SOAN 311: Anthropology of the Middle East

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Program
Sociology/Anthropology
Credits 4
Attributes
Diversity International,
Social Sciences,
Upper-Level
Using anthropological approaches to the Middle East to combat commonplace narratives of timeless antagonisms, irrational and violent religiosity, and prehistoric misogyny. Historicizing and problematizing these assumptions opens us up to different kinds of questions: not, why is this region so much more violent than other places, but why do we consider this a region at all? What counts as Middle East and why? It aims to provide you with the tools to think critically about news coming out of the Middle East including a basic background on Islam, questions of gender, Israel-Palestine and the Arab Spring and its fallout.