HIST 3502: The Middle East from 570 to 1800 CE: An Intersectional History

Course Description

This course covers the cultural history of the Middle East from the rise of Islam through several political transformations to 1800. We will examine the Middle East as the contested center of caliphal empires, as a home to increasingly diverse ethnic and religious groups, as a region within an expanding Islamic world, and as the domain of the three so-called "gunpowder empires" (the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal dynasties). To achieve this more inclusive narrative, we will examine a diverse array of primary sources and review key studies of gender, class and cultural diversity in the Middle East. (OC).