L. Ouzgane

"Western secularism has become synonymous with gender equality that distinguishes West from East, the Christian secular from the Islamic. The attribution to secularism of these enduring qualities gives it something of a religious aspect, as fundamentalist as the Islam to which it is counterposed.” Joan Wallach Scott, Sex and Secularism (2017)


A close examination of some of the most influential Middle Eastern novels and films, the course will examine the ways in which Middle Eastern culture has been influenced by and has helped construct Western consciousness.



Novels

Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North

Nawal El Saadawi, God Dies by the Nile

Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Leila Slimani, The Perfect Nanny



Films

The Battle of Algiers (Dir. Gillo Pontecorvo)

Paradise Now (Dir. Hany Abu-Assad)

Horses of God (Dir. Nabil Ayouch)

A Separation (Dir. Asghar Farhadi]

The Insult (Dir. Ziad Doueiri)