HIST 2300 - American & the Middle East and North Africa

This course examines the political, diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations between the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the USA, focusing on the second-half of the twentieth century until the present; however, some consideration is given to earlier periods. This course is not a history of the USA in the Middle East, nor is it a history of Middle East émigrés to the USA. It is an investigation of the role that each region has projected onto the other. While this course traces exchanges, we recognize the unequal power framework. This course considers the effects of MENA on America, through the legacy of the “Barbary Wars,” immigrants, cultural efflorescence, and trade, and the effects of America on MENA, through missionaries, archaeology, trade, diplomacy, and war.