Hist 103
Since Muhammad
Spring
2024
Hunt Tooley
Office Hours:
Until further
notice, all my office hours will be via Zoom meetings. I will be
available on MWF 1:45 to 3:30 via Zoom. We can also
set up an appointment at a specific time. And you may also catch
me after class if your issue requires only a brief
discussion. I plan to change to add some on-campus office
time later in the semester. The Zoom meeting address is:
https://austincollege.zoom.us/j/88214903285
Course Objectives
Perhaps some ascetic cave-dweller in the wilds of
Utah or New Jersey would wonder why it is important for Americans to
know something about the Middle East. Curiosity about a major
non-western culture is certainly a starting point, though we will
see that the Middle East holds much in common with the West. But the
vast investment of the United States, the war on terrorism, the
American invasions of many Middle Eastern states since the beginning
of World War II, the growing population of Americans with roots in
the Middle East--all these give us good reasons for learning about
the region. We start the course BEFORE Muhammand, since in learning
the contours of Middle Eastern history, one must come to grips with
the founding of Islam, the tenets of the Islamic system, and the
development of that system, both in its religious and political
aspects. Contacts with and influences on the history of western
civilization also form an important item on the agenda, not least in
connection with the great state forms which have espoused Islam as
their center, and, in the last two centuries, in connection with the
projection of European power on Middle Eastern areas. The
understanding of all these themes will be necessary in unravelling
the complex, and highly interesting, developments of this century,
indeed of the last few years: from the changes in the forms of
European penetration, to the weakening of European power, to the
reassertion of local decision-making, to the internal and external
conflicts arising from all of these processes. In this course
we will turn our attention as well to the broad internal rhythms and
continuities in this region.
Books to Acquire
- Goldschmidt/Boum. A
Concise History of the Middle East
- Paperback: 544 pages
- Publisher: Westview
Press; Eleventh Edition, 11th or 12th Edition edition
- ISBN-10: 0813349621
- ISBN-13: 978-0813349626
Marjani
Satrapi. Persepolis
- Series: Pantheon
Graphic Novels
- Paperback: 160
pages
- Publisher: Pantheon;
First Edition edition (June 1, 2004)
- ISBN-10: 037571457X
- ISBN-13: 978-0375714573
Elements of the Course
Each class member will keep a journal. See below for
instructions.
More than fivw absences will affect the class grade
dramatically. More than five absences may result in being
dropped from the course. You must do the reading
assigned. Regular reading quizzes will be averaged to
represent 15% of the grade. It is impossible to arrange for make-ups
on these quizzes, but I will drop the lowest three grades before I
average them at the end of the course.
The grading breaks down as follows.
2 Exams @ 15
%
30 %
1 Final
25 %
Journal
15 %
3 Map Quizzes @
5% 15
%
Reading Quiz
Average 15 %
--------------------------------
Course Grade
100 %
In this course, 80 to 82.5 is a B-, 82.5 to 87 is a B, 87 to 89.9 is
a B+ etc.
Academic Integrity,
Attendance, and Late Assignment Penalties
This course will be run on the basis of the
Austin College Academic Integrity Policies. Group studying is
of course fine. But all students are required to do their own
work on tests and papers. By being enrolled in this course,
each student agrees to abide by the Academic Integrity principles
found in the most recent version of the Environment or in other
official college publications. All sources used in preparation
of the papers should be acknowledged appropriately. This
means that direct quotations, specific information, and specific
ideas should be attributed in the text or in a footnote to their
source. A sentence taken from someone else and slightly altered
still constitutes plagiarism, which the Environment specifically
names an honor offense. In terms of our journal assignments
for this course, the passing off of cut-and-paste material from
electronic sources is considered a major academic integrity
violation. I will respond to all violations with appropriate
penalties, including losing the whole 15 percent for the
journal, and in the case of cheating on a test, issuing an F for the
course. All violations of any kind will be reported to the
Vice-President for Academic Affairs.
