BT天堂

This course provides an introduction to world history from the early modern period to the late twentieth century. Students will attain a sound grasp of the world history approach through study of the political, economic, and social connections and networks generated within and among these societies.

This course is designed to familiarize beginners with the Arabic alphabet system and Arabic writing as well as provide the basis for limited conversation.

AB 1020 seeks to give students grammar basics with which they can start to structure their knowledge and practice and make comparisons with other linguistic systems they know. The two conjugations, the two kind of sentences and other material allows the students to go further and to progress in organizing the new lexicon in order to produce sentences in Standard Arabic. The domain covered by the course starts from everyday life and aims to reach fundamental description vocabulary for all kind of documents : dialogs, texts, songs, maps, school documents, proverbs, etc.

After studying the principles of morphological derivation which makes the students able to structure their understanding of the vocabulary production system, the course focuses on producing small texts expressing the students鈥� opinion and description of the material seen during the sessions. AB 530 gives the opportunity to go beyond simple contact and to interact in Arabic within the fields covered by the different documents. The field covered by the didactic documents broadens out to short authentic texts, short articles and literary production, as well as authentic documents such as letters, cards, advertisings, announcements鈥�

Starting from the acquired grammar knowledge (specially the morphological derivation), AB 1040 works on going into more specialized vocabulary in various fields such as intellectual conversation, objective description, expressing one鈥檚 opinion, etc. Besides, this course pursues production skills, so the students can grow linguistically in handling of Arabic and acquiring a more detailed lexical mass.

The Middle East is a region of great diversity with different histories, cultures, languages and populations. It constitutes nevertheless a systematic entity, with close interrelations, and many common political, cultural and socio-economical challenges. The course will explore the cultural, political, ethnic and geographical realities of the region (historically and in the present). It will present as well the ongoing debates and themes in major political and cultural circles.

This course covers the religious, cultural and linguistic diversities in the Middle East and North Africa. It exposes students to and familiarizes them with the origin of these diversities and traces its impact and influence on the modern Middle East. The Islamic identity of the region, its signifier, from the eyes of those outside the region is closely examined. The second part of the course turns to the rich linguistic and cultural diversities of the region, their origin, particularities, and their contributions to the identities of different groups. The role of linguistic diversity as both a unifying and a divisive force will be examined, and the region鈥檚 homogeneity and heterogeneity and the socio-political implications of cultural institutions are further explored through its literature, painting, calligraphy, food cultures and customs of dress.

The 鈥淢iddle East鈥� and the 鈥淲est鈥� (as two political/cultural entities) have been involved in a long history of conflicts, concurrence, hegemony, and fascination. The course will explore the different aspects of the contemporary Middle East/West relation, and will explain its origins and historical evolution.

The History Workshop is a course in the historian's craft that will give students an opportunity to learn about the discipline of history. Students learn how to pose researchable questions(problematiques), to gather evidence, and to present their findings before an audience of their peers in a seminar setting. May be taken twice for credit.

Introduces the contemporary politics of the Middle East, from Turkey and Iran to the Atlantic Ocean, including all the Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa as well as Israel. Focuses on political trends (nationalism and religious fundamentalism), key historical experiences and traumatic events (wars and revolutions), and the interference of world powers that contributed to shaping this sensitive area.

A Senior Project is an independent study representing a Major Capstone Project that needs to be registered using the Senior Project registration form. (Download: https://aupforms.formstack.com/workflows/senior_project)