Explore UCD

UCD Home >

HIS33240

Academic Year 2025/2026

Rurality in modern Middle East (HIS33240)

Subject:
History
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
History
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Dr M. Talha Cicek
Trimester:
Autumn
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

How did the rural societies in the Middle East respond to the global changes in the nineteenth century? Did they have an agency in the processes that transformed the local urban and rural society, economy and politics and intertwined the global, imperial, rural and urban spaces? Was it conflict, or negotiation and reconciliation that laid the foundations of the relations between the rurality and the wider world? What were the roles played by the rural women in these processes? What were the results of the interactions between the European capital, Ottoman state and the rural societies? In response to these questions, this module aims to trace the transformations of the ethno-religiously diverse communities in the Ottoman Middle East including the Arab Bedouin, Kurdish tribes, Circassian and Algerian refugee communities settled in the Ottoman rural areas and non-Muslim tribal groups such as the Yazidis and the Druzes.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this module, the student should:
- understand the key events, issues, and personalities in the rural history of the modern Middle East.
- interpret the historiography about the rural history of the Middle East
- explain how the agency of the rural peoples shaped the modern Middle East
- compare and contrast the Middle Eastern rural experiences of modernization and globalization with other countries
- critically engage with a variety of primary and secondary material
- contribute regularly and in a meaningful way to class discussion
- write scholarly essays to the standard of a level 3/4 student of history

Indicative Module Content:

MODULE OVERVIEW
1. Ottoman reform, globalization and the Middle Eastern rural societies: An Overview
2. The Ottomans and the Middle Eastern Rural Communities before modernity (1500s-1800s)
3. Empire, capital, nature and people
4. Animal trade (horse, camel, sheep, goat, buffalo etc)
5. The scientific cultivation, tribes and the state
6. Taxation and citizenship
7. Transportation: caravans to railroads and steamships
8. Reading week
9. Indian Ocean trade, the Middle Eastern tribes and globalization
10. Tribal women, Ottoman state and European capital
11. Refugeedom in the Middle Eastern rurality
12. The Great War and the end of the Ottoman Empire

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

95
Autonomous Student Learning

95
Lectures

11
Seminar (or Webinar)

22
Total

223

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This is a small-group, seminar-based module. It is taught through a one-hour weekly lecture and a two-hour seminar. The weekly lecture provides an overview of the week’s topic, focusing upon key historical trends, debates and events. The weekly seminar is focused upon individual active learning by means of class debates and discussion. Advanced research, writing and citation skills are developed through a semester-long 3,500-word research project, as well as the midterm essay. Autonomous learning is advanced through student-led debate and discussion of set primary sources each week. Generative AI may be used to support study in this module, subject to the instructions of the module coordinator and in accordance with the Academic Integrity Policy. The Module Coordinator will provide further information during the module.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Students will write one essay (2000 words) as a mid-term assignment, choosing from a primary source based on the set texts to be provided by the module coordinator. Week 7 Graded No
30
 No
Individual Project: Students will conduct a research project and submit a research paper, circa 3,500 words. Week 14 Graded No
50
 No
Participation in Learning Activities: Students will be graded on their participation during the seminars (NB: this is not based on attendance, but rather active discussion and participation). Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12 Graded No
20
 No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Written feedback is provided to each student after the submission and grading of their essay and research paper. Students can also arrange to meet the module coordinator to discuss feedback

a reading list will be provided on Brightspace.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Autumn Seminar Offering 1 Week(s) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13 Thurs 09:00 - 10:50
Autumn Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13 Wed 12:00 - 12:50
Print this page
Fill in the following details:
Enter the body of your query here.

From time to time UCD would like to send you further information that we feel, based on your enquiry, would be of interest to you.