• Advising: Courses must be chosen in consultation with, and approved by a department advisor to be used toward this track.

COURSE OPTIONS (NOTE: for CURRENT AVAILABLE course offerings go to-- UA Online Schedule of Classes):

GEOG/NES 251 -- World Regions: Comparative and Global Perspectives.  Survey and comparison of major world regions with a foucs on how global processes, regional interconnections, and local geographic conditions create distinctive regions and landscapes.
Approved as:  General Education Tier Two - Individuals and Societies.
Approved as:  General Education Gender, Race, Class, Ethnicity, or Non-Western Area Studies.

GEOG/NES 369: Geography of the Middle East.  Physical environments and cultural areas of Southwest Asia, with emphasis on people-environment interrelationships, settlement systems, and impact of Islam.  This is a Writing Emphasis Course.
Prerequisite(s):  satisfaction of the Mid-Career Writing Assessment (MCWA) or the former upper-division writing proficiency requirement (UDWPE).
Approved as:  General Education Gender, Race, Class, Ethnicity, or Non-Western Area Studies.

NES/ANTH 375 -- Ethnography of the Middle East.  Introduction to and critical examination of the ethnographic literature on the peoples/cultures of the Middle East. Focus on social organization, cultural meanings, and regional political economy.

JUS/NES 377: Modern Israel.  Evolution of the State of Israel from the rise of Zionism in 19th Century Europe to the present. Survey of the origins of the State of Israel from the rise of Zionism in 19th Century Europe to the Declaration of the State of Israel in 1948. Evolution of the State of Israel from 1949 to the present. Emphasis on interactive generative processes and understanding of the interplay between past processes and present socio-political realities.

NES/HIST 379: The Ottoman Turkish Empire.  A survey of Ottoman history noting its expansion into Europe and the Middle East and its political and social institutions.

HIST/NES 381A: History of Muslim Societies.  Rise of Islam, creation of Islamic society, relationship of religion and politics.

HIST/NES 381B: History of Muslim Societies.  Evolution and global spread of Muslim societies, modernization and its problems.

HIST/NES 383: Religion and State in Islam.  Examines the changing relationship between Islam and politics from the time of the Prophet to the present day.

NES/HIST 402A: Economic History of the Islamic World.  An introduction to the economic history of the Islamic world from the seventh century to the present day.

NES/ARC/ARH 403: Art and Architecture of the Islamic World.  Principal achievements in Islamic architecture 680-1600, AD/CE, understand the achievements in social/cultural contexts, become familiar with vocabulary and basic methodologies of the field, and consider historical evolution of our knowledge and understanding of this architecture.

NES/MAP 407 -- Business Environment in the Middle East and North Africa.  The objective of the course is to provide the tools to function comfortably in the Middle East and North Africa business environment. It will provide a basic understanding of the history, geography, politics, economics and culture of these areas.

NES/ANTH/LING 430A: Language and Society in the Middle East.  Explores the social and linguistic aspects of the languages and cultures of Middle Eastern countries with the central goal of introducing students to the correlation between social and linguistic variables from a contemporary sociolinguistic perspective. 

JUS/NES/RELI 435: Jewish Mysticism.  Surveys the ideology, symbolism, and major themes of Jewish mysticism as evidenced in several prominent mystical texts. The core of this course will be reading the texts in English translation and the development of skills in reading and understanding a Jewish mystical text.

POL/NES 441: Arab-Israeli Conflict.  Traces the birth and growth of the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1948 with particular attention to the internal impediments to conflict resolution on both the Arab and Israeli sides.  Also surveys the role of the Great Powers in Middle East politics generally.
Prerequisite(s):  POL 202 or POL 204.
Approved as:  General Education Gender, Race, Class, Ethnicity, or Non-Western Area Studies.

NES/RELI/HIST 444: Islamic Mysticism.  Origin and development of Sufism and its impact on Muslim and non-Muslim worlds.

HIST/NES 445: Women in Islamic History.  Examination of the roles women have played throughout Islamic history and of the changing discourse in the Islamic community about women and their roles.

