students to Colloquial Levantine Arabic of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Israel/Palestine. The course emphasizes the development of speaking and listening skills through the reinforcement of grammar and vocabulary.

Introduces students to Egyptian Arabic, the most widely recognized dialect in the Arab world. The course emphasizes the development of speaking and listening skills through the reinforcement of grammar and vocabulary.

This constitutes the final year of Modern Arabic track. Representative readings from contemporary literature and culture will form bases of discussions on major themes in contemporary Arab society.

A continuation of Arabic 241ar.

Invisible Societies in the Contemporary Arabic Novel. The course explores aspects of the contemporary Arabic novel and how authors fashion literary constructions of marginalized peoples, heteroglossia, and tensions between cosmopolitanism and localism.

Corporeal States: Body, Nation, Text and Beyond in Contemporary Arabic Novel

Reinforcement of advanced classical Arabic grammar and stylistics, and introduction to various genres of historical, geographical and biographical texts.

Reinforcement of advanced classical Arabic grammar and stylistics, and introduction to the genres of usul, kalam, mantiq and falsafa.

Reinforcement of advanced classical Arabic grammar and stylistics, and introduction to various genres of poetry and prose (adab).

Reinforcement of advanced classical Arabic grammar and stylistics, and introduction to various genres of Quran, Hadith, Sira and Tafsir.

Literary and historical texts of the Arabo-Islamic cultures of Spain (al-Andalus), Sicily, and North Africa. Examines the emergence of a "Maghribi" identity amidst cross-cultural relations with the Christian North and the Muslim East.

Readings on selected topics in Islamic philosophy.

Readings on selected topics in Islamic theology.

Readings on selected topics in Islamic intellectual history.

Introduction to Aramaic focusing on Biblical Aramaic, but with selections also from other ancient Aramaic texts including Elephantine, Qumran and the Targumim.

Readings in Egyptian, Palestinian and targumic Aramaic, with special focus on the grammar, literary form and function of the Targumim.

Introduction to classical Armenian grammar and reading of selected texts.

Introduction to the spoken and literary language of the Republic of Armenia.

Armenian magical texts include codices, scrolls, and separately-printed saints' lives used for good or ill, containing magic squares and symbols, the latter mostly deriving from Islamic magic. The course will consider literary sources of magic texts (e.g., the prayer Havatov khostovanim, the meditations of Narek), parallel traditions (esp. Christian Ethiopia), and the consideration of the paintings in Armenian magical manuscripts from the standpoint of the genre of Outsider Art.

The text of St. Grigor Narekats'i Matean olbergut'ean, with other mystical texts from Armenian and Eastern Christian traditions.

Reading in translation of The Wild Men of Sasun, with analysis of native historical and mythological sources, and thematic comparison to epic poetry of the neighboring Iranians (Ossetic Narts, Persian Shah-nameh, Kurdish epic songs), Turks (Dede Korkut), and Greeks (Digenes Akrites).

A survey of the history and culture of the Armenian people from earliest times to the Genocide and Soviet era.

A survey of the great innovators and visionaries: Bedros Tourian, Misak Medzarents, Yeghia Demirjibashian, Daniel Varouzhan, Siamanto, Vahan Teryan, Yeghishe Charents, and their English, Russian, and French colleagues and translators. The course spans the fateful epoch from the mid-19th century to the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.

A thorough and rigorous introduction to Biblical Hebrew, with emphasis on grammar in the first term, and translation of biblical prose in the second. Daily preparation and active class participation mandatory.

Readings in prose books; review of grammar.

Readings in prose and poetic books; review of grammar.

Advanced reading in selected biblical prose texts and intensive review of the grammar of Biblical Hebrew.

Advanced reading in selected biblical poetic texts and intensive review of the grammar of Biblical Hebrew.

This course will trace the changes in Hebrew grammar in its ancient phases through the study of inscriptional, biblical, and extra-biblical texts.

This language course explores the fundamentals of Middle Egyptian, the classical stage of Egyptian hieroglyphs used throughout much of ancient Egyptian history. Lessons in the Egyptian writing system, grammar, and culture, with weekly vocabulary and exercises, will introduce the language and verbal system in a systematic fashion. By the end of the semester, students may begin to read selections from Egyptian classic stories and historical texts. Visits to the Semitic Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in order to read ancient hieroglyphic inscriptions on the original monuments, may also be included.

Continues Middle Egyptian I from the spring 2013 semester. Students will complete the introductory grammar book lessons, and move on to read a selection of basic stories, historical and biographical inscriptions, in the original hieroglyphs. Visits to the Egyptian galleries of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in order to read some of the ancient hieroglyphic inscriptions on the original monuments, may also be included.

