Module POC2123 for 2020/1
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POC2123: Politics of the Middle East
This module descriptor refers to the 2020/1 academic year.
Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.
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 of the following topics or readings:
- Politics and Area Studies: Beyond Orientalism/Occidentalism and East/West
- Empire, Colonialism and the Birth of the Middle East State (Egypt, Algeria, Turkey)
- Beyond TH Marshall: Citizenship(s) in the Middle East (Gulf, Lebanon)
- Oil Wealth/Curse: Modernization, urban development and neoliberal policies (Gulf, Algeria, Libya)
- NGO-ization or the Liberalization of Politics (case study: LGBT activism vs. “Gay Internationalists”)
- Informal Politics, Resistance and Encroachment (a view from Egypt and Gaza)
- Sect, Sectarianisation and the State (Iran, Yemen)
- Transnational Solidarity and the Middle East (Kurdistan)
- From the War on Terror to the War on Iraq: Reading the ME through a Feminist IR Lens
- The Arab Spring and Masculinist Restoration (Bahrein, Syria)
- The Universalization of Human Rights: What Challenges for the Middle East?
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 Activity | 22 | 11 x 2 hr seminars |
| Guided independent study | 128 | Private study students are expected to read suggested texts and make notes prior to seminar sessions. They are also expected to read widely to complete their coursework assignments. More specifically, students are expected to devote at least: 66 (6 hours per topic/week) hours to directed reading; 6 hours to completing the formative research outline; 42 hours (3 hours/day over two weeks) for completing the essay; 10 hours (2 hours/day over 5 days) for completing opinion pieces. The 4 remaining hours serve as a margin to be adjusted depending on the student in question |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
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.
Edward Said, Orientalism
Asef Bayat, Life as Politics: How Ordinary People Change the Middle East
Dina Singerman, Avenues of Participation: Family, Politics, and Networks in Urban Quarters of Cairo
Betty S. Anderson, Nationalist Voices in Jordan: The Street and the State
Joseph A. Massad, Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan
David Szanton, The Politics of Knowledge: Area Studies and the Disciplines
Zachary Lockman, Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics ofOrientalism and Field Notes: The Making of Middle East Studies in the United States
Lara Deeb and Jessica Winegar, Anthropology’s Politics: Disciplining the Middle East
Adam Hanieh, Money, Markets and Monarchies: The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Political Economy of the Contemporary Middle East
Donatella Della Ratta, Shooting the Revolution: Visual Media and Warfare in Syria.
Sam Cherribi, Fridays of Rage: Al Jazeera, the Arab Spring, and Political Islam.
Tarek El-Ariss. Leaks, Hacks and Scandals: Arab Culture in the Digital Age.
Mohamed Zayani. Networked Publics and Digital Contention: The Politics of Everyday Life in Tunisia.
Daniel Ritter, The Iron Cage of Liberalism: International Politics and Unarmed Revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa.
Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, Conceiving Citizens: Women and the Politics of Motherhood in Iran.
Shahla Talebi, Ghosts of Revolution: Rekindled Memories of Imprisonment in Iran.
Charles Tripp, The Power and the People: Paths of Resistance in the Middle East.
Mounira Charrad, States and Women's Rights: The Making of Postcolonial Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco
Timothy Mitchell, Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity
