MA Iranian Studies

The dissertation is a core component of all Masters programmes at SOAS. The supervised dissertation research requires the ability to work independently on an original piece of research, to demonstrate familiarity with the relevant literature and present the resulting dissertation in a clear and organised format. The research and writing of the Masters dissertation is a crucial component of Research-based Masters training.? The dissertation has a 10,000 word limit and counts for 33% of the overall degree.

In this module we will examine the major contemporary historical eras, and transformative developments in Iran's history, including the constitutional revolution and the 1979 revolution and social changes since the late 19th century. We will also analyse the political structures and institutions in Iran, exploring the evolution of its governance systems and the social dynamics of power within the country.

In this module we will examine the major social and cultural events, and transformative developments in Iran's contemporary history. We will also analyse Iranian literature, cultural heritage, and social developments, exploring the social dynamics of the Iranian nation. Through this module we will examine Iranian cinema, Iranian youth and women activism, social activism within digital space as well as sport and national identity. This module will allow us to critically evaluate the impact of social and cultural factors, including religion, ethnicity, gender, art, and civil society, on Iran's societal landscape.

This module offers training in practical translation from English into a number of languages offered by SOAS, including Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Persian, Turkish and Swahili. Students are expected to take one language strand, but may take two.

This module offers training in practical translation into English from a number of languages offered by SOAS including Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Turkish and Swahili. Students are expected to take one language strand, but may take two.

This module is primarily an advanced language use course (MA In Theory and Practice of Translation [Asia & Africa]), however, the study of the literary history of Iran and the development of Persian poetry complements the study of Persian culture and the cultural characteristics of the wider region of Near & Middle East and Asia (MA in Cultural Studies).

This is a basic introductory language acquisition module for absolute beginners in the written and spoken language; students are not assumed to have any previous knowledge of the language. The module covers several basic constructions of the language, enabling students to acquire basic skills in reading, writing, comprehension and speaking. Successful students will gain the ability to read and write short simple texts, and communicate on simple everyday topics.

This is a language acquisition module for students who have already studied the Language A equivalent in the previous term, or who have equivalent knowledge. Students are therefore assumed to have some basic knowledge of the language or its script. This module develops knowledge of several basic constructions of the language, enabling students to develop their skills in reading, writing, comprehension and speaking.

The course provides for the teaching and learning of lower-intermediate level Persian language with emphasis on practical written and spoken Persian. The course introduces complex sentence structures including relatives clauses, as well as more focused use of idiomatic structures in Persian writing and discourse. By the end of this module students should be able to describe experiences, events, plans, hopes and concerns in both spoken and written language with ease and confidence. Furthermore, they should be able to interact on topics of everyday work, leisure and travel.

The module provides for the teaching and learning of upper-intermediate level Persian language with emphasis on practical as well as nuianced written and spoken Persian. The course introduces complex sentence structures including conditional sentences, as well as more use of abstract or technical terminology in Persian writing and discourse. By the end of this module students should be able to relate detailed experiences, as well as discuss and understand concrete and abstract topics, in both spoken and written language with ease and confidence.

The module provides for the teaching and learning of upper-intermediate level Persian language with emphasis on practical as well as nuanced written and spoken Persian. The course introduces complex sentence structures including conditional sentences, as well as more use of abstract or technical terminology in Persian writing and discourse.

The module will be focused on the teaching and learning of Persian language at lower-advanced level with emphasis on practically competent aural and oral skills, as well as nuanced writing ability and dexterity in reading comprehension.

The course provides a survey of Zoroastrian teachings, rituals, observances and contemporary issues with reference to Zoroastrian primary sources, including Avestan and Pahlavi texts in translation, and religious practices. It is taught within a historical framework beginning with the Indo-Iranian religious system and going on to trace the development of the religion in the Iranian empires and after the Islamisation of Iran, and its revival on the Indian subcontinent and the contemporary global diaspora.

Zoroastrianism, known of old as ‘the Persian religion’, is one of the world’s most ancient living religions and one of Iran’s great contributions to the history of religious thought. It is deeply rooted in the prehistoric Indo-Iranian and, ultimately, Indo-European tradition and thus shares a common heritage with the Vedic religion and Hinduism. In its long history it has been in contact with many other religions, notably Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. For over a thousand years it was the dominant religion of three great Iranian empires under the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian rulers, extending at times from the Indus river to the coastline and islands of Asia Minor.
This course offers both a survey of the teachings, history and religious practice of the Zoroastrian tradition and in-depth analysis of individual aspects. Topics that will be studied in greater detail include issues of the contemporary community in a historical perspective.
Teaching happens in the form of a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar. Students will be asked to analyse and critique reading material on a weekly basis. Topics of the seminars will include the role of orality in Zoroastrian studies, theoretical and methodological approaches to Zoroastrian studies, and the links between Zoroastrianism and migration and diaspora studies.

