Courses & Requirements

Overview

The SWANA minor provides a comprehensive understanding of the region, which encompasses Southwest Asia and North Africa, and its history, politics, culture, and languages while enabling students to tailor their studies to their personal interests. The minor provides students with an academically rigorous and broad understanding of the region's history, political economy, cultures, and languages, with a focus on both the diversity in the region and its global significance. The minor offers a balance of interdisciplinary coursework and flexibility to accommodate a range of academic interests. There will be opportunities for experiential learning and engagement as students encounter nuanced perspectives in Southwest Asia and North Africa and its cultures and peoples. Students will be able to take classes with faculty from various departments, including Art & Art History, CTSJ, DWA, History, and Religious Studies.

Students will:

• Demonstrate interdisciplinary knowledge of the histories, cultures, religions, literatures, and political formations of Southwest Asia and North Africa, including their diasporic communities.
• Cultivate expertise in a thematic or disciplinary field—such as Islamic studies, modern Arabic literature, gender and sexuality, migration studies, or regional history—while engaging SWANA texts, communities, and contexts in depth.
• Understand how global institutions or systemic structures have worked to reinforce hierarchies and inequalities related to the SWANA region and its diasporic communities.
• Critically examine the role of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class have shaped lived experiences in the SWANA region and its diasporic communities.

Requirements

Students will choose one required course from the list below. The required course provides students with introductory and fundamental SWANA content. Each of the courses on the Required Course List aligns with all four learning outcomes, ensuring that these learning outcomes are met.

Students will then choose four additional courses from the list of electives. At least two of these electives must be at the 200-level or above. Students must complete courses in at least three departments. Students may only count two Arabic language courses towards the minor. These requirements ensure interdisciplinary breadth and depth across learning outcomes.

A maximum of four transfer credits may be used for the minor. Junior transfer students may petition to have additional course credit counted.

Minor

Required Course

Choose one required course from the list below.

Electives (choose four additional courses)

Choose four additional courses from the list of electives. At least two of these electives must be at the 200-level or above. Students must complete courses in at least three departments. Students may only count two Arabic language courses towards the minor.

Transfer Credit Policies

A maximum of four transfer credits may be used for the minor. Junior transfer students may petition to have additional course credit counted.

Faculty

Michael Gasper, chair

Associate Professor, History

B.A., Temple University; M.A., Ph.D., New York University

Advisory Committee:

Alaa Abdelfattah
Assistant Professor, Economics
B.A. Middlebury College; Ph.D. University of California, Davis

Anthony Tirado Chase

Professor, Diplomacy and World Affairs

B.A., University of California, Santa Cruz; M.A.L.S., Columbia University; M.A.L.D., Ph.D., Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

Margaret Gaida
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, History
B.A. Duke University; M.A. University of California, San Diego; M.A., Ph.D. University of Oklahoma

Syeda ShahBano Ijaz

Chelsie May
Visiting Assistant Professor, Religious Studies
B.A., University of California, Los Angeles; M.A., Brandeis; Ph.D., University of Chicago

Malek Moazzam-Doulat
Resident Associate Professor, Critical Theory and Social Justice
A.B., Occidental College; Ph.D., State University of New York, Stony Brook

Ben Ratskoff

Assistant Professor, Critical Theory and Social Justice
B.A. Northwestern University; M.A., Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles

Movindri Reddy

Professor, Diplomacy and World Affairs

B.A., University of Natal; M.A., Ph.D., Cambridge University

Affiliate Members:

Alexander F. Day

Professor, Asian Studies & History

B.A., Colby College; M.A., Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz

Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa

Professor, Asian Studies & Religious Studies

B.A., Victoria University of Wellington; Ph.D., Australian National University

Damian Stocking
Professor, Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture
B.A., University of California, Berkeley; M.A., Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles

Katarzyna Marciniak

Professor, Media Arts and Culture

M.A., University of Lodz; M.A., University of Montana; Ph.D., University of Oregon