Cultures of the Middle East (ANTH 3319)
Cultures of the Middle East is an anthropology course that explores the diversity of ways of life in the Middle East. Focused on understanding people and their everyday lives, anthropology investigates issues such as kinship and family, marriage, food and eating, language, social interactions, music and other media, class, status, ethnicity, social economics, religion, subsistence activities, rituals, behaviors, beliefs ideology and much more.
This class is integrated with UALR Middle Eastern Studies public cultural events such as the annual Middle Eastern Film festival and a Middle Eastern Cultures Party. The cultures party features music, dancing, food, games and cultural displays. Students in the Middle Eastern Cultures class play a large role in throwing this party. The Middle Eastern Film festival highlights great feature and documentary films from and about the region. Both events are free and open to the public!
An example outline of the course and some of the topics we address during the semester (this list is not exhaustive and is subject to change):
Introduction to the course, Anthropological Approaches to the Middle East
Middle of What? East of Where? Introduction to geography and environment of the ME
Cultural Diversity: Language, Religion, Ethnic Groups
Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Common roots and shared culture
The power of the past in the contemporary Middle East –archaeology, history and visions of nomadism
Colonial Legacies in the Middle East
Western Views of the Middle East: Orientalism and its offshoots
Anthropological Ethnography as Method and Literature
Nomadic Life: The Economics of Pastoralism
Agriculture and Village Life in the Middle East
Kinship: Marriage, Family Structures, Kin Terms, and Familial Responsibilities
Gender, Women, Veiling etc
Gender, Men, and Family
Islam: Cultural Practices, Prayer, Fasting, Holidays, etc
Judiasm: Religion and Ethnicity, Arab and Western Jews across the Middle East
Christianity: Egyptian Copts, Syrian Othodox Church, other denominations and coexistence with other religions
Traditional and Pop Music
TV and Film on and in the Middle East
The social uses of Poetry
Food and Eating, Etiquette
Beauty and Appearance: Clothing, Body Adornment, Jewelry, Tatooing, Cosmetic Surgery etc
Urban Lives in the Contemporary Middle East: Examples such as Cairo, Beirut, Jerusalem, Sanaa
Tribalism and Nationalism
Culture and National Politics
Westernization?
War, Peace, and Challenges: Iraq, Palestine/Israel, and beyond
Democracy and Human Rights in the Middle East