MA in Middle Eastern History - The School for Overseas Students

M.A. Program In Middle Eastern History

Study Middle Eastern History in the Middle East in the M.A. Program in Middle Eastern History at Tel Aviv University. Earn a Master's degree in a program designed specially for English-speaking students from all over the world.

Tel Aviv University (TAU) is Israel's largest university: a dynamic center of learning whose involvement extends into every part of Israel and the Middle East. World-renowned for its academic excellence, TAU draws students from all around the globe to its lively and expanding campus.

Located in the heart of Israel, the TAU campus is a gateway - to the nearby city of Tel Aviv, Israel's cultural and business center. To the entire ancient-modern land of Israel. And to the life and history of the country and the region.

TAU's unique facilities include the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, the Wiener Library, concerned with the history of European Jewry during the Holocaust, and others. All of these resources are open to all our students.

The M.A. Program in Middle Eastern History is conducted under the auspices of TAU's Department of Middle Eastern and African History in close cooperation with the School for Overseas Students (OSP), within the framework of the Graduate School of History.

If you

have a background in Middle Eastern studies and/or Middle Eastern languages, or in related fields such as history, geography, government studies, political science, international relations, sociology, anthropology, or economics
have completed or are about to complete an advanced degree in another subject and would like to add Middle Eastern studies to your qualifications and experience
are currently enrolled in a graduate program elsewhere and would like to spend a year or more in a similar program here

and if you are thinking of a career in

government or diplomacy
business in the international arena
communications, journalism or the media
advanced academic research or teaching in universities, government, business, think-tanks etc.

then this program is tailor-made for you.

What is the program?

Tel Aviv University's M.A. program in Middle Eastern History aims to give you

a detailed, intelligent and objective understanding of the political and social reality of the Middle East today and the historical processes underlying it, via
actual experience of living and studying in the heart of the Middle East, in one of the premier institutions of learning in the Middle East, with the strongest faculty in the world devoted to the study of the Middle East
a thorough training in the pre-modern history of the region, via courses on the history of classical and medieval Islam, and on the four centuries of Ottoman rule in the area
an in-depth study of a single Middle Eastern country or a specific regional problem
a rigorous training in two of the most important languages in the region, Arabic and Hebrew, without which any serious and informed understanding of the region and its problems is impossible
the opportunity to travel in the region, not only in Israel itself, but also in the area of the Palestinian Authority, in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and elsewhere.

It does so by offering you

seminars with some of Israel's and the international community's most renowned and respected scholars in their different fields
access to the resources and facilities of the many different research and teaching units of one of the most exciting centers for the study of all aspects of the Middle East in the entire Middle East and beyond
the opportunity to carry out all your studies (other than language study, of course) in English
skilled and rapid language instruction leading by the end of the first year to the ability to begin making use of source materials in the original languages
opportunities to work closely with one or more of the top scholars in researching your chosen field

CURRICULUM

The program of the M.A. degree in Middle Eastern History calls for a two-year period of study, though this can be extended. At the initial academic orientation session in Tel Aviv University every student is assigned an individual tutor for the duration of the program, whose special task is to help you with individual problems and difficulties which you may have. This may or may not be someone with whom you will study in the course of the two-year program.

The requirements for the degree include:

Seminars
Hebrew and Arabic Language Studies
Thesis
Recommended Reading
Faculty Members

Seminars

You will take nine seminars within the first three semesters. Each seminar meets for four hours per week, per semester, for a total of 27 credits. Three of the seminars are compulsory, the remaining six are electives.

You have to present one paper for each seminar. Six of the nine are short papers, and three are to be long research papers.

Required seminars:

Selected Problems in Islamic History. This concerns the rise of Islam in its seventh-century environment, its expansion and the creation of a world empire and a world civilization based on Islam, up to the end of the middle ages. On registration for the program you will receive a short introductory bibliography, to be read during the summer preceding the start of the program.
Ottoman History: From the creation of the empire to its fall; this includes topics concerned with social, economic, institutional, political, gender and diplomatic history of the empire that ruled most of the Middle East for the four centuries up to the First World War.
History of the Modern Middle East: This offers a detailed overview of the history of the region in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It looks at the history of contact with the West during the last two centuries, processes of Westernization, the relations of religion and the state in the Middle East, and more.

On registration for the program you will receive a short introductory bibliography for the three compulsory seminars of the first semester, to be read during the summer preceding the start of the program.

Selected Problems in Islamic History, History of the Modern Middle East and Ottoman History must be taken in the first semester of the first year of the program.