Examines several literary genres, from the Pyramid Age through at least the New Kingdom (ca. 2500-1000 BCE), including royal decrees, autobiographies, the Pyramid Texts, legal documents, letters to the living (and dead), love stories and poetry, military texts, religious rituals, and tomb robber court trial transcripts. Special emphasis on classical tales of the Middle Kingdom ("The Shipwrecked Sailor," "The Story of Sinuhe," etc.). Lectures, class discussion; no prerequisites.

Old Egyptian or Middle Egyptian Texts

An examination of the forms, methods, and aims of scriptural interpretation within the Hebrew Bible itself. Sessions will combine consideration of recent scholarship on "inner-biblical exegesis" with close readings of biblical texts (narrative, legal, prophetic, apocalyptic, hymnic) in Hebrew.

Introduction to Tannaitic and Amoraic Hebrew with readings from talmudic and midrashic literature.

Topic for 2014-15 TBA; topic for 2013-14 was "Current scholarship on the formation of the literature of the Hebrew Bible."

Topic for 2015-16 to be determined.

An in-depth textual analysis of the Sifra, its exegetical techniques, and its relation to other rabbinic documents.

A close critical reading of Genesis 37-50 and the Book of Esther in Hebrew. Emphasis on literary design and religious messages and on the influence of the story of Joseph upon the Book of Esther.

An overview of the methods, questions, and controversies in the field of Jewish Studies over the last two centuries.

An examination of Genesis 22 and its afterlife in ancient Judaism, early Christianity, and the Qur'an. Ample consideration of the interpretation and expansion of the story in modern theology and of critical responses to the story.

A close reading of Exodus 13:17-15:21 in the context of the Hebrew Bible together with its ancient Near Eastern background. Ample Hebrew readings in this block of material and parallel biblical texts.

A close examination of the book of Jeremiah, with special attention to its historical context and textual and literary history. Knowledge of Hebrew not required.

Close reading in Hebrew of selections from the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael with the goal of understanding the nature of biblical interpretation in rabbinic Judaism and the shape of rabbinic theology.

A close critical reading of the account of the early life of Moses in three contexts: (1) the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near Eastern world in which it took shape; (2) rabbinic Judaism in Late Antiquity; and (3) medieval Jewish commentary. Texts to be read in Hebrew include Exodus 2 and a selection of rabbinic midrashim and medieval commentaries on it.

An introduction to the pre-Islamic languages and literatures of Parthian and Sasanian Iran and Zoroastrian sacred texts, and their alphabets.

Further study of the pre-Islamic languages and literatures of Parthian and Sasanian Iran and Zoroastrian sacred texts, and their alphabets.

An introduction to the teachings of the Prophet Zarathushtra and the beliefs and practices of his followers, from the Achaemenid Persians, Parthian Arsacids, and Persian Sasanians to the Parsis of India, based on translated primary sources and secondary researches.

A course of supervised research in subjects related to the study of Islam and Muslim societies not treated in regular courses.

An introductory survey of the development of Islamic theology and philosophy. We will examine and discuss some of the central problems that were much debated through the centuries, such as: the relationship between philosophy and faith; whether humans possess free will; how to understand apparently anthropomorphic expressions in Scripture; whether acts are good because God commands them or God commands them because they are good; and proofs for the existence of God.

The course is a continuation of Islamic Civilizations 145a but may be taken independently. It explores the thought of some of the major Islamic philosophers and theologians in the 19th and 20th centuries: Muhammad Abduh, Muhammad Iqbal, Said Nursi, Abu l-Ala Maududi, Sayyid Qutb, Ali Shariati, Murtaza Mutahheri and Mohammed Arkoun.

Al-Ghazali (d.1111) is generally recognized to be one of the most influential of all Muslim religious thinkers. A prominent theologian and jurist, he experienced a spiritual crisis at the height of his career, and as a consequence explored mysticism (Sufism) and worked out a powerful synthesis between respect for the externals of the Islamic religion and the mystics' stress on the interior life. In this course, we will look in particular at his account of his spiritual crisis; his critical engagement with the Islamic Philosophers; and some of the more mystical works that he wrote toward the end of his life, including his theodicy, his meditations on the Qur'anic dictum that "God is the Light of the Heavens and the Earth", and select chapters from his great summa "The Revival of the Religious Sciences". All readings will be in English.

