This course offers an intensive look at the variety of reactions and responses to questions of modernization and modernity in the Middle East and Central Asia from 1700 to the present. Using a combination of primary and secondary material, we will examine the variety of responses (political, intellectual and cultural) to questions of modernization from the first response to European imperialism, to legal reform, to the rise of nationalism, to contemporary varieties of Islamism in the Middle East. The focus is on the intellectual, institutional and cultural threats posed by the process of modernization, particularly to political elites and the religious establishment. We will approach this topic comparatively, investigating both shared phenomena and particular experiences in the Middle East (specifically the Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Egypt, and Iran) and Central Asia. Format: seminar. No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 15 (expected: 8-15). Group C