Asian & Middle Eastern Studies (AMES)

An exploration of significant questions and integrative concepts in AMES, their grounding in the process of scientific discovery and application, and their broader relevance to society. Designed for first-year students. Although topics vary, the courses also seek to improve students’ communication skills beyond the written word.

This core course employs interdisciplinary approaches to critically examine selected intellectual and cultural themes in a broadly conceived “Asia,” including East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. Themes may vary from year to year but will focus on issues relevant to the Asian and Middle Eastern experience.

Selected topics in AMES are offered occasionally. The topic to be considered will be announced prior to the beginning of the semester.

The class is an exploration into the relationship between local culture, architecture, regional politics, and economic globalization in Asian and Middle Eastern Citiies, using Dubai as a model.

This class examines the rise of anti-Muslim sentiments (Islamophobia) in the United States and compares it to Orientalism, the ideology used to justify Western colonialism during the 19th and 20th centuries. We analyze the relationship between United States’ foreign and domestic policies, popular culture, and the mainstreaming of Muslim-baiting rhetoric. In doing so, we will ask whether Islamophobia is new? Is it only the purview of the fringe right-wing in the United States or are Islamophobic stereotypes and precepts shared throughout the political spectrum from liberal to conservative wings of each party? Is it an issue of race linked to American culture and racial history or does it have to do exclusively with American global power, security, and/or a misunderstanding of Islam? To answer whether Islamophobia in the Unites States is something new or just a refurbished paradigm of a bygone-political era, we will also keep a journal noting examples of Islamophobia, Orientalism, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism but also ways that it is being rejected.

This course explores the displaced histories and contemporary realities of Palestine through original sources. We examine alternate histories, social experiments, and cultural and political possibilities for Palestinian self-determination that have been largely overlooked. In doing so, we learn what Palestinian indigenous culture looks like and the social projects that work to make it thrive despite the hardships of Occupation.

This class will explore the concept of “political violence,” which is often termed as “terrorism.” We will delve into the historical notion of “political violence,” examining its appearance in modernity. More specifically, we will examine how political violence has been used by state and non-state actors in the Middle East for various ends.

This course will understand the history of decolonization as well as how colonialism and its effect impact and structure the world today.

Selected topics in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies are offered occasionally. The topic to be considered will be announced prior to the beginning of the semester.

This course examines contemporary engagements with human rights. Our focus will be on how individuals and communities around the world experience, advocate for, and define human rights. As we seek to understand global perspectives on human rights, we will look at how human rights are mobilized in different locations; how representational regimes shape our engagements with human rights; and how local movements as well as transnational activists influence our understandings of human rights.

This course focuses on allowing the students to academically process within a classroom setting and build on the experiences, expertise, and cultural knowledge that they acquired during their internship, study abroad, and experience in Asia and the Middle East.

Selected topics in AMES are offered occasionally. The topic to be considered will be announced prior to the beginning of the semester.

A variable (1-3) credit practicum for students to engage in AMES projects, readings, or co-requisite labs that do not entail independent research.

For majors and minors who have completed most of their requirements and who have secured approval from a supervising instructor.

A research and discussion forum based around themes relevant to AMES area studies, in which students present and comment on their own and each other’s original research papers. Students will revise papers for presentation at the AMES Senior Research Colloquium held each spring. The class will read representative scholarship from multiple regions. Instructor provides overarching theme, core readings, background lectures on research methods, and guidelines on revising and presenting papers. Open to juniors and seniors only.

Please see the detailed description of the honors process in the opening of the Global Studies catalogue section.

Please see the detailed description of the honors process in the opening of the Global Studies catalogue section.