Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

AKKD 30350. Neo-Babylonian Legal Texts. 100 Units.

Neo-Babylonian Legal Texts

Instructor(s): Martha Roth     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): 2 years Akkadian or permission of instructor
Equivalent Course(s): AKKD 20352

AKKD 30363. Kassite Legal and Administrative Texts. 100 Units.

We will read a choice of legal and administrative texts from the Kassite period (1400-1150 BC), including contracts, tables, receipts and letters. You will get an introduction to the Middle Babylonian dialect of Akkadian and learn how to approach those genres. We will also read unpublished material from photos, casts, and original tablets.

Instructor(s): Susanne Paulus     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): 1 year of Akkadian/ Babylonian

AKKD 30604. Intermediate Akkadian - The Standard Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic. 100 Units.

This course expands and cements students' knowledge of the Akkadian language through readings from the most famous work of literature from ancient Mesopotamia, the Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. Our focus will be on deepening proficiency in grammar and reading cuneiform signs, on developing understanding of the literary dialect of Standard Babylonian, and on the pleasures of collectively reading this profound, perplexing, and beautiful text. We will also consider a range of issues relevant to the study of Babylonian literature: critical use of sign lists, dictionaries, and other Assyriological resources; questions of translation; and matters of cuneiform textual criticism, particularly those that arise from the study of texts known from multiple manuscripts.

Instructor(s): Jane Gordon     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): One year of Akkadian
Equivalent Course(s): AKKD 20604

AANL 30120. Advanced Hittite: Literary Texts. 100 Units.

This course focuses on Hittite literary texts. The texts are read in cuneiform and placed in their social-historical context. The reading hones the student's philological skills. We will study both translated literature, such as the Gilgamesh epic, and indigenous literature. Hittite indigenous literature has often been dismissed as unsophisticated, but recent research has led to a reevaluation. Guided by this research we will further explore the literariness of indigenous literature and its relationship to translated literature. We will also engage with recent work on the influence of Hittite literature on Greek literature.

Instructor(s): Petra Goedegebuure     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Elementary Hittite I, II, III
Equivalent Course(s): AANL 20120

AANL 33524. Hittite Administrative Texts. 100 Units.

An important Hittite text genre without any clear parallels in other Ancient Near East literatures are the 'obligation and oath' texts. These texts describe the duties of professional classes in the Hittite imperial administration, sometimes in great detail. There are instructions for, for example, the commander of a border province, the mayor of Hattusa, temple personnel, military commanders, and the bodyguard of the king. We will read a few of the best-preserved texts from different time periods to gain insights in the functioning of the Hittite administration and society at large in each period, and how this changes over time.

Instructor(s): Petra Goedegebuure     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Instructor consent required

ARAB 30580. Portraying Palestine. 100 Units.

In this graduate level course, we explore the multiple valences and meanings that Palestine has come to hold in literature and film from the Arab world and in the Arabic-speaking diaspora. We will examine as well as interrogate the ways that Palestine is framed by Palestinians and other Arabs, and the concepts that have attached to its cultural forms and practices since the Nakba, such as (but not exclusively) ṣumūd, turāth, and muqāwama. We will attend especially to the dynamic cultural landscapes and intersections with politics of poetry, prose, and film since 1948 within Palestine and its diasporas, as well as surrounding critical and theoretical discourses.

Instructor(s): Ghenwa Hayek     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): 2 years of Arabic – High Intermediate completed at UChicago (or equivalent)

ARAB 30658. Narrating Conflict in Modern Arabic Literature. 100 Units.

This course is an exploration of conflict in the Arab world through literature, film and new media. In this course, we will discuss the influence of independence movements, wars, and revolts on Arabic literature: how do writers write about, or film, conflict? How does conflict affect language itself? How do these texts engage with issues of trauma and bearing witness? To answer these questions, we will look at a number of key moments of conflict in the Arab world, including the Arab-Israeli conflicts, the Algerian war of independence, the 2011 Egyptian revolution, the Lebanese and Iraq wars, and the ongoing war in Syria. Rather than follow a historical chronology of these events, we will read these texts thematically, beginning with texts that seek to present themselves as direct, sometimes eye-witness, accounts and then moving on to narratives that complicate the relationship between conflict and its narration.

Instructor(s): Stephanie Kraver     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ARAB 20658, NEHC 20658, NEHC 30658

ARAB 40010. Introduction to Arabic and Islamic Studies. 100 Units.

This course is designed for graduate students who wish to learn about the tools, primary and secondary sources, references, journals, distinct subfields, and electronic resources available to researchers in Arabic and Islamic Studies. We will acquire first-hand knowledge and practice of basic skills that will help professionalize students in the field, and will discuss methodological and historiographical issues related to the study of Islamicate civilization in various historical, cultural, political, and religious frameworks.

Instructor(s): Yousef Casewit     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Basic ability to work with Classical Arabic.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 40010, RLST 20410

ARAB 40201. Advanced Readings in Arabic II. 100 Units.

Advanced Readings in Arabic - 2nd quarter

Instructor(s): Hala Abdelmonem     Terms Offered: Winter

ARAB 40202. Advanced Readings in Arabic III. 100 Units.

Advanced Readings in Arabic - 3rd quarter

Terms Offered: Spring

ARAB 40356. The Modern Arabic Novel. 100 Units.

This is a graduate level survey course of the rise and development of the modern Arabic novel. It will cover texts from the nahḍa to the late twentieth century. We will read these texts with particular attention not only to the ways they engage the key social and political issues of their day, but also to the manner in which they probe central questions of form, genre, and language. By reading the novels alongside theoretical readings in English and Arabic that frame them, we will also interrogate the processes of the formation of the modern Arabic literary canon.

Instructor(s): Ghenwa Hayek     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): 3 years of Arabic at U of C or their equivalent.

ARAB 49900. Reading and Research. 100 Units.

Reading and research in Arabic.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Select section from faculty list

ARME 49900. Reading and Research Course. 100 Units.

The course focuses on the improvement of reading skills in Armenian (mostly Western dialects as well as some Classical Armenian structures). The main objective is literary fluency and reading comprehension for research purposes. Reading assignments include a variety of texts concentrated around the research topic on Ottoman Armenian bureaucrats' and authors'/translators' views on constitutionalism and community affairs. Students practice the vocabulary (newly acquired in their readings) through discussions and critical analysis of texts in Armenian. The goal is to achieve an advanced level of reading proficiency and Comprehension in modern Western Armenian.

Instructor(s): Hripsime Haroutunian     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): instructor consent required
Note(s): Select section from faculty list

GEEZ 30700. Advanced Readings in Classical Ethiopic (Ge'ez) 100 Units.

In this course we will read excerpts from literature written in Classical Ethiopic (Ge'ez), such as Enoch, Jubilees, Kebra Nagast, Beauty of Creation, and others, and review some basic grammatical structures of the language. Students will need a good grasp of the basic grammar of Ge'ez in order to take the class.

Instructor(s): Rebecca Hasselbach-Andee     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Elementary Geez 1-3 or equivalent
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 17700, GEEZ 20700, BIBL 30700, LING 22700, LING 32700

HEBR 30100. Graphic Novels: Modern Hebrew Reading course. 100 Units.

The graphic novel is a relatively new genre in Hebrew literature. Books in the genre combine a story with the scope of a novel or a novella with comic strips or full illustrations. The evolution of the genre in the world, far beyond superhero comic books, and the openness of the Israeli audience, created a significant boom in the field in Israel since the early 2000s. This course is a guided reading of some of the most popular graphic novels in Modern Hebrew, which expose important aspects of contemporary Israel. Authors whose work we will read include: Rutu Modan, Ilana Zeffren, Asaf Hanukah, Etgar Keret, Michel Kichka, Yosi & Yarden Vasa and Yuval Noah Harai.

Instructor(s): Ehud Har-Even     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Intermediate Modern Hebrew (second year HEBR) or its equivalent (At least two years of official Modern Hebrew studies ) with a minimum grade of “C”.
Equivalent Course(s): HEBR 20100, JWSC 20720

HEBR 30501-30502-30503. Advanced Modern Hebrew I-II-III.

This course assumes that students have full mastery of the grammatical and lexical content at the intermediate level. However, there is a shift from a reliance on the cognitive approach to an emphasis on the expansion of various grammatical and vocabulary-related subjects. Students are introduced to sophisticated and more complex syntactic constructions, and instructed how to transform simple sentences into more complicated ones. The exercises address the creative effort on the part of the student, and the reading segments are longer and more challenging in both style and content. The language of the texts reflects the literary written medium rather than the more informal spoken style, which often dominates the introductory and intermediate texts.

HEBR 49900. Reading Course: Modern Hebrew. 100 Units.

This course assumes that students have full mastery of the grammatical and lexical content of the advanced level. The main objective is literary fluency. By the end of the course, students should have an excellent command of Hebrew. The course concentrates on the written language, especially scientific writing, as well as elements of Biblical Hebrew, literature from earlier periods and sophisticated journalistic writing. Students read the various Israeli daily newspapers as well as Israeli literature, scientific articles and legal documents (with the help of a dictionary) of varying lengths. They have a good command of synonyms and idiomatic Hebrew, and also understand the subtle differences between words. Their already substantial vocabularies now include many words from a wide variety of genres. Students considerably improve their ability to write long essays in Hebrew on a wide range of topics, incorporating idiomatic language.

Instructor(s): Ehud Har-Even     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Students should have at least four years of Modern Hebrew studies and/or passing grade of a reading exam and/or graduated the Reading Hebrew for Research Purposes.
Equivalent Course(s): JWSC 29920, BIBL 48900, HEBR 29900

KAZK 49900. Reading and Research. 100 Units.

Reading and Research

Instructor(s): STAFF     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter
Note(s): Select section from faculty list

KAZK 49901. Independent Study: Intermediate Kazakh. 100 Units.

Independent Study: Intermediate Kazakh

Instructor(s): Kagan Arik     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter

NEAA 30001. Introduction to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East I - Mesopotamia. 100 Units.

This course will give an overview of the archaeology of ancient Mesopotamia. We will examine the material remains of various cultures in and around ancient Mesopotamia and engage with themes of social complexity, urbanism, collapse, and continuity/change through time. Students in this survey course will gain basic knowledge of the archaeological data used to create a picture of life in the Mesopotamian region in ancient times. This course fulfills the requirements of a survey course in Mesopotamia civilization as defined by the Ancient PhD programs in NELC and the MA program in the CMES.

Instructor(s): Augusta McMahon     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): NEAA 20001

NEAA 30007. Bioethics and Ancient DNA. 100 Units.

The first ancient human genome was sequenced just over 10 years ago. From a single genome in 2010 to what has been hailed as a "scientific revolution" today, the field of archaeogenetics has expanded rapidly. In this course, we will explore how the field is grappling with emerging issues related to ethical and responsible research, including sampling practices, collaborative community partnerships, and accessibility of research findings to the broader public. How have researchers successfully leveraged multiple voices, perspectives, and priorities engaged with ancient DNA to explore the human past? What are the possibilities of engagement beyond the practical and project-based level? How do these new alliances formed around archaeogenetics inform the ethics of sampling, participation, and interpretation? In this course, we will thoughtfully and critically engage with aDNA research in the present to envision possible futures for the field.

Instructor(s): Hannah Moots     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): KNOW 30007, NEAA 20007, KNOW 20007

NEAA 30044. Sardis and its Neighbors: Western Anatolia during the Iron Age. 100 Units.

This class is an in-depth study of western Anatolia's most important archaeological site during the early first millennium BCE: Sardis, the capital city of the kingdom of Lydia. In addition to learning the archaeology of this site in detail, we will also use it as a foundation to explore neighboring excavations in the region, including Troy, Miletos, Beycesultan, and others.

Instructor(s): James Osborne     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CLAS 30023, NEAA 20044

NEAA 30061. Ancient Landscapes I. 100 Units.

