Jewish History in Islamic Lands 1492-1948: An Introduction and Major Trends

The purpose of this survey course is to acquaint undergraduate students with the Jewish experience in Muslim lands during early modern times and the modern period. We will commence with the Spanish expulsion and conclude with the founding of the state of Israel. Our goal is to cover the diversity of Jewish life in the Orient; North Africa, the Balkans, the Ottoman heartland, the Middle East, Kurdistan, Persia and, time permitting, the Crimea and Caucasus regions as well.  During the second part of the course we will examine how modernizing trends, born in the intertwining ages of colonialism and nationalism, engulfed many of these rather traditional Jewish communities. We will be especially attuned to forms and long term consequences of internal ferment. Finally we will consider the historical process that eventually terminated over a millennium of Jewish life in the political and cultural realms of Islam