MES4500 ¨C Topics in Middle East Politics and Society I

Course content

This course focuses on one central topic in the field of Middle East politics and society. These topics are predominantly related to past or ongoing research activities in the department, such as democratization, state-society relations, Islamist movements, minorities, ethno-nationalist conflicts, insurgencies, gender issues, climate change, and the use of social media in the Middle East and North Africa.

Topic for the spring semester of 2026:

Gender and Revolutions: Rethinking the "Women Question" in the Modern Middle East

Female reformers and revolutionaries were at the forefront of many of the 20th and early 21st centuries¡¯ historic socio-political and religious movements across the Global South. In the MENA region, as members of diverse classes, families, and ethnic communities, many worked within the tenets of Islam in multiple ways to construct religious identity and work towards achieving and demanding civil and political rights.

Yet the myriad theoretical and popular discourses underpinning emergent and longstanding women¡¯s movements within revolutionary contexts are frequently overlooked. Moreover, representations of Muslim women too often rely on essentialist, ahistorical, static, victim-centered, and Orientalist descriptions and analyses. As a result, shades of difference in interpretation, ideology, practice, and culture are minimized.

This course situates MENA women as complex, multidimensional actors engaged in knowledge production and political and feminist struggles. In this seminar, we will read key texts and analyses by scholars and activists who write on religion, gender, sexuality, family planning, and women¡¯s status in the MENA region and the Global South.

The following questions will emerge in our discussions: "When is a hejab just a hejab?," "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?," and "What is an ¡®Islamic Feminist¡¯ and Should We Care?" Readings include memoirs, editorials, ethnographies, and political treatises, as well as historical scholarship from North Africa, the Gulf, the Levant, and Southeast Asia.

The course does not overlap with MES4520 ¨C Topics in Middle East Politics and Society II. This means that you can choose both courses as your elective courses.?

Examples of previous topics that have been given in this course:

• Gender and Revolutions: Rethinking the "Women Question" in the Modern Middle East
• GreenMENA
• Islamist thought and practice in the Arab world
• Making sense of Islamism as an ideology
• Islamist thought

Learning outcome

After completing this course, you will:

• be able to analyse primary sources in English translation
• be able to analyse primary sources in the language you master, either Arabic, Persian, or Turkish
• have deepened historical and geographical knowledge of the Middle East and North Africa region
• have developed stronger analytical and reading skills when studying diverse sources and discourses
• have improved reading, writing, and oral communication skills through essay writing and class presentations
• be familiar with a variety of empirical realities and conditions of women¡¯s lives across the MENA region
• have developed an interdisciplinary and comparative understanding of gender and sexuality in the MENA region
• have deepened your historical and geographical knowledge of the MENA region
• have developed stronger analytical and reading skills when studying diverse sources and discourses
• have developed stronger critical analysis skills for understanding current social and political debates concerning gender and sexuality across the MENA region
• be familiar with major texts and debates circulating in postcolonial, gender, and women¡¯s studies

Admission to the course

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

This course is for students admitted to Middle East Studies (programme option) and Religionsvitenskap (master). Students enrolled in other Master's Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

Teaching

The course is taught through a combination of lectures and seminars organised as 10 classes of 2 hours each throughout the semester. The course presupposes active participation.

Compulsory activities

1. Compulsory attendance: Active participation in at least 8 out of 10 seminars.
2. Oral presentation: Participation in group presentations
3. Written assignments:
   • Submission of three analytical draft essays using the course literature dispersed throughout the semester. Assignments are released one week before they are due.

The approved compulsory attendance and oral presentation remain valid for the two following semesters in which the course is offered. However, exceptions may arise if the course undergoes changes in its assessment format, teaching, or other significant modifications.?

Approval of the compulsory draft of the portifolio exam is only valid for the current semester. If you retake the course, you must submit a new draft in the semester in which you are taking the exam.?

Absence from compulsory activities:?

• Here you will find information about compulsory activities at the Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies?

It is important that you familiarize yourself with the rules regarding absence from compulsory activities, to prevent being excluded from teaching and losing your eligibility to take the exam.?

More information on compulsory activities at the University of Oslo:?

• Common guidelines relating to compulsory activities - University of Oslo (uio.no)?

Access to teaching?

A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.?

Examination

Term paper

You will choose to submit one of the three essays in an expanded and revised form. The assignment should consist of 10 pages. One standard page is approximately 2300 characters without spaces, including references. The front page and bibliography are not included in the page count.?

The topic/detailed information regarding the exam format will be announced on Canvas.?

You must submit the exam in Inspera - see guides for digital exams.?

You are personally responsible for familiarizing yourself with the requirements and deadlines for the exam.?

All compulsory activities must be completed and approved in order to take the exam.?

You can find more information about the exam on the semester page of the course.?

Grading guidelines

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

Resit an examination

If you are ill when submitting the term paper or have another valid reason for not taking an exam, you can apply for a postponed submission deadline?

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• How to use AI as a student
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.