This is a two-course sequence that introduces students to theory and method in landscape studies and the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to analyze archaeological, anthropological, historical, and environmental data. Course one covers the theoretical and methodological background necessary to understand spatial approaches to landscape and the fundamentals of using ESRI's ArcGIS software, and further guides students in developing a research proposal. Course two covers more advanced GIS-based analysis (using vector, raster, and satellite remote sensing data) and guides students in carrying out their own spatial research project. In both courses, techniques are introduced through the discussion of case studies (focused on the archaeology of the Middle East) and through demonstration of software skills. During supervised laboratory times, the various techniques and analyses covered will be applied to sample archaeological data and also to data from a region/topic chosen by the student.

Instructor(s): Mehrnoush Soroush     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 36710, GISC 20061, CEGU 30061, GISC 30061, ANTH 26710, CEGU 20061, NEAA 20061

NEAA 30062. Ancient Landscapes II. 100 Units.

This is a two-course sequence that introduces students to theory and method in landscape studies and the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to analyze archaeological, anthropological, historical, and environmental data. Course one covers the theoretical and methodological background necessary to understand spatial approaches to landscape and the fundamentals of using ESRI's ArcGIS software, and further guides students in developing a research proposal. Course two covers more advanced GIS-based analysis (using vector, raster, and satellite remote sensing data) and guides students in carrying out their own spatial research project. In both courses, techniques are introduced through the discussion of case studies (focused on the archaeology of the Middle East) and through demonstration of software skills. During supervised laboratory times, the various techniques and analyses covered will be applied to sample archaeological data and also to data from a region/topic chosen by the student.

Instructor(s): Mehrnoush Soroush     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): NEAA 20061
Equivalent Course(s): NEAA 20062, ANTH 36711, GISC 30062, GISC 20062, CEGU 30062, ANTH 26711, CEGU 20062

NEAA 30091. Field Archaeology. 300 Units.

This course is for students that will be overseas participating in an Archaeological Field Project. Consent of instructor required.

Instructor(s): David Schloen

NEAA 30100. Introduction to Archaeology. 100 Units.

Archaeology is the study of the material evidence of past human activity. This course, which is offered every year in the Autumn Quarter, explores the history of archaeology as a discipline and the methods used by archaeologists to obtain evidence about past human activity via excavations, surface surveys, and remote-sensing technologies such as satellite imagery and ground-penetrating radar, with emphasis on archaeological fieldwork in the Middle East. This course also surveys the latest methods used to date, classify, and analyze various kinds of evidence after it has been obtained. And since archaeological data is always collected and interpreted within an intellectual framework of theoretical conceptions concerning human society, culture, and history, this course provides a brief overview of "archaeological theory," i.e., the uses made by archaeologists of a wide range of different social theories that may lead to quite different interpretations of the same data. This topic is explored in more depth in a companion course on "Social Theory and Ancient Studies" (NEHC 20010/30010), which is offered in alternate years in the Winter Quarter.

Instructor(s): Samantha Suppes     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): NEAA 20100

NEAA 30163. Sensory Archaeology of Mesopotamia. 100 Units.

This course will critically analyse past human sensory experiences, based in case studies of ancient Mesopotamia from the 5th through 1st millennia BCE. These case studies will vary in scale from portable material culture through vast natural landscapes. The case studies will include the effects of materials, objects and both built and natural spaces on vision, smell, touch, hearing and taste. Building on this traditional five-sense framework, we will also aim to reconstruct and analyse synaesthetic experiences (multi-sensory or combined senses) and will further explore the more enigmatic senses of fear or awe, of comfort, and of place and belonging. We will engage both empirical analyses and socio-cultural perspectives via synthesis of practical data and critical reading of ancient texts (in translation). The aims of the course are to expand students' interpretive toolkit and to encourage thinking about archaeological data from the ground up (rather than top down), via lived experiences and sensual and emotional perceptions. This course is intended as a seminar for graduate students (MA and PhD); advanced undergraduates may request to attend but should have some prior knowledge of Mesopotamia.

Instructor(s): Augusta McMahon     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): NEAA 20163

NEAA 30203. The Art & Archaeology of Egyptian Funerary Traditions - the Early Dynastic through early New Kingdom. 100 Units.

This course will examine ancient Egypt's funerary traditions as expressed in its art, architecture, and archaeology, focusing on the Early Dynastic-early New Kingdom periods (ca. 3000-1350 BCE). In doing so, it will look at the relationships between royal and non-royal burials in both their physical manifestations and ideological traditions. It will look at different types of tombs, burial components, and decorative scenes. Course readings and lectures will examine individual cemeteries and spatial relationships within and between them, artistic scene types (including meaning, location, and chronological trends), and architectural developments in tomb layout and construction to critically discuss Egypt's complex funerary landscape, social dynamics, and funerary beliefs. In addition to recent scholarship, this course will make use of early excavation reports and records, as well as material in the museum galleries of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures. Students will select a broad area of research interest early in the quarter and then track and refine their topic as the quarter progresses. It is expected that students will bring their research into class discussion and will present an assigned class reading relevant to their topic. Students are required to produce an annotated bibliography for the midterm and written paper for the final exam. This course fulfills the requirements of a survey course in Anatolian civilization as defined by the Ancient PhD progra

Equivalent Course(s): NEAA 20203

NEAA 30321. Ancient Levant-1. 100 Units.

This course surveys the archaeology and history of the Levant from the time of its earliest human habitation in the Stone Age to the end of the Bronze Age around 1100 BCE.

Instructor(s): David Schloen     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course fulfills the requirements of a survey course in Levant civilization as defined by the Ancient PhD programs in NELC and the MA program in the CMES.
Equivalent Course(s): NEAA 20329

NEAA 30322. Ancient Levant-II: The Iron Age and Persian Period. 100 Units.

This course surveys the archaeology and history of the Levant from the end of the Bronze Age around 1100 BCE to the Roman conquest of the region in 64-63 BCE.

Instructor(s): David Schloen     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course fulfills the requirements of a survey course in Levant civilization as defined by the Ancient PhD programs in NELC and the MA program in the CMES.
Equivalent Course(s): NEAA 20322

NEAA 30428. Indian Ocean Trade: an overview from Late Antiquity to the 17th century. 100 Units.

2.

NEAA 30540. The Gulf and Eastern Arabia from prehistory to Islam. 100 Units.

This course will explore the longue durée development of Eastern Arabia from the beginning of the Holocene until about the 15th century CE. It will examine themes such as the nature of life and settlement in a semi- to hyper-arid environment, marginality, nomadic and sedentary lifestyles, irrigation methods, and maritime trade and globalisation. Loosely based around a chronological narrative, the course will be organised through a series of case studies (supported by general background lectures) that will cover topics such as, for example, the Neolithic, the Bronze Age (Magan, Dilmun, the 4.2ky event), Iron Age, the late pre-Islamic period, the early Islamic period, and the Hormuzi period. The course will also examine the area's interaction with, amongst others, Mesopotamia, the Indus, Iran, the Graeco-Roman and Parthian worlds, and the Indian Ocean economy.

NEAA 40020. Ceramic Analysis in Archaeology. 100 Units.

This course introduces the theoretical foundations and analytical techniques that allow archaeologists to use ceramics to make inferences about ancient societies. Ethnographic, experimental, and physical science approaches are explored to develop a realistic, integrated understanding of the nature of ceramics as a form of material culture. Practical training in the use of the ceramic labs is included.

Instructor(s): James Osborne     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 36200, NEAA 10020, ANTH 26200

NEAA 40380. Arabia from Prehistory to Islam. 100 Units.

This course will explore the longue durée development of Arabia from the beginning of the Holocene until about the 15th century CE. Focussing very largely on Eastern Arabia, it will examine themes such as the nature of life and settlement in a semi- to hyper-arid environment, marginality at the edge of empire, nomadic and sedentary lifestyles, irrigation methods, and maritime trade and globalisation. Loosely based around a chronological narrative, the course will be organised through a series of case studies (supported by general background lectures) that may cover, for example, the Neolithic, the Bronze Age (Magan, Dilmun, the 4.2ky event), Iron Age, the late pre-Islamic period, the early Islamic period, and the Hormuzi period. The course will also examine the area's interaction with, amongst others, Mesopotamia, the Indus, Iran, the Graeco-Roman and Parthian worlds, and the Indian Ocean economy. This course fulfills the requirements of a survey course in Anatolian civilization as defined by the Ancient PhD programs in NELC and the MA program in the CMES.

Equivalent Course(s): NEAA 20380

NEAA 43221. Israel and Judah under Empire: Archaeology and History of the Assyrian and Babylonian Periods. 100 Units.

In the late 8th century BCE Israel, Judah and the other polities of the southern Levant came under Assyrian hegemony, and then under the Babylonian and Persian empires. The seminar will review the demographic and economic situation in the region before the arrival of the first empire in the late 8th century BCE, and the subsequent changes during the 7th-6th centuries BCE in an attempt to use the unparalleled data available from this region to (1) reconstruct life in the provinces and client kingdoms and (2) use the detailed information to learn about imperial encounters at large, and the impact of imperial control on the life of the peoples under its yoke.

Instructor(s): Avraham Faust     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 33221, HIJD 43221

NEAA 49900. Reading and Research. 100 Units.

Independent study in Near Eastern Art and Archaeology.

Instructor(s): STAFF     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter
Note(s): Select section from faculty list

NEHC 30019. Mesopotamian Law. 100 Units.

Ancient Mesopotamia--the home of the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians who wrote in cuneiform script on durable clay tablets--was the locus of many of history's firsts. No development, however, may be as important as the formations of legal systems and legal principles revealed in contracts, trial records, and law collections (codes), among which The Laws of Hammurabi (r. 1792-1750 BC) stands as most important for understanding the subsequent legal practice and thought of Mesopotamia's cultural heirs in the Middle East and Europe until today. This course will explore the rich source materials of the Laws and relevant judicial and administration documents (all in English translations) to investigate topics of legal, social, and economic practice, including family formation and dissolution, crime and punishment (sympathetic or talionic eye for an eye, pecuniary, corporal), and procedure (contracts, trials, ordeals).

Instructor(s): Martha Roth     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SIGN 26022, NEHC 20019

NEHC 30024. Everyday Life in the Early Islamic Period. 100 Units.

How did people live in the early Islamic period? How did they work and study? What do we know about their relations with family members, loved ones, and neighbors? How did they relate to the administration and to people who ruled them? Did they get together to celebrate religious festivals? Did they have parties? What sources do we have to learn about their habits, routines, and feelings? What can we learn about every-day struggles, and how much do these differ from our own? This course aims to introduce undergraduate and early graduate students to the study of social history through a combination of literary and documentary sources from the early centuries of Islam. We will learn about both opportunities and limits of studying history from the "bottom-up."

Instructor(s): CECILIA PALOMBO     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20024, RLST 20324, ISLM 30024, HIST 35705, HIST 25705

NEHC 30027. Sources of the Pentateuch. 100 Units.

Seminar for hands-on experience in identifying, "separating," and interpreting sources within the Pentateuch (and Joshua) through varied examples.

Instructor(s): Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Biblical Hebrew and Greek
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 55110

NEHC 30030. Introduction to the Qur'an. 100 Units.

The Qur'an's historical setting, thematic and literary features, major biblical figures, and foundational narratives of the Quran. Explorations of medieval exegetical literature on the Quran and its reception in the early (8th-10th century CE) and medieval periods (11th - 15th century CE) will feature heavily in this course. Readings consist primarily of English translations of the Quran alongside a running commentary, as well as secondary articles.

Instructor(s): Yousef Casewit     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS or CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students. This course counts as a Gateway course for RLST majors/minors.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 30030, RLST 11030, MDVL 10030

NEHC 30034. From the Harem to Helem: Gender and Sexuality in the Modern Middle East. 100 Units.

