Studying at York
Fantasy and Friction: U.S. and the Middle East After 1945 - Semester 1 - HIS00187H
- Department: History
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
Module summary
From the bombed out streets of Baghdad through the Aramco oil wells in Saudi Arabia, from the American evangelical tourist group entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Eastern Jerusalem, to the seminars of the American University in Beirut - American interests and interventions define various facets of life in the Middle East. Indeed, over the past eighty years the Middle East has captured a central role in American imagination - sparking religious devotion, thirst for resources, orientalism and estrangement, as well as fantasies of affinity and camaraderie.
This module takes a deep dive to explore how ideas, fantasies, and beliefs shape political, diplomatic, military, and economic processes in the context of U.S.-Middle East relations. Between English language primary sources ranging from Hollywood blockbusters, oil pipe maps, and diplomatic papers relating to the 1977-9 Camp David process, and translated sources from Arabic and Hebrew including oral histories of Iraqis, Israeli information services in the U.S., and Palestinian documentary films, we will go well beyond traditional diplomatic history in our exploration. Familiarising ourselves with cutting edge scholarship ranging from cultural studies, through studies of U.S. empire, and a rich spectrum of middle eastern histories, we will discuss both cultural and political facets of transnational relations on the American-Middle eastern axis. In particular, the insights we derive would inform our understanding of the role of domestic affairs in U.S. foreign relations, the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the way representations on mass media shape political realities.
Related modules
Students taking this module must also take the second part in Semester 2.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
Module aims
The aims of this module are:
- To introduce students to in depth study of a specific historical topic using primary and secondary material;
- To enable students to explore the topic through discussion and writing; and
- To enable students to evaluate and analyse primary sources.
Module learning outcomes
Students who complete this module successfully will:
- Grasp key themes, issues and debates relevant to the topic being studied;
- Have acquired knowledge and understanding about that topic;
- Be able to comment on and analyse original sources;
- Be able to relate the primary and secondary material to one another; and
- Have acquired skills and confidence in close reading and discussion of texts and debates.
Module content
Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1 and a 3-hour seminar in weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of semester 1. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW). Students prepare for and participate in eight three-hour seminars in all.
Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:
- Histories long and short: Topical Foundations
- Between Fantasy and Friction: Methodological foundations
- The Mandate Period
- 1948: War and Expulsion
- Politics and Propaganda in the Early 1950s
- Visions of the Future
- Anti-Colonialism in the 1960s
- The 1967 War and the Rise of Israeli Supremacy
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
For formative assessment, students will be given the opportunity to produce text commentaries in seminar, including a written commentary.
For the summative assessment students build a portfolio of two parts, to be submitted together:
a) Two text commentaries of 500-750 words; and
b) One 1,500-word essay which reflects on the significance of the chosen texts in light of scholarship and sources from across the module.
The commentaries comprise 50% and the essay 50% of the overall mark for this module. Summative assessments will be due in the assessment period.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Formative work will be live marked in seminar and supplemented by the tutor giving oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their formative work during their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.
For summative assessment tasks, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.
Indicative reading
For semester time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:
- Melani McAlister, Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East since 1945 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001).
- Salim Yaqub, Imperfect Strangers: Americans, Arabs, and U.S.-Middle East Relations in the 1970s (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2016).
- Nathan J. Citino, Envisioning the Arab Future: Modernization in US-Arab Relations, 1945-1967 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017).