Handbook BA EMEL

FACULTY OF ORIENTAL STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
EUROPEAN & MIDDLE EASTERN

LANGUAGES
A handbook for Undergraduates reading EMEL

(Information about the Middle Eastern side of the degree)
ACADEMIC YEAR 2010-11

CONTENTS
Introduction 3
The Oriental Institute 5
Libraries 5
Structure of the EMEL course 6
Public Examinations 9
The Four Languages
Arabic 11
Hebrew 35
Persian 42
Turkish 56
Appendix A: Faculty Information 67
Academic Year 2010 - 11: Dates of Full Term
Michaelmas Term Sunday, 10 October - Saturday, 4 December

Hilary Term Sunday, 16 January - Saturday, 12 March
Trinity Term Sunday, 1 May - Saturday, 25 June
INTRODUCTION
EMEL is a Joint Honour School combining the study of a European language and its
literature with that of a Middle Eastern language and its literature. The two faculties
involved are the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages and the Faculty of
Oriental Studies.
The aims of the course are
 to make you competent in the spoken and written use of one European and one
Middle Eastern language;
 to provide you with a specialized knowledge of the literature and culture of your
two chosen languages, either in the modern period, or in earlier periods, or in
both;
 in some languages, to provide you with a specialized knowledge of the history of
specific periods.
Since you will be studying the languages and literature of two markedly different
cultures, you will probably be struck by the differences rather than the similarities
between them. These differences will enable you to reflect on each of the cultures from
the viewpoint of the other, placing each of them in a perspective that will help you
define its specific characteristics. But you will also be encouraged to discover
connections between the two cultures.
One component of the final examination is a compulsory Extended Essay,

which is intended to form a ‘bridge’ between the European and Middle Eastern sides of
your course. In the Extended Essay you will have to write about both of the cultures
that you are studying. You will be able to choose your own topic, which might be a
comparison between the work of certain authors writing in your two languages, or a
study in the comparative linguistics of your two languages, though there are plenty of
other possibilities that you might want to pursue. Details of the Extended Essay can be
found in the Examination Regulations, at the end of the entry on the Honour School of
European and Middle Eastern Languages.
This handbook is intended only as a guide to the Middle Eastern components

of this joint degree. It won’t answer all the questions you have, but you should have
little difficulty finding the person who will know the answers. The handbook is
updated annually, and may be accessed on the Faculty’s website
http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/pdf/handbooks/Handbook_BA_EMEL.pdf Information
about the papers in the European language you have chosen and the Faculty of
Medieval and Modern Languages in general may be found in the handbooks for
German, French, etc. For information about the Prelims and Finals syllabus, also
consult the current Examination Regulations.
Oxford is confusing to everyone at first, its institutions labyrinthine, and its

terminology arcane. If in doubt, please don’t hesitate to ask. Here are a few essential
terms, in alphabetical order, to get you started:
Collections: informal exams, usually held in 0th or 1st Week of term, to test your
progress. Colleges take a close interest in collection results.
Course: in Oxford used to refer to an entire degree course, e.g. German and Turkish
(List A) or Arabic and French (List B). Each course is defined by the papers by which
it is examined in the Final Honour School (FHS).
FHS: the Second Public Examination or “Final Honour School”, taken at the very end
of your course (Trinity Term, Year 4).
Full Term: 1st to 8th Weeks, i.e. the eight teaching weeks of term. Teaching begins on
the Monday of 1st Week and continues up to and including the Friday of 8th Week.
Oxford does not observe Bank Holidays that fall within Full Term.
Hilary (Term): the second term of the academic year (Full Term mid-January to mid-
March).
Michaelmas (Term): the first term of the academic year (Full Term early October to
early December)
Paper: an examination paper for Prelims or FHS, as prescribed by the syllabus of your
course. (In its most technical sense, the term ‘paper’ includes non-written examinations
such as Spoken Arabic, and also the Extended Essay.)
Prelims: the First Public Examination or “Preliminary Examination”, taken at the end
of Trinity Term, Year 1. EMEL students take the Preliminary Examination in both the
European language and the Middle Eastern language.
Schools: an informal way of referring to (1) the FHS (see above); (2) the building
called Examination Schools in the High Street, where the two Public Examinations take
place.
Trinity (Term): the third term of the academic year (Full Term mid-April to mid-June).
Tutor: (1) the person or persons assigned to give you tutorial teaching in any particular
term (in the Middle Eastern language this applies mainly to Years 3 and 4); (2) the
person in your college who is designated to oversee your studies and your wellbeing in
a general way; depending on your college, you may or may not have a separate tutor for
the Middle East component of your course.
Tutorial: a teaching session in which you (perhaps with one or two other students)
meet with your appointed tutor (usually on a weekly basis) to discuss a particular piece
of work that you have done. (See the section on Teaching later in this handbook.)
Tutorial Secretary (Course Coordinator): the person in the Faculty of Oriental Studies
with general responsibility for organizing the teaching of the Middle Eastern language
you are studying. You will meet with the tutorial secretary at the start of each term to
discuss progress and teaching arrangements for the term.
THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE
Address: The Oriental Institute, Pusey Lane, Oxford, OX1 2LE. Tel: 01865-278200.
Fax: 01865-278190. Email: [firstname.secondname]@orinst.ox.ac.uk
General: Most of the teaching for courses in Middle Eastern languages is faculty-
based, and nearly all classes, lectures, and tutorials are held in the Oriental Institute.
This is open during term Monday - Friday 9.00 a.m. - 7.00 p.m., Saturday 9.00 a.m. -
1.00 p.m.; out of term it closes at 5.00 p.m. and is closed on Saturday. The Institute is
home to most of the teaching staff in Middle Eastern Studies, and to the Faculty Office,
classrooms, a language laboratory, a library (see ‘Libraries’, below) and a common
room which serves morning coffee from 10.30 a.m. - 11.30 a.m. and afternoon tea from
3.30 p.m. - 4.30 p.m. during term. The Lodge of the Institute is immediately to the right
on entering. Some members of staff have rooms in the Khalili Research Centre for the
Art and Material and Culture of the Middle East, at 2-4 St John Street, between the
Oriental Institute and the Sackler Library. Others have rooms in the Middle East
Centre, which is located at St. Antony’s College, 68 Woodstock Road.
Faculty Office: The Faculty Office (third floor, Room 315) is the centre of the
Faculty’s administrative and bureaucratic machinery. It is from there that you may
purchase photocopies of many of the Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Turkish texts that
you will be studying, particularly in your third and fourth years. The current charge for
photocopies is 4p per sheet. The secretaries in this office are extremely busy; their
coffee and lunch breaks should be respected.
Joint Consultative Committee: Because of the relatively small numbers of staff and
students involved, the Joint Consultative Committee (J.C.C.) is actually an open
consultative meeting, normally held once a term; it provides a forum in which students
can express views about their course, and discuss them with teaching staff, and in
which students are consulted about any proposed syllabus changes. Arabic, Persian and
Turkish form part of the ‘Islamic World’ subject group within the Faculty, and have
one J.C.C. between them, while Hebrew has a separate one. The notices announcing
open consultative meetings of the Islamic World subject group are posted on the white
board in the Institute foyer. It is extremely important that you attend J.C.C. meetings;
please make a special effort to do so. You will also receive teaching evaluation forms,
which solicit your views on lectures, classes, and the course in general. Please return
these; they are taken seriously. But don’t feel that the J.C.C. and the evaluation forms
are the only means for you to comment upon your course; talk to your fellow students,
and to your tutors.
LIBRARIES
Bodleian Library: The Bodleian Library is the University’s main library, and one of
the greatest research libraries in the world. Many students graduate without having ever
entered the Bodleian; that is their loss. The Bodleian can be daunting at first —it is on
several sites, and most books are not on open shelves— but there are regular
introductory courses, and the staff are always willing to help. The Central Bodleian
houses a vast collection of books and manuscripts in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and
Turkish, and virtually every text you will need is available there. A good place to start
is the Oriental Reading Room, on the first floor of the New Bodleian. This is where you
will find a number of Middle Eastern studies periodicals, dictionaries, encyclopedias
and other reference works available on open shelves. This is also where (in nearby
closed stacks) books in Arabic are stored, while the Central Bodleian’s collections of
Hebrew, Persian and Turkish books are housed in closed stacks in the basement of the
Oriental Institute Library. Books in European languages can be ordered and read in any
of the Bodleian reading rooms. The Radcliffe Camera, which is part of the Bodleian
Library, has an open-shelf collection of books on history, organised by country; this
includes the countries of the Middle East. Bodleian books cannot be borrowed. The
Automated Stack Request system allows you to request items from the bookstacks of
participating libraries using OLIS, Oxford University’s online library catalogue. It
enables you to track the progress of your request(s) and renew and reserve items. This
service can be used from wherever you can access OLIS.
Oriental Institute Library: The library of the Oriental Institute houses most of the
books (and some of the periodicals) that you will need to read for the Middle Eastern
side of your course. Administratively it is part of the Bodleian Library, so you will first
need to obtain your University ID card from your college; you should then register with
a librarian in the Institute library. You may borrow up to six books for an initial period
of two weeks. Some books are kept on reserve behind the circulation desk; you must
sign for these, and under no conditions should they leave the library.
College Libraries: Some colleges (e.g. Pembroke, St. John’s, Wadham, Balliol,
Magdalen) have collections that include material in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, and
others (e.g. Christ Church, Lincoln) have material relating to Hebrew and Jewish
Studies; these are available only to students in these colleges.
Middle East Centre Library: The collection of the Middle East Centre at St. Antony’s
College specializes in the modern (post-1800) period in terms of both history and social
sciences; it is available to all undergraduates whose degree course involves Arabic,
Persian or Turkish.
STRUCTURE OF THE EMEL COURSE
The EMEL syllabus is set by the University, which grants degrees and therefore
examines for them; but teaching is the joint responsibility of the relevant sub-faculty
and your college as far as your European language is concerned, and of the Oriental
Institute as regards your Middle Eastern language. The EMEL syllabus prescribes the
subjects for two University examinations: the Preliminary Examination normally taken
after two or three terms; and FHS which is taken after four years.
All courses with Arabic, Persian or Hebrew involve the study of both modern and
classical forms of the language and literature. In the case of Turkish in List A, the older
(Ottoman) form of the language, which was heavily influenced by Arabic and Persian,
is studied only through relatively modern (nineteenth- and twentieth-century) texts.
All syllabuses are published annually in the University’s Examination Regulations, to