Weekly Journal
Each week, beginning on the Friday that ends the second class week,
you are to deliver to me, via Turnitin.com, one substantial entry of
a page or so (minimum 300 words). The turn-in deadline will be
Friday afternoons at 5:00pm. Though we will discuss this more as we
go, it is appropriate to say here that the journal will have to do
with your continuing encounters with Middle Eastern history and the
development of current affairs in the Middle East. You have
to turn in all the journals and all on time in order to get full
credit for this 15% of the course grade. You will
receive grace if one of the journals is two days late or less. But
if a single week's journal is more than two days late, or if a
second journal is late at all, your grade will drop--you will
receive only a fraction of this 15% of the grade. It is also
possible to receive less than fifteen percent if your journals
become too superficial or perfunctory.
Again, you turn in one special journal/blog
assignment per week. Each journal should contain at least 300 words
of text and accompanying photos--at least two photos or other
graphics per assignment. The assignment will be turned in via
Turnitin, and in the form of a powerpoint file. If you don't
know how to create a powerpoint, this is the time to learn!
Expanding on the description above, the
journal/blog will be devoted to current events in the Middle East,
special cultural topics, points of interest you learn about through
the readings, interesting things about the Middle East you have
learned through family connections, travel, etc. For example, if you
are from a family with a Middle Eastern heritage, you might want to
share some food item your family makes. And maybe even a recipe! You
could discuss some special side issues which just get mentioned, but
about which you have looked up more info. You could also discuss a
news item, perhaps comparing two different ways the story or issue
has been covered by two different news sources (for example, Time
Magazine and Al Jazeera, or the Hindustan
Times and the Jerusalem Post).
Some parameters. The text MUST be in your own
words. Your content will be checked by Turnitin. Also, you must rely
on solid material. Wikipedia might help you find a topic, but
Wikipedia may not be used as the basis for your content. And you
must list your sources for the info. Generally speaking, you should
have at least two solid sources for each entry. Three is better. You
will need to list them at the end of your presentation. You may
certainly use photos, maps, charts, etc. from Wikipedia or Wikimedia
Poor sourcing and entries that are too brief will
detract from your grade for the journal/blog assignments overall. On
the other hand, these weekly assignments are not academic papers,
but rather more broad and informal presentations, the kind of thing
one would read in a blog or magazine.
Finally, the assignment will be due on Friday
afternoons at 5:00. Missing an assignment completely will affect
your grade for the journals/blogs disproportionately. You are
welcome to turn them in at any time before the due date of Friday at
five.
If you write an entry based on news sources, you
should use solid sources. But all solid news sources are fair game.
No one should think that some news source is "foreign," or
"alternative" or as representing an opinion that someone thinks is
forbidden or off limits.
Here are some news sources you can consult for current events and
other journal topics:
The New York Times (New York) (you have to subscribe to this
one)
The Christian
Science Monitor (Boston)
Reuters News Service
(London)
The Guardian (London)
The Independent (London)
Der Spiegel
International (Germany)
Al Jazeera online (Qatar)
Aramco World
Magazine
(which has an online version)
Hindustan Times
(from India, of course, but with much coverage of the Middle East
from an interesting perspective)
The Jerusalem Post
The Middle East Eye
(London)
Blank Map of the Middle East for
the map quizzes
Study Sheets for Map Quizzes--The Middle East
Since Muhammad
Be able to identify
the following entities on the accompanying map. With regions
or countries, be sure to show the approximate extent. With
cities, be sure to locate with a dot.