The aim of this seminar is to study the evolution of Islamic thought and political practices in Muslim societies from the 19th to the early 21st centuries. Attention will be devoted to the patterns of interaction between the Muslim World and the West because it is our assumption that these patterns contribute to influence ideological formations and modes of religious/political mobilizations in the Muslim World. By the end of the eighteenth century, much of the Muslim World was in "decline" whereas European imperial powers, mainly France and Great Britain, were on the rise. The course will explore the response of Muslim societies and intellectuals to the rise of European prominence. The major 19th century reformist movements that appeared in the Muslim World will be discussed, ranging from movements advocating mild reform to those rejecting all influence of "Western civilization" and advocating a return to the Tradition of Muhammad. In the twentieth century, virtually all the Muslim World came under European colonial domination. During colonial rule and after, the Muslim world experienced major transformations which affected the nature and administration of law, politics and society. It is in this context, that the new Islamic revival that some have called "Islamism" was articulated as an alternative to Westernization. The course will address the rise of contemporary "Islamism," as an alternative to Western domination and modernization/Westernization. The major theorists of political Islam as well as the different trajectories of "Islamism" in diverse Muslim societies will be covered. The impact of political Islam in the West will also be addressed. The final part of the course will assess the trajectories of political Islam and address the ongoing debates on post-Islamism, secularism and modernity.

Unknown in Africa before the jihad against the Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan, suicide bombing has become common place in the 21st century. From Algeria to Somalia through Libya, Mali and Nigeria, so- called Salafi jihadis have recruited and trained tens of thousands of combatants. Through cigarette and narcotic trafficking, hostage taking for ransom, and bank hold ups, they have procured huge financial resources, sophisticated weapons, and now constitute a serious security challenge not only to many countries of North Africa and the Sahel but also to their Western allies. This conference course will address the spread of jihadi groups in Muslim Africa (North Africa and the Sahel) after the cold war. The first part of the course will address the divergent theoretical interpretations of terrorism and address in particular the following questions: Is it greed that sustains civil wars or grievance? Does the root of terror lie in culture or politics? Is there any evidence that civilizations clashed after the cold war? The second part of the course will focus on select transnational Islamist movements, situated both in their local context of nation building and their larger regional contexts. Case studies will include Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in North Africa and the Sahel, the Harakat al-shabab al-mujahidin in the Horn of Africa, the Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region and the Gama'at islamiyya in Egypt and beyond.

This seminar will investigate the ways in which the production of knowledge affects the construction of authority in the Islamic world. It will look at how various forms of religious knowledge are acquired, legitimated, transmitted and/or contested within Muslim communities. Several types of knowledge will be: exoteric knowledge based on the Koran and other Islamic sciences, mystical knowledge as developed by the Sufis, and talismanic knowledge. Ulama trained in the exoteric sciences derived their authority from the conventional knowledge of the Koran, and religious sciences. Sufi masters derived theirs from their purported ability to explain the hidden meanings of the Koran, to provide spiritual training and guide the disciple in the path toward spiritual fulfillment. Finally, the credibility of talisman makers rested largely on their ability to use religious texts for purposes such as healing and bringing luck. Of course, the boundaries between these figures of authority are not rigid and some of them may engage in the activities of the other. The first part of the seminar will focus on pre-colonial Muslim societies and the second part on the impact of Western hegemony on the transmission of knowledge and construction of authority in the postcolonial Islamic world. Seminar participants will compare and contrast historical and contemporary experiences of transmission of knowledge and production of authority in various parts of the World of Islam and investigate the historical linkages between these regions.

The seminar will explore two important issues in relation to mobility and religion. The first is how geographic mobility affects the faith and religious practices of diasporas, and the second how migration influences the development of religion in the sending and receiving countries of immigrants? After a critical evaluation of the concept of religion, seminar participants will look at pre-modern types of migration (forced and voluntary) and different religious traditions, and analyze the social and personal transformations provoked by migration. We will explore in particular theoretical perspectives on diasporas and look at the religious experience of Jews in Africa. We will also discuss various expressions of African religions in the new world, including Islam in Antebellum America, and Afro-American Religions, as well as the Islamic pilgrimage tradition in West Africa and its impact on state formation in pre-colonial Africa. The second part of the seminar will be focused on Muslim globalizations. Increasing numbers of labor migrants, students and refugees from Muslim countries have settled in Western Europe and North America in the last three decades. Their numbers are estimated at some 40 million in the early twenty-first century, an unparalleled presence in history. While Western societies are moving away from organized religion, Muslim immigrant communities, by striving to carve a niche in Western Societies, have followed the opposite direction. Although most Western societies recognize the freedom of worship, the multiplication of Muslim institutions (such as mosques, shops, restaurants, schools, cultural centers, newspapers, and charities) has created growing anxiety in the secularizing Western societies. We will look at how Muslim intellectuals mediate the integration of Muslim through the reinterpretation of Islamic theology, as well as how Western states grapple with the issue of Muslim integration in the post-September 11th context of War on Terror.