which this handbook will frequently refer. You received a copy of the undergraduate
version of Examination Regulations when you arrived; any subsequent changes of
regulation which significantly affect you will be notified to you, and if there are
changes of syllabus which might affect you adversely they will not apply to you
without your consent.
Year Abroad
It will normally be your second year that you spend abroad. For most students it will be
strongly advisable to spend the bulk of the year abroad following an approved formal
course of language instruction in a Middle Eastern country appropriate to their
language of study. The tuition fees involved in this will normally be covered in full by
Oxford University, but you will have to provide for your own living expenses, as you
do in Oxford.
Assuming that you spend the main part of your year abroad as described above, you
should plan to spend the adjacent summers in the European country appropriate to your
course. On Friday or Saturday of 0th Week upon your return you will have to sit a
language test in your Middle Eastern language at the Oriental Institute.
Teaching
General: Teaching for EMEL, as for all subjects at Oxford, comes mainly in three
forms: classes, lectures, and tutorials. Because Oriental Studies covers many languages,
many of them with only a small number of students and staff, it arranges all teaching
centrally, including tutorials (which in other subjects, including your European
language, are arranged by the colleges).
In the first year you will receive intensive language teaching in your chosen Middle
Eastern language.
Tutorials: In your final two years, each week your tutor will assign you work, normally
a passage of text for study, an essay topic for which specific reading is set, or a ‘prose’
(a passage of English to be translated into your language of study). You must then
prepare the text or write the essay or translation for discussion at an arranged tutorial in
the following week. It is through the directed reading, textual study, essay writing, and
discussion involved in classes and tutorials that you will gain essential understanding of
your subject.
Tutors submit written reports to your college on your progress at the end of each term,
and sooner if necessary, and these reports will be discussed with you by your college
tutor or other officers of the college.
Collections: In addition to Prelims and FHS, you will also be given ‘Collections’ by
your teachers in the Institute, usually on the Friday or Saturday of 0th week; these are
informal examinations, usually intended to test your command of material covered
during the previous term. They are also useful in preparing you for the experience of
Finals, in that Collections require you to write an essay or complete certain language
exercises in a specified time.
Lectures and Classes: The subjects and hours of all lectures, classes and seminars
appear on the Oriental Studies Faculty lecture list, which is posted prominently in the
foyer of the Oriental Institute at the beginning of each term; copies are also available
from your college or from the Oriental Institute Lodge, as well as on the University
website at http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/pubs/lectures/. The location of lectures and
classes in the Institute is posted on the white board in the foyer. Time permitting, you
are encouraged to attend lectures outside the Institute, in other faculties.
What to do if something goes wrong...
Sometimes things do go wrong. You, your teachers, or both may be at fault but,
tempting though it is to apportion blame, it is far more important to act quickly to
resolve the problem. In the first instance, talk to the teacher concerned, which is the
most direct way to address the problem. If this doesn’t work, consult one of the
following: in the Institute, the Tutorial Secretary for your language, or if necessary, the
Chairman of the Undergraduate Studies Committee; in your college, your personal or
moral tutor. If your problem is a general one, not personal, discuss it with your fellow
students and raise it at the Joint Consultative Committee.
For information about making a formal complaint, see Appendix A of this handbook,
item 1.
Tutorial Secretaries (2010-11)
Arabic: Dr Nadia Jamil

Hebrew: Dr Adam Silverstein
Persian: Professor Edmund Herzig
Turkish: Dr Celia Kerslake
Convenors of Joint Consultative Committees (2010-11)
Islamic World: Dr Christopher Melchert

Hebrew: Dr Alison Salvesen
PUBLIC EXAMINATIONS
General: The two Public Examinations —Prelims and FHS— are sat in the
Examination Schools in the High Street. You will be informed in writing, and some
weeks in advance, of the dates and times of your examinations. You must attend
wearing subfusc, the precise definition of which is made clear in a letter sent to you by
the Chairman of Examiners in advance of the Examinations. Copies of past papers are
available in the Oriental Institute library. They may also be accessed online via
http://missun29.offices.ox.ac.uk/pls/oxam/main. In the event of a paper which is being
set for the first time, or in a markedly changed format, students will be supplied with a
specimen paper to guide them in their preparation.
The ‘Guidelines for the setting and marking of examinations’ document is available on:
http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/docs/Exams/marking_guidelines.pdf
The Preliminary Examination: For Prelims you will spend a number of hours per
week in intensive language classes. Prelims are taken at the end of Trinity Term of
Year 1. In all the Middle Eastern languages the examination involves two written
papers of three hours each (comprising language exercises and translation). In the case
of Arabic there is, in addition, an oral examination in spoken Arabic.
Prelims are marked on a pass/fail basis on each paper. Candidates may be awarded a
Distinction in one or both of their languages. Marks for each paper are not made public,
but may be used by colleges in the awarding of bursaries and scholarships. Detailed
marks are available on the ‘Academic and Assessment Information’ page on your
online Oxford Student Self Service a few days after the Faculties’ final examiners’
meetings in July (See
http://www.ox.ac.uk/current_students/registration_self_service/student_self_service.ht
ml). Results in Prelims do not contribute to your final degree class. If you fail one or
more papers in Prelims, you may take them again at the end of the summer vacation.
FHS: The second Public Examination (or ‘Schools’) is in Trinity Term, Year 4. There
are ten papers in total, including an oral examination in each of your languages (except
Hebrew), counted together as one paper; four written papers on each of your languages
and a compulsory bridging extended essay. It must be stressed that the second
language is not a subsidiary language. Both languages are studied in almost equal
proportions. A high level of proficiency in both is required at the end. The FHS is
classed according to a I (first), II.1 (upper second), II.2 (lower second), III (third), Pass,
Fail scale. Occasionally a student is asked to attend in subfusc a viva voce examination
after sitting Finals. This is in order to resolve borderline cases.
Set texts: Where a paper is based wholly or partly upon a corpus of texts that have been
prescribed for study (‘set texts’), the list of these texts will be available to you in one of
several ways. A list of set texts (for the examination in the following academic year)
will be published on the Faculty of Oriental Studies website
(http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/general/set_texts.html), not later than Friday of 3rd week,
Hilary term. This is to allow the teaching staff to introduce different texts from time to
time, but no changes are allowed after the above-mentioned date, which is 16 months
before the examination in question.
In Hilary term of year 3, an Arabic FHS handbook is published on the Faculty website,
relating to the Final Honour Schools of Arabic and Islamic Studies and Arabic with a
Subsidiary Language, and an Turkish FHS handbook is published, relating to the Final
Honour Schools of Turkish, Turkish with a Subsidiary Language and Turkish with
Islamic Art and Archaeology. They both cover just years 3 and 4 of their respective
courses.
Examination conventions. By the middle of Hilary Term in your fourth year, the
“setting conventions” for your FHS will be available on the Faculty’s website
(http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk). The conventions provide a detailed description of the
format of each paper that you will be taking in the FHS. The description will include an
indication of any subdivision of the paper into sections, the number and type (e.g.
translation, commentary, essay) of questions to be asked, the number of questions that
candidates are required to answer, and any rules governing the distribution of their
choices between different sections of the paper. The object of the conventions is to
assist candidates in organising their revision.
The oral examination: This is usually held in 0th Week of Trinity Term of Year 4. The
format of the oral examination in each language is described below in the relevant
section for each. (In the case of Turkish, it is described in the Turkish FHS handbook.)
THE FOUR LANGUAGES
In the remainder of this handbook, the Middle East components of the EMEL degree
are listed by language: Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Turkish. Each Finals course is
described separately. The description includes the names of the teachers, to whom you
may apply for further information; a brief summary of the aims and content of the
course; and a list of the papers for examination. Except in the case of Turkish, the
papers are described, one by one, in some detail. For further details of the FHS papers
in Arabic and their availability, you should consult the separate handbooks for the
Final Honour Schools of Arabic and Islamic Studies and Arabic with a Subsidiary
Language that covers year 3 and year 4. For the FHS papers in Turkish, you should
consult the separate Turkish FHS handbook.
ARABIC
Introduction
This course aims:
1. To give you a thorough grounding in written and spoken Arabic.
2. To provide you with a detailed knowledge of selected literary texts in both

classical and modern Arabic.
3. To develop in general your skills of description, interpretation and analysis of