This course will provide a historical and theoretical survey of issues pertaining to gender and sexuality in the modern Middle East. First, we will outline the colonial legacies of gender politics and gendered discourses in modern Middle Eastern history. We will discuss orientalist constructions of the harem and the veil (Allouche, Laila Ahmed, Lila Abu-Loghod), and their contested afterlives across the Middle East. We will also explore colonial (homo)sexuality, and attendant critiques (Najmabadi, Massad). We will pay especial attention to local discourses about gender and sexuality, and trouble facile assumptions of "writing back" while attending to the various specificities of local discourses of everyday life across various sites of the Middle East. Eschewing reductive traps for more nuanced explorations of the specifics of life in Beirut, Cairo, Istanbul, or Tehran - as well as to rural areas - we will show how gender and sexuality are constructed and practiced in these locales. In addition to foundational scholarly texts in the field, we will also engage with an array of cultural texts (films, novels, poetry, comics) and - where possible - have conversations with activists who are working in these sites via Skype/teleconferencing.

Instructor(s): Stephanie Kraver     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20034, GNSE 30112, GNSE 20112

NEHC 30035. What is a Madrasa Education? 100 Units.

Although public education has almost completely eclipsed and replaced traditional educational systems throughout the Muslim world, madrasas continue to play a significant role in Muslim societies to this day. This course explores the complex, evolving, and often conflicting pedagogical models of learning in Islamic civilization from the medieval period up to the present. Three fundamental concerns guide our examination of the various modes of organization, acquisition, embodiment, and transference of knowledge in madrasa institutions: (1) Epistemology: What is knowledge (ʿilm)? And what is an ʿālim, or "traditional Muslim knower" expected know? (2) Pedagogy: How does an ʿālim acquire, organize, transmit, and publish his/her ʿilm? (3) Religious Authority: How is ʿilm verified, authenticated, institutionalized, certificated, and mainstreamed in madrasa institutions? The sheer enormity of the subject and the variety of competing pedagogical models in the Muslim world belie a comprehensive survey. Our approach will thus be grounded in multidisciplinary research (history, ethnography, sociology, religious studies) and anchored in case studies. The readings covered in class will address questions of philosophy of education; the politics of knowledge; core texts studied in madrasas; day-to-day lived experience of students and teachers; how classical texts are taught.

Instructor(s): Yousef Casewit     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Basic knowledge of Arabic or another Islamic language is highly recommended, though not a formal prerequisite for this course.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 30035

NEHC 30040. Introduction to the Qur'an. 100 Units.

The primary goal of this course is to introduce students to the text and context of the Qurʾan. Emphasis is placed upon both the historical setting as well as the thematic and literary features, major biblical figures, and foundational narratives of the Qurʾan. Explorations of medieval exegetical literature on the Qurʾan and its reception in the early (8th - 10th century CE) and medieval periods (11th - 15th century CE) will feature in this course.

Instructor(s): Mehmetcan Akpinar     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 30040, RLST 11040

NEHC 30050. Introduction to Hadith Literature. 100 Units.

This course offers an introduction to hadith literature, which encompasses traditions about the life of the prophet Muhammad, his speeches and deeds. The aim is to familiarize students with the basic terminology, the different genres of hadith literature, the development of the classical hadith scholarship, the most important hadith collections, as well as studies on hadith criticism. We will examine the methods of collecting and transmitting the hadiths in Islamic history, their evaluation and assessment by Muslim scholars, the role of hadiths in law, theology and Sufism, and the modern academic debates on the authenticity of the hadiths. Additionally, the course will engage with the genesis of Twelve Shiite and Zaidi hadith.

Instructor(s): Mehmetcan Akpinar     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 30050, RLST 11050, NEHC 20050

NEHC 30103. Thesis Preperation I - Modern Track. 100 Units.

Thesis Preparation I - Modern Track course is for CMES 2nd-Year students (Modern Track) in the initial research and proposal phase of their Masters Thesis.

Instructor(s): Carl Shook     Terms Offered: Autumn

NEHC 30112. Islamic City and Its Parts. 100 Units.

This course is designed for graduate or upper-level undergraduate students interested in the social history of the Mediterranean, late Antiquity, the Middle Ages and Early modernity. We will have survey and explore the history of urban classes, guilds, religious communities, waqf and urbanism, everyday life, disasters and celebrations in "Islamic" cities. The course will begin by examining the primary sources on the subject. We will also cover a growing corpus of secondary sources on life in Islamic cities. Among the questions we will ask are what are the forces of growth and decline of Islamic cities, what groups and classes of people lived in cities, what did cityscapes look like and what kinds of businesses and concerns occupied people's daily lives.

Instructor(s): Mustafa Kaya     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 21112, ISLM 30112, NEHC 20112

NEHC 30113. Revolution and Piety in Islam. 100 Units.

This course examines religious responses to major political upheavals in Islamic history, from the Abbasid revolution to the age of European expansion. Topics include the Mongol destruction of the caliphate in 1258 and the opening and closing of confessional boundaries; the formation of regional Muslim empires in the 16th century; Ibn Arabi, Ibn Taymiyya, and Ibn Khaldun; the development of alternative spiritualities, mysticism, and messianism in the fifteenth century; trans-confessionalism, antinomianism, and the articulation of sacral sovereignties in the sixteenth century; the pious responses to European colonialism . All work in English.

Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 30113, HIST 25710, HIST 35710, NEHC 20113, RLST 21113

NEHC 30157. History of Modern Iran: 1890-1988. 100 Units.

This course will examine important political developments from the end of the Qajar period to the end of the Iran-Iraq War. The course is a colloquium and will have a heavy discussion element.

Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20157

NEHC 30160. Central Asia Past and Present/From Alexander the Great to Al Qaeda. 100 Units.

Central Asia Past and Present serves as a multi-disciplinary course, spanning anthropology, history and political science. This course introduces students to the fluid, political-geographic concept of Central Asia as well as to the historical and cultural dimensions of this particular and oft-redefined world. My understanding of Central Asia comes from studies of ex-Soviet Central Asia, which includes five independent countries (since 1991) within central Eurasia--the former U.S.S.R. Thus the course encompasses Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan in addition to parts of northern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and western China (Xinjiang/Sinkiang). Students will familiarize themselves with universal and divergent factors among the Central Asian peoples based on phenomena such as human migrations, cross-cultural influences, historical events, and the economic organization of peoples based on local ecology and natural boundaries. Working together and as individuals, we will study maps and atlases to gain a fuller understanding of historical movements and settlements of the Central Asian peoples.

Instructor(s): R. Zanca
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 23616, NEHC 20160, ANTH 32206

NEHC 30201. Islamicate Civilization I: 600-950. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to the history and the study of early Islamicate societies, from the rise of Islam in late antiquity to the early Abbasid period (ca. 600-950 CE), considering various religious and social groups. We will look at the same historical arc from multiple perspectives: political events, such as the Muslim conquests and the rise of ruling dynasties, but also other factors that impacted people's lives in the early centuries of Islamic rule-the environment they inhabited and transformed, documents they created, social institutions, and economic activities. What broad developments characterized the early Islamic period? Who brought those changes about? And how are they studied today?

Instructor(s): CECILIA PALOMBO     Terms Offered: Autumn. This course will not be offered for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Note(s): The Islamicate Civilization sequence does not fulfill the General Ed requirements
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20201, ISLM 30201, HIST 35621, RLST 20201, MDVL 20201, HIST 15611

NEHC 30202. Islamicate Civilization II: 950-1750. 100 Units.

This course, a continuation of Islamicate Civilization I, surveys intellectual, cultural, religious and political developments in the Islamic world from Andalusia to the South Asian sub-continent during the periods from ca. 950 to 1750. We trace the arrival and incorporation of the Steppe Peoples (Turks and Mongols) into the central Islamic lands; the splintering of the Abbasid Caliphate and the impact on political theory; the flowering of literature of Arabic, Turkic and Persian expression; the evolution of religious and legal scholarship and devotional life; transformations in the intellectual and philosophical traditions; the emergence of Shi`i states (Buyids and Fatimids); the Crusades and Mongol conquests; the Mamluks and Timurids, and the "gunpowder empires" of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Moghuls; the dynamics of gender and class relations; etc. This class partially fulfills the requirement for MA students in CMES, as well as for NELC majors and PhD students.

Instructor(s): Mustafa Kaya     Terms Offered: Winter. This course will not be offered for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Prerequisite(s): Islamicate Civilization I (NEHC 20201) or Islamic Thought & Literature-1 (NEHC 20601), or the equivalent
Note(s): The Islamicate Civilization sequence does not fulfill the General Ed requirements
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 15612, NEHC 20202, HIST 35622, MDVL 20202, RLST 20202, ISLM 30202

NEHC 30203. Islamicate Civilization III: 1750-Present. 100 Units.

This course covers the period from ca. 1750 to the present, focusing on Western military, economic, and ideological encroachment; the impact of such ideas as nationalism and liberalism; efforts at reform in the Islamic states; the emergence of the "modern" Middle East after World War I; the struggle for liberation from Western colonial and imperial control; the Middle Eastern states in the cold war era; and local and regional conflicts.

Instructor(s): Carl Shook     Terms Offered: Spring. This course will not be offered for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Prerequisite(s): Islamicate Civilization II (NEHC 20202) or Islamic Thought & Literature-2 (NEHC 20602), or the equivalent
Note(s): The Islamicate Civilization sequence does not fulfill the General Ed requirements
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 20203, HIST 35623, NEHC 20203, HIST 15613, ISLM 30203

NEHC 30300. Introductory Qur'anic Arabic III. 100 Units.

This course is the third in a 3-quarter sequence "Introduction to Qur'anic Arabic" (IQA), which aims to provide students with foundational philological and reading skills by covering the essentials of Qur'anic/Classical Arabic grammar. This course also features readings of select passages from the Qur'an, Ḥadīth and Tafsīr. The 3 quarters of IQA are sequential, and students are strongly encouraged to join in the first quarter. Exceptions can be made on a case by case basis.

Instructor(s): graduate student instructor TBD     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Graduate and undergraduate students from any department are welcome to register. The minimum prerequisite for IQA III is the successful completion of IQA II or equivalent training. The IQA sequence is also open to students who may have had more exposure to Arabic (modern or classical) but wish to acquire a solid foundation in Arabic grammar, and/or students who feel they are not yet ready for third-year Arabic courses.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 30300, RLST 15300

NEHC 30303. Comics and the (Arab) City. 100 Units.

The city has often been connected to the practice of making comics, and Arab cities are no exception. In this course, we will build on theorizations of comics and of urban studies - and comics and the urban - and apply this theoretical foundation to an exploration of various cities in Arab comics in translation (or in English). How does the visual and verbal language of comics expand our understanding of urban life in the modern Arab world? What cities and urban experiences dominate in comic renderings, and why?

Instructor(s): Ghenwa Hayek     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20303

NEHC 30504. Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. 100 Units.

The course introduces the Jewish/Hebrew Bible as a literary treasury with a material history. We will survey the genres and the different works, review scholarly theories about the texts and about ideas in them, and situate them in the history of Israel and Judea and in the culture of ancient Southwest Asia. We will also engage theories of history, literature, and narrative. The course includes a weekly Discussion Section for mixed-modes activities and conceptual discussions.

Instructor(s): Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students. This course counts as a Gateway course for RLST majors/minors.
Equivalent Course(s): JWSC 20120, RLST 11004, HIJD 31004, FNDL 11004, BIBL 31000, NEHC 20504

NEHC 30568. Balkan Folklore. 100 Units.

Vampires, fire-breathing dragons, vengeful mountain nymphs. 7/8 and other uneven dance beats, heart-rending laments, and a living epic tradition. This course is an overview of Balkan folklore from historical, political, and anthropological perspectives. We seek to understand folk tradition as a dynamic process and consider the function of different folklore genres in the imagining and maintenance of community and the socialization of the individual. We also experience this living tradition firsthand through visits of a Chicago-based folk dance ensemble, "Balkan Dance."

Instructor(s): Angelina Ilieva     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 23301, ANTH 35908, REES 39009, NEHC 20568, ANTH 25908, CMLT 33301, REES 29009

NEHC 30570. Mughal India: Tradition & Transition. 100 Units.