As of 2009 according to the Pew Charitable Trust Survey of the Global Muslim population, 241 million Muslims lived south of the Sahara. This is about 15 percent of the Muslim global population. The course is designed to provide an understanding of the spread of Islam and the formation and transformation of Muslim societies in Sub-Saharan Africa. The course is organized in two parts. The first part of the course will focus on the history of Islamization of Africa, and topics will include the ways in which Islam came to Africa, the relationships of Islam to trade, the growth of literacy in Arabic and Ajami, the rise of clerical classes and their contribution to State formation in the pre-colonial period. The second part of the course will address Muslim responses to European colonial domination, and the varieties of Islamic expressions in the post-independence period (rise of Islamist, Shiite and Salafi jihadi movements) and Muslim globalization. In addition to the lectures, the course will include film showing, and two discussion sections: one in English and one in Arabic.

At the beginning of European colonial rule in the early 20th century, less than a half of the West African population was Muslim. By independence from European colonial rule in the early 1960s, close to 90 percent of many West African countries have been Islamized. More people converted to Islam during the six decades of European colonial rule than in the preceding thousand year of slow Islamization. The aim of this lecture course is to analyze contemporary West African Muslim societies with particular reference to the twenty and twenty first centuries. This course will look at how colonialism created a favorable ground for the spread of Islam. It will also address the main institutions and movements of modern Islam in West Africa as well as the postcolonial transformations in education, gender, the arts, interfaith relations etc. In addition to the discussion section in English, this lecture course will also offer a section in Arabic in which participants will be initiated to the intellectual production of Muslim intellectuals in Africa.

South Asia (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) is home to the largest concentration of Muslims in the world. This course introduces students to a variety of issues that have characterized the development and evolution of South Asian Muslim communities. While the course will briefly survey the historical development of Islamic and Muslim institutions in the region, its central focus will be the formation of identity - as expressed through language, literature, and the arts - among South Asian Muslim communities. The issues that influence these identities will be considered with regard to the constantly evolving religious and political contexts of South Asia. Special attention will be given to recent attempts to redefine Muslim religious identities through reform and revivalist movements as well as state policies of Islamization. We will look at the impact of these policies on issues such as the status of Muslim women, relations between Muslim and non-Muslims and the growth of sectarian tensions between Muslim groups. The course is appropriate for those who wish to acquire a bird's-eye view of the Islamic tradition in South Asia, as well as those interested in exploring some of the issues confronting Muslim populations in contemporary times.

This course will shed light on the historical transformation of the internal religious reforms of Islam in the 18th and 19th century into politicized and/or fundamentalist versions of Islam in the 20th century.

Examines the secondary literature in intellectual and social history, sociology and anthropology of Islamic education, religious scholars ('ulama) and religious authority in the Muslim world (19th-20th centuries). In the Spring of 2015, primary sources in Arabic will be examined in relation to each topic covered.

This lecture course provides an oversight over the history of Muslim Law, the fiqh, from the 8th to the 19th century. This system of legal and ethical norms is conceived as the continuous interpretation of the shari'a, the revealed principles and norms of law and ethics. In the "branches of the fiqh" (furu‘ al-fiqh) this interpretation, since the eighth century, takes the form of the production of legal and ethical norms. From the tenth century on, the texts of the methodology of fiqh (usul al-fiqh) attempt to create the norms for norm production. We will discuss the norms and the methodology of the law as well as the institutions that allowed it to spread over the whole of the Muslim World. The course will consistently focus on the methods through which changes in genres of legal literature, methods, institutions and norms were introduced and recognized during different periods of the fiqh's development. Special attention will be given to the changes that the system underwent from the 19th to the 21st century.

The aim of this seminar is to study the SCC's role in the transition processes between the presidencies of Nasser and Mubarak, on the one hand, the presidencies of Mubarak to Mursi and from Mursi to the situation of 2014. Under all these regimes the SCC 's task is to guarantee the state's abidance by its constitutional obligations in the field of legal procedure and democratic principles. In a first step we will compare the tasks assigned to the highest courts of the different branches of the judiciary in Egypt and the way in which the SCC is integrated into this hierarchy of this courts. In a second step we will study the way in which the SCC in the past acted as guarantor of constitutional norms with special consideration of Human Rights, the interpretation of Islamic Law as a constitutional source of national legislation and the state's prerogative of ruling under rules of emergence. Finally, we will focus on the role of the SCC as actor in the transition from the Mubarak to the Mursi presidency and from the Mursi regime to the regime under the control of the military that came into existence between July 2013 and February 2014. For the first and the second part we will mainly rely on the texts of the constitutions of 1971 and 1980 and on secondary literature on the court's jurisprudence. The third part will mainly be based on the texts of the constitutions of 2012 and 2014, on the political calendar of the years 2011-2014 and on BJ's translations of some of the most important decisions of the SCC during the 2011-2014 period and the analysis of their function in the transition process.

