Suspended in 2025/26
GV328 Half Unit
Middle East Politics in Transnational Perspective
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Prof John Chalcraft
Availability
This course is available on the BA in Social Anthropology, BSc in History and Politics, BSc in International Social and Public Policy with Politics, BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (with a Year Abroad), BSc in Politics, BSc in Politics and Economics, BSc in Politics and International Relations, BSc in Politics and Philosophy and BSc in Social Anthropology. This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course is not available to General Course students.
This course is capped at one group. Priority will be given to students enrolling from the Department of Government.
Course content
This course offers an advanced introduction to the politics of the Middle East and North Africa in transnational perspective. It takes a critical, sociological, historically-informed, and qualitative approach. It focuses on cross-border forms of resistance and subaltern activism. We study such topics as transnational revolutionary movements, Third World national liberation, popular movements on the Arabian peninsula, feminism, Salafi-Wahhabism, human rights advocacy, and transnational Palestinian activism. Students will develop an advanced introductory understanding of the transnational politics of the region.
Teaching
11 hours of seminars and 15 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.
There will be two seminars in Week 5.
Formative assessment
Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the WT.
Indicative reading
Abdelrahman, Maha. 2007. ‘The Nationalization of the Human Rights Debate in Egypt’, Nations and Nationalism, 13(2), pp. 285–300; Abu-Lughod, Lila. 2013. Do Muslim Women Need Saving? Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press; Chalcraft, John. 2016. Popular Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East. Cambridge University Press; Farquhar, Michael. 2017. Circuits of Faith: Migration, Education and the Wahhabi Mission. Stanford: Stanford University Press; Featherstone, David. 2012. Solidarity: Hidden Histories and Geographies of Internationalism. London: Zed Books; Gill, Stephen. 2000. ‘Towards a Post-Modern Prince? The Battle in Seattle as a Moment in the New Politics of Globalisation’. Millennium, 29, 1: 131-40; Moghadam, V. M. 2012. ‘Global Social Movements and Transnational Advocacy’. In The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology John Wiley and Sons, pp. 408-420; Perugini, Nicola and Neve Gordon. 2015. The Human Right to Dominate. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Prashad, Vijay. 2007. The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World. New York: New Press; Pratt, Nicola. 2007. ‘The Queen Boat case in Egypt: sexuality, national security and state sovereignty’ Review of International Studies (2007), 33, 129–144; Tarrow, Sidney. 2001. ‘Transnational Politics: Contention and Institutions in International Politics’ Annual Review of Political Science 2001 4:1, 1-20.
Assessment
Essay (100%, 3000 words)
Key facts
Department: Government
Course Study Period: Winter Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 6
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 15
Average class size 2024/25: 15
Capped 2024/25: Yes(10)Course selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Communication