The focus of this course is on the period of Mughal rule during the late sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, especially on selected issues that have been at the center of historiographical debate in the past decades.

Instructor(s): M. Alam     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Advanced standing or consent of instructor. Prior knowledge of appropriate history and secondary literature required.
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26602, NEHC 20570, HIST 36602, SALC 37701, SALC 27701

NEHC 30573. The Burden of History: A Nation and Its Lost Paradise. 100 Units.

What makes it possible for the imagined communities called nations to command the emotional attachments that they do? This course considers some possible answers to Benedict Anderson's question on the basis of material from the Balkans. We will examine the transformation of the scenario of paradise, loss, and redemption into a template for a national identity narrative through which South East European nations retell their Ottoman past. With the help of Žižek's theory of the subject as constituted by trauma and Kant's notion of the sublime, we will contemplate the national fixation on the trauma of loss and the dynamic between victimhood and sublimity.

Instructor(s): Angelina Ilieva     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 23401, NEHC 20573, HIST 24005, CMLT 33401, REES 29013, HIST 34005, REES 39013

NEHC 30606. Introduction to Qur'an Manuscripts. 100 Units.

The study of the Qur'an in the academy is primarily a literary endeavor. While a rich scripture and standard of world literature the Qur'an also exhibits a long and complex manuscript tradition. Despite beginning as an oral text, from the earliest periods of Islamic history, the Qur'an was revered, studied, and written. This course will chart the historical development of the Qur'an's manuscript traditions, analyze the efficacy of manuscripts as a source for early Islamic history, and consider scripture as objects of religious devotion.

Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20606, ISLM 30606, RLST 20606

NEHC 30612. Critical Arabic Philology. 100 Units.

This course introduces students to the indigenous tools and techniques devised for the critical study of texts within the classical Arabic-Islamic scholarly tradition, comparing and contrasting them with modern critical philology. We begin with an examination of two modern accounts of philology from the early 1930s, put forward by a German Orientalist and a Yemeni corrector working in India, respectively. Parallel to these readings, students edit collaboratively sections of a medieval manuscript in order to gain a direct insight into the problems of deciphering and editing manuscripts. We then examine the explicit textual methodologies developed in the field of Hadith collection and reproduction. The course ends with discussion of a fourteenth-century philological analysis that uncovered a historical forgery of a document allegedly written by Muḥammad.

Instructor(s): Ahmed El Shamsy     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): 3 years of Arabic
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20612, ISLM 40612

NEHC 30613. Dreams in the Ancient World. 100 Units.

Dreams belong to the universals of human existence as human beings have always dreamt and will continue to dream across time and cultures. The questions where do dreams come from and how to unravel a dream have always preoccupied the human mind. In this course we will focus on dreams in the Greco-Roman and Greco-Egyptian cultural environments. We will cover dreams from three complementary perspectives: dreams as experience, dream interpretation and dream theory. The reading materials will include: (a) a selection of dream narratives from different sources, literary texts as well as documentary accounts of dreams; (b) texts which document the forms and contexts of dream interpretation in the Greco-Roman and Greco-Egyptian cultures and (c) texts which represent attempts to approach dreams from a more general perspective by among others explaining their genesis and defining dream-types.

Instructor(s): S. Torallas.      Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CLAS 34519, CLCV 24519, RLST 24503, NEHC 20613, ANCM 44519, HREL 34519

NEHC 30625. Approaches to the Study of the Ancient Near East. 100 Units.

This is a required introductory course for all CMES ancient-track students.

Instructor(s): Brian Muhs     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): CMES 31002

NEHC 30630. Introduction to Islamic Philosophy. 100 Units.

This course offers an introduction to the terms and concepts current in Arabic philosophical writings in the classical period of Islamic thought (roughly 9th to 17th century). It begins with the movement to translate Greek texts into Arabic and the debate among Muslims about the validity of philosophy versus revelation. From a close reading of key works (in English) by important philosophers such as al-Kindī, al-Rāzī, al-Sijistānī, al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), al-Ghazzālī, Ibn Bājja, Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Suhrawardī, and Mullā Ṣadrā, a series of lectures will follow the career of philosophy in the Islamic world, first as a 'foreign' science and then, later, as selectively rejected but also substantially accepted as a natural component of sophisticated discourse.

Instructor(s): Paul Walker     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 30630, RLST 23630, NEHC 20630

NEHC 30658. Narrating Conflict in Modern Arabic Literature. 100 Units.

This course is an exploration of conflict in the Arab world through literature, film and new media. In this course, we will discuss the influence of independence movements, wars, and revolts on Arabic literature: how do writers write about, or film, conflict? How does conflict affect language itself? How do these texts engage with issues of trauma and bearing witness? To answer these questions, we will look at a number of key moments of conflict in the Arab world, including the Arab-Israeli conflicts, the Algerian war of independence, the 2011 Egyptian revolution, the Lebanese and Iraq wars, and the ongoing war in Syria. Rather than follow a historical chronology of these events, we will read these texts thematically, beginning with texts that seek to present themselves as direct, sometimes eye-witness, accounts and then moving on to narratives that complicate the relationship between conflict and its narration.

Instructor(s): Stephanie Kraver     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ARAB 20658, ARAB 30658, NEHC 20658

NEHC 30676. Perpetration of Mass Violence: Motivations and Dynamics of Participation in the Armenian Genoci. 100 Units.

The systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire was planned and executed by a cadre of individuals. Although in recent decades historians have explored the biographies of leading figures in the Committee of Union and Progress and explored their roles in the destruction of the Christian population of the Ottoman Empire, there is little systematic research on the motivations of and interactions among perpetrators. Furthermore, most active participants in the genocide on the local level are little known today. In this course, we will explore motivations of perpetrators and different forms of perpetration of violence during the Armenian genocide in a comparative perspective. We will investigate the lives and legacies of genocide perpetrators as well as their post-genocide careers who actively participated in the annihilation of Armenians and plunder of their wealth and cultural heritage. Our aim is to reconstruct the background, motivations, and actions of the perpetrators at the national, local and provincial levels, a largely understudied dimension of Armenian genocide history. Through social network analysis and micro-historical portraits, this course aims to shed light on the political and socio-economic factors that reinforced the foundations of a genocide in the making and demonstrate how the policies of Ottoman central authorities found fertile ground in provinces and districts across the empire.

Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20676, HIST 22003, HIST 32003

NEHC 30766. Shamans and Oral Poets of Central Asia. 100 Units.

Anthropological/Ethnographic Survey of Pre-Modern Central Asian Cultures. This course explores the rituals, oral literature, and music associated with the nomadic cultures of Central Eurasia.

Instructor(s): Kagan Arik     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 25906, NEHC 20766

NEHC 30808. Biography of the Prophet Muhammad. 100 Units.

This introductory course offers an overview of Prophet Muhammad's life as portrayed in the early and medieval Arabic narrative tradition and through the lens of modern scholarship. We will discuss a diverse range of topics, such as life in pre-Islamic Arabia, the Prophet's early life before prophethood, the first revelations, the Meccan period, his migration to Medina, his religio-political leadership and the military expeditions during the Medinan period, his reported miracles, etc. At the same time, students will gain an overview of the sira/maghaz' literature, i.e., the texts devoted to the life of the Prophet Muhammad in the Muslim tradition. Modern methodological questions which concern the reliability of the narrative traditions in reconstructing the biography of the "historical Muhammad" and a wide range of approaches developed in Western academia to overcome problems related to the source material will also be addressed.

Instructor(s): Mehmetcan Akpinar     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): No background in Islamic studies or Arabic language required.
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): MDVL 20808, ISLM 30808, NEHC 20808, RLST 20808

NEHC 30822. Topics in Ottoman Cultural History. 100 Units.

This course focuses on the recent trends and developments in Ottoman Studies. We examine topics and methodologies in works published in recent years and explore the ensuing debates.

Instructor(s): Hakan Karateke     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20822

NEHC 30838. Further Topics in Late Ottoman History-1. 100 Units.

This course will introduce students to a number of important topics in Eighteenth and nineteenth century Ottoman history, such as the nature of the great local notables, the growing importance of proteges, and the bureaucratic reform.

Instructor(s): H. Shissler     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Open to Graduate students and undergraduates with some knowledge of Middle Eastern History.
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20838

NEHC 30839. Further Topics in Late Ottoman History-2. 100 Units.

Further Topics in Late Ottoman History-2

Instructor(s): H. Shissler     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Reading knowledge of a Middle Eastern Language, a language of the Ottoman Empire, or French. First quarter open to undergrads by permission. Second quarter open to grad students only.

NEHC 30866. The Economy by Other Means": New Approaches to the Economy of the Late and Post-Ottoman Middle East. 100 Units.

Questions around political economy and capitalism are once again gaining prominence in Ottoman and Middle East studies. Whereas these questions have been fundamental to the traditional confines of economic history and political economy, this new engagement takes its cue from a different and diverse pool of fields. As one observer recently put it, an emerging body of literature engages with "the economy by other means." This course takes stock of these still-uncharted means by bringing together and examining a selection of recently published books treating economic themes in the late Ottoman Empire and in the post-Ottoman Middle East up to the midtwentieth century. How do these books challenge, build on, and/or conform to the contours of economic modes of analysis? What do they contribute to our understanding of capitalism in the Middle East? What are the new archives they create for the study of economic life? How do they destabilize the conceptual repertoire of political economy? More importantly, in what ways do they change our view of the late Ottoman and modern Middle East? This course will take us from malaria in Anatolia to "men of capital" in Mandate Palestine; from legal battles on family inheritance in Ottoman Syria to the "colonial economism" of the British occupation of Egypt; from the late Ottoman culture of productivity to the rise of the Arabic novel during nahda.

Instructor(s): Murat Bozluolcay     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20866, KNOW 30866, KNOW 20866, HIST 35803, HIST 25809

NEHC 31451. Rhoades Seminar: Reading Ancient Egyptian Art. 100 Units.

For millennia ancient Egyptian artists constructed visual narratives on tomb chapel walls, temple structures, and other material remains - such as stelae - that provide glimpses of lived experiences in the land that gave rise to this ancient African culture. Focusing on two-dimensional representations produced in Egypt (ancient Kemet) between approximately 3000-1069 BCE, this course will consider the functions of such pictorial accounts within their original contexts and explore approaches to reading and interpreting them. We will investigate topics including depictions of "daily life" on the Nile, royal sojourns to foreign lands, and the imagined landscapes of the underworld, deconstructing scenes and the ancient artistic conventions used to produce them. Particular emphasis will be placed on how the natural environment of North Africa is reflected in the arts of ancient Egypt, from detailed renderings of indigenous flora and fauna to interpretations of the physical landscape. Sources will include ancient texts in translation and firsthand examination of Egyptian artifacts in Chicagoland museums, including the ISAC Museum.

Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 21451, ARTH 21451, ARTH 31451

NEHC 32502. Persian Literary Translation Through the Translation of Hafez. 100 Units.

Persian Literary Translation Through the Translation of Hafez Translating poetry is often a challenging endeavor, but translating Persian classical poetry is especially complex for several reasons, including the genre's prevalence of ebhām (ambiguity) and ihām (polyvalence). These challenges have caused many literary translators to dub Hafez's poetry as practically untranslatable, yet nonetheless there have been many attempts at translation, with varying degrees of success. This course aims to both explore the specific challenges translators of Hafez have encountered and also to strengthen students' literary translation skill through the translation of Hafez's works. After conducting a survey of existing translations of Hafez and other Persian classical poets, hands-on translations of several ghazals of Hafez will foster a better understanding of the multilayered meanings of his poetry. In addition, published as well as video sources on literary translation will serve as an introduction to prevailing theories of translation and to efficient methodologies of translating literary texts. The course being essentially designed to familiarize students with the practice of translation, students will create and refine their own translations of selected poems of Hafez. The complete term paper must be 10-15 pages of typed double-spaced font 12 text and include the introductory essay, the translation, and the original poems.

Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 22502, PERS 20502

NEHC 32700. Biblical Law. 100 Units.