Concepts of human nature are systematically developed in early Islamic theology. By contrast, references to human nature in the texts of the applied law (furu‘ al-fiqh) are mostly passing remarks used to justify a particular norm but rarely systematized and generalized. In the methodology of the law (usul al-fiqh) references to the legal personality (dhimma) provide a bridge between the discussions on human nature in theology and the texts of the applied law. For a discussion of the theological concepts of nature the seminar will rely on the work of Josef van Ess and Bernard Weiss. BJ will provide a selection of texts on human nature translated from Arabic treatises on the applied law and the methodology of law written by authors of different law schools between the tenth and the thirteenth centuries.The purpose of the seminar is to understand in how far elements of natural law can be found in the legal and theological discussions of Islam from the 8th to the 12th century. We will discuss the secondary literature on natural law in Islam, published over the last decade and see, in how far it contains material that could help us to answer this question and how far it integrates the Muslim discussion of human nature.

<meta charset="utf-8" />In the secondary literature Muslim law and theology of the Middle Period of Islam are widely characterized as tradition-bound and oriented towards the past. Such an assessment can, in fact, be justified through references to many of the texts of both disciplines. But it ignores that important jurists and theologians in 11th- and 12th century Baghdad and elsewhere adopted a different approach to the tasks of their disciplines, seeing innovation (tajdid) as the characteristic of Muslim culture, law, and theology. In this seminar we will read (in Arabic or in the translations by BJ) philosophical, legal, and philological texts that define language, law, social and cultural practices as continuing processes of innovation. The philological debate on the divine or human "Instituting of language" (wa&#7693;&#8216; al-lugha) that was led from the 9th to the 16th century served as a general point of reference for these debates. It will also be the starting point of our discussions. This discussion has to be related to the translation movement that - from the 8th to the 10th century - helped to integrate natural sciences and philosophy into Islamic culture and religion. We will read Dimitri Gutas' history of this translation movement. In the second half of the seminar, we will focus on the fields to which scholars of the eleventh and twelfth centuries apply their concept of innovation and the way in which the scholarly and political milieu reacted to this conceptualization.</meta charset="utf-8">

<meta charset="utf-8">From the eighth century on, the construction of gendered spheres in the fiqh assigns to women the capacity to dominate and control certain spheres, such as the sphere of reproduction, the education of children through the first years of their life, some schools of law also assign only to women the right to report to courts and the outer world on acts and persons they have seen in the gendered spheres dominated by women. The seminar will try to establish a full list of such gendered spheres under feminine control. The reasons by which such gendered spheres are justified by the jurists are many: the women's intimacy has to be protected against the intrusion of the male gaze and touching that may stir the man's and the woman's sexual desire for each other. The seminar will discuss the growing list of reasons for additional veiling and seclusion in the writings of different schools of Sunni law. At the same time, an inverse development also takes place. The number of exceptional situations that require the uncovering of free (and slave) women in the presence of male strangers is constantly growing. Such situations as medical therapy or identification before a court require and justify the unveiling of women in the presence of strangers. As a result, a particular categorie of of women of high standing is developed who are exempt from these exceptions. We will try to follow the development of the casuistry on veiling and unveiling and to find a satisfying explanation for the many contradictions that characterize the arguments for veiling as developed in the legal literature of the classical period. Such an effort to come to terms with the notions of the legal development of veiling from the eighth to the nineteenth century will also allow us to understand better the fundamental change that has taken place in the functions attributed to veiling over the last 50 years.</meta charset="utf-8">

This is the first of three courses on the development of Islamic Modernism from the 18th to the 21st century. All three seminars focus on a notion of "Modernism" and "Modernity" that is not simply imported into the Middle East. We will, therefore, have to discuss concepts of "Modernity" that see modernity produced in Europe or the US and then imported into the Middle East in order to show their shortcomings. We will also have to look closely at discussions within the field of Islamic Studies that deny or defend the existence of an Islamic modernism before the second half of the 19th century. The underlying assumption of the course organization is that Islamic Modernism cannot be understood when it is cut off from the intellectual and religious history of the centuries preceding it. The first of these three courses will therefore focus on the 18th-century religious reform movements: the Muwahhidun in the Arabian Peninsula, the Sufi thinkers in Morocco, Sudan, Libya and Upper Egypt. These movements challenged dominant forms of scholastic thought, legal reasoning, and historical consciousness, as well as the barriers built by them that denied non-theologians and non-jurists the right to interpret revelation and Islamic normativity.

