New Masters level course - Europe and the Middle East

New Masters level course - Europe and the Middle East
Bonaparte en Egypte. - Jean-Léon Gérôme [Public domain]
Thursday 24 January 2019

CAIS is offering a new course in its Master of the Middle East and Central Asian Studies in Semester 1, 2019.

The course, 'Europe and the Middle East' will be taught by Stephanie Wright.

Course Description

The ideas of ‘Europe’ and the ‘Middle East’ are today so familiar that they appear almost natural. Yet both these concepts and the geopolitical formations that they signify have emerged in modern history. This course examines the formation of Europe and the Middle East as conceptual categories and socio-political realities from the eighteenth century to the present day.

The course is divided into three parts. It begins by exploring some of the major theories and concepts that have framed scholarly approaches to the study of Europe and the Middle East. It will consider how the identities of the European ‘West’ and the Middle ‘East’ have been constituted through their mutual opposition, as well as their entanglement with other ideas, such as civilisation, progress, and reason.

The second part examines the contested place of ‘Europe’ and ‘Europeans’ in the history of the Middle East from Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt (1798) to Algerian independence (1962). It will ask how this period gave rise to new concepts of cultural, racial, and/or civilizational difference between Europe and the Orient even as it witnessed the growing integration of these regions through the movement of ideas, institutions, technologies, and people.

The final section will consider how this history might inform understandings of contemporary issues in European-Middle Eastern relations, such as the refugee crisis and the rise of the far-right from the UK to Egypt.

A full list of CAIS courses offered in 2019.

SHARE

Updated:  24 January 2019/Responsible Officer:  RSSS Director/Page Contact:  CASS Marketing & Communications