WESTERN IMPERIALISM IN THE MIDDLE
EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
HSTR 379 A01
CRN: 31304
Dr. Andrew Wender
May 9th – June 1st
2:30 – 4:30
HSTR 379 will explore a genealogy of modern Western imperial incursions spanning geographically from
North Africa to Central Asia, and marked by such chronological indicators as: Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of
Egypt; the nineteenth-century “Great Game” between Britain and Russia for domination of Central Asia; the
post-WWI division of former Ottoman territories within the Arab World into British and French colonies
held as League of Nations Mandates; competing Cold War-era interventions by the US and Soviet Union;
and an unfolding, post-Cold War and early twenty-first century epoch typified by US attempts to reengineer
affairs. Moreover, we will be concerned, as well, with forms of reaction to empire like nationalisms,
Islamic activism, and popular uprisings, all of whose ramifications are also acutely manifest today.