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Topics In Anthropology (390-0-7)

Topic

Inheritance and Loss in the Middle East

Instructors

Mahmure Idil Ozkan

Meeting Info

University Hall 118: Mon, Wed 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

The question of ancestral ties and roots is at the root of some of the most pressing dynamics in the Middle East today. But what exactly does "ancestry" mean? What do people mean when they talk about "roots"—of a nation, of humankind, an ethnoreligious group, a "race," or of individuals? How do people prove or enact ancestry, whether through blood, language, cultural affinity, or other tacit knowledges? What political claims do people make related to their genetic and cultural descent? This course examines these questions by looking into historical, social, and legal processes in which ancestries are curated. Through an interdisciplinary lens, we will study diverse ways in which people in the Middle East have understood the question of origins and ancestry, and we will analyze ideologies and values attributed to heredity. We will read ethnographies, historical accounts, philosophical texts, mythologies, and fiction to have a better grasp of the kinds of claims that frame ancestry as a foundation of, and a prop for broader entitlements. Special attention will be given to religious, ethnoracial, spatial, socioeconomic, and gendered understandings of ancestry.