Taught by Prof. Mira Amiras in partnership with New Lehrhaus: The Bay Area Hub for Adult Jewish Learning

Participants will explore four models for understanding the Middle East today, beginning with Ibn Khaldun’s 14th-century Introduction to History and his anticipation of European colonial ambitions before they’d begun. We'll also investigate German-American historian Karl Wittfogel, who argued that civilization emerged first in the ancient Near East because of the reliance on large-scale irrigation systems. We'll follow with Fatima Amara’s intimate view of how diversity works in Middle Eastern communities if you don’t bump them too hard, and conclude with Judah L. Magnes' vision of a bi-national state in Palestine, rejected at the time but perhaps still instructive today.

Class cost: $60| 4 Session | REGISTER

Cosponsored by Congregation Beth Am