Elective Seminars

You will find that different elective seminars are offered every year, covering a very wide range of topics. These offer you the possibility to concentrate on

Islam, via a focus on a single religious or cultural aspect of the history of a particular place, problem or period in the Middle East, from the seventh century to the twenty first. Among courses offered recently in this area is Religion and State in the Contemporary Middle East.
methodology, via detailed examination of seminal works in the modern study of the Middle East, with emphasis on the different kinds of materials and approach characterizing each work. An example of such a course is Historical Controversies in the Social Issues of the Modern Middle East.
a single country or area in the modern Middle East. e.g., The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Iran, Syria
independent study , in the third semester of the program, as a preparation for the thesis which you should aim to write during the fourth semester.

In any given semester, between four and eight seminars will be offered. The seminars listed below include most of those offered in recent years, and are a guide to the sorts of seminars which are available in any cycle of two years. You will receive a detailed course booklet, including complete syllabi, lecture outlines, reading lists and specific course requirements for each of the seminars at the academic orientation session at the start of each semester in Tel Aviv University. At the first such session you will also meet the professors who will be teaching the different course.

Selected Problems in Islamic History
History of the Modern Middle East
Political Islam: Social Roots of Radical Ideology
The Arabian Peninsula; History of Political Development, Social Change and Security Dilemmas
Historical Controversies in the Social Issues of the Modern Middle East
Religion and State in the Contemporary Middle East
Ideological Trends in the Modern Middle East
The Muslim Republics in the former Soviet Union: History, Politics and Society
Iran: Between Islam and the West
The History of the Ottoman Empire
The Middle East: 1914 to the Present
Issues in Middle Eastern Studies
Syria in the Twentieth Century
The Great Powers in the Middle East
The Arab Minority in Israel: Political Orientation and Social Change
State, Society and Security of the Arab Gulf States
Russian Policy towards the Middle East
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: An Introduction
Education and the Making of Modern Iran

Language Studies

You do not have to know either Hebrew or Arabic in order to enter this M.A. program - but you cannot receive an M.A. degree at the end of the program without learning these two important Middle Eastern languages. If you already know Hebrew and/or Arabic at the level required for completing the program when you enter TAU, then you will have the opportunity to learn a third Middle Eastern language, Turkish or Persian. If the research for your thesis calls for the use of materials in these languages, then you will have to reach an advanced level of knowledge in them to deal with the sources.

Hebrew:

*Please Note: Hebrew Studies during the Semester for levels 6,8,10, can also be held on Sundays and Fridays in addition to week days.

Hebrew is the principal language of Israel. It is also one of the main languages in which materials on the Israeli-Arab conflict are written. In addition to this, many courses in the Graduate School of History which are outside this program, but which are open to you to attend, are given in Hebrew. You should use the opportunity to acquire a sound knowledge of the language while you are here: if you want to meet and interact with Israelis, if you want to use sources and if you want to attend courses given in Hebrew, then you need the language. In the course of your studies here you have to reach an advanced level of understanding of Hebrew. By the end of your studies in the program you should be able to read texts in Hebrew, understand spoken Hebrew and even conduct conversations in the language. An Intensive Hebrew Language Program (Ulpan) is offered prior to the Fall semester, taught at all levels. You also have to take Hebrew during the academic year, until you reach the required level.

Arabic:

Arabic is the most widely spoken and written language in the region. You must reach an advanced level in written Arabic, sufficient to read and understand modern texts in the language. Arabic is taught for six hours per week per semester. At the end of the first spring semester an additional five-week intensive Arabic course is offered, during which you will study for 16 hours a week (one semester equivalent). The aim is to bring you to a level of knowledge and skill at which you are able to read and use the source materials with which you will have to deal in the research for your thesis and to enable you in your future careers to handle the materials that are necessary for the advanced and sophisticated understanding of the Middle East.

Interaction with TAU's student population

Another important feature of student life at TAU is the fact that there are over 100 students currently enrolled for the MA in the Graduate School of History. Most of these students know English well, and some of them may attend your courses in this program; if you know Hebrew well enough, you may wish to attend courses in the regular program which are held in Hebrew. There are many such possibilities and they are greatly encouraged. If you take part in such seminars you will be able to write your papers in English and to express yourself in class in English.

Thesis

You should expect to spend the fourth semester of the program preparing, researching and writing your thesis for the M.A. degree. You should aim to submit the thesis by the end of the semester, or by the end of the summer at the latest. Your thesis should be between 75 and 150 pages in length (i.e., somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 words, including notes and bibliography). In choosing a subject, establishing the problematic to be studied, identifying and studying source materials, collecting your material, and in writing the thesis itself, you will work in close touch with your thesis adviser, who will generally be a member of TAU's Department of Middle Eastern and African History. In exceptional cases you may work with advisers from outside the Department, and even from outside TAU itself.

