A. ORIENTALISM:
This is a negatively biased view of Islam and Middle Eastern cultures
from an ethnocentric Western European perspective, which emerged in the 17th century and was in full flower by the 19th. It grew out of European imperialism and colonial domination of the Middle East. Its characteristic stereotypes have affected Western literature, journalism, and
even scholarly research. Distorted portrayals of Middle Eastern peoples are brilliantly assessed in these books:
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Google
Web Directory Topics
Orientalism
research page ~ Maps
of Iraq
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Available
from this website:
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B.
ENVIRONMENT: Western Asia and North Africa are geologically turbulent. Water is
the most precious resource to inhabitants of these areas, competition for which
has generated many wars. Ironically, human subsistence patterns have affected and
still affect the quality and quantity of water available to meet the needs of Middle
Eastern peoples.
C. LANGUAGES SPOKEN TODAY:
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1. HAMITIC: Berber.
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2. SEMITIC: Hebrew, Syra, Arabic (many mutually unintelligible dialects, plus a modern "standard," used in the media).
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3. INDO-EUROPEAN: Farsi; Kurdish; Armenian.
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4. URAL-ALTAIC: Turkish.
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5. OTHER: Georgian, Circassian, etc.
D. CONTEMPORARY
NATIONS: Map Exercise, to be completed in class (but NOT collected or
marked). [Maps
and related information from National Geographic
or U
of T -Austin]
E.
PREHISTORY: The Middle East is reasonably will known
archeologically. It has a rich,
complex, varied array of prehistoric cultures. |
