Admission requirements
Admission to the MA Middle Eastern Studies (Research). Students of other programmes are kindly referred to the regular MA course.
Students should have had approximately 30 EC worth of courses in Middle Eastern Studies at BA or MA level.
Description
This course explores who in the Middle East exercises power and how. By closely studying how and who uses, gains, and negotiates power and their historical contexts, 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. 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.
The deadlines in MyTimetable are set for administrative purposes only. The actual date(s) will be communicated by the lecturer(s) in Brightspace.
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
Academic integrity
Students should familiarize themselves with the notion of academic integrity and the ways in which this plays out in their own work. A good place to start is this page. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Students may not substantially reuse texts they have previously submitted in this or other courses. Minor overlap with previous work is allowed as long as it is duly noted in citation.
Students must submit their assignment(s) to Brightspace through Turnitin, so they can be checked for plagiarism. Submission via email is not accepted.
ChatGPT: What is possible and what is allowed? Dos and Don'ts.
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% |
Final project
Your ultimate objective: The editing, researching, and contributing or creating of a new Wikipedia entry(s) that fits the themes of our course—developed, written, and posted.
You will be responsible for either overhauling an existing or creating a new Wikipedia entry(s). This is in addition to and separate from your weekly Wikipedia work, which is intended to help you navigate and train and familiarize yourself with the interface.
The gained skills from using Wikipedia in the classroom equip students to make an impact and participate in societal debates after graduation and in their future careers. Insufficient entries on the non-West and Global South (Rosenzweig, 2006, Muller and Damen, 2014) mean Wikipedia is ideal for motivating students and to create impact (Nix, 2010). Their edits and articles fill a need, contribute to the real world, and are accessible globally and immediately (Seligman, 2013). U.S. professors using Wikipedia report greater student engagement and motivation; students felt they benefited the public, even after graduating (Roth, Davis, Carver; 2013).
As a former student noted, “Writing a Wikipedia entry was totally different from what I did for other BA and MA courses at Leiden. It’s one of the great strengths of this course.”
Students must complete the assignment(s) on time Late submissions will result in a deduction of marks for the assignment as follows: 1-24 hs late = -0.5; 24-48 hs late = -1.0; 48-72 hs late = -1.5; 72-96 hs late = -2.0. Submissions more than 96 hs late, including weekends, will receive a failing grade of 1,0 for the assignment.
The final mark for this course is formed by the weighted average.
In order to pass the course, students must obtain an overall mark of 5.50 (=6) or higher.
The course is an integrated whole. All assessment parts 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
Feedback will be supplied primarily through Brightspace. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the assessment results, a review will 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 MyStudyMap is mandatory.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the information bar on the right.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office Herta Mohr