This course will examine the laws in the Torah/Pentateuch and elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible for their legal, social, and moral reasoning; their style; their meaning in literary works, as literature; and their historical setting. It will compare them to laws in other ancient works like the Hammurabi monument(s).

Instructor(s): Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 22700, HIJD 32700, JWSC 22702, RLST 22700, BIBL 32700

NEHC 32906. The Book of Ezekiel. 100 Units.

A seminar for reading the Book of Ezekiel (in English; optional reading group for those who read biblical Hebrew), the Bible's most bizarre and challenging Prophetic work. It features Ezekiel's close encounters with a brutal divine, instantaneous transportation to future spaces and faraway places, dream-scenes that become real, mortifying dramatizations, and surreal sensory overload. Ezekiel says he played the role of a crude mime, a confounding cryptic, and an erotic singer. This charged and disturbing work generated a variety of literary and speculative Jewish and Christian traditions, like the Apocalyptic and the Mystical. Modern Bible critics discount its retrospective frame, consider it a repository of historical materials, and probe Ezekiel for personality disorders. We will engage it the way it presents itself to us, as literature, in a which a character tells his glorious and troubled story, and explore its frame, content, poetics, Judean literary traditions, contemporary Babylonian scene, and historical message.

Instructor(s): Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 22906, HIJD 32906, NEHC 22906, BIBL 32906, JWSC 22906

NEHC 33271. Islamic Education in West Africa. 100 Units.

This course will critically explore the history of Islamic scholarship and the transmission of religious knowledge and scholarly authority in West African Muslim societies from the late medieval period to the present day. We will examine a variety of knowledge traditions, textual and pedagogical approaches, epistemologies, and embodied practices of Muslim scholars and students of the region in order to understand what it means to seek, transmit, and create knowledge in the context of West African Muslim societies. In addition to relevant secondary literature, we will read passages from some of the texts taught in these places. Intermediate Arabic is recommended, but not required for this course.

Instructor(s): Abubakar Abdulkadir     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 20271, KNOW 33271, NEHC 20271, ISLM 33271

NEHC 33704. Religion in Modern Iran. 100 Units.

TBD

Terms Offered: TBD
Equivalent Course(s): AASR 33404, ISLM 33404

NEHC 33825. Human Rights in the Middle East. 100 Units.

This seminar explores the broad range of human rights struggles, concerns and activism in the contemporary Middle East region. The class will examine human rights issues posed by authoritarian, dictatorial and single-party state formations in the Middle East particularly by looking at the effects of internal security apparatuses, mechanisms of state violence, and struggles for political participation and liberty. We explore ongoing indigenous struggles for recognition and autonomy, such as the Kurdish, Sahrawi and Amazigh cases, while also contextualizing the region's complex history of colonial and neocolonial interventions by force and their human rights implications. We will examine the varied roles that non-state actors play in Middle Eastern human rights spheres, from militias to NGOs to religious and communal structures. The course will look to local actors and movements to explore forms of resistance, struggle, and social change while maneuvering through often highly-constrained political spaces. We pay particular attention to marginalized communities by looking at the rights struggles of minorities, women, children, migrant workers, the disabled, and the LGBTQ+ community in Middle Eastern contexts. Personal Status Laws and their effects on rights, especially with regard to marital relations and parental rights are considered. Interdisciplinary and varied modes of knowledge production including film serve as source materials.

Instructor(s): Lindsay Gifford, Pozen Center for Human Rights Assistant Research Professor     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 33825, GLST 23825, HMRT 23825, NEHC 23825

NEHC 34590. Early Islamic Theological (Kalām) Texts. 100 Units.

This course offers the opportunity of engaging first-hand with the Arabic texts that define the discussions and polemics in Islamic theology of the formative period (7-10th centuries). Besides studying texts from different genres and produced by authors of differing theological orientations, we will discuss a wide range of themes, such as faith, free will, God's attributes, revelation, etc., in their intellectual and polemical contexts. The study of the primary readings will be supplemented by secondary scholarly literature. The main objective of this course is to enable students to understand the early theological texts in their religious and historical contexts, which will also inform their study of the major theological works of the Islamic tradition in the later periods.

Instructor(s): Mehmetcan Akpinar     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): 2 years of Arabic required.
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 34590, NEHC 24590, MDVL 24590, RLST 24590

NEHC 34592. Jewish and Islamic Ethics in al-Andalus. 100 Units.

This course will include readings in Jewish and Islamic ethics from al-Andalus and the Maghrib with a focus on the writings of Maimonides (d. 1204) -- especially his "Eight Chapters" and Commentary on Avot (completed in the 1160s) and Ibn al-Mar'a of Malaga (d. 1214) -- especially his commentary on Ibn al-'Arif.

Instructor(s): Jim Robinson and Yousef Casewit     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the HS or CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 34592, RLST 24592, JWSC 24592, NEHC 24592, HIJD 34592, RETH 34592, MDVL 24592

NEHC 34723. Guardians of knowledge: scribes and books from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. 100 Units.

Books have been a fundamental part of the transmission of knowledge and more generally, human communication. They collect thoughts, experiences, feelings, knowledge and ideas into a material artifact that is distributed to an audience of readers. The work of scribes and scholars is the silent agent of this millennial enterprise. The process of book-production involves a large number of different skills from these artisans: material manufacture, preparation of writing surfaces and inks, writing skills, calligraphy, binding, distribution. In this course students will study the history of books, from Antiquity to the invention of the printing press, and their makers. The topics covered will include scribal training, book manufacture, circulation and trade of books, readership, and other such topics around the world of books and scholars. The course will focus on books as artifacts, as transmitters of knowledge and literary creativity.

Instructor(s): Sofía Torallas Tovar.      Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CLAS 34723, NEHC 23723, RLST 22723, BIBL 34723, CLCV 24723

NEHC 34815. Collecting the Ancient World: Museum Practice and Politics. 100 Units.

Where is this artifact from? Who does it belong to? How did it get here? Who's telling its story? Critical inquiry into the practice and politics of museums has reached a new zenith in contemporary discourse. From discussions of acquisition and repatriation to provenience (archaeological findspot) and provenance (an object's ownership history) and the ethics of curation and modes of display, museum and art professionals-and the general public alike-are deliberating on the concept of museums and the responsibilities of such institutions towards the collections in their care. This course will explore the early history of museums and collecting practices and their impact on the field today, with a focus on cultural heritage collections from West Asia and North Africa. We will first spend time on such topics as archaeological exploration of "the Orient," colonial collecting practices, and the antiquities trade, as well as the politics of representation and reception in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Next, we will look at critical issues presently facing museums, including ethical collection stewardship, provenance research, repatriation, community engagement, and public education. The course will be structured in a seminar format, with lectures devoted to the presentation of key themes by the instructor and critical discussion as a group. Meetings will include visits to the ISAC Museum at UChicago.

Instructor(s): K. Neumann     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 24815, HIST 30509, HIST 20509, ARTH 34815, ARTH 24815

NEHC 35004. Readings in Ibn Tufayl's Hayy b. Yaqzan. 100 Units.

A study of Ibn Tufayl's twelfth-century philosophical/mystical romance about a boy spontaneously generated on a desert island who achieves knowledge of God through empirical study of nature. The many themes in Hayy ibn Yaqzan will be studied in relation to the philosophical literature that formed it and in light of recent modern scholarship about it.

Instructor(s): James T. Robinson     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): MDVL 15004, FNDL 25105, HIJD 35004, RLST 25105, ISLM 35004

NEHC 35218. Suhrawardi and His Interpreters. 100 Units.

Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī (d. 1191), the founder of the ishrāqī philosophical tradition, is undoubtedly one of the most innovative and influential philosophers in the history of Islamic thought. In this seminar, we will examine major themes in the writings of Suhrawardī along with excerpts from Arabic commentaries by Muslim and Jewish authors such as Ibn Kammūnah (d. 1284), Shahrazūrī (d. 1288), Quṭb al-Dīn Shīrāzī (d. 1311), Dawānī (d.1502), Dashtakī (d. 1542), Qarabāghī (d. 1625) and Harawī (d. 1689). Topics include, Suhrawardī's understanding of the history of philosophy, light and the order of existence, virtues and human happiness, self-knowledge and self-awareness, conceptual and non-conceptual knowledge, and theory of ritual actions.

Instructor(s): Nariman Aavani     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): 2 years of Arabic.
Note(s): This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 35218, RLST 25218, FNDL 25218, NEHC 25218, MDVL 25218

NEHC 35705. The last century of Persian in India (c. 1770-1850): Persian literary culture and its transformation. 100 Units.

In this seminar we will read original texts and familiarize students with archival research on Persian materials from the colonial period, looking at examples in original manuscripts and lithographed editions. Despite being rarely considered by historians of Persian cultural history and historians of British India, this period saw a fascinating profusion of writings, composed in particular by Hindu and Muslim scribes commissioned by British officers. Throughout the course we will emphasize the crucial role of Persian and Persian-writing Indian literati for the early colonial state administration and intelligence. Besides looking at works produced in a colonial context, we will examine the transformation of prose writing amongst Persianate literati in North Indian cities.

Equivalent Course(s): SALC 25705, NEHC 25705, SALC 35705

NEHC 36103. Dreams, Visions, and Mystical Experience. 100 Units.

An exploration of primary literature and secondary scholarship on dream interpretation, luminous vision, and religious experience, with a focus on the writings of figures from the late North African Sufi tradition such as 'Ali al-Jamal and 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Dabbagh.

Instructor(s): Yousef Casewit     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 26103, RLST 26103, ISLM 36103

NEHC 36250. Introduction to Islamic Theology. 100 Units.

Survey of ideas and arguments formulated by renowned Muslim theologians and responses that their doctrines triggered. Major doctrines will be covered, starting with early debates over the nature of belonging to the Muslim community, the nature of God, revelation, prophecy, freewill and predestination. The course roughly follows the historical development of Islamic theology in conversation with other Islamic sciences (philosophy, sufism, law), with a close examination of the confrontation between a group of rationalist theologians (Muʿtazilites), the traditionalist hadith-scholars, and the emergence of Sunni Ashʿarite theology between the 9th and 11th centuries.

Instructor(s): Yousef Casewit     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): No knowledge of Arabic is required. Reading materials will be in English. Open to graduate students. This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 36250, RLST 23250, NEHC 23250

NEHC 36500. The Radiant Pearl: Introduction to Syriac Literature and its Historical Contexts. 100 Units.

After Greek and Latin, Syriac literature represents the third largest corpus of writings from the formative centuries of Christianity. This course offers students a comprehensive overview of the dominant genres and history of Syriac-speaking Christians from the early centuries through the modern day. Moving beyond traditional historiography that focuses exclusively on early Christianity within the Roman Empire, this class examines Christian traditions that took root in the Persian and later Islamic Empires as well. Through studying the history and literature of Syriac-speaking Christians, the global reach of early Christianity and its diversity comes to the fore. Syriac-speaking Christians preached the Gospel message from the Arabian Peninsula to early modern China and India. Syriac writers also raised female biblical figures and holy women to prominent roles within their works. Students will broaden their understanding of the development of Christian thought as they gain greater familiarity with understudied voices and visions for Christian living found within Syriac literature. Special attention will be paid to biblical translation, asceticism, poetry, differences between ecclesial communities as well as the changing political fortunes of Syriac-speaking populations. No previous knowledge or study expected.

Instructor(s): Erin Galgay Walsh     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 26505, GNSE 36505, RLST 16500, BIBL 36500, HCHR 36500, NEHC 26500

NEHC 37213. Partings, Encounters, and Entangled Histories: The Formation of Judaism and Christianity. 100 Units.

When did the fault lines between Judaism and Christianity emerge? This course explores this question by examining the formation of Judaism and Christianity within the world of the Ancient Mediterranean. What religious views, texts, and practices did Jews and Christians hold in common? How did early writers construct communal boundaries and project "ideal" belief and practice? What role did the changing political tides of the Roman and Persian empires play? We will explore continuities and growing distinctions between Jews and Christians in the areas of scriptural interpretation, ritual practices, and structures of authority. Special attention will be paid to debates around gender and sexuality, healing, and views of government and economics. We will approach these issues through material evidence and close readings of early literature in light of contemporary scholarship. Students interested in modern histories of Judaism and Christianity will gain a firm foundation in the pivotal debates, texts, and events that set the trajectories for later centuries.