Zoroastrianism, known of old as ‘the Persian religion’, is one of the world’s most ancient living religions and one of Iran’s great contributions to the history of religious thought. It is deeply rooted in the prehistoric Indo-Iranian and, ultimately, Indo-European tradition and thus shares a common heritage with the Vedic religion and Hinduism. In its long history it has been in contact with many other religions, notably Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. For over a thousand years it was the dominant religion of three great Iranian empires under the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian rulers, extending at times from the Indus river to the coastline and islands of Asia Minor.
This course offers both a survey of the teachings, history and religious practice of the Zoroastrian tradition and in-depth analysis of individual aspects. Topics that will be studied in greater detail include issues of the contemporary community in a historical perspective.
Teaching happens in the form of a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar. Students will be asked to analyse and critique reading material on a weekly basis. Topics of the seminars will include the role of orality in Zoroastrian studies, theoretical and methodological approaches to Zoroastrian studies, and the links between Zoroastrianism and migration and diaspora studies.

This module aims to introduce students to the major debates and topics in the fields of Comparative Literature. It aims to develop critical understandings of the field and its place alongside other theoretical approaches to the study of literature.

This module will continue the work from Comparative Literature: Methodology and Critique, although it is its own free-standing module. In this term, the focus will be on the various cutting edges of the field. To accommodate this, the module will be updated every year, but example topics might include themes such as: decolonization, queer theory; intermediality; and digital humanities.

This course is about the economic structures, institutions and policy challenges in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The module starts with a broad economic history of the region since the mid 19th Century and goes on to address selected aspects of economic policy in the contemporary period in areas related to natural and human resources. Among the topics covered are: the oil sector, labour migration and capital flows, problems of industrialization in resource based economies, and population transition. For the purposes of this course, the MENA region comprises the Arab countries, Iran and Turkey.

This interdisciplinary module approaches gender and sexual dynamics in the modern Middle East through the lens of political unrest, protest, and revolution. Through a study of critical moments in Middle Eastern history characterised by rupture, flux, and upheaval, students will explore how norms of gender and sexuality in the region emerge, develop, sediment, evolve, and get disrupted.

Migration and diaspora are - like gender – not descriptive, objective categories, but analytical tools to name positions of power. In this course we discuss what gendering, diaspora and migration can imply as analytical (not descriptive) categories and how they are constructed interdependently by power relations. We will engage with a range of approaches to gender, migrations and diasporas and will address the social and political dimensions of migration and diasporas as well as politics related to constructions of non/belonging, cultural productions and imaginations.

This course is intended to provide both an introduction to queer theory, as well as to engage with the question of its relevance in contemporary Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. This course will use struggles for sexual self-determination as a prism through which to consider broader questions about the constitution of modernity, the proliferation of identities, rights and claims for justice, the consolidation and deconstruction of postcolonial national identities, the aspirations and anxieties of postcolonial elites, etc. These questions will be studied contextually, with topics in many weeks focusing on a single area case study, or a comparison of two or more country-contexts.

This module critically explores the different theoretical perspectives of the relationship between Human Rights and Islamic law and examines the practices of some relevant Muslim-majority States in that regard.

This half course aims to examine the substantive bodies of law and procedure and the legal systems in operation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in modern times, in particular regard to their treatment of and interaction with gender, women's rights and normative claims and practices in society. Further context is given by consideration of the increasing reach of international legal instruments governing a broad spectrum of legal activities implicated in the study of gender, law and society.

This module critically explores the different theoretical perspectives of the relationship between Human Rights and Islamic law and examines the practices of some relevant Muslim-majority States in that regard.

This module critically explores the different theoretical perspectives of the relationship between Human Rights and Islamic law and examines the practices of some relevant Muslim-majority States in that regard. Following on from Part 1, this module focuses on substantive issues, States practices and application of the law.

This module is an introduction to linguistics, focussing on the study of language in use. Students of this module will look at the properties of language in use and the ways in which these properties are studied by linguists, concentrating on meaning, the ways in which social factors influence and are influenced by languages (sociolinguistics), how languages change over time and why, how first and second languages are acquired, language disorders, and some aspects of psycholinguistics.

The module covers several basic constructions of the language, enabling students to acquire basic skills in reading, writing, comprehension and speaking. Emphasis will be placed on good pronunciation and on the social and linguistic conventions of everyday conversation.