MAP QUIZ # 1
Black Sea
|
Constantinople
|
Bosporus |
Dardanelles
|
Caspian Sea
|
Anatolia |
Arabia
|
Egypt
|
Arabian Sea
|
Bab al-Mandab Strait
|
Red Sea
|
Persian Gulf
|
Strait of Hormuz
|
Red Sea
|
Persian Gulf
|
| Tabriz |
Indus River
|
Oxus River
|
Aral Sea
|
Ethiopia
|
Sasanid Empire (c.600)
|
Byzantine Empire (c.600)
|
Hijaz, or Hejaz
|
Aleppo
|
Hadramawt
|
Medina (Yathrib)
|
Mecca
|
Oman
|
Alexandria
|
Jersusalem
|
Syria
|
Damascus
|
Tigris River
|
Euphrates River
|
Armenia
|
Azerbaijan
|
Khurasan
|
Taurus Mountains
|
Aegean Sea
|
Cyrenaica
|
Fustat
|
Yemen
|
Bahrain
|
Zagros Mountains
|
Mosul
|
Baghdad
|
Kufah
|
Basrah
|
Isfahan
|
Kufah
|
Bukhara
|
Samarqand
|
Caucasus Mountains
|
Seljuk Empire (c. 1090)
|
Antioch
|
Acre
|
Ghaznavid Empire
|
Punjab
|
Iraq
|
Persia (Iran)
|
Ayn Jalut
|
|
|
Also be able to:
show the greatest extent of the Roman
Empire (see the assigned video The Roman Empire: Rise and
Fall at time mark 3:50)
show the major trading routes, land and sea, in and surrounding
the Arabian peninsula.
trace the spread of Islam during the seventh and eighth centuries,
showing directions and extent.
show the wind patterns in the Red Sea region.
MAP QUIZ # 2
Konya
|
Trebizond
|
Uzbeks
|
Gallipoli
|
Caspian Sea
|
Mosul
|
Jerusalem
|
Armenia
|
Black Sea
|
Istanbul
|
Basrah
|
Mecca
|
Aqaba
|
Amman
|
Haifa
|
Cairo
|
Alexandria
|
Kut
|
Transjordan
|
Barbary Coast
|
Tunisia
|
Cappadokia
|
Ankara
|
Lake Van
|
Georgia
|
Chechnia
|
|
Also be able to
show:
the extent of Byzantine Empire c. 600 A.D.
the extent of the Ottoman Empire under Suleiman the Magnificent
Turkey, 1919
Turkey, 1922
the Middle Eastern Mandates, 1922 (including European mandatory
powers):
Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Emirate of Transjordan
the region and direction of the "Arab Revolt" campaign
the region and direction of British campaigns in Mesopotamia
MAP QUIZ # 3
Iran
|
Afghanistan
|
Gulf of Aqaba
|
Pakistan
|
Kuwait
|
Iraq
|
Saudi Arabia
|
Yemen
|
|
Muscat and Oman
|
Qatar
|
Bahrein
|
Nicosia
|
Port Said
|
Jidda
|
Aswan
|
Haifa
|
Jerusalem
|
Baku
|
Hejaz
|
Somalia
|
Ethiopia
|
United Arab Emirates
|
Gulf of Aden
|
West Bank
|
Syria
|
Jordan
|
Israel
|
Isfahan
|
Sinai Peninsula
|
Egypt
|
Cyprus
|
Lebanon
|
Suez Canal
|
Ankara
|
Istanbul
|
Tabriz
|
Tehran
|
Abadan
|
Dahran
|
Basra
|
Baghdad
|
Sana
|
Riyad
|
Damascus
|
Amman
|
Beirut
|
Cairo
|
Tel Aviv
|
Caspian Sea
|
Gaza Strip
|
Red Sea
|
Strait of Hormuz
|
Golan Heights
|
Sea of Marmara
|
Strait of Dardanelles
|
Strait of Bosphorus
|
Afghanistan
|
Kuwait
|
Shatt al-Arab
|
Kharg Island
|
Gulf of Oman
|
Tunisia
|
Morocco
|
Algeria
|
Libya
|
Also be able to show
the territorial issues related to the Arab-Israeli dispute,
in particular those associated with 1948, 1956, and 1967.