Instructor(s): Erin Galgay Walsh     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): No prerequisite knowledge of the historical periods, literature, or religious traditions covered is expected.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HIJD 37213, NEHC 27213, BIBL 37213, RLST 27213, JWSC 27213, HIST 31600, CLCV 24021, HCHR 37213, CLAS 34021

NEHC 38003. Islamic Art: Private Collections on Public Display. 100 Units.

In the past decade, two museums in Texas - the MFA Houston and the Dallas Museum of Art -- have suddenly emerged as major centers for Islamic art. Usually, well-developed displays of Islamic art build on sustained institutional commitment to curation over several generations. However, these Texas museums both quickly transformed their abilities to exhibit Islamic art by securing long term loans of significant private collections. With the al-Sabah Collection and the Hossein Afshar Collection, MFA Houston more than doubled its display space for Islamic art in 2023; and similarly, the Dallas Museum of Art has displayed the Keir Collection since 2014. This travelling seminar brings students to Texas for two weeks, facilitating direct study of an expansive range of Islamic arts produced from the medieval period to the present, in materials ranging from silk, parchment, ceramic, and rock crystal; to lacquer, sandstone, metal, jade, and plexiglass. Students will learn basic classification systems for navigating the vast range of Islamic arts, and will also each select a specific work for close study. Upon return to campus, students will develop their thoughts on the object in relation to questions of collection and display. What force does a given object have in shaping, confirming, or challenging logics of collection and display? What might the same object achieve differently within the context of a different, possibly thematic, exhibition?

Instructor(s): P. Berlekamp     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Consent Only
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 28003, ARTH 28003, ARTH 38003

NEHC 38499. How Did The Ancients Interpret Their Myths? 100 Units.

How did the ancient Greeks interpret their own narratives about the gods? How did their encounter with Near Eastern mythologies shape their own story-telling, and how did their understanding and use of myths evolve with time? In this course, we will explore the ancient interpretation of myth from the archaic Greek to the Roman periods. First, we will focus on the cross-cultural adaptations of Near Eastern traditions in Greek epic (Homer and Hesiod), as a form of interpretation itself. Then we will discuss how ancient poets and thinkers interpreted and reinterpreted divine narratives, paying attention to their philosophical, literary, and cultural strategies, from Orphism and Plato to the Stoics and later philosophical schools, including Euhemerism and its engagement with Phoenician mythology.

Instructor(s): Carolina López-Ruiz     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 28499, CLAS 38422, NEHC 28499, CLCV 28422, HREL 38499

NEHC 39023. Returning the Gaze: The West and the Rest. 100 Units.

Aware of being observed. And judged. Inferior... Abject… Angry... Proud… This course provides insight into identity dynamics between the "West," as the center of economic power and self-proclaimed normative humanity, and the "Rest," as the poor, backward, volatile periphery. We investigate the relationship between South East European self-representations and the imagined Western gaze. Inherent in the act of looking at oneself through the eyes of another is the privileging of that other's standard. We will contemplate the responses to this existential position of identifying symbolically with a normative site outside of oneself-self-consciousness, defiance, arrogance, self-exoticization-and consider how these responses have been incorporated in the texture of the national, gender, and social identities in the region. Orhan Pamuk, Ivo Andrić, Nikos Kazantzakis, Aleko Konstantinov, Emir Kusturica, Milcho Manchevski.

Instructor(s): Angelina Ilieva     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 23609, CMLT 29023, REES 29023, CMLT 39023, NEHC 29023, HIST 33609, REES 39023

NEHC 39030. Islam, Race and Decoloniality. 100 Units.

This course explores western perspectives, attitudes and representations of Muslims and Islam from medieval European thought, through liberal colonial encounters to contemporary media and political discourses. Students will examine the intersection of race and religion as it applies to the construction of Muslim identity and alterity in the Western imagination. We will explore the remarkable consistency across centuries of the threatening, menacing, barbaric and uncivilized Muslim "Other". The course centers around these Orientalist constructions and will explore the power structures, colonial modalities, epistemological frameworks, and ideological assumptions that perpetuate the racialization of Islam and Muslims within the United States and abroad. This course ultimately aims to uncover potentials for resistance, recovery and renewal through the politics and praxis of decoloniality. Students will gain familiarity with decolonial theory and practices, as well as the important project of 'epistemic delinking' as it is framed by contemporary scholars intent on challenging, possibly undoing and remapping the Muslim experience within global liberal political modernity.

Instructor(s): Maliha Chishti     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the LMCS or SCSR Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 39030, NEHC 29030, RLST 29030, KNOW 39030

NEHC 39765. Cultural Heritage Management Crisis in Conflict Areas. 100 Units.

As a result of the widespread destruction of monuments, museums, and archaeological sites in conflict areas, combined with the creation of brand-new international funds to protect heritage in situations of armed conflict or climate change, this class presents a series of lectures and discussions by the course instructors along with guest lectures by heritage specialists who focus on the various geographical zones concerned. It will also adopt a transdisciplinary approach where several fields of expertise will be convoked, from archaeology and curatorial to international heritage protection law.

Equivalent Course(s): KNOW 29675, ARTH 39765, NEHC 29765, KNOW 39765

NEHC 40020. The Mediterranean Sea in Antiquity: Imperial Connections. 100 Units.

The Mediterranean Sea has long inspired imaginings of lands and peoples connected by its waters. From the Romans' Mare Nostrum, "our sea," to today's variants of "middle sea" - Greek Mesogeios, German Mittelmeer, and of course, Latin Mediterranean - imaginations of the sea have often celebrated its spatial and social cohesion. The Mediterranean continues to possess a middling geopolitical identity today, situated as it is between continental Europe, the Aegean, the Middle East, and North Africa. And yet, despite our diachronic investment in recognizing the Mediterranean's grand narrative as a locus of cultural connectivity, its long-term histories of interregional dynamics remain difficult to approach holistically. This concern is especially salient when it comes to the study of ancient empires, those large, expansionary polities whose social, political, and economic practices drew disparate groups together, and at times forced them apart. This class has two closely related objectives. First, we tackle the most ambitious pieces of scholarship on Mediterranean history to evaluate how various disciplines have sought to analyze and to bound the sea as a cartographic whole. In the process, we gain an appreciation not only for the methodological and interpretive scales involved in such an undertaking, but for the various disciplinary strategies the Mediterranean's diverse histories have inspired. Second, we interrogate one sociopolitical structure - the empire - and question how the Mediterranean encouraged and challenged imperialism as a recurring formation that worked to maintain sovereignty across broad geographical expanses. In doing so, we explore the variegated processes of cultural connectivity that have characterized the ancient Mediterranean from east to west.

Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 46715, CDIN 41717, ANCM 41717, CLAS 41717, HIST 51300

NEHC 40130. Textual Amulets in the Ancient Mediterranean. 100 Units.

Amulets with inscribed texts were used broadly by individuals and households and across ancient Mediterranean cultures for protection against evils, for curing disease, and for obtaining advantage over adversaries in all walks of life. In this course, we will survey a broad range of such amulets coming from the Levant, Mesopotamia, the Phoenician-Punic world, Greece and southern Italy, and inscribed on such varied materials as sheets of gold and silver, papyri, ostraca and gems, while scrutinizing their material aspects, their cultural context, and their shared and distinctive features.

Instructor(s): Carolina Lopez-Ruiz, Sofia Torallas-Tovar, Christopher Faraone     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Classical or Near Eastern languages recommended but not required.
Note(s): THis course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HREL 40130, RLST 20130, NEHC 20130, CLCV 27923, CLAS 37923

NEHC 40470. Readings in Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed. 100 Units.

A careful study of select passages in Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed, focusing on the method of the work and its major philosophical-theological themes, including: divine attributes, creation vs. eternity, prophecy, the problem of evil and divine providence, law and ethics, the final aim of human existence.

Instructor(s): James T. Robinson     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 45400, FNDL 24106, JWSC 21107, MDVL 25400, HREL 45401, RLVC 45400, RLST 21107, NEHC 20471, HIJD 45400

NEHC 40600. Islamic Love Poetry. 100 Units.

The focus of this course is classical Islamic love poetry, Arabic and Persian love lyric will be covered, as well as some Ottoman love lyric (at least in translation). In the past we have incorporated Urdu, Punjabi, Bangla, Bosnian, and Turkish traditions, and-for comparative and historical purposes-Hebrew poetry from medieval Andalus. Because none of us are proficient in the all these languages, students who are proficient a given language are asked to provide a guide (including text, translation, explanation of key vocabulary, etc.) for selected poems from in that language. Each member of the class will be asked to present one poem guide, in addition to a final assignment. Among the poets commonly included in the course are Ibn Zaydun, Ibn al-Farid, Ibn al-`Arabi, Rumi, Hafiz, Baba Fighani, Na'ili, Mir Dard, Bulleh Shah, and Ghalib.

Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 40100, CMLT 40100, RLIT 40300

NEHC 40601. Readings in the Text of the Qur'an. 100 Units.

Intensive readings in the Arabic text of the Qur'an. We focus on reading the Qur'anic text closely, with attention to grammar, syntax, recitation protocols, vocabulary, parables, symbols, figures of speech, rhetoric, changes in voice and person, allusions to parallel Qur'anic passages, and theology. Classical and modern commentaries are consulted, but the primary emphasis is on the Qur'anic text itself. The winter 2013 course will focus upon suras attributed to the Meccan period of Muhammad's prophetic career, particularly those such as suras 52, 53, 55, and 56 that take up the theme of the garden. Students may well have different levels of Arabic; the course does not make Arabic proficiency into a matter of evaluation, but encourages each participant to work at his or her level.

Instructor(s): Michael Sells     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): The second quarter of “Introduction to Qur’anic Arabic”, or 2 years of Arabic or the equivalent.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 40500

NEHC 40604. Readings in Arabic Religious Texts. 100 Units.

Texts to be covered include the 27th Sura of the Qur'an, selections from the Adab work Muhadarat al-Abrar of Ibn `Arabi, and examples of the Hadith Qudsi genre (hadiths that report divine, non-Qur'anic messages given to the Prophet).

Instructor(s): Michael Sells     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIJD 50200, ISLM 50200

NEHC 40605. From Caliphate to Nation State: A Survey of Modern Muslim Constitutional Thought. 100 Units.

Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 49200

NEHC 40902. The Books of Kings: Critical Review. 100 Units.

Students read the entire Book of Kings to learn its shape, scope, and character. Read scholarship on major and local aspects to learn the field. Lay groundwork to write seminar paper in winter course BIBL 52800.

Instructor(s): Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): One year Biblical Hebrew + one text course. Expectation participants will take BIBL 52800 The Book of Kings: Seminar in the winter.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HIJD 50902, BIBL 50902

NEHC 41000. Writings of Ibn al-'Arabi. 100 Units.

This course will focus on sections from Ibn al-`Arabi's al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya "The Meccan Openings," including chapters 1 and 10, as well as the commentary he wrote upon his own love poems. The important new critical edition of the Futuhat, by Abd al-`Aziz Sultan al-Mansub (Yemen, 2013), will serve as the base text. We will also engage one of the chapters from Ibn `Arabi's Fusus al-Hikam (Bezels of Wisdom) and will be able to take advantage of the new, fully-vocalized edition of that work.

Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 51000

NEHC 41500. Ibn al-Arabi and His Commentators. 100 Units.