If you wish to continue on to doctoral studies at Tel Aviv University, your progress will be evaluated by the Department of Middle Eastern and African History, under whose auspices this program is held. The Head of the Department and the Graduate Studies Committee of the School of History will make the final decision as to acceptance for doctoral study. Acceptance will be based upon the level of excellence which you attain both in your thesis and in your studies in the M.A. program as a whole, as also on your overall aptitude for doctoral work.

Recommended Reading

The following is a list of basic books for the study of Middle Eastern History. It is neither exhaustive nor definitive, but is intended to provide you with a representative sample of works covering time, space and discipline. In most instances, the books are recent or recently revised, and so will contain up-to-date bibiligraphies on their particular subjects.

Bibliographies

Abrahamian, E. Iran Between Two Revolutions. Princeton, 1982.

Ajami, Fouad. The Arab Predicament: Arab Political Thought and Practice since 1967. Cambridge University Press, 1992

_________, The Dream Palace of Arabs: A Generation's Odyssey. Pantheon Books, 1998.

Batatu, H. The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq. Princeton, 1978.

Dann, U. King Hussein and the Challenge of Arab Radicalism: Jordan, 1955-1967. New York, 1989.

Eickelman, Dale F. The Middle East: An Anthropological Approach. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1989.

Enayat, Hamid. Modern Islamic Political Thought: The Response of the Shi'i and Sunni Muslims to the Twentienth Century. Lightning Source Inc. 2001

Fromkin, David. A Peace to End All Peace. New York, 1989.

Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York, 1973.

Gellner, Ernest. Muslim Society. Cambridge, 1981.

Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society. 5 vols. Chicago, 1974

Hourani, Albert. Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939. Cambridge, U.K., rep. 1983.

Kepel, Gilles, Jihad, On the Trail of Political Islam. 2002

Khoury, Philip S. Syria and the French Mandate: The Politics of Arab Nationalism, 1920-1945. Princeton, 1987.

Lewis, B. The Emergence of Modern Turkey. Oxford, 1968.

Nasr, Vali. The Shia Revival: How Conflicts Within Islam Will Shape The Future. Ney York, 2006.

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York, 1979.

Salibi, K. S. The Modern History of Lebanon. London, 1968.

Seale, Patrick. The Struggle for Syria: A Study of Post-War Arab Politics, 1945-1958. 2nd ed. New Haven, 1987.

Sivan, Emmanuel. Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics. New Haven, 1985.

Vatikiotis, P. J. The History of Egypt: From Muhammad Ali to Sadat. 2nd ed. Baltimore, 1980.

Yapp, M.E. The Making of the Modern Near East, 1792-1923. London, 1987.

_________, The Near East Since the First World War. London, 1991.

Zamir, Meir. The Formation of Modern Lebanon. Ithaca, 1985.

Recommended Readings for the following courses:

Selected Topics in the Modern History of the Middle East
Dr. M. Litvak

Recommended reading list:

Cemal Kafadar, Between Two Worlds: The Construction of the Ottoman State, (Berkeley, 1995).

Halil Inalcik, An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, vol. 1, 1300-1600. (Cambridge University Press, 1994).

L. Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire, (New York, 1993).

M. Kunt, The Sultan's Servants: The Transformation of Ottoman Provincial Government, 1550-1560, (New York, 1983).

Faculty Members

Professor Ami Ayalon	Politics and Ideology, the Arab Press, Egypt
Professor Joseph Kostiner	Politics. Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Persian Gulf
Dr Meir Litvak	Shi'a, Iraq, Iran
Dr Anat Lapidot-Firillas	Ottoman Turkey, Modern Turkey
Dr Bruce Maddy-Weitzman	Arab State System/Inter-Arab Relations
Professor David Menashri	Iran, Education in the Middle East
Dr Eli Rekhess	Palestinian Politics and Society
Professor Asher Susser	Religion and State, Jordan
Professor Eyal Zisser	Modern Politics, Syria

For detailed CV available on the site of the Middle Eastern and African studies Department. Click Here

Prof. Ami Ayalon
Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern and African History, Tel Aviv University. Senior Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies.
Author of Language and Change in the Arab Middle East (1987); The Press in the Arab Middle East, A History (1995), and numerous articles on modern Arab political and cultural history. Editor of Regime and Opposition in Egypt under Sadat (1983, in Hebrew), and co-editor of Demography and Politics in the Arab States (1995, in Hebrew).
e-mail: aayalon@post.tau.ac.il

Prof. Joseph Kostiner
Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University. Senior Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. Fields of specialization: history and current affairs of the Arabian Peninsula states.
Published several papers on this subject. Author of The Struggle for South Yemen (1984), South Yemen's Revolutionary Strategy (1990), and From Chieftaincy to Monarchical State: The Making of Saudi Arabia 1916-1936 (1993). Coeditor (with P.S. Khoury) of Tribes and State Formation in the Middle East (1991).
e-mail: kostinej@gunet.georgetown.edu

Dr. Meir Litvak
Lecturer in the Department of Middle Eastern and African History, Tel Aviv University. Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. Fields of specialization: modern Shi'i history and Palestinian politics.
Author of Shi`i Scholars in 19th Century Iraq: The Shi`i `Ulama of Najaf and Karbala (Cambridge, 1998) and articles on Palestinian issues and Shi`i history. Editor of Islam and Democracy in the Arab World (Hebrew, 1997).
e-mail: litvak@post.tau.ac.il

Dr. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman
PhD (Tel Aviv University, 1988). Senior Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies.