literary, historical, religious and cultural material.
In Years 3 and 4, you will broaden and deepen your command of written and spoken
Arabic and you will begin to acquire a specialized knowledge of Arabic literature,
concentrating on modern texts and classical material. You will have the opportunity to
design your bridging essay, with the advice of your tutors, to suit your own interests
and enthusiasms. With Arabic you will study both classical and modern texts.
By the time you graduate you will have acquired a range of expertise. Linguistic
proficiency and knowledge of the literature, religion and culture of the Arab world may
lead some towards a variety of jobs connected with the region, such as diplomacy,
journalism, broadcasting, banking, and business. This degree also provides an excellent
foundation for those who wish to extend their studies to the Masters level, and beyond.
Teaching staff
Dr Anna Akasoy , British Academy Fellow, Oriental Institute, Room 108. Tel:
(2)78234; Email: anna.akasoy@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Dr Walter Armbrust, University Lecturer and Albert Hourani Fellow of Modern Middle
East (St Antony’s). Middle East Centre, St Antony’s. Tel. (2)74471; Email:
walter.armbrust@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Professor Geert Jan van Gelder, Laudian Professor of Arabic (St John’s). Oriental
Institute, Room 114. Tel: (2)78224; Email: gerard.vangelder@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Dr Otared Haidar, Instructor in Arabic, Oriental Institute, Room 112. Tel: (2)78191;
Email: otared.haidar@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Dr Martha Hammond, British Academy Fellow (St John’s). Email:
martha.hammond@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Professor Clive Holes, Professor for the Study of the Contemporary Arab World
(Magdalen). Oriental Institute, Room 101. Tel: (2)78239;
Email: clive.holes@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Dr Robert Hoyland, University Lecturer in Islamic History (St Cross). Oriental
Institute, Room 107 Tel. (2)78216; Email: robert.hoyland@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Dr Nadia Jamil, Senior Instructor in Classical and Modern Standard Arabic. Oriental
Institute Room 212. Tel: (2)88219; Email: nadia.jamil@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Professor Jeremy Johns, University Lecturer in Islamic Archaeology (Wolfson). Khalili
Research Centre, St John St. Tel: (2)78198; Email: jeremy.johns@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Mr Tajalsir Kandoura, Instructor in Arabic. Oriental Institute Room 202. Tel: (2)78196;
Email: taj.kandoura@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Dr Christopher Melchert, University Lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies
(Pembroke). Oriental Institute, Room 103. Tel. (2)78211;
Email: christopher.melchert@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Mr Ronald Nettler, University Researcher in Oriental Studies (Mansfield) [retired].
Oriental Institute, Room 113. Tel: (2)78232; Email:
ronald.nettler@mansfield.oxford.ac.uk
Dr Mohamed-Salah Omri, University Lecturer in Modern Arabic Language and
Literature (St John’s). Oriental Institute, Room 104. Tel: (2)78221;
Email: mohamed-salah.omri@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Dr Abdulrazzak Patel, Mellon Career Development Fellow in Modern Arabic
(Pembroke). Oriental Institute, BR3; Email: abdulrazzak.patel@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Dr Judith Pfeiffer, University Lecturer in Arabic (St Cross). Oriental Institute,
Room 105. Tel: (2)78237; Email: judith.pfeiffer@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Dr Najah Shamaa, Instructor of Arabic, Oriental Institute, Room 104. Tel: (2)78221;
Email: najah.shamaa@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Dr Luke Treadwell, Samir Shamma Lecturer in Islamic Numismatics (St Cross).
Khalili Research Centre, St John Street. Tel: (2)78209; Email:
luke.treadwell@orinst.ox.ac.uk (on leave 2007-8)
Dr Zeynep Yurekli-Gorkay, Departmental Lecturer in Islamic Art and Architecture,
KRC. Tel: (2)78226
The Year Abroad
You will normally spend Year 2 (usually September to June) in the Arab World, on a
course approved by the Faculty. Students typically spend this year in Egypt or Syria.
You must finalise plans for your year abroad early in Trinity Term, Year 1. The co-
ordinator for the year abroad is Dr Robin Ostle.
Addresses of centres offering courses recognised by the Faculty Board
Damascus Institut Français du Proche-Orient (I.F.P.O.)

B.P. 344 Tel: 00-963-11-333-
Damascus 0214/-1962/-4959
Syria Fax: 00-963-11-332-7887
Cairo DÉPARTEMENT D’ENSEIGNEMENT DE L’ARABE

CONTEMPORAIN (DEAC)
2, Sikket el-Fadl Kasr el-Nil, Downtown, Cairo, Egypt
Tel : (00 202) 23 91 21 38

Fax : (00 202) 23 91 21 37
Contact : deac@cfcc-eg.org
Course Outlines
Prelims
The first three terms of your course are designed to give you a sound foundation in the
Arabic language.
Arabic Prelims, taken after three terms of study, comprise two examination papers of
3 hours each plus an oral examination.
1. Translation and précis into English.

2. Comprehension, composition and grammar.
3. Oral/aural examination (to be taken at the Oriental Institute).
You will prepare for Papers 1 and 2 by attending intensive language instruction for
about 10 hours per week, backed up by thorough preparation in your own time.
The Final Honour School
NOTE: The structure of the EMEL Final Honour School has been under review. You
should consult the very latest amendments to Examination Regulations and your course
coordinators to be sure of what this will entail for FHS as of 2011.
This is the course outline:)
You have to take the following papers in FHS, one of which is the Oral. The details for
these papers are specified below.
6A. Composition in Arabic
6B. Arabic Unprepared Translation into English and Comprehension
7. Spoken Arabic
8. Arabic Literature
9. Islamic Religion
10. A paper chosen from the following:
i. Islamic History 570-1500 A.D.

ii. Classical Arabic literary texts
iii. Modern Arabic literature
iv. Arabic vernacular literature AD 1900 to the present day
v. History of the Middle East in the late Ottoman Age, 1750-1882
vi. A modern Islamic thinker (e.g. Sayyid Qutb, Mohammed Talbi, Rashid Rida)
vii. Society and Culture in the Modern Arab World
viii. A Short-Term Further Subject, as approved by the Board of the Faculty of
Oriental Studies and publicised in the separate handbook for the Final Honour
Schools of Arabic and Islamic Studies
PAPERS IN ARABIC
Paper 6A
COMPOSITION IN ARABIC
TEACHING STAFF: Professor Clive Holes, Dr Najah Shamaa, Dr Nadia Jamil, Mr Taj
Kandoura, Dr Otared Haidar.
WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS: Years 3 and 4.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Year 3. You are given practice in translating from English into
Arabic and in Arabic essay writing, with emphasis on developing an idiomatic written
Arabic style. The approach is to focus first on ways in which modern Arabic typically
expresses major linguistic functions, whether narrowly syntactic, e.g. comparison,
passivisation, adverbial complementation, partitive constructions etc. or more broadly
rhetorical, e.g. hypothesising, persuading, denying, agreeing, etc. This initial focusing
of your attention involves the study of textual examples in Arabic from a diverse range
of sources. You will then be presented with short ‘parallel’ English texts (often no more
than four or five sentences long) and are required to use the Arabic structural and
rhetorical elements to which you have been exposed to translate these into Arabic. The
objective is to focus more clearly than is possible in traditional prose composition
classes on those aspects of Arabic syntax and rhetoric which experience shows cause
most problems to English-speaking students and which are most often mistranslated.
Guided writing and essay writing will also be practised.
Year 4. What is offered is essentially a more advanced version of the Year 3

programme, except that less time is spent on individual areas of syntax, and more on
the development of a more finely tuned feel for the phraseology and style of modern
written Arabic. The focus is on text-types and the language typically associated with
them, and you will be given many short passages of English for translation into Arabic,
the texts being drawn from and grouped into types and subjects. The overall aim of
Year 3 and 4 prose composition and essay writing classes is to develop both accuracy
in written language use and appropriateness in usage.
The examination involves translating into Arabic one of two English prose passages,
and writing one Arabic essay, of approximately 400 words, from a choice of subjects.
The style of modern written Arabic you use in the examination should be appropriate to
the subject matter of the piece being translated, and the subject matter of the essay.
Paper 6B
ARABIC UNPREPARED TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH AND

COMPREHENSION
TEACHING STAFF: Professor Clive Holes, Professor Geert Jan van Gelder, Dr Najah
Shamaa, Dr Nadia Jamil, Mr Taj Kandoura, Dr Otared Haidar.
WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS: Throughout the six terms of Years 3 and 4, there are 2-3
class hours per week devoted to improving language skills in modern Arabic, 2 to
written Arabic, 2 to spoken. Through the integrated approach adopted, these classes
constitute preparation for Arabic Papers 1 and 2. For the Classical Arabic component,
there is one class hour throughout the terms of Years 3 and 4.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION:
Modern Arabic
Year 3. Sets of modern Arabic texts are presented, which are organised thematically by
subject. Subjects vary from year to year but currently include: the Arabic language - its
history, native beliefs about, its importance as a political symbol of Arab unity; the
Arab architectural tradition, past, present and future; the structure of the Arab family
and the role of men and women in it, etc. Each subject is studied for approximately 3
weeks. Students are given copies of printed materials in advance for preparation, and
these are reviewed in class where particular attention is paid to the vocabulary and
phraseology associated with each subject, the object being to promote not just passive
knowledge of, but active engagement with the language of the subject matter. To this
end, learning is reinforced orally either individually or in groups, in classroom debates
and presentations in Arabic on issues raised by the materials. For some subjects, the
input material includes Arabic audio and videotapes as well as printed materials.
Instruction is provided in dealing with longer Arabic texts for gist, and précis writing.
Practice is also given in how to translate English structures which experience shows
give particular problems to English speakers.
Year 4. In Year 4, what is offered is a more advanced version of the 3rd-year

