New Directions in Middle East Learning

FAIN: AKA-265761-19

UCLA; Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA 90024-4201)
Ali Behdad (Project Director: October 2018 to September 2021)

A one-year project aimed at developing a freshman-level interdisciplinary course sequence on the Middle East and North Africa.

A faculty team from the departments of Anthropology, Comparative Literature, Islamic Studies, Law, and Sociology will transform UCLA's pedagogy on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by creating a multidisciplinary freshman course sequence exploring MENA cultures through diverse humanistic perspectives. The team-taught sequence, offered annually, will incorporate two terms of lecture courses followed by a term of experiential learning in the MENA communities of Los Angeles. The planning phase will explore methods and topics for a sequence that highlights the Middle East's rich cultural and religious traditions, histories, and literary and artistic practices. The product of this planning phase will be a detailed proposal to UCLA's Governance Committee for course approval, after which our team will establish working relationships with the course's assigned staff from the library, the writing program, and experiential learning partners.

Associated Products

Global Islam Freshmen Cluster syllabi (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Global Islam Freshmen Cluster syllabi
Author: Asma Sayeed, Ph.D., UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
Author: Christine Chism, Ph.D., UCLA Department of English
Author: Jeffrey Guhin, Ph.D., UCLA Department of Sociology
Author: Susan Slyomovics, Ph.D., UCLA Depts. of Anthropology and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
Abstract: Islam is an immensely diverse global tradition, the second largest religion. The course sequence offers a study of Islam and Muslims within a framework of global religious traditions and emphasis on profound diversity of localized belief and practice found across the world. Students exam Islam's evolution across 15 centuries, from late antiquity--when it emerged as localized religion in Central Arabia--to modern era where it is practice from US to Indonesia. The sequence concentrates on broad analytical categories in the study of religion such as text, culture, history, and prophecy. Students transition to more complex analyses through chronological overview of Islamic history and case studies of Muslim global networks in arenas such as art, music, literature, and political thought.
Year: 2019
Audience: Undergraduate

Global Islam Freshmen Cluster (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Global Islam Freshmen Cluster
Author: Asma Sayeed, Ph.D., UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
Author: Christine Chism, Ph.D., UCLA Department of English
Author: Jeffrey Guhin, Ph.D., UCLA Department of Sociology
Author: Susan Slyomovics, Ph.D., UCLA Depts. of Anthropology and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
Abstract: Islam is an immensely diverse global tradition, the second largest religion. The course sequence offers a study of Islam and Muslims within a framework of global religious traditions and emphasis on profound diversity of localized belief and practice found across the world. Students exam Islam's evolution across 15 centuries, from late antiquity--when it emerged as localized religion in Central Arabia--to modern era where it is practice from US to Indonesia. The sequence concentrates on broad analytical categories in the study of religion such as text, culture, history, and prophecy. Students transition to more complex analyses through chronological overview of Islamic history and case studies of Muslim global networks in arenas such as art, music, literature, and political thought.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://ucla.in/3fQRyPi
Audience: Undergraduate

CNES wins grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (Article)
Title: CNES wins grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities
Author: UCLA International Institute staff
Abstract: National support for an innovative freshman course that is now being developed by a multidisciplinary faculty team at UCLA. The Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES) has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support the planning phase of UCLA’s first multidisciplinary freshman cluster course on the Middle East.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/article/202325
Access Model: Online news article
Format: Other
Publisher: UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies

---