NATIONALISM AND OUTSIDERS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Seminar at Middle Eastern and Middle Eastern American Center

Spring 2020

Ozlem Goner

Time and Classroom: Wednesday 6:30-8:30, CUNY GC 6114

Course Description
This course provides a historical and conceptual overview of nationalism in the Middle East with
a focus on the experiences of outsiders, as well as global economic and political relations that
shape different nationalism(s) in the region. It aims to provide students with both an overview of
the development of nationalism in the Middle East in general and a more detailed knowledge of
the construction of the nation-states and statelessness in particular cases. We will start the course
with an exploration of the construction of the modern Middle East and the theoretical literature
on nationalism and nation-states. Throughout, we will critically examine these concepts through
an in-depth focus on case studies from the Middle East. We will keep our focus on the central
role of outsiders in defining the nation and nationalism; as well as the global actors and processes
that shape the constructions of nationalism in the region. Doing so we will develop a conceptual
framework that can account for the complex relations between key local, national, regional, and
international actors, as well as political, economic and cultural processes that can account for the
complex constructions of nationalisms and statelessness in the region.

Learning Objectives: Students will understand the main concepts of nationalism and the
construction and evolution of nationalism and statelessness in the Middle East. They are
expected to explain the case studies through the use of the concepts, and through the use of
global, regional, national, and local level-analyses. They will write an academic paper of about
4000 words on a selected topic, producing an original analytical synthesis based on theories and
debates in the sociological field of nationalism. They are encouraged to use primary sources in
their research papers following a methodological discussion with the instructor.

Course Texts: All readings will be available on Blackboard under Content, divided into weekly
folders.

Course Work and Assessment:

Attendance and Participation (20%): attendance and contribution to class discussions

Discussion Leader (10%): Prior to this week, you will meet the instructor to come up with
discussion questions for your volunteered class session. You will be encouraged to complete
suggested readings to bring to class discussion.

Midterm Take-Home Paper Assignment (20%): Take-home paper questions about the first
two sections of class (Construction of the Modern Middle East and Theories of Nationalism) will
be provided on April 1. You will submit your paper by the end of Spring Break by April 19.
Early submissions are welcome.

Group Presentation (10%): During the last 2 weeks, we will have group presentations on the
collectively chosen readings. You are expected to suggest readings and have a detailed analysis
of 1 book to present to the class.

Final Research Paper (40%): All participants will write an academic paper of about 4000 words
on a selected topic, producing an original analytical synthesis of their research topic with the
class concepts. Prior to the final paper, you will submit a thesis statement composed of the
proposed topic, preliminary readings, and a discussion of the class concepts and debates to be
used. The thesis statement is 10% of your grade. Following the instructor’s comments, students
will develop a final paper.

Preliminary Background Readings on the Middle East Geography and Politics Prior to the
Construction of the Nation-States

The Middle East: Geography and Background

James Gelvin, The Middle East: A History (2007) pages 1-8
William Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East (2004) pages 4-38

The Ottoman Empire

William Cleveland, pages 57-98

Donald Quataert, The Ottoman Empire, 1700- 1922 (2005), pages 54-73
Hassan Kayali, Arabs and Young Turks: Ottomanism, Arabism and Islamism in the Ottoman
Empire, 1908-1918 (1997), pages 1-16.
Akram Fouad Khater, Sources in the History of the Modern Middle East (2004), chapter 1,
documents 1, 2, and 3

SCHEDULE OF CLASSES

Part I. The Construction of the Modern Middle East: Colonialism and Nationalism

Conceptual Map for the Class: (Gendered) Nation, Nation-State, Outsiders, Colonialism
(Feb 5)
John Hutchinson and Anthony Smith. “Introduction” in Nationalism. 1994. pp. 3-13. Oxford
University Press.

Craig Calhoun. “State, Nation, and Legitimacy” in Nationalism. 1997. pp. 66-85. University of
Minnesota Press.

Nira Yuval Davis “Gender and Nation”. Ethnic and Racial Studies. 16 (4). 1993. pp. 621-632
Derek Gregory, “The Colonial Present” and “Architectures of Enmity” in The Colonial Present:
Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq. 2004. Blackwell Publishing.

Special Class on Self-Determination: Skype Participation in the Panel “Towards the

Liberation of Occupied Lands” (Feb 19)

We will participate at the following panel where I am a panelist. I will assign the papers from the
panelists about outsiderness, self-determination, and movements.

Panel Description: The desire for freedom and peace unites the Kashmiris, Kurds, Palestinians,
Uyghurs and many others living under military tyranny, political oppression and occupation.
What also connects them is their resilience and their will to fight for freedom, peace, justice, and
the right to self-determination. The fight for daily survival forms the basis for the affinities and
unities among these struggles. At least forty occupied territories in the world are involved in a
struggle against colonial rule, internal armed conflicts, military occupation and the desolation
wrought by the occupiers. This panel, therefore, brings together coalitions of scholars and
activists from Kashmir, Syria, Rojava, Palestine, and East Turkestan (Xinjiang) to talk about
their histories and struggles.

World War I: The British and French Mandates and the Division of the Ottoman Empire
(Feb 26)

William Cleveland, pages 99-104, 140-160

David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the
Creation of the Modern Middle East (2001) pages 15-22, 146-199, 558-568.

Elizabeth Thompson, Colonial Citizens: Republican Rights, Paternal Privilege and

Gender in French Syria and Lebanon (2000) pages 1-14, 58-70.

Ronal Grigor Suny. “Writing Genocide: The Faith of Ottoman Armenians”. In A Question of
Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire. Gregor Suny, Fatma Muge
Gocek and Norman M. Naimark (eds.). 2011. Oxford University Press.

