Undergraduate Course Directory

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Courses by Subject Area

Click on the links below for a list of courses in that subject area. You may then click “View Classes” to see scheduled classes for individual courses.

1001. Elementary Arabic I

4.00 credits

Prerequisites: Not open to students who have had three or more years of Arabic in high school. Cannot be taken for credit after passing ARAB 1101 (equivalent), 1102, 1103, 1104, 1112, 1113, 1114.

Grading Basis: Graded

Beginning Modern Standard Arabic. Basic conversation in formal Arabic. Development of basic reading and writing skills.

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1002. Elementary Arabic II

4.00 credits

Prerequisites: ARAB 1001 or instructor consent; not open to students who have had three or more years of Arabic in high school. Cannot be taken out of sequence after passing ARAB 1003, 1004, 1102, 1103, or 1104.

Grading Basis: Graded

Development of ability to communicate in Modern Standard Arabic, orally and in writing. Not open for credit to students who have had three or more years of Arabic in high school.

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1003. Intermediate Arabic I

4.00 credits

Prerequisites: ARAB 1002 or instructor consent. Cannot be taken for credit after passing ARAB 1004, 1113, or 1114.

Grading Basis: Graded

Lower to upper intermediate level in Modern Standard Arabic. Development of ability to communicate orally and in writing. Taught in English and Arabic.

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1004. Intermediate Arabic II

4.00 credits

Prerequisites: ARAB 1003 or instructor consent. May not be taken out of sequence after passing ARAB 3100 or 3212. Not open for credit to students who have passed ARAB 1104.

Grading Basis: Graded

Development of ability to communicate in Modern Standard Arabic. Lower to upper intermediate skills in speaking and writing. Taught in English and Arabic.

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1193. Foreign Study

1.00 - 6.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

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1751. Traditional Arab Literatures, Cultures, and Civilizations

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Representative works from the cultures of the Arab world. Pre-Islamic poets to later writers and thinkers. Relation of literary and artistic forms to their historical contexts. Taught in English. CA 1. CA 4-INT.

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1771. Modern Arabic Culture

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Introduction to modern Arabic culture from Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign to modern Islamism. Survey of institutions, philosophy, and social customs seen through the medium of literature. Taught in English. CA 1. CA 4-INT.

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2170. Levantine Arabic

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: ARAB 1002 or three years of high school Arabic or instructor consent.

Grading Basis: Graded

Effective communication in Levantine colloquial Arabic. Introduction to words, expressions and grammatical structures used frequently in everyday life. Taught in Levantine Arabic and English.

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2751. Arabic Folk Tales and Mirrors for Princes

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Folk tales and advice to princes and rulers of the Muslim World: Arabic, Persian and Moghul texts read in translation, such as The Thousand and One Nights, the Qabusname, and Jahangirname. Comparisons with European frame-tales and advice literature (Chaucer, Boccaccio, Machiavelli). Manuals for rulership from India to Andalusia. Ethics, conduct, and political philosophy in folk literature and elite prose. Taught in English. CA 1. CA 4-INT.

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3100. Advanced Arabic: Composition, Style, and Vocabulary

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: ARAB 1004 or instructor consent.

Grading Basis: Graded

Topics include advanced Arabic texts by writers from around the Arab world, covering a range of political, social, religious, and literary themes and that represent a range of genres, styles, and periods. Taught in Arabic.

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3102. Media Arabic

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Recommended preparation: Two years of formal Arabic or equivalent proficiency.

Grading Basis: Graded

Modern standard Arabic of the media: television, press and internet. Taught entirely in Arabic.

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3212. Arabic Composition and Conversation

3.00 credits | May be repeated for a total of 6 credits.

Prerequisites: ARAB 1004 or instructor consent.

Grading Basis: Graded

In-depth development of speaking and writing skills.

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3293. Foreign Study

1.00 - 8.00 credits | May be repeated for a total of 8 credits.

Prerequisites: Consent of Department Head required, normally to be granted prior to the student's departure.

Grading Basis: Graded

Special topics taken in a foreign study program. May count toward the major with consent of the advisor.

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3295. Special Topics

1.00 - 6.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Prerequisites and recommended preparation vary.

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3299. Independent Study

1.00 - 6.00 credits | May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

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3550W. Classical Arabic Literature

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011.

Grading Basis: Graded

Survey of Classical Arabic Literature from pre-Islamic Arabia to the Late Middle Ages, from the Fertile Crescent to the Iberian Peninsula. Recent scholarship and theory in the field of Arabic literature. Taught in English (Arabic readings optional). CA 1.

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3551. Arabic Travel Narratives

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Recommended preparation: Two years of formal Arabic or equivalent proficiency.

Grading Basis: Graded

Travel accounts by medieval and modern Arab writers. Transcultural encounters: the Volga Vikings, Norman Sicily, al-Andalus, China, Africa and France. Development of advanced reading and translation skills. Review of grammar and syntax through textual analysis.

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3559. Arabic Poetry and Poetics

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Recommended preparation: Two years of formal Arabic or equivalent proficiency.

Grading Basis: Graded

Selected Arabic poems from pre-Islamic times to the Middle Ages, from Iraq to the Iberian Peninsula. Modes, genres, periods and authors of the Arabic Classical poetic canon. Arabic poetic terminology, criticism and theory. Development of advanced reading, writing and translation skills. Taught in English and Arabic.

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3570. Modern Arabic Literature

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: Recommended preparation: Two years of formal Arabic or equivalent proficiency.

Grading Basis: Graded

Survey of fundamental texts in modern and contemporary Arabic Literature. Textual criticism in Arabic. Development of advanced oral and written skills in Modern Standard Arabic. Taught in Arabic.

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3751. Al-Andalus: Music, Literature, and Science in Muslim Spain

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

The cultural heritage of Muslim Spain through literature, music, philosophy, medicine, art, and architecture. Christian, Jewish and Muslim interactions in medieval Europe. Religious and ethnic coexistence in medieval Iberia. Taught in English. CA 1. CA 4-INT.

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3771. Cinema in the Middle East and North Africa

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Film in the Arab World. Historical, social, religious and political phenomena that shape contemporary cultural discourse, analyzed through film screenings and readings. Gender, radicalization, war and displacement; key historical events such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Lebanese civil war, decolonization, and Islam in the 21st century. Taught in English. CA 1. CA 4-INT.

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3772. Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Representations of Muslims in medieval textbooks, 18th- and 19th-century Western travel accounts. Their influence on stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in Western cinema and media from early Hollywood films to the present. Taught in English.

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