programme, again thematically organised. The difference is that in Year 4 the
organising principle is text-type rather than subject matter: e.g. expository, polemical,
reportage, narrative, texts are studied as separate genres in order to examine how such
rhetorical purposes are typically fulfilled in Arabic. The range of material studied is
extremely wide, e.g. political speeches, philosophical reflections, personal memoirs,
short stories. The objective is to focus your attention on which parts of the language’s
inventory of vocabulary and syntactic structures are typically mobilised to express
particular rhetorical purposes: e.g. neutral reporting, advancing an argument,
persuasion, sequencing a narrative. This part of the course attempts to answer the
question: ‘What range of forms are used to express a given rhetorical function?’ In the
Trinity Term much attention is devoted to the translation of passages of modern
English prose from a wide variety of genres into Arabic, in which students are
encouraged to ‘recycle’ the phraseology from the Arabic texts they have read.
Classical Arabic
The aim of the classical (or pre-modern) Arabic “unseen” class (3rd and 4th year) is to
make you acquainted, or better acquainted, with a wide range of prose genres, both
‘literary’ and non-literary; including anecdotes, ‘short stories’, jokes, historiography,
biography, philosophy, ethics, popular science, Islamic law, travel literature, etc. Each
week a different text will be presented.
The examination consists of four questions, and there is no choice. Questions 1 and 2
involve translation into English of two Arabic passages in prose, one pre-modern, one
modern, which may be drawn from any genre. Questions 3 and 4 involve summarising
in English the main points of two long passages of modern Arabic, of a documentary or
expository nature.
Paper 7
SPOKEN ARABIC
TEACHING STAFF: Dr Nadia Jamil, Mr Taj Kandoura, Dr Otared Haidar.
WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS: Years 3 and 4.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Through a variety of textual and audio-visual materials,

students are instructed in a range of oral and aural skills which are tested in the Spoken
Arabic examination in FHS.
In the examination a candidate will normally be required to show competence in the

following:
(i) Comprehension of passages of text. In this comprehension test, candidates will

hear three passages each lasting up to three minutes, the passages being read
twice at normal speed. After the readings of each passage, candidates will be
given not more than ten minutes to provide written evidence in English that they
have understood the passage. This part of the examination will be conducted in a
group.
(ii) Reading aloud of a passage of text with grammatical vocalisation.
(iii) General conversation of not more than ten minutes, after an oral presentation
based on a choice of topics given in advance.
In part (iii) of the oral examination, it is desirable that you produce language which is
both fluent and accurate, whether you choose to use one of the colloquial varieties of
the language (Egyptian, Syrian, Tunisian, etc.) or to speak in Modern Standard Arabic,
either of which is acceptable. Ideally, you should aim at a style similar to that used by
educated Arabs, i.e., essentially the regional colloquial of whichever area of the Middle
East you spent your Year Abroad in, but with an ‘educated’ (i.e., Standard) vocabulary,
where this is required by the subject you choose to talk about.
Paper 8
ARABIC LITERATURE
TEACHING STAFF: Professor Geert Jan van Gelder (classical texts), Dr Mohamed-
Salah Omri (modern texts)
WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS: Year 3, MT-HT, 16+16 hours lectures, equally divided

between classical and modern, taught concurrently; 3 tutorials/essays each, each term.
SET TEXTS:
(a) classical: Abu l-Faraj al-Isfahani, al-Aghani, Cairo: Dar al-Kutub, vol. xxiv (1974)
pp. 145-166: akhbar ‘Urwa ibn Hizam (mostly simple narrative prose; contains c. 45
lines of ghazal verse); Badi‘ al-Zaman al-Hamadhani, Maqamat, ed. Muhammad
‘Abduh, repr. Beirut, 1973, pp. 239-245: al-maqama al-khamriyya (ornate prose,
contains 10 lines of verse).
(b) modern: Muhammad al-Muwaylihi: Hadith ‘Isa b. Hisham, Chapter 2; Jibran

Khalil Jibran: extracts from ‘Ara’is al-muruj (“Marta al-Baniyya” and “Yuhanna al-
Majnun”); Mahmud Tahir Lashin: Hadith al-qarya; Yusif Idris: Bayt min lahm;
Zakariyya Tamir: Shams saghira; Ghada al-Samman: Qat` ra’s al-qitt; poems by Abu
’l-Qasim al-Shabbi (Fi zill wadi’l-mawt), Salah ‘Abd al-Sabur (Hajama al-tatar) and
Khalil Hawi (al-Bahhar wa’l-darwish).
(see Faculty website from Friday of 3rd week, Hilary term for set text list:
http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/general/set_texts.html.)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: With this paper you will acquire a first introduction to Arabic
literary texts, including prose and poetry, both classical and modern.
The classical set texts offer narratives from a Bedouin and an urban background, with
some relatively easy poetry. The genres and forms (romantic love story, ghazal poetry,
the satirical maqama) make for possible links with modern Arabic literature. An
English translation of al-Hamadhani’s text is available (Prendergast, 1915); no English
translation of the Aghani text is known. It should be possible to get through most of the
set texts in class in 16 hours; the remainder can be read by the students independently,
with assistance in tutorials or revision classes if needed. Three essays will be written on
aspects of the texts and the genres to which they belong.
The modern component of this paper is designed to illustrate how modern Arabic
literature emerged initially from its classical antecedents such as the maqama , and
went on to develop rapidly the themes, genres and language which have made this one
of the richest literatures of the post-colonial world. It begins with extracts from two of
the pioneers of modernity in modern Arabic prose, Muhammad al-Muwaylihi and
Jibran Khalil Jibran, and continues with a selection of short stories written between
1929 and 1994. This part of the course will conclude with three poems, one each by the
poets mentioned above.
All modern Arabic texts will be supplied, and any text not read in full in the class will
be accompanied by an English translation. The three poems will be read and translated
in class. Reading lists will be provided in addition to the recommended background
reading. Three essays will be written on aspects of the texts and the genres to which
they belong.
RECOMMENDED INTRODUCTORY READING:
Roger Allen, The Arabic Literary Heritage: The Development of its Genres and
Criticism, (Cambridge, 2000), esp. ch. 4 and 5 (“Poetry”, “Bellettristic prose and
narrative”, pp. 103-315).
M. M. Badawi (ed.), The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: Modern Arabic

Literature (Cambridge 1992).
M. M. Badawi, A Critical Introduction to Modern Arabic Poetry (Cambridge 1975).

A. F. L. Beeston, chapter “Al-Hamadhani, al-Hariri and the maqamat Genre” in J.
Ashtiany et al. (eds), ‘Abbasid Belles-Lettres (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 125-135.
T. Eagleton, Literary Theory: An Introduction (Oxford, 1990).
S. Hafez, The Genesis of Arabic Narrative Discourse (London, 1993).
M. Shaheen, The Modern Arabic Short Story (London 1989).
R. Wellek and A. Warren, Theory of Literature (London 1976).

Paper 9
ISLAMIC RELIGION
TEACHING STAFF: Dr Christopher Melchert and Mr Ron Nettler.
WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS:
Year 3, 2-3 hours of lectures in weeks 1-8 of Michaelmas Term; 3 hours lectures per
week, Weeks 1-4, Hilary Term. 2 tutorials and 2 essays. Michaelmas Term; 4 tutorials
and 4 essays in Hilary Term
SET TEXTS:
Qur’an, 2:1-96 & 20
Al-Nawawi, Arba’una hadithan, nos 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, 30, 34 and 38;
Ibn Qudamah, al-Mughni, ed. Abd Allah b. Abd al-Muhsin al-Turki and Abd al-Fattah
Muhammad al-Hulw, 15 vols. (Cairo, 1406-11/1986-90), 2:136–8;
Ibn ‘Arabi, Fusus Al-Hikam, ed. Abu al-Ala Afifi (Beirut, 1980), 48–51 (fass Adam);
Sayyid Qutb, Fi zilal Al-Qur’an, 6 vols. (Beirut, 1395), 1:11–13;
Muhammad Talbi, `Iyal Allah (Tunis, 1992), 181–5.
http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/general/set_texts.html)
Robinson, Neal. Discovering the Qur’an, London: SCM, 1996. BP 130 ROB.
Schacht, Joseph. An Introduction to Islamic Law, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964. BP

144 SCH.1.
Schimmel, Annemarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam, Chapel Hill: University of

North Carolina Press, 1978. BP 189.1 SCH. (A good survey of Sufi literary
imagery, although insensitive to change over time).
Paper 10. One of the following:
Paper 10.i ISLAMIC HISTORY, 570-1500
TEACHING STAFF:
Dr Judith Pfeiffer; Dr Robert Hoyland
WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS: Year 3, two hours of classes per week in \hilary Term,
two hours of classes in each of weeks 1-4 in Trinity Term.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: This paper provides a chronological and topical introduction

to the political, social, and intellectual history of the central Islamic lands (Egypt, the
Fertile Crescent, and Iran) from the late 6th century AD until the end of the 15th century
AD. Its primary goal is to train you to think critically about the emergence of classical
Islamic civilisation. To do this, you are asked to read carefully a number of
monographs and articles, and to write 6 essays on a variety of topics. These range from
the historical sources on Muhammad to the First and Second Civil Wars, the Abbasid
Revolution, the emergence of Hadith and the development of Islamic law, the nature of
the caliphate, the political disintegration of the empire, and the role of the holy man.
Endress, G., An Introduction to Islam, Edinburgh, 1988.

