Admission requirements
Admission to the MA Middle Eastern Studies (Research). Students of other programmes are kindly referred to the regular MA course.
Description
This course is a bottom-up sociopolitical history of sectarianism in the modern Middle East. We began in Lebanon. By closely studying its construction, we explore every-day interactions with the state, struggles against state power, anti-colonial resistance, struggles for national liberation and against occupation, civil wars, and revolutions. In doing so, we will investigate how people both fight against and preserve the status quo and discuss the complex relationships between power and resistance through sectarianism. Related, we will inquire whether common experiences, through political struggles or other processes, create new collective identities, and address how national memory is formed and changed.
Course objectives
To encourage students to think critically about the causes, uses, effects, and locations of power and resistance.
To consider the changing daily interactions between the state and its inhabitants.
To familiarize students with past struggles that continue to play a role in the Middle East today.
To help students critically engage with scientific literature and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of various theoretical approaches.
To help students improve their capacity to present ideas orally and in written form.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
- Seminar
Attendance is compulsory for all sessions. Students must prepare well and contribute to in-class discussion. If a student cannot attend because of illness or misadventure, they should promptly inform the convener. Extra assignments may be set to make up for missed class time, at the convener’s discretion. Absence without notification may result in lower grades or exclusion from assessment components and a failing grade for the course.
Assessment method
Assessment and weighing
Students will be graded on the basis of three assignments:
| Partial Assessment | Weighing | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Attendance, Preparation, & Participation | 55% | ||
| At least one in class presentation | 20% | ||
| At least one in-class oral “reaction” to the presentation | 15% | ||
| Participation and preparation in the general | 20% | ||
| Peer assessment/feedback on the draft of your final project | 15% | ||
| Final project | 30% |
All categories of assessment must be completed in the same academic year. No partial marks can be carried over into following years.
Resit
Only if the total weighted average is insufficient (5.49 or lower), the insufficient grade is the result of an insufficient project, a re-sit of the project is possible (45%). In that case the convener of the course may decide to assign a (new) topic. The deadline for this version will be determined by the instructor. A re-sit of the other components is not possible.
Inspection and feedback
If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
Check the course syllabus on Brightspace.
For the Research MA students additional reading will be determined by the convener at a later stage taking into account the students’ fields of interest. Extra sessions may be organized to discuss this extra literature.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office de Vrieshof.