This course examines the mystical philosophy of Muhyi-i-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabi (d. 637/1240), one of the most influential and original thinkers of the Islamic world. Notoriously complex, his writings have been the subject of numerous commentaries, and thinkers from virtually every discipline have drawn from his inspirations. This course systematically covers Ibn al-ʿArabī's ontology, theology, epistemology, teleology, spiritual anthropology and eschatology, each topic building from the previous. We look closely at the commentarial tradition surrounding his works and trace the reception and transmission of his ideas. Notably, we will look at the integration of his thought within twelver Shiʿism through figures such as Haydar Amuli and dissemination of his ideas in the Ottoman Empire, India, China and East Asia via Central Asia through the likes of ʿAbd al-Rahman Jami.

Instructor(s): Mukhtar Ali     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 41500

NEHC 41780. Poetry of the Hebrew Bible. 100 Units.

The course will survey poetic genres of the Hebrew Bible, their elements and tropes, scholarship on biblical poetry specifically, and approaches to poetry in general.

Instructor(s): Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): PQ: Introductory Biblical Hebrew I–III (BIBL 33900–34000 + Text course) or equivalent.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 21780, HIJD 41780, RLST 21780, BIBL 41780

NEHC 41815. Writing the Algerian War of Independence. 100 Units.

This course aims to examine the representation of the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) in the work of Algerian and French writers. It will consider a corpus of testimonial texts, novels, and poetry in relation to the memory of the war, its traumatic experiences, and various forms of anticolonial struggle and insurgency. We will analyse the narrative, discursive, and poetic strategies used by authors to explore individual and collective memories and elaborate a politics of resistance and transformation in the Algerian context. Studied authors include Maïssa Bey, Assia Djebar, Leïla Sebbar, Mouloud Feraoun, Jean Sénac, Laurent Mauvignier, and Joseph Andras.

Instructor(s): Khalid Lyamlahy     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): All readings and in-class discussions will be in English. Students will have the option to write either in English or in French.
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 41815, FREN 41815

NEHC 42308. Phoenician Religion (In Their Own Words And Those of Their Neighbors) 100 Units.

The Phoenicians were a Canaanite people who maintained their language, religion, and culture until Roman times. One of the main challenges facing the study of the Phoenician religion (and culture in general) is that most of their literature is lost. This course gathers together a variety of emic sources in the Phoenicians' own language or stemming from the Phoenician realm but written in Greek or Latin, as well as sources written by others about the Phoenicians, with a special focus on cult and religious identity. The texts we will read and discuss range from royal, votive, and funerary inscriptions, to the views about the Phoenicians in the Hebrew Bible, and Greek and Roman writers. This course is partly a text-based, reading course, and partly a thematic, culture course.

Instructor(s): Carolina López-Ruiz     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Intermediate knowledge (2 years) of a Semitic language (e.g., Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic, Ugaritic, Arabic) OR of ancient Greek and/or Latin.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): CLCV 22322, HREL 42308, NEHC 22308, RLST 22308, CLAS 32322

NEHC 42700. Interactions b/w Jewish Phil. and Lit.in Middle Ages. 100 Units.

Any study of Jewish philosophy that focuses on a small collection of systematic summas tells only half the story. In this seminar, the emphasis will be shifted from canonical theologies to lesser-known works of literature. Each class will examine the way a different genre was used to defend philosophy and teach it to the community at large. Emphasis will be on literary form and style, rhetoric, methods of teaching and argumentation, all in relation to questions about reception and dissemination, progress and creativity, science and religion.

Instructor(s): James T. Robinson     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 28504, MDVL 22700, JWSC 22701, RLVC 42700, ISLM 42700, RLST 28504, HIJD 42700

NEHC 42720. The Return of Migration: Mobility and the New Empiricism. 100 Units.

This seminar questions the prerogatives of disciplines in framing and explaining social change via mobility. Following earlier theories of diffusion to understand diachronic cultural change, and the subsequent contextual critiques that privilege historical contingencies and human agency, advances in identifying past human movement through techniques like ancient DNA genome testing have increasingly led to the revival of migration as a subject of focus and explanation. As growing interest in contemporary refugee and forced migration studies is showing, migration represents not just a wide-ranging practice of different types, but is a semantically charged and ambiguous term whose recent applications provide new opportunities to assess its interpretive advantages and limitations. Is the new empirical emphasis on migration re-racializing antiquity? What do we gain by studying concepts of diasporas, transnationalism, and border crossings in the premodern world? Why does migration matter? Divided into two parts, the course covers the conceptual and theoretical work in current literature on migration as well as applications to specific historical problems from ancient and modern Eurasia.

Instructor(s): James Osborne and Catherine Kearns     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 50500, CDIN 42720, CLAS 42720

NEHC 42780. Readings: Sufism in Morocco. 100 Units.

A close reading 18th-19th century Moroccan Sufi texts with a focus on the Shadhili writings of Sidi Ali al-Jamal and Mulay al-'Arabi al-Darqawi.

Instructor(s): Yousef Casewit     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Arabic reading proficiency required.
Note(s): This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 22780, ISLM 42780

NEHC 43500. Islamic Jurisprudence, Reason, and the State. 100 Units.

This course will explore social scientific approaches to the study of Islamic jurisprudence. We will be reading historical, legal, and anthropological literature on Islamic law, as well as introducing/revisiting anthropological theories of the state, public policy, governmentality and scientific knowledge production, in order to produce novel questions and analytics. Much of this work will be experimental and tentative as we collaboratively build on existing literature and supply our collective theoretical and conceptual toolbox.

Instructor(s): Elham Mireshghi     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Students must have familiarity with social scientific theory.
Note(s): This course meets the LMCS or SCSR Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students. Undergraduates must petition to enroll.
Equivalent Course(s): AASR 43500, ANTH 42815, ISLM 43500

NEHC 44600. Zion and Zaphon: Biblical Texts and Memory Studies. 100 Units.

The course will engage memory studies to analyze how ancient authors responded to the campaigns of Assyria against Judea and Israel in the 8th-7th cents BCE. Sources will include ancient art, archaeological finds, and literature of many genres in the Hebrew Bible and outside it.

Instructor(s): Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Introductory Biblical Hebrew sequence (BIBL 33900–34000 + Text course) or equivalent.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 21865, KNOW 44600, BIBL 44600, NEHC 21865, HIJD 44600

NEHC 44602. Song of Songs. 100 Units.

In this text-course we will read the entire poetic composition, drawing on theory of literature in general and poetry in particular, tracing its unique forms of continuity, and analyzing its biblically distinctive forms of gender characterization.

Instructor(s): Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): prerequisite: 1 year biblical Hebrew/ BIBL 33900 and BIBL 34000
Note(s): This is the Biblical Hebrew exegesis course.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 24602, BIBL 44602, GNSE 44603, HIJD 44602, GNSE 24603

NEHC 44801. Words of the Wise: Proverbs and Qohelet. 100 Units.

Text-course (text in biblical Hebrew only) covering the literary genres, discursive styles, and philosophical ideas of Proverbs and Qohelet (Ecclesiastes), with attention to voicing, double-voicing, and intertextuality.

Instructor(s): Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): One year of Biblical Hebrew.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students. JWSC majors/minors can petition to count this course toward their degree requirement.
Equivalent Course(s): HIJD 44800, NEHC 24801, BIBL 44800, RLST 22304

NEHC 45516. Seminar: State and Society under the Ptolemies. 100 Units.

Recent research encourages a reexamination of the classical opposition between pre-modern and modern states. As traditionally defined, the key difference would be the inability of a pre-modern state to exercise in-depth control of society. Being unable to develop a significant bureaucratic apparatus, a pre-modern state could have only achieved a weak control of the people it administered. To a certain extent, the opposition still has some validity, but the alleged "weakness" of pre-modern states, for instance in terms of capacity for extraction of revenue, should be revisited. Thanks to the sources available, the Ptolemaic possessions (by which one will understand not only Egypt but all the other territories under Ptolemaic control, from Asia Minor to Syria and from Cyrene to Cyprus) provide an ideal case study to test these concepts. We will examine written documents in their original languages, but translations will also be provided, which will allow students who do not control the ancient languages to also participate in the seminar.

Equivalent Course(s): HIST 70407, ANCM 45516

NEHC 47800. Between the Jewish Question & the Modern Condition: Jewish Thought, Culture, and Politics, 1830-1940. 100 Units.

In the 19th c., the Jewish presence in Europe ceased to be a fact & became a Question: how were Jews to be transformed and integrated-or "emancipated"-into "society." From the 1870s, this Jewish Question was globalized & politicized by nationalism, new forms of antisemitism, European imperialism, capitalism's reordering of global life, mass migration from Eastern Europe to the US, the racialization of global politics & tensions of nation & empire in Eastern Europe, the Ottoman world & the Middle East. This class investigates how European, US & Middle Eastern Jews confronted the Jewish Question (1830s-1930s) communally & individually. It asks how this confrontation shaped key dimensions of modern Jewish thought, culture & politics: Zionism & other forms of modern Jewish politics, Jewish social thought, religious life, communal policy & new forms of secular culture. Conversely, we will also consider the limits of approaching modern Jewish culture & consciousness as a response to the Jewish Question: are modern forms of Jewish religiosity & secularity, gender norms, visions of culture, education & the moral life better understood as emergent responses to more general problems of modernity? Alternatively, should key aspects of contemporary Jewish life-such as religious nationalism & religious revivalism-be understood at least in part as products not so much of modernity's powers as of modernity's limited effects on a Jewish tradition evolving according to its own cultural logic?

Instructor(s): K. Moss     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Graduate students of all intellectual background welcome; advanced undergraduates with consent of instructor.
Note(s): Readings include classic and new scholarship matched to key works of Jewish thought and culture. All readings in English (translation), but I will happily facilitate reading in the original languages.
Equivalent Course(s): GRMN 38821, REES 49800, HIST 49800

NEHC 47903. Writing, Reading, and Singing in Bengal, 8th to 19th AD. 100 Units.

The course offers an introduction to the literary traditions of Bengal (today's West Bengal in India, and Bangladesh). We will study the making of Bengal as a region of literary production through a selection of secondary and primary sources in translation. We will look at how literature and literacy have been defined in various contexts up to the colonial period and discuss what constituted the literary identity of Bengal's various linguistic traditions. We will approach the topics of reading practices and genres from the perspective of both material culture (script and scribal practices, manuscript formats, etc.) and the conceptual categories underlying literary genres and the linguistic economy of Bengal (scholastic and non-scholastic, classical and vernacular languages, individual reading and publicly performed texts, hinduyani and musalmani). Even if Bengali language and literature stand at the center of this course, we will also discuss the literary traditions that predate the formation of Bengali literature and were part of the background of the making of Bengali texts (Sanskrit, Apabhramsha, Arabic, Persian, Maithili, and Awadhi literature). The aim of the course is to introduce students to precolonial Bengali literature in its conceptual, aesthetic, and historical dimensions. The course will address topics of interest for students in comparative literature, religious studies, history, linguistics, medieval studies, book history, musicology or performance studies.

Instructor(s): T. D'Hubert     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Students who want to take the course as an Advanced Bangla (BANG 47903) course must attend the additional reading course in which we will do close readings of texts in Bengali.
Equivalent Course(s): BANG 47903, SALC 47903

NEHC 48402. The Book of Judges. 100 Units.

A text-course (text in biblical Hebrew only). It will cover the book's concept of a "judge," its themes, plot, and values, its sources and formation, the real beginning and end of the book, and its historical referents. Framed by theory of history and of narrative.

Instructor(s): Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): One year Biblical Hebrew.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students. JWSC majors/minors can petition to count this course toward their degree requirement.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 22302, HIJD 48402, BIBL 48402, NEHC 28402

NEHC 48603. Talking Birds and Cunning Jackals: A Survey of Indo-Persian Prose. 100 Units.

South Asia was a major source of narrative matter for the development of literary prose in the Islamicate world. For instance, literary prose in Arabic, but also in Persian (and Castilian) were fashioned through successive renderings of the Sanskrit Pan͂catantra. Later, in the post-Timurid period, South Asian Persianate literati, and munshis in particular, contributed to elevate the status of Persian prose to that of poetry. This course offers a survey of a variety of Indo-Persian prose texts such as tales, premodern translations of Indian romances and epics (Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa, Pan͂catantra, Mādhavānala Kāmakandalā, etc …), letters, anecdotes from chronicles, tadhkira literature, autobiographical writings, treatises, and encyclopedic works. The readings are organized thematically and by degree of stylistic elaboration. We will first read plain prose texts that will introduce the students to key elements of the Persianate understanding of Indic culture. In this first section of the course, we will mostly read narrative texts (chronicles, translations of Sanskrit and Hindavi works, and dāstāns). We will then turn to epistolography, biographies, and autobiographical writings. Finally, we will read technical and non-technical texts dealing with various aspects of Indo-Persian courtly culture and aesthetics (philosophy, mysticism, grammar, poetry, or musicology). Each text will be introduced and framed by discussions on relevant secondary literature in English and Persian.

Instructor(s): T. D'Hubert     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Intermediate level of Persian
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 48603, PERS 48693

NEHC 48610. Jewish Sufism. 100 Units.

During the Middle Ages the Jews in the Muslim world developed a robust synthesis of Jewish Spirituality and Islamic Sufism. Even those who did not subscribe to a Sufi pietistic Judaism nevertheless introduced Sufi language and ideas into their Jewish thought. This course will introduce several important figures in this Jewish Sufi movement, from Bahya ibn Paquda in 11th-century Spain to Maimonides and his descendants in 12th14th century Egypt. There will be a section for Arabists to read Bahya's "Duties of the Hearts" in Arabic, and a section for Hebraists to read the twelfth-century Hebrew translation of it.

Instructor(s): James T. Robinson     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 28611, RLST 28611, ISLM 48610, JWSC 28610, HIJD 48610, RLVC 48610, MDVL 28610

NEHC 49000. Thesis Research: Nehc. 100 Units.

Students may register for this course while conducting research for the MA thesis. Students need to obtain permission of their advisor and contact the department coordinator for assistance in registration.

NEHC 49003. Islam Beyond the Human: Spirits, Demons, Devils, and Ghosts. 100 Units.

This seminar explores the diverse spiritual and sentient lifeforms within Islamic cosmology that exist beyond the human-from jinn, angels, and ghosts to demons and devils. We will focus on theological, scientific, philosophical, anthropological, and historical accounts of these creatures across a variety of texts, as well as their literary and filmic afterlives in contemporary cultural representations. In so doing, we consider the various religious, social, and cultural inflections that shape local cosmological imaginaries. We ask how reflecting on the nonhuman world puts the human itself in question, including such concerns as sexuality and sexual difference, the boundaries of the body, reason and madness, as well as the limits of knowledge.

Instructor(s): Alireza Doostdar and Hoda El Shakry     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Enrollment by Consent Only (for both grads and undergrads). Students should send the instructors a paragraph explaining their interest and prior preparation or familiarity with the themes in the course.
Note(s): This course meets the LMCS or SCSR Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): KNOW 49003, CMLT 29003, ISLM 49003, CMLT 49003, RLST 29003, GNSE 29003, NEHC 29003, GNSE 49003, ANTH 49003, AASR 49003, ANTH 29003

NEHC 49989. Race and the Bible. 100 Units.

The course will cover race in the Bible, race in the ancient world of the Bible, American use of the Bible on race, and the critique of race as a formative and constructed concept.

Instructor(s): Erin Galgay Walsh and Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): BIBL 31000 (Introduction to the Hebrew Bible) or BIBL 32500 (Introduction to the New Testament). BIBL 32500 can be taken concurrently.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students. JWSC majors/minors can petition to count this course toward their degree requirement.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 29109, NEHC 29989, HIJD 49999, CRES 27699, BIBL 49999, HCHR 49999

NEHC 55800. Novellas of the Hebrew Bible: Jonah, Ruth, Esther, Job. 100 Units.

Seminar using theory of narrative to interact with scholarship on biblical narrative and analyze four narrative works in the Hebrew Bible.

Instructor(s): Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): 1 yr Biblical Hebrew + 1 text course.
Note(s): This course meets the LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 55800, HIJD 55800

NELG 30125. Amarna Canaanite in its Sociolinguistic Setting. 100 Units.

In this course, we will focus on letters from the Amarna archive (ca. 1360-1330 BCE) that were written in what is commonly referred to as "Canaano-Akkadian", a form of Akkadian with significant influence from the native Canaanite language(s) of the scribes. There is no consensus as of yet what "Canaano-Akkadian" represents in terms of language. One aim of the course is to look at different proposals and evaluate them based on the original texts. In order to be able to understand the origin of Canaano-Akkadian and to put it into its proper historical and sociolinguistic context, we will further read earlier texts from Canaan, including those from Hazor and Taanach, before going over to letters from major Canaanite sites attested in the Amarna archive, such as Byblos, Jerusalem, Megiddo, Gezer, and others.

Equivalent Course(s): NELG 20125

NELG 30325. Intro: Old South Arabian. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to the languages of the inscriptional material found in western South Arabia, todays Yemen. The inscriptions date from roughly the 8th century BCE to the 6th century CE and are written in four closely related languages, Sabaic, Minaic, Qatabanic, and Hadramitic. In this class we will read material from all major periods and languages of attestation.

Instructor(s): Rebecca Hasselbach-Andee     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LGLN 30325

PERS 39021. Reading Indo-Persian harmonized prose: Bahār-i dānish. 100 Units.

In this course, we will read excerpts from one of the most popular collections of stories written in harmonized (aka ornate) prose in Mughal India: ʿInāyatallāh's Bahār-i dānish. We will use several editions of the texts as well as commentaries and translations and focus on grammar, rhetoric, and the various strategies one may use to render Persian harmonized prose into English.

Instructor(s): Thibaut d'Hubert     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 29021, PERS 29021, SALC 39021

PERS 48693. Talking Birds and Cunning Jackals: A Survey of Indo-Persian Prose. 100 Units.

South Asia was a major source of narrative matter for the development of literary prose in the Islamicate world. For instance, literary prose in Arabic, but also in Persian (and Castilian) were fashioned through successive renderings of the Sanskrit Pan͂catantra. Later, in the post-Timurid period, South Asian Persianate literati, and munshis in particular, contributed to elevate the status of Persian prose to that of poetry. This course offers a survey of a variety of Indo-Persian prose texts such as tales, premodern translations of Indian romances and epics (Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa, Pan͂catantra, Mādhavānala Kāmakandalā, etc …), letters, anecdotes from chronicles, tadhkira literature, autobiographical writings, treatises, and encyclopedic works. The readings are organized thematically and by degree of stylistic elaboration. We will first read plain prose texts that will introduce the students to key elements of the Persianate understanding of Indic culture. In this first section of the course, we will mostly read narrative texts (chronicles, translations of Sanskrit and Hindavi works, and dāstāns). We will then turn to epistolography, biographies, and autobiographical writings. Finally, we will read technical and non-technical texts dealing with various aspects of Indo-Persian courtly culture and aesthetics (philosophy, mysticism, grammar, poetry, or musicology). Each text will be introduced and framed by discussions on relevant secondary literature in English and Persian.

Instructor(s): T. D'Hubert     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Intermediate level of Persian
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 48603, SALC 48603

PERS 49900. Reading and Research: PERS. 100 Units.

TBD

SUMR 30201. All about Kings: Sumerian Royal Inscriptions, Correspondence, and Hymns. 100 Units.

In this course, we will read a selection of Sumerian texts that provide insights into the image of the king. We will start with royal inscriptions, move on to the so-called royal correspondence of the Kings of Ur, and finish with excerpts from the self-praise poem of king Sulgi commonly referred to as 'Sulgi B'. Apart from tackling philological issues and practicing to read cuneiform from copies and photos, we will also address broader questions during classroom discussions, such as: Can we use royal inscriptions, correspondence, and hymns as historical sources? Can we bridge the gap between the reign of historical Ur III kings and their feats as commemorated in texts preserved exclusively on Old Babylonian manuscripts? Can we use language and orthography for dating a text?

Instructor(s): Jana Matuszak     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Elementary Sumerian sequence (SUMR 10101 and SUMR 10102)
Equivalent Course(s): SUMR 20201

SUMR 30202. Dumuzi's Dream. 100 Units.

In this course, we will read the Sumerian mythological narrative known by its modern title "Dumuzi's Dream." Judging by the numerous manuscripts preserved from the Old Babylonian period, it was a popular text in scribal education. We will practice reading from copies, photos, and original cuneiform tablets, as five manuscripts are housed at the Oriental Institute Museum and available for hands-on study. Based on close engagement with the individual manuscripts, we will discuss the principles of textual criticism and how to prepare an eclectic text, as well as a text edition. Besides philological issues, we will also address broader questions during classroom discussions, such as: Can we use such literary texts to reconstruct Sumerian mythology? How does this text relate to other literary compositions revolving around the divine couple Innana and Dumuzi, and how does it relate to non-literary text corpora? In how far can we determine its function, both within scribal education and beyond? Can we actually apply the term 'literature' to the Sumerian textual legacy?

Instructor(s): Jana Matuszak     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Elementary Sumerian sequence (SUMR 10101 and SUMR 10102)
Equivalent Course(s): SUMR 20202

SUMR 30204. Sumerian Creation Narratives. 100 Units.

In this course we will read creation accounts in the Sumerian language from the third and early second millennium BCE. Apart from the obvious thematic focus, the course will also serve as an introduction to different genres, ranging from mythological narratives to disputations to (parodies of) hymns. By reading texts from the Presargonic, Ur III, and Old Babylonian periods, students will also gain a deeper understanding of Sumerian grammar, palaeography, and orthography.

Equivalent Course(s): SUMR 20204

SUMR 30320. Readings in Emesal. 100 Units.

The nature and function of Emesal, the most important variety of Sumerian after the so-called main dialect, remain debated. This is mainly due to the heterogeneity of the corpus of texts transmitted in Emesal. After familiarizing ourselves with the characteristics of Emesal, available resources and the latest scholarly discourse, we will approach the question of how we might define Emesal by reading excerpts from a variety of sources dating to the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE, ranging from proverbs and literary disputations between women to 'love songs', mythological narratives, city laments, and ritual lamentations.

Instructor(s): Jana Matuszak     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SUMR 20320

SUMR 30505. Introduction to Neo-Sumerian Economic Texts. 100 Units.

The goal of this class is to provide an overview of various genres of economic and administrative texts from the Neo-Sumerian (or so-called "Ur III") period, ca. 2112-2004 BC, with the bulk of preserved textual material spanning from the latter part of Shulgi's reign to the early years of Ibbi-Sin (ca. 2064-2025). Emphasis will be made on the technical aspects of reading and interpreting individual documents (signs, vocabulary, format, etc.) as well as on the utilization of the documents to reconstruct a coherent and comprehensive picture of Sumerian government, society, and economy.

Instructor(s): Ryan Derek Winters     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SUMR 20505

TURK 30101-30102-30103. Advanced Turkish I-II-III.

The objectives of the course are to develop advanced language skills in Modern Turkish through reading, writing, listening, and speaking, with special emphasis on the proper usage of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions, and to continue the study of Turkish literature and texts begun in the second year. This course is conducted entirely in Turkish. The course is designed to bring the advanced student to a professional level of proficiency. Students are expected to produce advanced level writing in Turkish.

TURK 30501-30502-30503. Ottoman Turkish I-II-III.

A selection of Turkish texts in Arabic script, both printed and handwritten, introduced in order of difficulty, and ranging from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Texts are drawn from chronicles, official documents, memoirs, poetry, and other genres.

TURK 40587. Advanced Ottoman Readings II. 100 Units.

Advanced Ottoman Readings II

Instructor(s): Helga Anetshofer-Karateke     Terms Offered: Spring

TURK 49900. TURK Reading/Research. 100 Units.

TURK Reading/Research

Instructor(s): Anetshofer, Helga     Terms Offered: Spring

UZBK 49900. Reading and Research Course: UZBK. 100 Units.

Reading and Research Course: UZBK

Instructor(s): Kagan Arik     Terms Offered: Spring