COMP 395
Decolonial Thought in the Arabic-Speaking World: From Independence to Liberation Spring 2025
Division I D Difference, Power, and Equity
Cross-listed GBST 394 / ARAB 395

Class Details

This seminar’s objective is to familiarize students with the decolonial thought movement that is currently gaining traction in the Arabic-speaking world. Students will be introduced to some of the most significant and profound ways of thinking about political, economic, gender, sexual, and epistemic liberation in the Middle East and North Africa through the interdisciplinary framework created by this course, which combines texts from sociology, anthropology, religion, and feminism with historical essays and literary works from the mid-20th century to the present. To achieve this goal, students will read a selection of writings by the following authors: Edward Said, Sadek Al-Azem, Mohammed Abed Al-Jabri, Abdellatif Laâbi, Mahdi Elmandjra, Mahdi Amel, Samir Amin, Ali Shariati, Abdelkebir Khatibi, Fatima Mernissi, Assia Djebar, Taha Abderrahman, Ellah Shohat, Nawal El Saadawi, and Abdelfattah Kilito, among others. Students will ultimately consider how these writings help us comprehend the intricate legacy of colonialism, which includes the imposition of European languages, political structures, and cultural norms. Furthermore, they will get a more profound understanding of the continuous endeavors of intellectuals and authors within the Arabic-speaking sphere, spanning from the Gulf to the Maghreb, to reclaim their local, national and regional identities and at the same time express alternative, decolonial worldviews.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 15
Expected: 19
Class#: 3961
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: Class participation 10%, two twenty-minutes in class presentations 30%, and two papers: first paper (7 pages); 30% and second paper (7 pages) 30%. No final exam
Prerequisites: None but a short letter of motivation is required
Enrollment Preferences: Arabic Studies majors
Distributions: Divison I Difference, Power, and Equity
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
GBST 394 Division II ARAB 395 Division I COMP 395 Division I
DPE Notes: This seminar challenges the dynamics of power embedded within the colonial paradigms of thinking about the Arabic-speaking world and its intellectual tradition. It introduces students to the work of writers and thinkers in the Arabic-speaking world who remain marginalized within the Euro-American academy despite their great influence in their own societies and beyond.
Attributes: GBST De-Colonization

Class Grid

Updated 1:22 am

Course Catalog Search


(searches Title and Course Description only)
TERM




SUBJECT
DIVISION



DISTRIBUTION



ENROLLMENT LIMIT
COURSE TYPE
Start Time
End Time
Day(s)