Offered Spring 2008

The Middle East Today: Regional Instability and American Choices
Meets: Thursdays 8-9:50 p.m.
Instructor: Paul Scham
We will examine the different crisis points in the Middle East today and how they relate to each other, as well as some of the
transnational issues that affect the region. These include the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its peace process. Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Iraq. Thematic issues will include Islamism, if and how Israel can live peacefully in the Middle East, and what the goals of American policy can realistically be in the near future. All countries and issues will be examined historically and in their regional context.

Paul Scham is an Adjunct Scholar at MEI, who has been researching the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Middle East for more than 20 years. From 1996-2002 he lived in Jerusalem and worked on
Israeli-Palestinian joint projects at the Hebrew University. He is the co-editor of "Shared Histories: A Palestinian-Israeli Dialogue", and writes and speaks frequently on current issues in the Middle East conflict.

Offered in Future Quarters

Iran Today
Instructor: Houman Seyson
Taught by a journalist who has focussed entirely on Iran over the last four years, the course examines the socio-political climate as well as delves into the history and culture of a people whose diversity of thought, ideology, religion, ethnicity and language bring a wider cultural and political perspective to current events.

Houman Seyson covers Iran regarding political and social events for Radio Farda (a joint venture of Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty), having conducted extensive interviews with prominent figures involved in Iran's politics. In addition, Mr. Seyson has done analytical work on Iran's WMD capability for the State Department as a government contractor. A native of Iran, Mr. Seyson teaches Persian at the Middle East Institute.

Israeli and Palestinian Political Culture
Instructor: Paul Scham
Israelis and Palestinians have developed distinctive political styles in dealing with themselves, each other and the rest of the world. There are some similarities but many more differences. This unique course will examine their political cultures, including social origins, political structures, leading personalities, victimization, religion, and the historical shocks that have helped shape each culture. Sessions will be enlivened by guest lecturers offering their personal experiences and viewpoints.

Paul Scham is an adjunct scholar at MEI, who has been researching Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict for more than 20 years. From 1996-2002 he coordinated Israeli-Palestinian joint academic projects at the Truman Institute for Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is co-editor of the recently published “Shared Histories: A Palestinian-Israeli Dialogue”.

Middle Eastern Women Writers
Instructor: Noura Benabdelouahab
Western feminist theory has always made generalizations about Middle Eastern women assuming homogeneity among a very diverse group. This theory has often depicted these women as universally oppressed, uneducated, and abused by their husbands and male relatives. The fact that countries like Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco—to name but a few—have thriving feminist cultures is a little known fact.

Rather than assuming that Middle Eastern women are passive victims of patriarchal oppression, this seminar will introduce works that address directly the conditions of women under Islamic, patriarchal, and postcolonial rule. We will discuss issues and customs that directly impact women such as poverty, veiling, polygamy, and prostitution. To gain better insight into the intertwined nature of “Orient” and “Occident,” and to critically assess our own involvement in Middle Eastern women’s issues, we will explore notions such as Orientalism and fundamentalism.

We will concentrate on analyzing how the intersection of nation/gender/sex/sexuality and race/ethnicity/religion function in texts and books produced by women of the Middle East and see how the concepts are represented in the readings and the films we engage with.

Noura Benabdelouahab is currently an adjunct professor of Advanced French at American University and an Arabic language instructor at Howard University. Ms. Benabdelouahab worked as a political reporter for over 15 years in Algiers, covering politics and women’s issues. Prior to receiving her masters in International Communication with a concentration on women in development from American University in 1999, Ms. Benabdelouahab studied theories of democracy and good governance as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Maryland’s School of Journalism (1996). In that capacity, she spoke at an MEI event on the Berber minority in North Africa. Ms. Benabdelouahab holds a Teaching Certificate from Trinity College (Washington, DC) and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the University of Algiers (1982).

War and Peace in Islam
Instructor: Shukri B. Abed
A historical study of the basic concepts related to war and peace in Islamic history and tradition. In addition to exploring the meanings of “war” and “peace” in the various Islamic sources, we will focus on related concepts such as: “Jihad”, “Dar al-Islam”, “Dar al-Harb”, the status of non-Muslims, especially that of Jews and Christians under Islam. We will study these concepts as presented in their Quranic and Hadith contexts, as well as how they are interpreted or practiced by various Muslim political leaders, intellectuals, empires, dynasties and political groups.

The seminar will be divided into two major sections: the classical period (up to the 13th century AD) and the Modern period of Islamic history (roughly the last 200 years).

Additionally, we will deal briefly with these topics in the context of the Ottoman empire (13th-20th), as well as a brief comparison with concepts of “war” and “peace” in Judaism and Christianity. Lectures by the professor and student presentations.

Shukri B. Abed is Chairman of the Department of Languages and Regional Studies at MEI. A historian of Islam, Dr. Abed has taught at the University of Maryland College Park including Contemporary Culture and Society in the Middle East, Islamic Civilization, War and Peace in Islam, Nationalism and Nation-Building in the Middle East, Arabic Language, and Minorities in the Middle East. He is also director of a curriculum development project on the "Common Heritage: Contacts between Arabs and Jews throughout History". From 1986-91 he was a Research Fellow at the Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dr. Abed has conducted extensive research on democracy and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. He has authored, edited, and translated several scholarly articles and books, including Democracy, Peace, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Lynne Rienner, 1993), and Focus on Contemporary Arabic (Yale University Press, 2006). He is eagerly sought out for his expertise in instructional methodology of Middle Eastern languages and culture and has been approached by universities, government agencies, and contractors to initiate their programs.