<meta charset="utf-8">This is the second of the three seminars on Islamic Modernism. It treats the period between 1870-1970. It focuses on the development, within a colonialist context, of the learned Islamic modernism that develops in Egypt during the last third of the 19th century in the spheres of Qur'anic exegesis, the reinterpretation of Islamic normativity in a way that is compatible with the institutions of the modern nation state. This modernism also pleads for a selective reception of modern sciences from the West. This type of Islamic modernism is best represented by Muhammad &#8216;Abduh, the mufti of Egypt at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. &#8216;Abduh sees in the earliest period of Islam, the lifetime of the Prophet and the first four caliphs, the model by which all Islamic societies have to abide. The Muslim societies of the 19th and the 20th centuries that deviate from this model are characterized by him as living in "ignorance" or "paganism" (jahiliyya), much as the pre-Islamic societies. This approach leads to a devaluation of the historical forms of political organization, law, and science that were developed after the early model period, a development that facilitates the adaptation of Islam to the requirements of a modern national state</meta charset="utf-8">

The third seminar on Islamic Modernism focuses on the end of Arab Liberalism on the level of political parties and the loss of its intellectual focus and influence on the debates of modern Islam. Since the Nasser period liberal politics and liberal public debates have no longer been compatible with the types of authoritarian states that characterize the post-colonial period and that now claim to represent modernity. The Muslim mass movements that had attacked the state of the liberals find themselves also persecuted by new forms of military authoritarianism. It is the reaction to the Iranian Revolution of 1979 that requires a new outlook on Islam and its relation to modernity by Iranian and Arab intellectuals. It is in opposition to the authoritarianism of the Islamic Republic that Iranian intellectuals develop new forms of Islamic hermeneutics that open the horizon for a new understanding of Islam and of politics, leave more space for oppositional forces, and assign more importance to the struggle for more individual and collective rights. This new outlook is not restricted to Iran and to Shi'i intellectuals. The Iranian developments have encouraged a new understanding of Islam and a growing opposition against authoritarian states, developments that were visible since the 1990s also in the Arab world. The growing role of non-Islamist political activists during that period shows the widespread disappointment with the Muslim Brothers and the concept of an Islamic State, but it does not seem to lead to a renaissance of liberalism. The question which political and cultural role Islamic modernism is going to play in the near future is hard to answer. The seminar does not pretend to answer it.

A seminar for graduate students focusing on current scholarship on Islamic civilization in South Asia.

An introduction to the cultural history of Jewish life in the Middle East. Provides an overview of the changing administrative contexts that historically governed the lives of minority populations in the Mamluk, Ottoman and Modern periods, and examines historical modes of Jewish community-building, strategies of survival, and cultural production in these settings. Finally, the course focuses on the diverse fates Middle Eastern Jewish communities in the 20th century. Readings will focus primarily on historical and anthropological accounts, though literary, cinematic and biographical sources will also be included.

This course explores the diverse functions of scripture within the literature of the Dead Sea Scrolls, focusing in particular on the forms and methods of interpretation attested, considered in light of other varieties of interpretation in early Judaism. Sessions will be devoted to reading, translation and discussion of primary sources in Hebrew, as well as to discussion of relevant secondary literature.

A close examination of the books of Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah 1-39, in their historical and social contexts.

An examination of the book of Job and its poetic treatment of the human condition. The course will also consider other biblical and ancient Near Eastern texts that deal with the issue of evil in the world from a religious perspective, and later readings and retellings of Job by Frost, MacLeish, Wiesel, Fackenheim, and others.

Topic for 2010-11: Boundaries and Identities. Readings of Jewish texts, ancient to modern, that deal with the question of the Other and the Self: what is the boundary between Jews and non-Jews, and between Judaism and non-Judaism? Topic for 2014-15 to be determined.

A study of the exegetical literature of so-called rewritten Bible texts from the Second Temple period, considered in relation to the received Hebrew Bible and its later interpretive traditions. Examination of exegetical techniques, aims, and presuppositions, with attention to higher level compositional strategies, underlying conceptions of scripture/scriptural authority, and the dynamics of canon formation. Primary sources will include, among others: the book of Jubilees, the Temple Scroll, Reworked Pentateuch, the Genesis Apocryphon, as well as selected prophetic and hymnic exemplars.

The course introduces students to the phonology and script as well as the fundamentals of morphology and syntax of Modern Hebrew. Emphasis is placed on developing reading, speaking, comprehension and writing skills, while introducing students to various aspects of contemporary Israeli society and culture.

The course reinforces and expands knowledge of linguistic and grammatical structures, with emphasis on further developing the four skills. Readings include selections from contemporary Israeli literature, print media, and internet publications. Readings and class discussions cover various facets of Israeli high and popular culture.

Continuation of Hebrew 120a.

