History 387: The Middle East in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

This course will provide an introduction to the events and trends that shaped the Ottoman Empire and Iran between the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699) and the beginning of World War I. The geographic focus of the course will be Istanbul/Anatolia, Iran and Egypt. In each place, we will be looking at relations between state and society during a period of local, regional and global change, focusing primarily on social and cultural history.

In the first part of the course, dedicated to the eighteenth century, we will examine the elites, institutions and practices that constituted "traditional" societies. Then, we will turn our attention to the nineteenth century, which, in Istanbul, Cairo and Iran witnessed profound change. Here, we will examine such topics as urban reform, intellectual and educational reform, "the Woman Question," political and economic modernization, and Islamic reform.

The work of the course will consist of lectures and discussions. Formal, structured discussion sections are indicated on the course schedule below. Expect, however, that lectures will be complemented by informal discussions, in which you are expected to participate. We will meet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 11-11:50 a.m., with Fridays left mainly for discussion.

The course work will include three take-home, essay exams, each worth 25% of your final grade. For those essays, you will be asked to read monographs and articles that cover the themes of the course. You will be asked to integrate material from lectures and discussions with your readings in order to craft five- to seven-page essays.

Your attendance of lectures and participation of discussions—both formal and informal—will count for 20%. We will also use Blackboard Learn to engage in discussions outside of scheduled class time. Your participation in them will also count toward your participation grade.

You will be given a map quiz at the beginning of week three, and it will be worth 5% of your grade.

To be considered on time, all written work must be turned in at the beginning of the class hour in which it is due. I will accept no electronic submissions, no exceptions.

Grading Scale: A = 96-100; A- = 90-95. B+ = 87-89; B = 83-86; B- = 80-82. C+ = 77-79; C = 73-76; C- = 70-72. D+ = 67-69; D= 63-66; D- = 60-62.

If your score falls between two numbers (i.e. 95.5) be advised that I grade "up."

Required texts (Available on campus, at Seahawk books, and on line):

Hasan Kayali, Arabs and Young Turks: Ottomanism, Arabism and Islamism in the Ottoman Empire, 1908-1918 (University of California, 1997)

Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid Marsot, Women and Men in Late Eighteenth-Century Egypt (University of Texas, 2008)

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha’s Men (American University of Cairo Press, 2002)

Michael Axworthy, The Sword of Persia (I.B. Tauris, 2009)

History of the Middle East in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries (Pearson, 2011). (Available only in the bookstore)

Additionally, you will be asked to read a number of articles and book chapters, each of which is available on Blackboard Learn.

1. Introduction (Wednesday August 24-Monday August 29)

Readings (from Pearson)

2. The Eighteenth Century (Wednesday, August 31-Friday September 30, 2011)

Readings:

The Sword of Persia

Women and Men in Late Eighteenth-Century Egypt

Pearson

Al-Jabarti in Pearson

*Natana J. DeLong-Bas, Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad, chapters 1 and 2.

3. The Nineteenth-Century: Istanbul and Anatolia (Monday October 3-Monday October 17)

Readings:

*"Commercial Convention (Balta Liman): Britain and the Ottoman Empire," in James L. Gelvin, The Modern Middle East: A History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 147-148.

*"The Hatt-i Sharif of Gulhane," in Gelvin, The Modern Middle East, 148-150.

*Ziya Gökalp, "Islam and Modern Civilization," in Charles Kurzman, Modernist Islam, A Sourcebook (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 192-197.

*Zeynep Çeylik, The Remaking of Istanbul, 31-73;126-163.

Frederick Anscombe, "Islam and the Age of Ottoman Reform," Past and Present, 208:1 (2010): 159-189

*Milen Petrov, "Everyday Forms of Compliance: Subaltern Commentaries on Ottoman Reform," Comparative Studies in Society and History 46: 4 (2004): 730-759

 

 

 

 

4. The Nineteenth Century: Egypt (Wednesday October 19-Friday November 4)

Readings: All the Pasha’s Men

Mona Russell, "Competing, Overlapping and Contradictory Agendas: Egyptian Education under British Occupation, 1882-1922," Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 21: 1&2 (2001): 50-60

L.M. Kenny, "Al-Afghani on Types of Despotic Government," Journal of the American Oriental Society," 1966, 19-27.

Nikki Keddie, "Pan-Islam as Proto-Nationalism," The Journal of Modern History, 41:1 (1969), 17-27

*Muhammad `Abduh, "Laws Should Change in Accordance to the Conditions of the Nations."

*Al-Afghani in Pearson.

*’Abbas Hilmi in Pearson.

 

5. The Nineteenth Century: Iran (Monday, November 7-Wednesday November 23)

Readings:

Avraham Cohen, "Iranian Jewry and the Educational Endeavors of the Alliance Israélite Universelle." Jewish Social Studies, 48: 1 (1986), 15-44

*Merhdad Kia, "Inside the Court of Nasser od-Din Shah, 1881-1896," Middle Eastern Studies, 37: 1 (2001), 101-141

*Merhdad Kia, "Pan-Islamism in late Nineteenth-Century Iran," Middle Eastern Studies, 32: 1 (1996), 30-52

*Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, "Hallmarks of Humanism: Hygiene and Love of Homeland in Qajar Iran," American Historical Review, 105: 4 (2000) 1171-1203

*"The d’Arcy Oil Concession."

*Mirza Malkum Khan, "The Law."

* "The Supplementary Fundamental Laws of 7 October, 1907."

6. The Middle East on the Eve of WWI (Monday November 30-Friday December 2)