Postgraduate Course: The Politics of History in the Arabic-Speaking World (c.1750-Present) (PGHC11589)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | What do processes of archive building and history writing tell us about the Arabic-speaking world in the modern period? This course looks at the emergence of history as significant space for the articulation of the region's presents and futures. Using an in-depth case-study approach, it interrogates the construction of the region's historiographical ecosystems as a space where different actors negotiated their visions of self, state, and society. |
| Course description |
The course examines how writing history in the Arabic-speaking world was itself a historical process, one that is deeply intertwined with political, social, and material processes that have made the modern Middle East. Taking an in-depth case-study approach, it explores the evolution of history writing in different settings and at different moments in time. The course spans the eighteenth century to the present, and includes case studies from Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia. Each case elucidates the stakes involved in writing history, and sheds light on the changing authority to tell the past (and use it to shape the present).
The course examines the development of historiography along two axes. The first is the development of the field from pre-modern Arabo-Islamic modes of writing history, tracing the syncretic manner in which the modern professional discipline was developed using the methods and forms of older traditions of knowledge. The second is tracing the use of history by states and non-state actors in particular moments of upheaval and transition -- collapse of empires, nation-state building, revolutions, regime consolidation -- as an entry point to unpacking the narrative battles before the consolidation of now-hegemonic narratives. Overall, it unpacks history's relationship to power in the modern Middle East. The course seeks to expand the history of historiography of the Middle East beyond historians, their methods, and their texts. It examines the broader historiographic ecosystem from which historical knowledge emerged, this includes the compilation of collections, the establishment of institutions, the formation of scholars, the reordering of urban space, and the dissemination of knowledge. It explores how men (and some women) have contributed to processes of telling the past, and how these processes provide a glimpse into their view of their self, their society, the states that were (re)forming, and their encounter with the colonising other.
Content note: The study of History inevitably involves the study of difficult topics that we encourage students to approach in a respectful, scholarly, and sensitive manner. Nevertheless, we remain conscious that some students may wish to prepare themselves for the discussion of difficult topics. In particular, the course organiser has outlined that the following topics may be discussed in this course, whether in class or through required or recommended primary and secondary sources: racial, colonial, and state violence. While this list indicates sensitive topics students are likely to encounter, it is not exhaustive because course organisers cannot entirely predict the directions discussions may take in tutorials or seminars, or through the wider reading that students may conduct for the course.
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course ** |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 15 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
80 %,
Practical Exam
20 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework:
1,500 word Essay 1 (20%)
2,500 word Final Paper (60%)
Non-Written Skills:
Seminar Participation (10%)
Leading Class Discussion (10%) |
| Feedback |
Students are expected to discuss their coursework with the Course Organiser at least once prior to submission, and are encouraged to do so more often. Meetings can take place with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment. Students will also receive feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser.
Students will receive formative feedback in two ways. The first is through feedback on their Essay 1, due in the middle of the semester. The second is through conversations around defining their research papers. Students will be required to develop their proposal and discuss with me in advance, which will serve as the space where they get personalised and detailed feedback on their projects. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Illustrate an understanding of the theories and methods used in the critical study of the history of historiography, and their specific applications to the modern Middle East.
- Critically appraise the literature on history writing and archive building in the modern Middle East, and their impact on state and society.
- Employ relevant scholarly and research skills: the ability to develop complex research arguments in oral and written form, the ability to critically reflect on and synthesize knowledge, and the ability to formulate questions and address them using appropriate evidence.
- Practice a significant degree of autonomy, originality of thought, intellectual integrity, an attitude of maturity and humility towards peers and knowledge.
|
Reading List
Bsheer, Rosie. Archive Wars: The Politics of History in Saudi Arabia / Rosie Bsheer. Stanford Studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic Societies and Cultures. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2020.
Bustani, Butrus al-. The Clarion of Syria: A Patriot's Call against the Civil War of 1860 / Butrus al-Bustani. Oakland: University of California Press, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.67.
Di-Capua, Yoav. Gatekeepers of the Arab Past: Historians and History Writing in Twentieth-Century Egypt / Yoav Di-Capua. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.
Jabarti, 'Abd al-Rahman. Napoleon in Egypt: Al-Jabarrti's Chronicle of the French Occupation, 1798 / Translation by Shmuel Moreh; Introduction by Robert L. Tignor. Expanded edition in honor of Al-Jabarti's 250th birthday. Princeton, N.J: M. Wiener, 2004.
Khalidi, Tarif. Arabic Historical Thought in the Classical Period. Cambridge, GBR: Cambridge University Press, 1994. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511583650.
Sajdi, Dana. The Barber of Damascus Nouveau Literacy in the Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Levant / Dana Sajdi. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804788281.
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History / Michel-Rolph Trouillot; with a New Foreword by Hazel V. Carby. Boston: Beacon Press, 2015. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Curiosity for learning that makes a positive difference: an inquisitive approach to grounding students' understanding of the contemporary Middle East in relevant historiographical debates.
Passion to engage locally and globally: ability to discern how global historical currents have shaped the modern Middle East and have been shaped by it.
Ability to answer complex questions drawing on primary and secondary sources.
Ability to critically reflect on primary sources and the conditions of their creation.
Ability to present analysis clearly to an audience. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Hana Sleiman
Tel:
Email: Hana.Sleiman@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Rob Hutchinson
Tel:
Email: robert.hutchinson@ed.ac.uk |
|
|
University Homepage