Voices of the Modern Middle East
Register for this Spring 2023 course on the new NYU SPS Academy of Lifelong Learning website.
This course will use the lens of fiction and non-fiction short stories, essays, and book chapters to study the modern Middle East. It will include one film (fiction or documentary – to be determined).
Drawing on the work of authors from Morocco to Pakistan, the course will address the following questions:
Who are the authors? What are their personal stories?
What do selected fiction and non-fiction stories reveal about politics, economics, and society in the broader Middle East?
Possible authors include Azar Nafisi (Iran), Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt), Hisham Matar (Libya), Salman Rushdie (Pakistan), Samar Yazbek (Syria) and possibly one Yemeni and one Palestinian author.
Recurring themes in the class will be conflict, life in exile, and Middle East tensions with the West, as many of the authors have left the region voluntarily or out of necessity.
Spring 2023 tuition is $499.
You'll Walk Away with
- A heightened understanding of politics, economics, and society in the Middle East via contemporary works of fiction and non-fiction
- Familiarity with some of today's most important Middle Eastern fiction and non-fiction writers
NO open sections available for this course at the moment. Please check back next semester.