Teaching

As a historian with major teaching fields in both the medieval and modern Middle East, and substantial background and research in cultural linkages, I am prepared to teach a variety of courses on the Middle East/North Africa, as well as broader courses of interest including world history surveys, and courses focused on the Mediterranean littoral, the Silk Route, and the Indian Ocean.

In teaching, I emphasize the notion of history-as-inquiry, encouraging students to think about not only what we know about the past, but how and why we know it. I prefer to use as many primary texts as possible; an exercise that has proven quite popular involves assembling primary document sets to have students work with in class.

I see my role in the classroom as the facilitator of discussion and inquiry rather than as the gatekeeper of definitive answers. Particularly when it comes to teaching the modern Middle East, my goal is to emphasize the multiplicity of perspectives as well as the complexity of issues rather than emphasize the “correctness” of one over another.

Read more about my teaching philosophy.

• Courses I have taught:

  (links are to syllabi posted on academia.edu)

• Fall 2020

  Plagues and Pandemics
  St. Edward’s University, Global Studies (two sections)

• Spring 2020

  World War I: The Colonial Experience
  The University of Texas at Austin, History (crosslisted with Asian Studies, and African and African Diaspora Studies)
  1. Original syllabus
  2. Revised version for COVID-19 closure

• Spring 2019

  The Middle East from Muhammad to the Mongols
  St. Edward’s University, History

  Modern Egypt
  St. Edward’s University, Cultural Foundations

• Fall 2018

  Terrorism and Extremist Movements
  St. Edward’s University, Cultural Foundations (Contemporary Global Issues)

• Spring 2018

  Introduction to the Middle East and North Africa
  St. Edward’s University, Global Studies

• Fall 2017

  The Middle East from WWI to the Syrian Civil War
  St. Edward’s University, Cultural Foundations (Contemporary Global Issues)

• Summer 2017

  Introduction to the Middle East: Religious, Cultural, Historical Foundations
  The University of Texas at Austin, Middle Eastern Studies (crosslisted with History)

• Spring 2017

  The Middle East from WWI to the Syrian Civil War
  St. Edward’s University, Cultural Foundations (Contemporary Global Issues)

Survey/Lower Division courses I am prepared to teach:

• History of Islamic Civilizations, 600-1500
• History of Islamic Spain
• History of the Ottoman Empire
• The Indian Ocean World
• Introduction to Islam
• Introduction to the Contemporary Middle East/North Africa
• The Medieval Mediterranean
• Plagues and Pandemics
• The Silk Route

I am also prepared to teach world history surveys focusing on the period from Late Antiquity to the present, especially those that are non-western focused; I am particularly interested in developing thematic world history/global studies surveys around topics such as material culture, trade, art, and food.

Upper Division/Graduate courses I am prepared to teach:

• Comparative Statebuilding: Egypt, Turkey, and Iran
• Public Health and State Power in Egypt
• Environment, Health, and Nationalism in the Middle East, 1800-1930
• Epidemics and Politics during World War I
• Imperialism, Health, and Disease
• The Middle East from WWI to The Arab Spring
• Modern Egypt
• Pandemics and Public Health
• World War I in the Middle East
• World War I: The Colonial Experience
• Terrorism and Extremist Movements