JUS/NES 452: Israeli Women.  This course explores themes that include women in Judaism, women in Zionism, women in Yishuv, and women in the Palmah generation. Areas receiving special attention include women in Israeli law, religion, the army and the Kibbutz.

ANTH/NES 457: Prehistoric Mesopotamia.  Theories of the rise of civilization tested against archaeological data from Mesopotamia with comparative material from other areas. Time period: end of the Paleolithic to historic (Sumerian) civilization.

NES/W S 463: Gender Issues and Women's Literature in the Middle East.  This course introduces Middle Eastern women's issues through a critical reading of literary works written by women in the major languages of the Near East (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Turkish) that are available in translation. Readings include poetry, short stories, and novels all analyzed within their social context.

NES/GEOG 466: The Middle Eastern City and Islamic Urbanism.  Examines the physical and socioeconomic characteristics of the city in the Middle East and North Africa; the Islamic city model, the traditional and contemporary bazaar and medina, urban evolution and transformation.
Prerequisite(s):  NES 277A, NES 277B or consent of instructor.

HIST/NES 470: Religious History of India.  Development of major religious traditions of South Asia: Vedic Religion, Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Sikhism, and Islam.

HIST/NES 472: History of Medieval India.  Survey of Indian history from the 7th century to 1750.

HIST/NES 473: History of Modern India and Pakistan: 1750-Present.  Survey of political, social and economic developments in South Asia from the mid-18th century to the present. Writing emphasis for India-Pakistan specialization.  This is a Writing Emphasis Course.
Prerequisite(s):  satisfaction of the Mid-Career Writing Assessment (MCWA) or the former upper-division writing proficiency requirement (UDWPE).

ANTH/NES 474: Archaeometry: Scientific Methods in Art and Archaeology.  Critical survey of scientific methods used in archaeology and art history. Emphasis on the potential and limitations of these techniques for reconstructing human behavior.

HIST/NES 479: The Ottoman Empire to 1800.  History of Ottoman Empire from its origins through the direct Western European impact, focusing on the political and social history of the empire in Europe and Asia.

NES/HIST 480: The Middle East in the Twentieth Century.  The modern Middle East in the age of imperialism, world wars, state formation, decolonization, and Islamic resistance.  This is a Writing Emphasis Course.
Prerequisite(s):  satisfaction of the Mid-Career Writing Assessment (MCWA) or the former upper-division writing proficiency requirement (UDWPE); NES 277B or consent of instructor.

NES/HIST 484: History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1800 to Present.  Origins of Zionism, and Palestinian and other Arab nationalisms from the nineteenth century and the post-1948 Arab-Israel state conflict in the Cold War era.

NES/HIST 485B: Social, Cultural and Political History of Iranian Plateau: 7th Century – Present.  The Iranian plateau in the modern era of western imperialism and nationalistic Islamic responses.
Prerequisite(s):  NES 277A, NES 277B or consent of instructor.

NES/ANTH 490: Women in Middle Eastern Society.  Middle Eastern society viewed from the perspective of women. Examines the extent to which formal definitions of women's nature and roles coincide with women's self-images and activities.  This is a Writing Emphasis Course.
Prerequisite(s):  satisfaction of the Mid-Career Writing Assessment (MCWA) or the former upper-division writing proficiency requirement (UDWPE).

HIST/NES 495E: Struggle and Survival: Modern Mid East and North Africa, c. 1850 – Present.  The exchange of scholarly information and/or secondary research, usually in a small group setting. Instruction often includes lectures by several different persons. Research projects may or may not be required of course registrants.

NES 496D: Mediterranean Cities in the 15th-16th c.: Cairo, Istanbul, Florence & Venice.  The development and exchange of scholarly information, usually in a small group setting. The scope of work shall consist of research by course registrants, with the exchange of the results of such research through discussion, reports, and/or papers.

NES/RELI 496G: Islamic Law and Society.  This course focuses on Islamic Law and Society, topics such as the life and teachings of Muhammad, political and theological controversies, and the classical tradition of Islam.

JOUR/NES 496I -- News Analysis  (in the Middle East).  The development and exchange of scholarly information, usually in a small group setting. The scope of work shall consist of research by course registrants, with the exchange of the results of such research through discussion, reports, and/or papers.