History of the Mod Middle East · History
Take home midterm (10 pages) and final (16 pages) papers.
This class was great! Khalidi is extremely knowledgeable and respectful, and his lectures were amazing. The readings are a bit tedious but you learn the most if you do them. He even got the author of one of our assigned books, Abrahamian, to give a guest lecture! My one critique of this class: your experience will heavily depend on your TA. Mine really sucked, she was a very harsh grader who expected us to keep up with her French writing standards. Other sections had TAs who were more understanding and fair graders, though. Other than that the class was one of my favs.
there was a lot of assigned reading and only two teams, each consisted of two topics, 16 page total exam. so that means two 8 page paper for the midterm and two 8 page papers for final. 32 total.
The course was extremely interesting, the professor handled lecture so respectfully and with no biases, esp with everything going on, he was extremely cautious. at the end of the semester we all have a big round of applause because we all thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved this class, and have learned so much. I will forever be grateful for the amount of history I learned. also KATE REEVE is and AMAZING TA. she is the best.
Midterm - 12pp paper or something like that Final - 16pp paper Section participation Do the readings (3h a week at most) Very generous grading from my TA, not sure how it was for other sections
Amazing professor. Go to his office hours!!! Incredibly intelligent. Great lectures. One thing: covers a ton. You won't be able to go that in depth. But you'll get a taste of a lot. Readings were interesting and only as long as necessary (apparently he updated the list to be less this year). Midterm and final were actually fine, just papers that you get to write with a limited amount of time. One thing, my TA kinda sucked. Was very bad at leading discussions. But also everyone got an A on their assignments. Your final grade basically depends on your TA.
The readings can be a bit heavy, but always manageable. At the beginning of the class, Professor Khalidi said that he always received complaints in examinations that there was too much reading; however, I never felt that way. I had other classes that had far more readings. Usually the readings range from fifty to a hundred or so pages a week, when including chapters of books as well as outside articles. All of the readings are interesting and add a lot of information to the concepts discussed during lecture.
When I was determining history courses, I saw this as an option for a history class as well as a global CORE class. I registered for the waitlist expecting not to get in, and I was pleasantly surprised when I ended up on the roster. I heard good things about the class, especially about the professor, since Professor Khalidi is one of the preeminent scholars in his field. I was also excited since this was an area of history that I had a very shallow knowledge of, so I wanted the opportunity to broaden my knowledge. This course blew my expectations out of the water. Professor Khalidi gives a great and comprehensive view of the Middle East from the late 1700s to the modern day. He starts his lectures with an overview about what he wants to discuss, and each topic that he discusses is very thoroughly done, even in a short time period. Although you can't get all the details based on the wide variety of locations, time periods, and events that need to be covered, I left the class feeling like I had a far deeper insight into certain events and historical periods that I had a very surface level knowledge of going in. I was also captivated throughout lectures because of Professor Khalidi's lecture style. Professor Khalidi is incredibly energetic and clearly passionate about the topic, speaking with large amounts of energy and charisma. He often talks with his hands, which keeps me inve…
Midterm and final papers, 8 and 16 pages accordingly (double-spaced)
The lectures are well-structured, but the professor could benefit from using slides. He writes the names of historic events and figures on the board, but they aren't always legible and or visible from the classroom. The professor talks fast, is are aware of it and will ask you to ask them to repeat things if necessary, approachable, has flexible office hours. The class as a whole can be a bit disorganized and requires a lot of reading. It's possible to get an A, but it won't necessarily be easy.