Module ARA2170 for 2018/9
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
ARA2170: A History of the Modern Middle East, 1900-2014
This module descriptor refers to the 2018/9 academic year.
Module Aims
This module aims to develop your skills in historiographical as well as historical analysis in the manner in which it looks at the ways in which different pasts, histories and memories have been created across the modern Middle East. It will contrast Orientalist forms of scholarship with more critical approaches and aims to develop the conceptual and theoretical capabilities of students, as well as their subject knowledge. Additionally, the module will explore the methods of comparative, transnational and global history, exploring how these ideas are developed in scholarship and how they can be deployed in your work.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. Appreciate the diversity/uniformity which marked the historical development of modern states in the region, and to evaluate it in the light of current debates on colonial and post-colonial socio-political systems. 2. Demonstrate an in-depth critical understanding of the relationship between ideology, politics and culture as forces which have shaped the modern Middle East. |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. Discuss empirically-based research in the light of wider theoretical frameworks and to critically evaluate historical processes from a range of cultural perspectives; 4. Understand historical change through a multi-disciplinary approach; 5. Demonstrate an understanding of the interdisciplinary methods upon which Area Studies and Middle East Studies are based; 6. Appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of types of history and forms of historical evidence; |
Personal and Key Skills | 7. Study independently and in and group work, including participation in oral discussion; and 8. Organise data effectively to produce a coherent argument to a deadline, both orally and in writing. 9. Reflect on complex academic debates and re-present such work in an accessible and personal form through a blog. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
- World War I and the Partition of the Ottoman Empire
- Ataturk and the Creation of Modern Turkey
- The Mandates, 1920s-40s
- European Imperialism, 1830s-1960s
- Palestine and Zionism, 1880s-1948
- The Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1948-
- The Age of Revolution, 1950s-60s
- Iran under the Pahlavis, 1925-79
- The Lebanese Civil War
- The Iranian Revolution and the Islamic Republic, 1979-
- The Gulf Shaikhdoms
- Review for final exam
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
---|---|---|
22 | 128 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 22 | 11 x 2 hour classes. Students will need to complete all readings prior to class and be ready to participate. On some occasions students will be asked to make presentations. |
Guided Independent Study | 64 | Reading and research; |
Guided Independent Study | 32 | Completing assignments |
Guided Independent Study | 32 | Preparing for assessments |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Submission of detailed essay plans | 1,000 words | 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 | Tutorials in and outside class. |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
Essay | 50 | 2000 words | 1-8 | Written and oral |
Blog | 50 | 2000 words | 1-9 | Written |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
Essay | Essay (2000 words) | 1-8 | August/September reassessment period |
Blog | Blog (2000 words) | 1-9 | August/September reassessment period |
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.
William Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East (Bolder: Westview Press, 1994, 1999, 2004).
Nikki Keddie, Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003).
Bernard Lewis, The Emergence of Modern Turkey (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961, 1968, 2002).
Justin McCarthy, The Ottoman Peoples and the End of Empire (London: Arnold, 2001).