This module develops knowledge of several basic constructions of the language, enabling students to develop their skills in reading, writing, comprehension and speaking. Emphasis will be placed on good pronunciation and on the social and linguistic conventions of everyday conversation.

Hebrew.

This module develops knowledge of several basic constructions of the language, enabling students to develop their skills in reading, writing, comprehension and speaking. Successful students will gain the ability to read and write simple texts, and communicate on everyday topics.

This is a basic language acquisition module for students who have already studied the language 1A equivalent in the previous term, or who have equivalent knowledge. Students are therefore assumed to have some basic knowledge of the language or its script. This module develops knowledge of some of the several basic constructions of the language, enabling students to develop their skills in reading, writing, comprehension and speaking.

This is a basic introductory language acquisition module for absolute beginners in the written and spoken language; students are not assumed to have any previous knowledge of the language or its script. The module covers several basic constructions of the language, enabling students to acquire basic skills in reading, writing, comprehension and speaking.

Arabic 2 B (PG)

This module completes the coverage of the grammar and syntax of Modern Standard Arabic at an intermediate level and trains students in reading, comprehending and writing with the help of a dictionary more complex Arabic sentences and passages.

The course provides students with intermediate knowledge of Turkish and practice of using Turkish in a variety of everyday and more specialised situations, including the understanding and expression of opinions and different points of view. Texts for study are selected from newspapers and magazines, scholarly articles and literary works (short stories and excerpts from novels).

The course provides teaching and learning of intermediate level Turkish language with emphasis on practical written and spoken Turkish. The course covers complex points of word and sentence structure as well as textual relations in Turkish writing and discourse.

The module will offer a survey of films from the Arab world, Turkey, Iran, and Israel, as well as an overview of the historical development of film in the region and a grounding in the socio-cultural contexts in which films have been produced. Films will be analysed aesthetically, with an awareness of multiple aspects of film technique, and meanings will be interrogated through a number of interdisciplinary and theoretical prisms.

This module takes the Area Studies of Asia, Africa and the Middle East (AAME) as a field to be pulled into focus through the lens of the regions themselves. It achieves this through attending to questions of what the concept of area/region/nation connotes in the context of AAME and, in particular, how that concept has been mediated through the effects of colonialism and colonial forms of knowledge production. With the objective of decolonising Area Studies of AAME and of looking at its transformation both conceptually and in practice, the module brings to the fore key texts that have emerged from AAME and examines them from the perspective of geographical spaces that provide alternatives to Area Studies in the Western world.

This course provides the opportunity to focus on major historical and contemporary issues which have dominated public imagination. It examines issues including the role and meaning of Islam in the Middle East, ‘Islamic’ terrorism, Islamophobia, ‘sectarian’ and ‘ethnic’ violence, the political language of Islam and democracy, veiling and women’s rights.

The course comprises mainly the reading and discussion of a selection of printed texts in Ottoman. It also involves study of the principal orthographic, grammatical and stylistic features through comparison of style and usage in selected texts.

The course comprises mainly the reading and discussion of a selection of printed texts in Ottoman. It also involves study of the principal orthographic, grammatical and stylistic features through comparison of style and usage in selected texts.

The module examines the early modern and contemporary reformulations of Islamic thought and practices in response to modern challenges (19th, 20th & 21st centuries). The module will begin by examining the nature of these challenges, and how modern Muslims responded to them. The module will identify the similarities and differences between the premodern and modern reformist movements throughout Muslim-majority societies, and how Muslims have reformulated foundational dimensions of Islamic jurisprudence and theology in their efforts to adapted to modern developments. The module will also examine?the main features and characteristics of the prominent trends in contemporary Islamic thought (Islamist, Salafi, Progressive and Neo-Traditionalist), highlighting similarities and differences between them in relation to how they engage with the authoritative texts (Qur’an & hadiths), as well as the diversity of expressions within these trends. The module will identify how these diverse modern reformulations and trends are based on criticisms of classical developments in Islamic thought and practices, and how they attempt to ‘reform’ (i?la?) these using different methodologies. The module will also emphasise how these modern reformulations invoke the classical Islamic legacy of renewal (tajdid) in different ways resulting in different modern understandings of ‘Islam’. The module aims to develop a theoretical foundation for understanding these modern Islamic trends, and this foundation underpins the subsequent examination of expressions of these trends in relation to particular themes in the module convened in term two: Modern Trends in Islam (ii): Manifestations.

