01:013:162 Elementary Urdu I (4) (fall)

The course is designed to give an introduction to Urdu to students with no prior knowledge of the language. The course will cover all four language skills (speaking, reading, writing and listening) in context. The students will learn vocabulary, expressions, grammar, script and familiarize themselves with South Asian culture. Students will acquire knowledge of the language by using it in realistic contexts. The classes will be interactive. The students are expected to remain engaged and actively participate. As the course progresses, students are expected to use Urdu in class as much as possible. Along with the textbook, online and other audio-video authentic materials will be used as supplements.

Syllabus

01:013:186 Elementary Swahili I (4) (fall)

An introduction to Kiswahili, one of Africa's major lingua franca spoken by millions across several nations in Eastern Africa. Using a communicatively-oriented, proficiency-based approach, students will develop basic communicative skills in the language through a combination of classroom activities, take-home and other language assignments. While the initial emphasis will be on the development of audio-oral skills, students will also be introduced to the essentials of reading comprehension and written expression. In addition to the acquisition of a core vocabulary, the student will be prepared to manipulate basic grammatical structures of Kiswahili for purposes of basic communication in a variety of situations. Students will also be introduced to aspects of Swahili and African culture to build cultural awareness and communicative competence.

01:013:342 Modern Arabic Literature (3) (fall)

This course provides an introduction to modern Arabic literature of the nineteenth and twentieth century. We will examine the interaction between social, political and cultural change in the Middle East and the development of a modern Arabic literary tradition. The texts that form the basis of the syllabus deal with major political, social, religious, cultural, and linguistic aspects of modern Arabic society. The course aims to reflect the different spaces of literary development in diverse parts of the Arab world, including North Africa. The questions we will pursue throughout the semester include: How do these Arab writers conceive of "modernity"? How do they conceive of their relation to politics, and how do they understand the role of intellectuals in their societies? Who are the readers (actual or implied) of these texts? Finally, how do these authors relate to the Arabic literary tradition—including its myths and classical texts—and how is it different from the way they relate to the European and American literary traditions?

Syllabus

A Relativist View of the Indian Nation

Presented by: Professor Partha Chatterjee

Faculty News

 

 

Dr. Häberl is an Associate Professor at the Department of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures (AMESALL).  He was born and raised in the State of New Jersey, where he has lived for most of his life, but received his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University.

The undergraduate courses he teaches address subjects such as Middle Eastern languages and literatures (including Arabic and Aramaic), folklore, and minorities in the Middle East. These courses include "Crossroads: Classical Literatures of Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia" and "Introduction to Middle Eastern Folklore".

To learn more about Professor Haberl, please click here.

His most recent book (pictured) is his critical edition, translation, and commentary on the  Mandaean Book of John with James McGrath, Ph. D.

 

 

Dr. Selim is an Associate Professor at the Department of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures (AMESALL).

 Dr. Selim is an award-winning literary translator. She is the recipient of the Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation (2009), the University of Arkansas Translation of Arabic Literature Award (2012) and the National Endowment for the Arts Translation Grant (2018). She is currently working on an English translation of Jordanian author Ghalib Halasa’s 1987 novel Sultana.

Her research focuses mainly on modern Arabic Literature in Egypt and the Levant, with a particular interest in narrative genres like the novel and short story; comparative theories of fiction, and the politics of translation practice in colonial and postcolonial contexts.

To learn more about Professor Selim, please click here.

Her most recent book, Popular Fiction, Translation and the Nadha in Egypt (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) is on the cultural and literary politics surrounding the translation of the novel into Arabic at the beginning of the twentieth century.

 

 

Full Time Faculty

All offices are located in the West Wing of the Academic Building, 15 Seminary Place, College Avenue Campus, New Brunswick, NJ 08901.

Lecturers

Welcome

Global Africa and The Humanities Series is an Initiative of The Department of African, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Literatures (AMESALL) in collaboration with School of Arts and Sciences-Humanities and the Center for African Studies.

Read More: Global Africa and the Humanities Series

Read More: 2021 Symposium