1. PERCEPTIONS OF THE MIDDLE EASTPERCEPTIONS OF THE MIDDLE EAST 351 Contemporary Politics of the Middle East – Spath (summer 2010)351 Contemporary Politics of the Middle East – Spath (summer 2010) TODAY: 1.Conceptual Discussion – What is the Middle East? (Nikki Keddie Reading) 2.Orientalism – Lecture & Readings discussion 3.Eric Davis reading – The Ethno-confessional model and Communal Mind

3. THE MIDDLE EAST – A CONCEPTUAL DISCUSSION Big Question – Is it appropriate to think of the Middle East as a comprehensive unit (a whole)? Review key distinctions – Arab world (ethno-nationalist) – Islamic/Muslim world (religious) – Middle East (geographic) “More variety than unity” Historical justification Geographic justification Question – which is most resonant to the people of the region?

4. Umayyad Caliphate

5. Abbasid Caliphate

6. Ottoman Empire

7. THE CASE OF IRAN (KEDDIE)THE CASE OF IRAN (KEDDIE) Should we include Iran? – ANSWER? It depends... Social, cultural, political synthesis

8. MIDDLE EASTERN EXCEPTIONALISMMIDDLE EASTERN EXCEPTIONALISM the notion that political and social dynamics in the Middle East are unique, and therefore unlike political and social forces in all other places in the world. QUESTION: What are some problems with this kind of exceptionalism? This exceptionalism is part of an Orientalist view of the region

9. ORIENTALISM (THE BASICS)ORIENTALISM (THE BASICS) Central Question: How do we come to understand strangers by virtue of their appearance and their ethnicity? Orientalism is: – A lens that distorts the actual reality of the places and people of the “Orient” – A framework for understanding the foreignness of Arabs and other “Easterners”

10. ORIENTALISM (CONT.) Beginning of the Orientalism Project – Napoleon’s Conquest of Egypt in 1798 REPERTORY OF IMAGES – Sensual Woman for Man’s Use – Mysterious – Threatening Different Types The point is not just that it exists. – Consequences?

11. ETHNO-CONFESSIONAL MODEL (DAVIS READING) Ethnoconfessional Model – assumption that political loyalties are based on one’s ethnic or religious identity – Mosaic Society - Emphasis on fragmentation – Communal Mind – that members of a particular collective identity (ethnicity, religion, etc) think and behave in political lockstep ‘The Arab Mind’ by Raphael Patai as an example – Patai also wrote a book called ‘The Jewish Mind’

12. SHORT FILM – REEL BAD ARABSSHORT FILM – REEL BAD ARABS

13. THE ENDTHE END NEXT TIME: History of the Ottoman Empire