Khater, Chapter 2, documents 2, 3, and 4; chapter 4, document 3, 5, 9, 11

The Middle East in the Interwar Period: Rise of Nationalist Movements and Independent
States (March 4)

William Cleveland, pages 161-221.

James Gelvin, pages 175-205

Rashid Khalidi “Arab Nationalism: Historical Problems in the Literature” in The American
Historical Review, 96/5 (1991) 1363-1373

Mesut Yegen “Turkish Nationalism and the Kurdish Question.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30:1,
First two sections pp. 119-129.

Akram Fouad Khater, chapter 5, documents 3, 4, 10, and 11

Part II. Theories of Nationalism

1. Primordialism and Constructivism (Mar 11)

John Hutchinson and Anthony Smith. Select Readings about Ethnicity and Nationalism. In
Nationalism. Oxford University Press.

Benedict Anderson. Select Chapters from Imagined Communities. 1983. Verso Books.

2. Constructivism Ctd. (Mar 18)

Benedict Anderson. Ctd. Select Chapters from Imagined Communities. 1983. Verso Books.

Partha Chatterjee. Select Chapters from The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial
Histories. 1993. Princeton University Press

Reeva S. Simon, “The Imposition of Nationalism on a Non-Nation State: The Case of Iraq
During the Inter-War Period”. In Rethinking Nationalism in the Arab Middle East. Jankowski
and Gershoni (eds.). 1997. Columbia University Press.

3. Ethnosymbolism and Constructivism Debate (Mar 25)

Nergis Canefe, “Turkish Nationalism and Ethno-symbolic Analysis: the Rules of Exception.”
Nations and Nationalism 8 (2), 2002, pp. 133-155

Umut Ozkirimli. “The nation as an artichoke? A Critique of Ethnosymbolist Interpretations of

Nationalism”. Nations and Nationalism 9 (3), 2003, pp. 339–355.

Ozlem Goner. “The Production of Dersim as an Outsider: Turkish Nation and the State in the
1930s” In Turkish Nation-State and its Outsiders: Memories of State Violence in Dersim. 2017.
Routledge.

Sinem Adar. “Emotions and Nationalism: Armenian Genocide as a Case Study” Sociological
Forum, Vol. 33, No. 3, September 2018. pp. 735-756

4. Gender and Nation (April 1)

Beth Baron, “Nationalism Iconography: Egypt as a Woman.” In Rethinking Nationalism in the
Arab Middle East. Jankowski and Gershoni (eds.). 1997. Columbia University Pres..

Afsaneh Najmabadi, “The Erotic Vatan [Homeland] as Beloved and Mother: To Love, to
Possess, and To Protect”. Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Jul.,
1997), pp. 442-467

Can Salih Aciksoz, “Sacrificial Limbs of Sovereignty: Disabled Veterans, Masculinity, and
Nationalist Politics in Turkey”. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, March 2012, Vol.26(1), pp.4-
25.

Part III. Stateless-ness and Self-Determination

1. Colonization of Kurds under Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran (Tuesday, April 7)

David McDowall. Select chapters from a Modern History of the Kurds. 1997. I.B. Tauris.

Mesut Yegen “Turkish Nationalism and the Kurdish Question.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30:1,
We read the first 10 pages earlier. Read the remainder of the article pp. 129-151.

Nadje Al-Ali and Latif Tas. “Reconsidering nationalism and feminism: the Kurdish political
movement in Turkey”. Nations and Nationalism.

2. Israel, Palestine and Zionism (April 22)

Khater, chapter 4, document 4; chapter 5, document 2;

Charles D. Smith Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History with Documents (2004),
pages 89-93, 151-156, 207-214, 252-257, 294-298, 336-341, 387-392, 435-441, 479-485, 532-
541.

Derek Gregory, “Barbed Boundaries” and “Defiled Cities” in the Colonial Present: Afghanistan,
Palestine, Iraq. 2004. Blackwell Publishing.

Lila Abu-Lughod, “Return to Half-Ruins: Memory, Post-Memory, and Living History in

Palestine”. In Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory. Ahmad Sa’di and Lila Abu-
Lughod (eds.). 2007. Columbia University Press. pp.

Part IV. Evolution of Nationalism and Nation-States in the Middle East

1. The Socialist Republics and Baath Revolutions (April 29)

Cleveland, pp. 257-323

Hanna Batatu, The Egyptian, Syrian and Iraqi Revolutions: Some Observations on Their
Underlying Causes and Social Character, 1-27

Gamal Abd al Nasser’s speech announcing the nationalization of the Suez Canal

James Jankowski. Arab Nationalism in “Nasserism” and Egyptian State Policy, 1952-1958. In
Rethinking Nationalism in the Arab Middle East. Jankowski and Gershoni (eds.). 1997.
Columbia University Press.

Zachary Lockman. “Arab Workers and Arab Nationalism in Palestine: A View from below.” In
Rethinking Nationalism in the Arab Middle East. Jankowski and Gershoni (eds.). 1997.
Columbia University Pres..

2. Neoliberalism, the Rise of Islamism, and Nationalism (May 6)

Select Readings on Islamism and Nationalism will be chosen by the participants of the seminar.
There will be 2-3 presenters for each reading. A potential suggested reading is:

Select chapters from Margot Bardan. Feminists, Islam, and Nation: The Making of Modern
Egypt. 1995. Princeton University Press

3. Post-Nationalist Movements in the Middle East (May 13)

Select Readings on “Arab Springs” and the Rojava Experience in Northeastern Syria based on
the notion of “state-less democratic nation” will be chosen by the participants of the seminar.
There will be 2-3 presenters for each reading.