Fields of specialization: contemporary Middle Eastern history, inter-Arab relations, and the modern Maghrib.

Author of The Crystallization of the Arab State System, 1945-1954 (1993), Palestinian and Israeli Intellectuals in the Shadow of Oslo and Intifadat al-Aqsa (2002), and articles on regional Arab politics and Maghrib affairs. Coeditor of Religious Radicalism in the Greater Middle East (1997). Editor (1995-2000) / Co-editor (1994) of the Center's annual yearbook, Middle East Contemporary Survey. Co-editor of The Camp David Summit - What Went Wrong? (2005).

Prof. David Menashri
Short Curriculum Vitae (highlights):
David Menashri (Ph.D., 1982; Tel Aviv University) is Associate Professor of Middle Eastern and African History. He currently serves as the head of the Department of Middle Eastern and African History and is Senior Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. He has been a Visiting Fulbright scholar at Princeton University and Cornell University. In the late 1970's he spent two years conducting research and field study in Iran on the eve of the Islamic Revolution. His research and teachings focus on the social and political history of modern Iran, education and Modernization in the Middle East, Islamic Radicalism, Shi`i political thought and Persian Gulf and Central Asian affairs.
Major publications (books and major articles):
David Menashri has published numerous books and articles about Iran. His main publications include:
A Revolution at Crossroads: Iran's Domestic Politics and Regional Ambitions, (Washington: The Washington Institute for Near Eastern Politics, 1997); Iran: Between Islam and the West, (in Hebrew; Tel Aviv: Broadcast University, 1996);
Education and the Making of Modern Iran, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992); Iran: A decade of War and Revolution, (New York: Holmes and Meier, 1990); Iran in Revolution, (in Hebrew; Tel Aviv: Hakibutz Hameuhad, 1988).

He is the editor of:
The Iranian Revolution and the Muslim World, (Boulder: Westview Press, 1990); Central Asia Meets the Middle East, (London: Frank Cass, in press); Islamic Fundamentalism : A Challenge to Regional Stability, (Tel- Aviv: Moshe Dayan Center, 1993).
He is currently preparing for publication a new study Iran, Islamic Fundamentalism and the Middle East Peace Process and a new study on the Jews of Iran.

Teaches in the following subject areas:
The courses (to undergraduate and graduate students) that he taught in recent years include: seminars on Modern Iranian History, `Ulama' and Intellectuals in Iran; Religion and Politics in the Middle East; Islamic Militancy: Roots of Islamic Radicalism; Education and Modernization in Iran; Iran: Between Islam and the West.

Areas of current research interest:
Prof. Menashri participated in numerous academic conferences and lectured in many universities and research centers. In addition to his academic work, he has also been a frequent commentator and resource, both for print and electronic media, in Israel and other countries.
e-mail: menashri@post.tau.ac.il

Dr. Elie Rekhess,
Ph.D. (Tel Aviv University, 1986). Senior Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies and Director of the Program on Arab Politics in Israel, established in the Center in 1996, in cooperation with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Fields of specialization: political history of the Arabs in Israel; Islamic resurgence in Israel; the West Bank and Gaza and Palestinian affairs.
Author of The Arab Minority in Israel: Between Communism and Arab Nationalism (1993). Editor of Arab Politics in Israel at a Cross-road (1996); The Arab Minority in Israel: Dilemmas of Political Orientation and Social Change (1994).
e-mail: relie@post.tau.ac.il

Prof. Asher Susser
Associate Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University. Senior Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, a former head of the Center. Fields of specialization: history and politics of Jordan and the Palestinians; religion and state in the Middle East.
Author of Between Jordan and Palestine: A Political Biography of Wasfi al-Tall (1983, in Hebrew), The PLO after the War in Lebanon (1985, in Hebrew), and On Both Banks of the Jordan (1994). Co-editor of At the Core of the Conflict: The Intifada (1992, in Hebrew), and The Hashemites in the Modern Arab World (1995).
e-mail: susser@post.tau.ac.il

Prof. Eyal Zisser
Lecturer in the Department of Middle Eastern and African History, Tel Aviv University. Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. Fields of specialization: the history and politics of Syria and Lebanon. Author of several studies on modern Syrian and Lebanese politics.
e-mail: zisser@post.tau.ac.il