HIST4133 · History

Mid-East Nationalisms Compared: Arab-Turkish-Jewish

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

Fulfills the LAMA requirement for History Majors and Minors. Nationalisms in the Middle East developed in a distinctive way. In contrast to Europe, religion was more important than language. In contrast to Africa, they emerged prior to the rise of anti-colonialism. Although nationalisms in the Middle East have spawned conflicts within themselves and with each other, they have displayed remarkable similarities to each other. One consistent similarity is their fraught attempts to distinguish the so-called nation from the religious traditions out of which it emerged. This course will address these questions through comparing Arab, Jewish and Turkish nationalism in the 19th and 20th centuries.