History 397AH - ST-RegHist:Mediterranean/1500

How different is the Middle East and North Africa from Europe? Is Islam, as a religion and as an ethical system, really so very different from Christianity and Judaism? By looking at the Mediterranean world from antiquity to today, we will query notions of separate and unequal, the reasoning behind them, and their historicity. Classes will proceed by discussion and students will be required to give short reports and to participate in structured debates focused on the causes and impact of the fall of Rome, the rise of Islam, the Crusades and the reconquista, the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, the shift in world trade from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, the shift in political structures from empires to states, the "othering" of Africa and the Middle East, and so forth as decreed by what we as a class decide to think about and study.

Open to Seniors, Juniors & Sophomores only.