AP/HREQ 3240 6.00
Human Rights and the Middle East: War, Forced Migration, Reconciliation and Peace
This course studies issues in the Middle East from a critical human rights perspective, focusing on countries like Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Syria. Legacies of religion, colonialism, and militarism are examined, along with current regional struggles within the global context of state (re)building, migration, reconciliation, and peace processes.
This course is designed to give a broad overview and analysis of both historical as well as the modern issues within the Middle Eastern communities. The region is known for its ethno-cultural and religious diversity as well as its ideological or socio-political orientation: A state which has historically contributed to further war, violence, displacement, or forced migration and assimilation. Hundreds of non-state players, oppositional groups, and extremist organizations such as Hamas, Al-Qaida, Ikhwan al-Muslimin (Muslim Brotherhood), Taliban, Hezbollah and ISIS are considered to have immense impact on the people's life within the region and require special attention and wide analysis. All these components are incorporated in the class discussions and further analysis of the consistent problems and issues within the Middle East, and their interrelationship with Human Rights and social justice. Theories and concepts related to the Middle East such as Orientalism could be put on critical review. The Middle East social movements, Arab Spring, the Iranian Islamic Revolution and issues of Velayat-e Faghih, nationalism, and ethnic conflicts as well as the state-militarism and minority rights, land dispute and long-lasting Arab Israeli conflict and issues of proxy war are part of the class analysis and discussion.
Prerequisites: 24 credits.