GOVT 40.30 Language, Politics and Power in the Middle East

This course explores the sociopolitical dimensions of language at the macro level in the Middle East, past and present. How have political, ideological and social forces affected the fate of Arabic, Hebrew, Persian,Turkish, Ancient Greek, and other major regional languages such as Kurdish and Berber? How does language affect and reflect heritage, ethnicity, religion and nationhood, with their linguistic ideologies? What, objectively and subjectively, are "languages" and "dialects" What are the causes of language conflict or repression? Is 'one state one language' an economically or politically rational policy? How and why might language and literacy be planned and managed? No prior knowledge of a particular language or culture is assumed.

Instructor

Glinert

Cross Listed Courses

MES 16.12

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:INT or SOC; WCult:CI

The Timetable of Class Meetings contains the most up-to-date information about a course. It includes not only the meeting time and instructor, but also its official distributive and/or world culture designation. This information supersedes any information you may see elsewhere, to include what may appear in this ORC/Catalog or on a department/program website. Note that course attributes may change term to term therefore those in effect are those (only) during the term in which you enroll in the course.