Goldziher, I., Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law, Princeton, 1981.
Hodgson, M.G.S., The Venture of Islam II. The Expansion of Islam in the Middle
Periods, Chicago and London, 1974.
Humphreys, R.S., Islamic History: A Framework for Inquiry, Princeton, 1991.
The Cambridge History of Islam in Two Volumes, Vol. 1, pp. 141-291.
Paper 10.ii CLASSICAL ARABIC LITERARY TEXTS
TEACHING STAFF: Professor Geert Jan van Gelder
WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS: Year 3, TT, 16 hours lectures; 4 tutorials/essays.
SET TEXTS:
poetry: al-Shanfara’s Lamiyyat al-‘arab, 69 vss. in Diwan ed. Imil Badi‘ Ya‘qub, Beirut, 1991,
pp. 58-73 (6 hours in class); al-Mutanabbī, Wa-harra qalbahu, 37 vss. in Diwan ed. Dieterici,
Berlin, 1861, pp. 481-486 (3 hours in class);
prose: al-Jahiz, from al-Hayawan (ed. Cairo, 1966) vol. vii, p. 9 line 1 to p. 14 line 5 (The
Author Recapitulates) (4 hours); al-Tanukhi, from al-Faraj ba‘d al-shidda, ed. ‘Abbud al-
Shalji, vol. iv, pp. 316-327 (Slave-Girl Lost and Regained) (3 hours).
http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/general/set_texts.html))
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The aim of this paper is to broaden your acquaintance with classical
literary texts, through set texts in poetry and prose. The poetry includes two complete poems, a
famous early (probably pre-Islamic) ode and a tenth-century one by perhaps the most highly
esteemed Arabic poet from Islamic times. The two prose texts are taken from the most
important works by two great prose writers from the ninth and the tenth centuries, one a
versatile essayist and the other a great story-teller (the chosen story has many parallels, some of
them in the Thousand and One Nights). Most of the set texts will be read and discussed in class,
but the greater part of the story in al-Tanukhi’s Faraj, which is much easier, will have to be
read independently. There many English translations of al-Shanfara’s poem (including those by
Michael Sells, Suzanne Stetkevych, Alan Jones, Warren Treadgold) and at least two of al-
Mutanabbi’s poem (Arberry, Poems of al-Mutanabbi, and by Salma Jayyusi and Christopher
Middleton in Sperl & Shackle, Qasida Poetry). No English translations of the prose texts seem
to exist in print. Two of the four essays will deal with aspects of the set texts; two other
“essays” will be annotated translations of other classical Arabic literary texts chosen by the
student in consultation with the teacher or tutor.
Alan Jones, Early Arabic Poetry, vol. I (Oxford, 1992), “Introduction” (pp. 1-30), “al-Shanfara
al-Azdi: Lamiyyat al-‘Arab” (pp. 130-184);
Andras Hamori, chapter “Al-Mutanabbi” in Julia Ashtiany et al. (eds), ‘Abbasid Belles-Lettres,
Cambridge, 1990, pp. 300-314;
Charles Pellat, The Life and Works of Jahiz : Translations of selected texts (London, 1969) (Tr.
by D.M. Hawke of French original);
id., chapter “Al-Jahiz” in Julia Ashtiany et al. (eds), ‘Abbasid Belles-Lettres, pp. 78-93;
Julia Ashtiany, “Tanukhi’s al-Faraj ba‘d al-shidda as a Literary Source”, in Alan Jones (ed.),
Arabicus felix, luminosus britannicus: Essays in Honour of A. F. L. Beeston (Reading, 1991), pp.
108-120.
Paper 10.iii MODERN ARABIC LITERATURE
TEACHING STAFF: Dr Mohamed-Salah Omri
WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS: Year 3, TT (16 hours lectures , 4 tutorials)
SET TEXTS: Prose: Ilyas Khuri, Abwab al-madina; Edwar al-Kharrat, Turabuha Za‘faran;
Najib Mahfuz, Zuqaq al-Midaqq. Poetry: Ahmad ‘Abd al-Mu‘ti Hijazi, Ila’l-liqa’; Badr Shakir
al-Sayyab, Madinat al-Sindibad; Amal Dunqul, Hikayat al-madina al-fiddiyya.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The further subject on Modern Arabic Literature will be organised
each Trinity Term around a specific theme, rather than a genre-based approach. In Trinity Term
2006, the theme will be “The City in Modern Arabic Literature”. Representations of the cities
of Beirut, Alexandria and Cairo and their functions in literature will be studied through three
novels by Ilyas Khuri, Edwar al-Kharrat, and Najib Mahfuz. All three novels are translated into
English, but significant sections of the novels in Arabic will be studied and analysed in class.
City imagery will also be studied in poems by Ahmad `Abd al-Mu`ti Hijazi, Badr Shakir al-
Sayyab, and Amal Dunqul. All poems will be read and translated in class. Reading lists will be
provided in addition to the recommended background reading.
RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND READING
Allen, R.: The Arabic Novel; an Historical and Critical Introduction (Manchester, 1982).
Badawi, M. M. : Modern Arabic Literature and the West (London, 1985)
Benjamin, W. : The Arcades Project (English trans. by H. Eiland and K. Mclaughlin,

Cambridge, 1999)
Jayyusi, S. K. : Trends and Movements in Modern Arabic Poetry, 2 vols. (Leiden, 1977).
Meyer, S.G. : The Experimental Arabic Novel (New York 2001).
Williams, R.: The Country and the City (London, 1973).

Paper 10.iv ARABIC VERNACULAR LITERATURE, 1900 TO THE PRESENT DAY
TEACHING STAFF: Prof Clive Holes
WHEN TAUGHT/ HOURS: Year 3, Trinity Term as Further Subject. 2hrs classes per week.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION In all Arab countries there is an ancient tradition of popular literature
alongside the better-known Classical tradition. By ‘popular literature’ is meant various genres
of verbal art – principally poetry, but also traditional tribal narrative, sīras (hero-cycles) and,
more recently, drama – that is often orally composed and performed and whose vehicle is the
non-standard form of the language, though often in a more elevated stylistic register than that
of everyday speech. This course provides an introduction to the subject via the study of a wide
range of examples of the various genres and locates them in their social and political context, as
well as in Arab literary history. Particular attention is paid to the role of the poet as a communal
‘voice’ in both urban and rural society.
RECOMMENDED READING (Egypt)
Booth M. Bayram al-Tunisi’s Egypt: Social Criticism and narrative Strategies. Ithaca 1990.
Abdel-Malek K. A Study of the Vernacular Poetry of Ahmad Fu’ad Nigm. Brill 1990.
Cachia P. Popular Narrative Ballads of Modern Egypt. Oxford 1989.
Abdel-Malek K. Muhammad in the Modern Egyptian Popular Ballad. Brill 1995.
RECOMMENDED READING (Bedouin culture)
Abu Lughod L. Veiled Sentiments. Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society. University of
California Press, 1988.
Caton S. ‘Peaks of Yemen I summon’: Poetry as Cultural Practice in a North Yemeni Tribe.
University of California Press, 1990.
Bailey C. Bedouin Poetry: From Sinai and the Negev. Oxford, 1991.
Sowayan S. Nabati Poetry: The Oral Poetry of Arabia. University of California Press, 1985.
Shryock A. Nationalism and the Genealogical Imagination: Oral History and Textual
Authority in Tribal Jordan. University of California Press, 1997.
Sowayan S. The Arabian Oral Historical Narrative: an Ethnographic and Linguistic Analysis.
Wiesbaden, 1992.
Meeker M. Literature and Violence in North Arabia. Cambridge 1979.
Other:
Reynolds D. Heroic Poets, Poetic Heroes. The Ethnography of Performance in an Arabic Oral
Epic Tradition. Cornell, 1995.
Paper 10.v
HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST IN THE LATE OTTOMAN AGE, 1750-1882
TEACHING STAFF: Dr Eugene Rogan
WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS: Year 3, TT 8 hours lectures, 4 tutorials
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: This paper traces the growing autonomy of the Arab
provinces of the Ottoman Empire in the eighteenth century, Ottoman reform efforts in
the nineteenth
century, and the beginnings of European imperialism in North Africa. Topics to be
covered include the Mamluk households in Egypt, Palestine under Zahir al-Umar and
Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar, the rise of the Saudi-Wahabi alliance in Central Arabia, the
French occupation of Egypt, Muhammad Ali in Egypt, the French invasion of Algeria,
the Ottoman reforms of the Tanzimat, the Christian massacres in Lebanon and Syria,
and the British occupation of Egypt.
Paper 10. vi
A MODERN ISLAMIC THINKER (e.g. Sayyid Qutb, Mohamed Talbi, Rashid Rida)
TEACHING STAFF: Mr Ron Nettler
WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS: Year 3, TT 16 hours lectures, 4 tutorials
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: apply to Mr Nettler

Paper 10. vii
SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN THE MODERN ARAB WORLD
(NOT AVAILABLE FOR 2011-12)
TEACHING STAFF: Dr Walter Armbrust
WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS: Year 3, Lectures in Hilary and Trinity Terms, 4 tutorials in

TT.
SET TEXTS: There are no set texts. A wide variety of printed and recorded audio
and audiovisual materials can be integrated into the paper depending on demand and
the capabilities of students taking the paper.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The paper focuses on the society and culture of the modern
Arab world. The main academic literature for the course is drawn from the discipline
of social anthropology, but the paper also includes readings from literary studies,
political science, sociology and history. A number of primary texts are also relevant to
the paper. Topics covered will include notions of family in the region; moral rhetorics
of honor, shame, and modesty; marriage; particularism and universalism in Islam;
Islam and modernity; Islamist political movements; writing and recitation; language
and standardized identity; national identity; ethnicity and the nation-state;
"globalization," the state, and neo-liberalism. The paper will emphasize social
anthropological perspectives on the modern Arab world, but will incorporate Arabic-
language texts when there is demand for them.
ABRIDGED READING LIST:
BACKGROUND:
Eickelman, Dale. 1998. The Middle East and Central Asia: An Anthropological
Approach. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Gilsenan, Michael. 1982. Recognizing Islam: An Anthropologist's Introduction.

London: Croom Helm.
MEN, WOMEN, AND FAMILY
Cole, Donald P. 1985. "The Household, Marriage and Family Life among the Al
Murrah Nomads of Saudi Arabia." In Saad Eddin Ibrahim and Nicholas S. Hopkins
eds., Arab Society: Social Science Perspectives, 19-211. Cairo: The American
University in Cairo Press.
Jansen, Willy. 1987. Women without Men: Gender and Marginality in an Algerian
Town. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1987.
Joseph, Suad. 1994. "Brother/Sister Relationships: Connectivity, Love, and Power in
the Reproduction of Patriarchy in Lebanon." American Ethnologist 21 (1): 50-73.
Meneley, Anne. 1996. "The Bayt: Family and Household." In Anne Meneley,
Tournaments of Value: Sociability and Hierarchy in a Yemeni Town. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, pp. 60-80.
Murphy, R. and L. Kasdan. 1959. "The Structure of Parallel Cousin Marriage."