This course constitutes the third year of the Modern Hebrew language sequence. The course emphasizes the development of advanced proficiency in all skills. Readings include texts of linguistic and cultural complexity that cover contemporary Israeli literature and culture.

This course is a continuation of Hebrew 130a. Texts, films, and other materials expose students to the richness and complexity of the contemporary sociolinguistics of Israeli society.

This course constitutes the final level of Modern Hebrew language studies. The course offers representative readings and screenings from contemporary Israeli literature and cinema, and it forms bases of discussion on major cultural and linguistic themes through academic readings. We will focus on the theme of the family in Israeli culture and relationships between fathers and sons in "Far away Islands"; "Book of Intimate Grammar"; the new series "Shtissel"; and more.

Tutorial supervision of research in subjects not treated in regular courses.

An introduction to the cultures and literatures of the Near East in ancient, classical, and modern times, emphasizing major themes and problems that cut across individual cultures and historical periods.

Introduction to the grammar of modern literary and spoken Persian. Selected readings from contemporary and classical Persian literature.

A thorough review and continuation of modern Persian grammar with an emphasis on reading, writing, speaking, and listening comprehension. Includes an introduction to classical prosody. Course materials draw from both classical and modern poetry and prose.

Continuation of Persian Ba.

Review of advanced Persian grammar and syntax with introduction to both pre-modern and modern Persian prose and poetry. Themes cover a wide range of disciplines, from literature, history, social sciences and the arts.

Continuation of Persian 130ar.

Readings in Persian Sufi literature from early post-Islamic centuries to Attar, Rumi, Hafez, and others, with emphasis on fundamental themes of the Sufi tradition. Practice in grammar and composition at an advanced level will develop the student's ability to read high literary texts, both in prose and poetry.

Both poetry and the art of painting in medieval Persianate cultures developed to a high level of artistic excellence in the context of court patronage. This course examines that development through the epic tradition in medieval Persian poetry and prose including long narratives in heroic, romance, folk and ethical genres. The course considers the affinities and differences between these and epic tales from other traditions as well as their interactions with Persian painting and manuscript illustration. Beginning with the Parthian romance of Vis and Ramin and the heroic epic of Shahnameh, the survey will continue with epic romances of Nizami, prose narratives about folk heroes such as Abu Muslimnameh, and didactic epics by Sa`di and others.

Diglossia describes a situation in which two (or more) languages coexist, or two varieties of one language, within one speech community. In this course we will examine various aspects of such a linguistic situation from different theoretical points of view, considering this fascinating phenomenon in the history of the Semitic languages.

Readings in Hebrew, Phoenician and other Northwest Semitic inscriptions with an introduction to methods and techniques of Northwest Semitic palaeography, and attention to problems of historical grammar.

Introduction to Ugaritic grammar, with readings in mythological, epistolary, and administrative texts.

Topic for 2014-15 to be determined; topic for 2012-13 was "Advanced discussion of Ugaritic grammar and texts."

Introduction to the Sumerian language with emphasis on grammatical structure.

Tutorial supervision of research in subjects not treated in regular courses.

An interdisciplinary introduction to Middle Eastern Studies focusing on the modern period. Disciplinary approaches will include exemplary texts in History, Anthropology, Religious Studies, Literature and Political Science. Required for all concentrators in The Modern Middle East. Open to all undergraduates.

Introduces a wide spectrum of students to some of the most significant aspects of Iranian culture from the Constitutional Revolution through the three decades since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, one of the paradigmatic shifts in twentieth-century global history. Using the modernist commitment of artists and intellectuals to social and political engagement as a unifying theme, the course will survey modern and contemporary Iranian culture through the analysis of various literary, artistic, cinematic, and intellectual forms. The impact of European culture; nationalism; the tensions between modernism, secularism, and religion; the emergence of women's voices, a cinematic avant-garde, and mass culture; the strains of cosmopolitan and provincial coexistence; the anti-Western critique of "occidentosis"; and the controversial 2009 elections are among the issues that will be addressed.

Examines the causes of the 2010-2011 Arab uprisings, the subsequent political transformations in the Middle East and North Africa and the prospects for democratic transitions.

This course uses a variety of methodological approaches to explore the multidimensional nature of contemporary Israeli culture and society. Conventional and alternative narratives of the Israeli experience will be illuminated by analyzing a variety of texts, including literature, film and ethnography. Careful attention to historical and social contexts will amplify these explorations. The goal of the course is to give students a range of scholarly tools to explore central questions about Israeli culture and social life.

This course examines the historical narratives and dynamics of the Arab-Israeli conflict, both in terms of the conflicts between Israel and the neighboring Arab states and the particular struggle between Israel and the Palestinians. Through the exploration of primary sources and interrogation of parallel narratives, students will encounter the history and contemporary politics of the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflicts.

