CSP 57 Ethnography & the Study of the Contemporary Middle East

Many people associate the Middle East with Islam, or Islam as the primary religion of the Middle East. However, the contemporary Middle East is far more diverse in terms of religious practices within Islam as well as engagement and growth with and alongside many other religious traditions. We will begin the course by considering what's at stake when we centralize the study of religious practices as a method of engaging with and studying a place, then considering the complex networks of politics, nationalism, and ethnicity as understood through ethnographic research in the region. Ethnographic research can involve what is commonly labeled "fieldwork," but can be far more capacious to consider an analysis of practices rooted in the perspective of the social context in which they were produced. Ethnographies are not only related to a researcher's physical presence in terms of the practices studied, but can include a variety of virtual, digital, or other material products. Our ethnographic examples will be drawn from a variety of religious practices in the Middle East, including Sunni and Shi'a Islam, the Baha'i faith, Judaism, and a variety of Christian groups. As we work through our examples, we will consider the disciplinary questions of area studies approaches (for example, studying "the Middle East"). As a first-year seminar, this course is intended to introduce you to the critical thinking, writing, and research skills that will be expected of you throughout your career at Oxy. We will focus on a geographic region ("Middle East") in a particular frame ("Ethnography") but the skills you learn in this course should also translate to your other courses and, most especially, to critical thinking, writing, and research activities beyond the Academy. You will learn to read and interpret various textual forms, analyze primary sources according to historical-cultural context, evaluate historical and cultural arguments, and articulate your own in interesting, sophisticated, and clear ways.