Prof. Mira Z. Amiras—How the Middle East Works: Four Models

We will explore four models for understanding the Middle East today, beginning with Ibn Khaldun’s 14th-century Introduction to History and his anticipation of European colonial ambitions before they’d begun. We'll also investigate German-American historian Karl Wittfogel, who argued that civilization emerged first in the ancient Near East because of the reliance on large-scale irrigation systems. We'll follow with Fatima Amara’s intimate view of how diversity works in Middle Eastern communities if you don’t bump them too hard, and conclude with Judah L. Magnes' vision of a bi-national state in Palestine, rejected at the time but perhaps still instructive today.

Mondays, September 9, 16, 23, 30 @ 7 -8:30 pm, on Zoom