This course introduces modern literature and contemporary technology writing in the contemporary Arabian Peninsula. Themes include "race" and "otherness" and how these tropes are fashioned by political and social discourses. Readings include novels from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, and Qatar, exploring how narratives have been influenced and marked by questions of canon formation, globalization and social change.

Examines the roots and issues of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-90) and its continuing impact on modern Arabic fiction. The syllabus pairs realistic and romanticized representations of family, sectarianism, and gender binaries against the destruction and fantasy of the urban landscape. Themes include nostalgia and memory, exile and return. Films and documentaries will also be viewed.

This course surveys the history of modern Turkey and culture through Turkish literature in translation. Main focus is on topics of cultural revolution, nationalism, identity, gender, and migration. Primary readings are translations of novels, short stories, drama and poetry.

An introduction to the history, politics, cultures, societies and economics of the modern Maghrib (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya). Emphasis on the formation of evolving post-colonial identities within Islamic, Arabo-Berber, African, and Mediterranean contexts.

Interdisciplinary seminar serves as an introduction to the major disciplines constituting Middle Eastern Studies, including history, political science, anthropology, literature and Islamic Studies. Faculty affiliated with Center for Middle Eastern Studies serve as guest lecturers.

Emphasis on all aspects of Turkish grammar toward developing a solid foundation for speaking, listening, reading, writing, and vocabulary skills.

Emphasis on complex sentence structure and building communicative competence in describing events and expressing ideas through exercises in reading, writing, and speaking.

Studies in argumentative and literary prose.

Introduction to conversational and literary Uzbek. Overview of the grammar, intensive practice of the spoken language, and reading of contemporary texts.

Continuation of Elementary Uzbek with an emphasis on further development of both conversational and literary Uzbek.

A continuation of Turkish 125a.

Gaining and improving advanced language skills in Modern Turkish through reading, writing, listening, and speaking with special emphasis on the proper usage of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions.

Studies in literary and idiomatic prose through readings, discussions, and writing of short analytical papers.

Introduction to basic orthographic conventions and grammatical characteristics of Ottoman Turkish through readings in printed selections from the 19th and 20th centuries, and exercises on techniques.

Continuation of Turkish 140a. Exercises on specialized orthographic conventions and grammatical characteristics of Ottoman Turkish through readings in printed selections from the 19th and 20th centuries.

This course introduces students various writings of Ottoman intellectuals by focusing on selected themes, including language registers, styles of argumentations.

Bureaucracy and Empire: Introduction to Ottoman Archival Research. The course introduces research tools for Ottoman archives and surveys central government documents focusing on paleography, diplomatics and linguistic features of documents.

Introduction to the Yiddish language, as written and spoken in Eastern Europe, the Americas, Israel, and around the world, and to the culture of Ashkenazic Jews. Development of reading, writing, speaking, and oral comprehension skills. Course materials include rich selections from Jewish humor, Yiddish songs, and films of Jewish life past and present.

Further development of reading, writing, speaking, and oral comprehension skills. Introduction to features of the main Yiddish dialects: Polish/Galician, Ukrainian/Volhynian, and Lithuanian/Belorussian. Course materials include selections from modern Yiddish fiction, poetry, songs, the press, and private letters, as well as pre-WWII and contemporary Yiddish films. Occasional visits from native Yiddish speakers.

Continuation of Yiddish Ba.

Emphasis on building advanced vocabulary from the three main lexical components, Germanic, Hebrew-Aramaic, and Slavic, and further development of writing, reading, and speech. Continued exploration of the main Yiddish dialects. Introduction to various styles of Yiddish literature, journalism, theater, film, and song, particularly from the nineteenth century to the present, including contemporary sources from both secular Yiddish culture and the Yiddish-speaking "ultra-orthodox" communities of New York, Jerusalem, and elsewhere.

Continuation of Yiddish Ca.

In 1926, the Yiddish novelist Dovid Bergelson announced the "three centers" of Yiddish literature and culture: New York, Warsaw and Moscow. Using Bergelson's essay as a window on Yiddish modernism, this class looks at the relationship between language, city, and state. We will ask, what distinguished Yiddish culture in one place from another? Did writers see themselves at home or in exile? How did politics affect the Yiddish writer? And what should we make of the other Yiddish centers, Vilna, Kiev, even Berlin?

Is literature animated by a "moral of the story," or by "art for art's sake"? This question was more than theoretical for modern Yiddish writers, who wrote at a crossroads between religious and secular life, under extraordinary circumstances. The course will explore how genre and belief interact in Yiddish stories, novels, poetry and drama over the past two centuries, as we closely examine the broader question of the purpose of art.