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For centuries, the Arab world had been isolated from political and economic developments in Europe and reassured of the worldly successes of Islam by Ottoman victories. Modernity visited the Arab world at the hands of a young French officer, Napoleon Bonaparte, with dreams of building an Empire in the East. This first shock was followed by growing Western military and economic presence in the Middle East, and shook the foundations of the Arabs’ political order. For the Arab world, the crisis of modernity had a dual manifestation: the discovery of European technological, material and military superiority, and at the same time the challenge to the very foundations of the political order in the world of Islam, as a result of modernization efforts by rulers and foreign occupiers. The gap grew between the Islamic worldview and concepts of politics, law, economics and the reality in which Muslims lived. This course will look at Arab responses to the crisis of modernity from attempts by rulers to modernize their countries and their militaries, the calls for religious and political reform by intellectuals, the birth of the question of nationalism, the rise and fall of Arab nationalism and the Islamist response. Readings will examine the underlying themes related to the view and relationship with the West, attempts at modernization, and definitions of identity and nationalism. <a href="http://bit.ly/1bebp5s" target="_blank">Click here to see evaluations, syllabi, and faculty bios</a>