Postgraduate Module Descriptor

ARAM232: Theorising the Middle East

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

This module will be delivered in a series of filmed introductions to key theorists and their work, which will be accessed through a rich ELE site. These films will range from formal lectures, through interviews with experts from across disciplines at Exeter, to shorter interventions in which you and staff reflect on the value of particular theorists in their work.

You are expected to read at least two texts each week, one of which will be the work of theory and the other an example of the application of those theoretical ideas in a work of Middle East or Islamic Studies. These texts will form the basis of the weekly seminars in which theories, texts and their applications will be discussed.

Furthermore, the module will offer at least one ‘masterclass’ in which an invited speaker/visitor/fellow at the IAIS will lead a half- day workshop exploring the theoretical backdrop to their own work.

The module will also offer a planning session in which the use of theory in Masters dissertations will be explored.

In short, the module is designed to develop the advanced skills you will need to undertake an MA in Middle East Studies, especially to develop critical thinking at the highest level.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Critically analyze arguments by reading and discussing key texts in seminars;
2. Present concisely sophisticated arguments;
3. Explain difficult points to an audience also of non-specialists;
4. Identify key aspects of a philosophical and theoretical debate.
Discipline-Specific Skills5. Analyze arguments;
6. Criticize texts and question ideas
7. Introduce discussions,
8. Write well-argued essays.
Personal and Key Skills9. Construct and evaluate ideas,
10. Formulate and express ideas at different levels of abstraction,
11. Assess and criticize the views of others and to undertake an individual research project.

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Abu-Lughod, Lila (1989) ‘Zones of Theory in the Anthropology of the Arab World,’ Annual Review of Anthropology 18: 267-206. Anderson, Benedict (1991) Imagined Communities. London: Verso.

Appadurai, Arian (1996) Modernity at Large. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Beblawi, Hazem and Giacomo Luciani (1987) The Rentier State. New York: Croom Helm.

Davis, John (1988) Libyan Politics. Tribes and Revolution. Oakland: University of California Press.

Eickelman, Dale (1998) The Middle East and Central Asia: An Anthropological Approach. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

Fraser, Nancy (1989) Unruly Practices. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Gause, Gregory (2000) ‘The Persistence of Monarchy in the Arabian Peninsula: A Comparative Analysis,’ in Joseph Kostiner (ed.), Middle East Monarchies: The Challenge of Modernity. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.

Gershoni, Israel and James Jankowski (2009), Confronting Fascism in Egypt: Dictatorship versus Democracy in the 1930s.

Stanford: University of Stanford Press.

Göçek, Fatma Müge and Shiva Balaghi (eds) (1995) Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East: Tradition, Identity and Power.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Habermas, Jurgen (1981) The Theory of Communicative Action. Boston: Beacon Press.

Khalidi, Rashid (1991), ‘Arab Nationalism: Historical Problems in the Literature’, The American Historical Review 96(5): 1363- 1373.

Roy, Olivier (1994) ‘Patronage and Solidarity Groups: survival or reformation?,’, in Ghassan Salame (ed.), Democracy Without Democrats. London: I.B. Taurus.

Said, Edward (1978) Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.

Salame, Ghassan (1990) "‘Strong’ and ‘Weak’ States: A Qualified Return to the Muqaddimah" in Giacomo Luciani (ed.). The Arab State. London: Routledge.