American Anthropologist 61 (1): 17-29.
Singerman, Diane. 1995. Avenues of Participation: Family, Politics, and Networks in

Urban Quarters of Cairo. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (Introduction,
chs. 1-2, pp. 1-131).
MORAL RHETORICS OF HONOR, SHAME, AND MODESTY
Abu-Lughod, Lila. 1987. Veiled Sentiments:Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society.

Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1965. "The Sentiment of Honor in Kabyle Society." in J.G.

Peristiany ed. Honour and Shame: the values of Mediterranean Society. London:
Weidenfeld.
Guindi, Fadwa El-. 1999. Veil: Modesty, Privacy and Resistance. Oxford: Berg.
Hatem, Mervat. 1986. "The Enduring Alliance of Nationalism and Patriarchy in

Muslim Personal Status Laws: The Case of Modern Egypt." Feminist Issues 6 (1):
19-43.
Hill, Enid. 1979. "Courts and Auxiliary Structures," and "Divorce Egyptian Style and
Related Matters," In E. Hill, Mahkama! Studies in the Egyptian Legal System,
Courts and Crimes, Law and Society. London:that Ithaca Press.
Macleod, Arlene. 1991. Accommodating Protest: Working Women, the New

Veiling, and Change in Cairo. New York: Columbia.
MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE
Moghadam, Valentine. 1993. Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the
Middle East. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Najjar, Fauzi. 1988. "Egypt's Laws of Personal Status." Arab Studies Quarterly 10 (3):
319-344.
Sonbol, Amira. 1996. "Law and Gender Violence in Ottoman and Modern Egypt." In
Amira Sonbol ed., Women, the Family, and Divorce Laws in Islamic History.
Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
Stowasser, Barbara. 1987. "Liberated Equal or Protected Dependent? Contemporary
Religious Paradigms on Women's Status in Islam." Arab Studies Quarterly 9 (3):
260-283.
ISLAM: PARTICULARISM AND UNIVERSALISM
Eickelman, Dale. 1976. Moroccan Islam: Tradition and Society in a Pilgrimage

Center . Austin: University of Texas Press.
Geertz, Clifford. 1968. Islam Observed: Religious Development in Morocco and

Indonesia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Gellner, Ernest. 1981. "Flux and Reflux in the Faith of Men." In E. Gellner, Muslim
Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gilsenan, Michael. 1973. Saint and Sufi in Modern Egypt: An Essay in the Sociology
of Religion. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
ISLAM AND MODERNITY
Asad, Talal. 1993. "The Limits of Religious Criticism in the Middle East: Notes on
Islamic Public Argument." In Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of
Power in Christianity and Islam. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp.
200-236.
Asad, Talal. 2003. "Secularism, Nation-State, Religion." In Talal Asad, Formations

of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity. Stanford: Stanford University Press,
pp. 181-201.
Eickelman, Dale and James Piscatori. 1996. "The Invention of Tradition in Muslim
Politics." In Eickelman and Piscatori, Muslim Politics, pp. 22-45.
Starrett, Gregory. 1998. Putting Islam to Work: Education, Politics, and Religious
Transformation in Egypt. Berkeley: University of California Press.
ISLMAMIST POLITICS
Gaffney, Patrick. 1994. The Prophet's Pulpit: Islamic Preaching in Contemporary

Egypt. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Mahmood, Saba. 2005. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist
Subject. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Wickham, Carrie. 2002. Mobilizing islam: Religion, Activism, and Political Change in
Egypt. New York: Columbia University Press.
WRITING AND RECITATION
Messick, Brinkley. 1993. The Calligraphic State: Textual Domination and History in a
Muslim Society. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Nelson, Kristina. 1985. The Art of Reciting the Qur'an. Austin: University of Texas
Press.
Ong, Walter. 1988. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. New
York: Routledge. (Chapter 1).
Pedersen, Johannes. 1984. The Arabic Book. Translated by Geoffrey French. Edited
with an introduction by Robert Hillenbrand. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press. (first three chapters).
LANGUAGE AND STANDARDIZED IDENTITY
Badawi, Said and Martin Hinds. 1986. A Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic: Arabic-
English. Beirut: Librairie du Liban (introductory material).
Booth, Marilyn. "Colloquial Arabic Poetry, Politics, and the Press in Modern Egypt."
International Journal of Middle East Studies. 24(3), August 1992.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1991. "The Production and Reproduction of Legitimate Language."

In Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard
University Press.
Fishman, Joshua. 2003 [1972]. "The Impact of Nationalism on Language Planning."

In Roxy Harris and Ben Rampton eds, The Language, Ethnicity and Race Reader.
London: Routledge, pp. 117-127.
Ferguson, Charles, "Diglossia," Word, v. 15, 1959, pp. 324-340.
Holes Clive. 1995. Modern Arabic: Structures, Functions and Varieties. London:
Longman. (chapter 9, 'Language Level').
Holes, Clive. 1993. 'The uses of variation: a study of the speeches of Gamal Abdul-
Nasir' in Eid M. and Holes C.D. Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics Vol 5,
Banjamins, Amsterdam, pp 13-45.
Holes, Clive. 2005. "Dialect and National Identity: The Cultural Politics of Self-
Representation in Bahraini Musalsalat." In Paul Dresch and James Piscatori eds,
Monarchies and Nations: Globalisation and Identity in the Arab States of the Gulf.
London: I.B. Tauris, pp. 52-72.
Suleiman, Yasir. 1994. "Nationalism and the Arabic Language: A Historical

Overview." In Yasir Suleiman ed., Arabic Sociolinguistics: Issues and
Perspectives. Surrey, Great Britain: Curzon Press.
NATIONAL IDENTITY
Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and

Spread of Nationalism. New York: Verso. (First four chapters).
Armbrust, Walter. 1996. Mass Culture and Modernism in Egypt. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.
Dresch, Paul. 2005. "Debates on Marriage and Nationality in the United Arab
Emirates." In Dresch and Piscatori eds., Monarchies and Nations: Globalisation
and Identity in the Arab States of the Gulf. London: I.B. Tauris, pp. 136-157.
Longva, Anh Nga. 2005. "Neither Autocracy Nor Democracy but Ethnocracy:
Citizens, Expatriates and the socio-Political System in Kuwait." In Paul Dresch and
James Piscatori eds., Monarchies and Nations: Globalisation and Identity in the
Arab States of the Gulf. London: I.B. Tauris, pp. 114-135.
Messiri, Sawsan el-. 1978. Ibn al-Balad: A Concept of Egyptian Identity. Leiden: E.J.
Brill.
Shryock, Andrew. 1997. Nationalism and the Genealogical Imagination: Oral History
and Textual Authority in Tribal Jordan. Berkeley : University of California Press.
ETHNICITY AND THE NATION-STATE
Barth, Fredrik ed. 1969. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of
Culture Difference. Boston: Little, Brown. (Barth's chapter)
Ghosh, Amitav. 1993. In an Antique Land. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1993.
Longva, Anh Nga. 1997. Walls Built on Sand: Migration, Exclusion, and Society in
Kuwait. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.
Shammas, Anton. 1988. Arabesques. New York: Harper and Row.
Simmel, Georg. 1967. "The Stranger." In Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg
Simmel. Tr. and ed. Kurt Wolff. New York: The Free Press.
Weber, Max. 1961. "Ethnic groups." In Max Weber, Economy and Society: An
Outline of Interpretive Sociology (ed. Guenther Roth and Claus Wittlich. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1978.
"GLOBALIZATION," THE STATE AND NEO-LIBERALISM
Elyachar, Julia. 2005. Markets of Dispossession: NGOs, Economic Development, and

the State in Cairo. Durham: Duke University Press.
Salamandra,Christa. 2004. A New Old Damascus: Authenticity and Distinction in
Urban Syria. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.
Winegar, Jessica. 2006. Creative Reckonings: The Politics of Art and Culture in
Contemporary Egypt. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Paper 10. Viii
SHORT-TERM FURTHER SUBJECT APPROVED BY THE FACULTY

BOARD
HEBREW
Introduction
Oxford has been a world centre for the study of Hebrew since Henry VIII established
the Regius Professorship of Hebrew in 1546. There are unrivalled collections of
Hebrew manuscripts and printed books in the Bodleian Library which attract a steady
stream of visitors from all over the world. Outstanding scholars have held a number of
different positions in Hebrew Studies in the University, and students of many
nationalities come to Oxford for both undergraduate and graduate studies in the field.
Teaching Staff
Undergraduates are taught by a large group of specialists, whether members of the

University’s Unit in Hebrew and Jewish Studies, university post-holders in closely
related subjects such as Aramaic, or post-doctoral researchers who may be in Oxford
for a number of years. Those principally involved with teaching of the undergraduate
course at present are:
 Dr Jordan Finkin (St Cross College)

