MODMDEST 113 – Empire and Sovereignty in the Modern Middle East

MODMDEST 113 – Empire and Sovereignty in the Modern Middle East

Semester: Spring
Offered: 2026
Instructor: Adam Mestyan
Meeting Time: M, W 10:30-11:45am

This class explores the history of sovereignty in imperial and post-imperial formations in the twentieth century in the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. We focus on practices and imaginations of sovereignty in imperial projects (both local and external) and the birth of local states in this region, beyond narratives of resistance and the norm of the nation state. The time-period of the course extends from the transformation of the late Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth century to European interwar imperial projects, including Palestine, and the rise of treaty regimes in the Middle East, to examples of Arab union projects during the Cold War, military occupations, and recent uses of Islam in local state-(re-)making. We read old and new theoretical literature and primary sources on empire in the region. Lectures also situate modern Middle Eastern history within a broader comparative framework, especially alongside post-imperial developments in (Eastern) Europe and Asia. 

For more details please visit the Harvard Course Catalog.