This term 2 module builds on and follows from the term 1 module: Modern Trends in Islam (i): Foundations (Modern Trends in Islam (i): Foundations is a pre-requisite for the Modern Trends in Islam (ii): Manifestations). It examines how the diversity of reformulations in Islamic thought and practices by the different modern trends (Islamist, Salafi, Progressive and Neo-Traditional) are expressed with reference to different themes that are significant for contemporary Muslims (and non-Muslims). Building on the theoretical framework examined in the term 1 module, this term 2 module will examine in significant detail how modern Muslims develop different methodologies and theories that give rise to different responses to contemporary challenges. It will also explore that diversity of views within the trends themselves (i.e. diversity of views and methodologies within Salafism). Each week there will be an examination of how the different trends reformulate Islamic thought and practices in relation to the theme in question, but there will also be further focus on how a specific trend develop these reformulations (for example, concerning the theme of gender relations there will be an examination of how the different trends like Salafism, Neo-traditionalism and Islamism develop reformulations in Islamic jurisprudence in the lecture, but there will be focus on how Progressives develop different methodologies in response to the challenge of patriarchy in the lecture and tutorial). Students will be able to examine in detailed and evaluate the different trends within the framework of specific themes (themes like gender relations, violence and terrorism, democracy and human rights). The module will also examine the significance of neo-theological reformulations beyond the jurisprudential ones.

The course focuses on key issues in the study of politics in the Middle East. The main questions pertain to state-society relations and interaction. To understand the modes of governance and patterns of societal action, the course examines the forms of power deployed in the interplay between state and societal forces. Integral to this examination is reflection on the analytical and conceptual tools used to understand and explain state-society relations. Concepts such as “the state”, class, sect, and informal politics are critically examined and assessed within a larger attention to the politics of knowledge production in the Middle East. Whilst interrogating these concepts, we pay close attention to how historical context and region-transforming forces such as colonialism, modern state-formation, and neoliberalism, empirically shaped these societal formations and power dynamics as well as how they were studied in the field. The course takes a close look at the analytical assumptions underlying the main theoretical approaches to the study of the region and the empirical tools deployed to open new lines of enquiry. Finally, the course considers the ways in which some of the principal theories and analytical frameworks used to analyse state-society relations in the Middle East have been challenged by the events of the Arab Uprisings and their aftermath.

Since the age of European colonial rule in the Middle East came to an end around the Second World War, nominally independent nation-states in the region have tried to negotiate the opportunities and challenges of the Cold War, regional conflict and co-operation, underdevelopment, and more recently, globalisation. This module takes up the study of this rich politics through two different approaches, the first thematic, the second through the study of inter-state politics. After examining the methodological issues involved in the study of the Middle East and becoming familiar with the regions role during the Cold War and thereafter, we will examine important themes and debates in international politics of the Middle East, including war and militarism, ethnicity, development and globalisation, migration and ideological movements. In the latter part of the module, through a more conventional examination of inter-state politics of the Middle East, we will focus on conflict and cooperation between the Arab states in the region and their non-Arab neighbours, Israel, Iran and Turkey.

The Module presents a critical analysis of Artificial Intelligence with a particular emphasis on its implication for human security. It connects current research into the ethics of AI, to comparative philosophies including the socio-economic theories of the Frankfurt School and their emphasis on the perils of modern forms of production for human existence and the threat of “perfectionism” in capitalist societies. In addition, the course will consider the “techno-politics” of Paul Virilio and the critical approaches of Iranian philosophers such as Jamal Al-e Ahmad.

This module will analyse the processes and dynamics of Soviet, post-Soviet and ongoing political, economic, social and cultural transformations in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan) and South Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia). This module is designed to enable students to gain an in-depth understanding of the differential nature of Soviet modernization, imperial-colonial legacies, challenges of post-Soviet transition, complexities of nation and state building, the diverse understandings of Islam and its engagement with politics, the relationship between formal and informal institutions, and the durability of authoritarian regimes in the face of societal protests and resistance.

This module introduces students to the key concepts of geopolitics and their application to the region of Central Asia and Caucasus. It analyses the multiple and shifting understandings of the notion of 'Eurasia' and 'Eurasianism' across the region, the nature of Sino-Russian partnership which shapes the regional organisations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union, the effects of China's BRI on the entire region, and the efforts by the states in the region to develop multivectoral foreign policies. It will focus on themes such as empire and (de)coloniality, regional security and securitization policies, energy and transport infrastructure, authoritarian regionalism, labour migration and the anti-extremism measures enacted for regime survival. It is designed to enable students to develop a broad and in-depth understanding of the role and influence of two regional hegemons Russia and China, the major external actors Turkey, Iran, India as well as efforts by the Central Asian states to balance between these actors and the Western states.