Spring 2009

MES 381 • MODERN ARAB RENAIS: AN INQUIRY

Course Description

This class examines the political, intellectual, social and scientific aspects of the Arab project of modernity, the Nahda. We will review the first encounters with European enlightenment, the initial cultural optimism that characterized Arab thinkers, the birth of the modern Arab intellectual, the great schism between religious and secular thought, the rejection of Western-style modernity and the search for an indigenous path to progress and prosperity. Considering several different projects of Nahda, from early 19th century encounters to the radical thought of the early 21st century, we conclude by exploring the question: What is Arab modernity?

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