COURSE OUTLINE:

--Maps and demographics of the Middle East

--An overview of the variety of peoples in the Middle East--Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Persians, Israelis, North Africans, etc.; Jews, Arab Christians, Druze, Sunnis, Shi'ites

--Some commonalities and specific differences of these peoples

--Stereotyping the Middle East

--The legacy of the ancient Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Nabataeans

--The impact and contributions of Western culture on the Middle East

--The contributions of the Middle East to Western culture

III. Religious and Philosophical Concepts and Values:

2 weeks: Muhammad, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and Secular Humanism

--The life of the prophet Muhammad

--Basic concepts of Islam: the Five Pillars, the articles of faith, religious tolerance, jihad, justice; methods of interpreting the Qur'an

--Basic divisions within Islam

--Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and Secular Humanism: similarities and differences

--Islam and Philosophy

IV. Expressions of Concepts and Values:

--An overview of the arts in the Middle East (film)

--Art and Architecture: basic concepts, theory and overview of religious architecture (mosques, madrasahs, mausolea)

--Middle East Architecture: basic components--floor plans, minarets, minbars, mihrabs, domes, transitional zones, courtyards, columns and arches, facades, windows and screens

--Art and Architecture: ornamentation--tesselations, complex star polygons, linear repeat patterns, arabesques, calligraphy

--Secular art and architecture: palaces, baths, fortresses, caravanserai

--The influence of the Middle East on Europe and the Southwest United States

--Art: traditional miniatures and contemporary works from the Jordan Gallery of Fine Arts, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem and the Egyptian Modern Art Museum, Cairo

--Art: craftsmanship, "the art of object"--ceramics, metal work, mother of pearl inlay, weaving and needlework

--Introduction: basic concepts and Middle Eastern instruments

--Influence of Middle Eastern music on the West

--Turkish music: Mevlevi, Mehktar, Kef Time

--Middle Eastern music: unifying traits and diversity (video interview with Dr. Kifah Fakhouri, Director, National Music Conservatory, Jordan)

--Middle Eastern Music: classical, neo-classical, and religious

• Persian love songs, Sephardic love songs, Umm Kulthoum
• Qur'anic chanting, Sufi music from around the Middle East (Arab, Turkish, Pakistani, and Moroccan)
• Munir Bashir: Maqamat improvisations, oud and percussion, jazz on the oud
• Persian dastgahs

• Folk: Bedouin, Lebanese, Egyptian, Gulf, Berber
• Popular: Madona, Fairouz, George Wassouf, Idir

2 weeks: Middle Eastern Secular Literature

--Pre-Islamic and Ummayad periods

--Abbasid and Hispano Arabic period

--Post-Abbasid and modern periods

V. Relation of the Values and Concepts to Current Political, Economic, and Gender Issues

--Islam, women, and the Middle East

--Women and the rise of religious conservatism

--Political Islam (Islamism) and democracy

--The political situation in Turkey (video interview with Prof. Ersin Kalaycioglu, Dept. of Political Science, Bogazici (Bosphorus) University, Istanbul)

--Islamic banking

--Interfaith dialogue in the Middle East

--The Palestinian/Israeli conflict

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