Cowley Lecturer in Post-Biblical Hebrew literature
 Dr Miri Freud-Kandel (Wolfson College)
Modern Judaism
 Professor Martin Goodman (Wolfson College)
Professor of Jewish Studies: Jewish history in the Second-Temple and
Talmudic periods
 Dr David Rechter (St. Antony’s College)
University Research Lecturer: Modern Jewish History.
 Dr Alison Salvesen (Mansfield College)
University Research Lecturer: Textual criticism of the Bible; Syriac; Aramaic
 Dr. Raffaella Del Sarto (St. Antony’s College)
Israel Studies
 Dr. Adam Silverstein (Queen’s College)
Jewish-Muslim Relations
 Dr Katherine Southwood
Kennicott Fellow in Hebrew
 Dr David Taylor (Wolfson College)
Lecturer in Aramaic and Syriac
 Dr Joanna Weinberg (Exeter College)
Reader in Hebrew and Jewish Studies:
Rabbinic and medieval Hebrew literature
 Professor Hugh Williamson (Christ Church):
Regius Professor of Hebrew: Biblical Hebrew language, literature and history
 Mr. Gil Zahavi
Instructor in Modern Hebrew
Year Abroad
If you are taking Hebrew as part of your EMEL course you are able to spend a year at
the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where there is a course specially designed for
foreign students. If you are spending your year abroad in a country of your European
language, you are encouraged to take a summer course in Hebrew at any one of a
number of universities in Israel which offer special summer courses for foreign
students. It is also possible to spend half a year in each country.
Guidance about preparing for the year abroad and help with applying for an appropriate
course will be provided by Dr. Finkin or Mr. Zahavi. It is advisable to discuss these
matters with them in good time, so that they are aware of your intentions.
Hebrew in EMEL: a general description
When Hebrew is combined with a modern European language (EMEL) it is normal to

focus on Hebrew in the early stages, since this is likely to be least familiar; thereafter,
the two languages are accorded roughly equal attention. Elementary Biblical and
Modern Hebrew are taught in the first three terms for Prelims. Similarly, two papers
must be offered in the European language. In practice, most people doing this course
will already have a good A-level in the European language but very little knowledge of
Hebrew, so that it may be necessary to spend more time on Hebrew to start with.
Despite this, however, both sides of the course have to be kept in play, so that it is very
demanding, especially in the first term.
Course Outlines
Prelims
For EMEL students the first three terms of the course comprise intensive class
instruction in the Hebrew language, both Biblical and Modern. The aim is to cover the
basic grammar in the first term and to consolidate this in the next two terms, when
simple texts in each form of the language are also taught. This is a demanding goal, but
essential in order to achieve a reading ability which will stand you in good stead for the
rest of the course. There are three class hours a week in each form of the language, and
you will be expected to prepare carefully for each. Written exercises are set regularly,
and there is some provision for individual tutorials to iron out difficulties or questions
and to return your written work.
Two papers are set for Prelims, taken at the end of the third term. The easiest way to
see exactly what to expect is to look at some past papers, which are available on-line
and also kept in bound volumes in the Oriental Institute library. The form of papers will
not vary from one year to the next without notice being given in advance by the
examiners.
1. The first paper is on the set texts, which will have been taught. The following are
the texts for 2009-10.
Genesis 12, 15, 17, 22
Deuteronomy 5-6
1 Kings 17-19
S. Y. Agnon, Sippurim ve’aggadot (Schocken 1962): “Ma’ase ha-ez” (93-95)

Hanan Hever and Moshe Ron, eds., 50 Yisra’elim ketsartsarim (Bene Brak: Hasifriyah
Hahadashah, 1999)
Aharon Apelfeld, “Achsaniyah” (124-127)
Yehuda Amichai, Achshav ba-ra’ash (Schocken 1975): “Haval. Hayinu amtsa’ah
tovah” (56-57)
Yona Volakh, Tat hakarah niftahat kemo menifah (Ha-sifriya ha-hadasha le-shira
1992): “Yonatan” (9)
T. Carmi, ed. The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse: Avraham ben Yitshak, “Ashrei ha-
zor’im” (522); Shaul Tshernikhovsky, “Ayit, ayit al harayikh” (517-518)
The paper is in two sections, and you are required to answer all the questions:
Section A, Biblical
(i) One Hebrew passage for translation and comment on the language and
grammar.
(ii) One Hebrew passage for pointing.
Section B, Modern
(i) Hebrew passages for translation.
2. The second paper is on grammar, and again all the questions must be attempted:
(i) 5 questions on specific grammatical topics in Biblical Hebrew

(ii) One passage for translation from English into pointed Biblical Hebrew
(iii) One passage for translation from Modern Hebrew into English
A prize, the Junior Pusey and Ellerton Prize, may be awarded to candidates who
perform particularly well in Biblical Hebrew in Prelims. In the unlikely event of failure,
it is possible to resit the paper(s) in question the following term. You have to pass
Prelims, however, before being allowed to proceed to Finals.
After Prelims, the course is divided roughly half-and-half between the two languages,
but you will need to choose whether to give slightly greater weight to Hebrew or to the
other language. For those who choose the former, five papers in Hebrew must be
offered, together with an extended essay on a topic bridging your European language
and Hebrew. The aim of the two courses is to achieve a high level of competence in the
handling of Hebrew texts from all periods, not just to translate them but to be able to
discuss them from a wide range of perspectives, stretching all the way from language
and textual criticism to literary and historical appreciation. For this reason attention is
given to developing knowledge of the necessary historical and cultural background of
the texts.
This is the course if you are taking Hebrew as your first subject (List B in the Grey
Book):
In Finals, the following five papers must be offered:
6. Hebrew composition and unprepared translation
In this paper you have to translate one passage into Hebrew and two from
Hebrew into English. For the first question you can choose whether to tackle a
passage for translation into Biblical or Modern Hebrew. For the second, there are
passges in Biblical, Rabbinic and Modern hebrew, and you have to choose two
out of these three for translation into English.
Teaching for the Biblical Hebrew option is provided in graded weekly classes
throughout the course, which students would do well to attend, whatever their
ultimate choice proves to be. For the other periods, teaching will be provided in
tutorials if requested.
7. Prepared texts I: Biblical texts
The specified texts for this and all other such papers are available in the B.A. in
Hebrew Handbook on the faculty web site. You should make sure that you
have the list relevant to the year in which you will sit your examinations, as
changes are sometimes introduced. It is advisable to check this with your
teachers.
The Biblical texts are in two groups, one for translation and detailed comment,
the other for translation only. The thinking behind this is that on the one hand you
need to learn the basic methods of modern textual study of a Biblical text,
including textual criticism, comparative philology and necessary historical and
literary criticism. Texts in this group are all taught in lectures, where the various
tools available and proper critical methods are introduced. On the other hand,
only a limited amount of text can be studied in this way in the time available, and
we want you to have read as widely as possible in the Hebrew Bible by the end of
the course; hence the second group of texts, ‘for translation only’. Some of these
are also taught in class, but you will be expected to prepare the others on your
own, with tutorial help if necessary on any particular problems. The exam also
includes one short essay on more general topics arising from the texts.
Preparation for this is undertaken by a tutorial essay each term on the text which
you are then studying.
Recommended Introductory Reading
J. Weingreen, A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew

R.J. Coggins, Introducing the Old Testament
K. Kenyon and R. Moorey, The Bible and Recent Archaeology
J. Rogerson and P. Davies, The Old Testament World
The following paragraphs offer some guidance on the different types of question
included in this paper:
Commenting on Biblical Texts
(FHS Papers 2 and 6; subsidiary Hebrew, papers 2 and 3)
1) ‘Translate with full annotation’
Detailed annotation deals with all aspects of a text — background, literary context, literary
form, language, textual criticism, and so on. Only texts from group (a) will be set. (NB In
subsid. Hebrew, the texts are not divided into groups; any text can be examined under any
of the three rubrics described here.)
2) ‘Translate with comments where necessary’
Necessary comments are directly concerned with the translation of a text; they do not
include general background information or discussion of the literary context and form of a
text. They should discuss briefly specific problems of text or language where there is
sufficient doubt for your translation to require some form of justification — for instance,
where there is doubt about the meaning of a word or phrase, or where there are major
textual variants, especially if you adopt them yourself. (Even if you do not, you should
remember that sometimes other scholars do because they find some problem in the MT,
and so this itself may require explanation.) Free translations of phrases which cannot be
translated literally into normal English may be annotated with a literal translation. Texts
may be set from any of those prescribed, (a) or (b).
3) ‘Comments on textual and linguistic problems’
Textual and linguistic comments deal with short passages that contain significant textual
and/or linguistic problems. They do not include general background information or other
general discussions unless these are directly relevant to textual and linguistic problems.
Students may translate the passage if this is helpful in discussing the problems, but
translation is not required. Passages from group (a) only will be set.
In all types of exercise, where variant readings or emendations are adopted, a translation of
the MT should be given in a footnote, with an explanation of why the variant reading is
preferred. Remember that you will often tell an examiner more about your knowledge of
Hebrew by setting out what is the problem with the text than by remembering a proposed
emendation. Standard abbreviations (e.g. MT, LXX) are perfectly acceptable.
8. Prepared Texts II: Rabbinic and Medieval Hebrew texts
The development of Hebrew in the post-biblical period is complex and

variegated, since many different Hebrews were written over the centuries. A
selection of texts (legal, philosophical and exegetical) from the rich field of
Hebrew literature of the post-Biblical/pre-modern period will be studied.
Students normally begin studying these texts in their third term when they have
mastered the fundamentals of Biblical Hebrew grammar and have acquired a
basic working vocabulary.
All texts are taught in lectures, where they are examined with attention not only
to grammar and translation but also to their style, content and historical
background. One tutorial hour is also arranged for each text, so that students have
the opportunity to explore the relevant literary and intellectual context. The
examination includes passages for translation and brief comment, as well as
essays on more general topics arising from the texts.
P. Alexander (ed.), Textual Sources for the Study of Judaism

