Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. comprehend and evaluate the various concepts and qualitative methods used by researchers in the pursuit of their studies on the Middle East and Central Asia;
2. critically summarise the existing literature in their field and situate their research questions within this literature;
3. critically employ key concepts and theories used in studying the Middle East and Central Asia; and
4. write and present a research proposal with a literature review which demonstrates intellectual independence and deep understanding of qualitative methods.

Other Information

Critical Approaches and Methods in the Study of the Middle East and Central Asia

Indicative Assessment

1. 2000 word essay (Literature review on the PhD topic)  (20) [LO 1,2,3]
2. Oral presentation of the literature review (10) [LO 1,2,3]
3. 2000 word essay (Students will probe the use of different methods of research and reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of each method /approach)  (20) [LO 1,2,4]
4. 6000 word essay (Thesis proposal including research questions and methodology)  (50) [LO 1,2,3,4]

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

260 hours of total student learning time made up from:

a) 24 hours of contact over 12 weeks: 24 hours of seminars; and

b) 236 hours of independent student research, reading and writing.

Inherent Requirements

Not applicable

Requisite and Incompatibility

Prescribed Texts

No text required.

Preliminary Reading

Said, E. Orientalism (Pantheon books 1978)

Sharabi, H. (ed.) Theory, politics, and the Arab world: critical responses (New York: Routledge, 1990).

Hodgson, M. Rethinking World History: Essays on Europe, Islam and World History. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1993).

Tessler, M. A. et al Area Studies and Social Science: Strategies for Understanding the Middle East. (IUP 1999).

Eickelman, D. The Middle East and Central Asia: An Anthropological Approach. (Prentice Hall 2001).

Lockman, Z. Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Lockman, Z. Field Notes: The Making of Middle East Studies in the United States (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2016)

Mitchell, T. Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), pp.273-303.

Gause, G.‘Why Middle East Studies Missed the Arab Spring,’ in Foreign Affairs (July/August 2011).

McFate, M. ‘Mind the Gap: Bridging the Military/Academic Divide’ in Montgomery McFate and Janice Lawrence, eds. Social Science Goes to War: The Human Terrain System in Iraq and Afghanistan (London: Hurst, 2015)

Achcar, G. The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Spring. (California: UCP 2013).

Deeb L. and Winegar, J. Anthropology’s Politics: Disciplining the Middle East (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2016), pp.143-174 (Ch5. ‘Dis/Engaging the War on Terror’)

Lynch, M. ‘Political Science in Real Time: Engaging the Middle East Policy Public’ in Perspectives in Politics 14,1 (2016), pp.121-131.

Wedeen, L. Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, and Symbols in Contemporary Syria (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), pp.87-132.

Lemon, E. ed. Critical approaches to security in Central Asia. (New York: Routledge 2018). 

Beyer, J., Rasanayagam, J., & Reeves, M. (2013). Ethnographies of the State in Central Asia?: Performing Politics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press

Cummings, S. N. Unde

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links