Courses
Program in Middle East Studies: Spring 2012
For course descriptions and updates please consult the Smith College Course Catalog.
Smith College reserves the right to make changes to all announcements and course listings online, including changes in its course offerings, instructors, requirements for the majors and minors, and degree requirements.
Please be sure to consult the Five College online catalog for relevant courses offered elsewhere in the consortium. Upper level Arabic and Hebrew are offered at the University of Massachusetts. Consult an adviser in advance to determine whether a course taken at another campus will count towards the minor.
Language Classes
JUD 110y Elementary Hebrew (Pariente)
ARA 100y Elementary Arabic (Berrahmoun and Khalil)
ARA 201 Intermediate Arabic (Berrahmoun)
MES 400 Special Studies in language
Five College Center for the Study of World Languages
The Five College Center for the Study of World Languages offers a mentored language program in Turkish, Persian, and high intermediate/advanced Arabic. Courses are for self-motivated students and combine individual study and conversation sessions.
Lecture Courses
ARH 228 Islamic Art and Architecture (Pruitt)
HST 208 The Making of the Modern Middle East (Sbaiti)
HST 227 Crusade and Jihad (Birk)
REL 110 The Holy Land (Mourad)
REL 246 Islamic Thought and the Challenge of Modernity (Mourad)
HACU 246 Israel: Texts and Contexts (Cammy - offered at Hampshire College)
Special Studies
MES 400 Special Studies
Students are invited to contact a member of the Program in Middle East Studies to pursue focused research.
Summer 2012
GES 301 Jerusalem
Explores Jerusalem as a contested sacred and political space. Topics include the centrality of the city in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; archeology and the built landscape as a prism through which to understand the complicated layering of urban history and the competition between national communities; the importance of the city in contemporary Israeli and Palestinian national identities. Includes visits to sites of religious, historical, and political significance; meetings with local scholars, political figures, and community activists. Please note: this is not a course on the Israel-Palestine conflict, but rather a course on the historical and contemporary significance (religious, national, political) of the city of Jerusalem; the international PRAXIS internships which follow the seminar must be based in Jerusalem and not elsewhere in Israel or the Palestinian territories. {4 credits}
Course Dates: May 13-June 4, 2012, followed by an internship until July 31 (dates subject to change)
Requirements:
1. The seminar is preceded in the spring semester by a mandatory 1 credit course designed to provide an intellectual framework in advance of departure. All students admitted into the GES are required to enroll in the pre-departure course.
2. Students enrolled in the GES must follow the seminar with a 2 month internship.
Prerequisites: Preference will be given to students with at least one course in the history, religion, politics, literature, or languages of the Middle East.
Instructors: Justin Cammy (Jewish Studies and Comparative Literature), Donna Divine (Government)