M. Fishbane, Judaism: Revelations and Traditions
H. Maccoby, Early rabbinic Writing.
J.R. Marcus, The Jew in the Medieval World: a SourceBbook, 315-1791 with
introduction and updated bibliographies by Marc Saperstein (1999).
9. Prepared Texts III: Modern Hebrew literature
The Hebrew literary texts for this paper range from the late 19th century to the
present, and include fiction, poetry and essays. These texts are read and analysed
as literature rather than used as language exercises, although their language is
discussed as well. The majority of these texts are taught in class, but you will be
expected to prepare others, predominantly poetry, on your own, with tutorial help
if necessary, as with your Biblical texts. The historical and cultural background
of the texts is also discussed, together with relevant critical and theoretical works.
Your examination will consist of passages for translation from some of your
literary texts, passages for comment, and essays on the texts and on the history
and development of modern Hebrew literature.
S. Halkin, Modern Hebrew Literature

Leon Yudkin, Beyond Sequence: Current Israeli Fiction
Gershon Shaked, Modern Hebrew Fiction
10. General paper: language, history, religion and culture
The aim of this paper is to draw together the whole course in Hebrew studies,
giving you the chance to connect one aspect of the subject to another and/or to
reflect on wider issues arising from the detailed study of the particular periods
which interest you most.
The paper is currently in four sections (ancient, medieval, modern, and a final
section which cuts across all periods), with about six questions in each section.
You are required to answer four questions, selecting questions from at least two
sections.
This is the course if you are taking the European language as your first subject
(List A in the Grey Book):
In Finals the following four papers must be offered (for details see above):
7. Hebrew composition and unprepared translation
8, 9 Two papers out of the following three:
(i) Prepared texts I. Biblical texts

(ii) Prepared Texts II. Rabbinic and Medieval Hebrew texts
(iii) Prepared Texts III. Modern Hebrew literature
10. General paper: language history, religion and culture

PERSIAN
Introduction
This course aims:
1. To give you a thorough grounding in written and spoken Persian.
2. To provide you with a detailed knowledge of selected literary texts in both

classical and modern Persian.
3. To develop in general your skills of description, interpretation and analysis of

literary, historical, religious and cultural material.
In Years 3 and 4, you will broaden and deepen your command of written and spoken
Persian and you will begin to acquire a specialized knowledge of selected aspects of
and themes in Persian literature. You will study both classical and modern texts. You
will have the opportunity to design your bridging essay, with the advice of your tutors,
to suit your own interests and enthusiasms. With Persian as either your first or your
second subject you will study classical and modern texts.
By the time you graduate you will have acquired a range of expertise. Linguistic
proficiency and knowledge of Persian literature and culture may lead some towards a
variety of jobs connected with the region, such as diplomacy, journalism, broadcasting,
banking, and business. This degree also provides an excellent foundation for those who
wish to extend their studies to the Masters level, and beyond.
Teaching Staff
Professor Edmund Herzig, Wadham College, Soudavar Professor of Persian Studies

Dr Sima Orsini, Instructor in Persian
Dr Stephanie Cronin Departmental Lecturer in Modern Iranian History
Mr Mohammad Javed Ardalan Instructor in Persian
The Year Abroad
You will spend a part of Year 2 (usually September to June) studying Persian in Iran,
on a course approved by the Faculty Board. Most students combine the year in Iran
with vacations spent studying in a country where their European language is spoken,
but there is room for some flexibility in balancing the periods spent studying each of
your two languages. For the Persian part of the year we recommend that you study in
Tehran, although some students have instead studied at the University of Isfahan.
Information on the centres is available from the teaching staff, who will provide
briefings and information in the course of year 1. Reports from returning students will
give an idea of the year abroad experience from a student perspective. You must
finalise plans for your year abroad early in Trinity Term, Year 1. The co-ordinator for
the year abroad is Professor Edmund Herzig
Accommodation
Usually the students are given a chance to stay in the British Institute of Persian Studies
(www.bips.ac.uk) for a relatively short initial period after their arrival to Teheran
before they find permanent accommodation, preferably with Iranian families.
NB Given the current unsettled political climate in Iran and the state of diplomatic
relations between Iran and the United Kingdom, it may prove to be impossible to
organize the year abroad in Iran in the usual way in 2009/10 and 2010/11. We will
continue to monitor the situation and decide by the start of Hilary Term 2010 what to
recommend in the way of study abroad for Persianists matriculating in MT 2009.
Course Outlines
Prelims
Prelims in Persian and in your European language are taken at the end of your third
term (Trinity Term, Year 1).
The Persian Prelims consist of two papers:
1. Grammar and translation into Persian.
2. Translation of Persian texts into English. These are a selection of modern Persian
prose, most of which will have been read and discussed in class.
The first three terms (Michaelmas, Hilary and Trinity Terms, Year 1) are devoted to
preparation for these examinations. There is normally up to seven hours of Persian
language instruction each week, and a considerable amount of work is set each week to
be completed in your own time.
In years 3 and 4 you will work towards you Finals, developing your knowledge of
written and spoken Persian and preparing for the papers in Persian literature through a
combination of lecture, classes and tutorials.
This is the course outline if you take Persian as your first subject (List B):
You will take the following six papers:
6. Persian Prose Composition and Unprepared Translation
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Throughout Years 3 and 4, prose and translation classes are
given in preparation for this paper. Students normally are expected to write a weekly
prose (translation from English into Persian), which will then be discussed in a small
class or tutorial with the Persian Instructor. Unseen translation classes (Persian into
English) introduce students to a range of different kinds of Persian prose style, as the
passages set in the FHS examinations are drawn from modern fiction, literary criticism,
journalism, historical and philosophical writing, and politics.
7 – 9. Three out of the five following papers:
(i) Classical Persian Poetry: Lyric Genres
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: This paper is designed to provide a knowledge of the Persian

tradition of lyric poetry (panegyric, homiletic poetry, love lyric, mystical lyric) through
the close reading of a variety of texts by poets of different periods and styles,
accompanied by a discussion of the cultural and political contexts of the poems and an
analysis of their style, structure, and other literary features. You will be expected to
prepare the texts in your own time so that there will be ample time for in-depth
discussion in class. You will also do a considerable amount of outside reading, and will
be expected to write analytical essays on various topics related to the texts. Teaching
for this paper will involve both text-reading classes students and tutorials.
There will be a single three-hour written exam. 50% of the mark will be for questions
involving translation of and commentary on the set texts. 50% of the mark well be for
essay questions. See the examination conventions for more detail.
M. Aminrazavi, The Wine of Wisdom. The Life, Poetry and Philosophy of Omar
Khayyam, Oxford, 2005.
A.J.Arberry, Fifty poems of Hafez, Cambridge, 1947 (1st edition, CUP), 2004 (reprinted
and digitized, Routledge Curzon).
F. de Blois, Persian literature: a bio-bibliographical survey, vol.5, pt.2: Poetry ca. AD

1100 to 1225. London 1994.
C.E. Bosworth, The Ghaznavids. Edinburgh, 1963.
E.G.Browne, A Literary history of Persia. 4 vols. Cambridge 1928 (1st ed. 1904-1924).
J.T.P de Bruijn, Persian Sufi Poetry, Richmond, 1997.
The Cambridge history of Iran, vols 4 and 5, Cambridge, 1968 and 1975. Especially
vol. 4, chapter 19 “The rise of the new Persian literature” (by G.Lazard); vol. 5, chapter
8 “Poets and prose writers of the late Saljuq and Mongol periods” (by J.Rypka).
Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), article ‘Iran: Literature’, (available online from the
University network).
Encyclopaedia Iranica, online: http://www.iranica.com/newsite/.

H. Katouzian,. Sa‘di. The poet of life, love and compassion. Oxford, 2006.
Meisami, J.S., Medieval Persian Court Poetry, Princeton, 1987.
Meisami, J.S., ‘Poetic Microcosms: The Persian Qasida to the End of the Twelfth
Century’, in Qasida Poetry in Islamic Asia and Africa, ed. S. Sperl and C. Shackle,
Leiden 1996, 1: 137-82; 2: 154-69, 429-33.
Nizami ‘Arudi Samarqandi, Chahar Maqala, or Four Discourses, trans. E.G. Browne,
Hertford, 1899; London: Gibb memorial series, 1921 (first edition).
Rypka, J., History of Iranian literature. Dordrecht 1968.
Sa‘di, Golistan or Flower-garden. Transl. by J.Ross. London, 1823 (1st ed.)
Tetley, G.E., The Ghaznavid and Seljuq Turks. Poetry as a source for Iranian History.
London-NY: Routledge, 2009.
Thackston, W., The millennium of Persian poetry. Bethesda, 1994.
Persian Literature, ed. E.Yarshater. New York, 1988.
(ii) Classical Persian Poetry: Narrative Genres
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: This paper is designed to provide a knowledge of the various

narrative genres of Persian poetry, including epic, didactic/homiletic, romance, and
mystical. A close reading of selections from a variety of representative texts by poets of
different periods and styles is accompanied by a discussion of the cultural and political
contexts of the poems and an analysis of their style, structure, and other literary
features. Special attention is paid to the use of story-telling techniques in the different
genres. Students will be expected to prepare the texts in their own time so that there
will be ample time for in-depth discussion in class. They will also do a considerable
amount of outside reading, and will be expected to write analytical essays on various
topics related to the texts. Teaching for this paper will involve both text-reading classes
students and tutorials.
RECOMMENDED INTRODUCTORY READING
Arberry, A.J, Classical Persian literature. London 1958.
de Bruijn, J.T.P., Of Piety and Poetry: The Interaction of Religion and Literature in
the Life and Works of Hakim Sana’i of Ghazna. Leiden, 1983.
Bürgel, Ch., The feather of Simurgh. New York, 1988.
Davis, D., Epic and Sedition, The Case of Ferdowsi’s Shah-nameh, Fayetteville, 1992.
Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd edn), article ‘Iran: Literature’.
Abolqasem Firdowsi, Shahnama. The Persian Book of Kings. Trans. by D. Davis with a
foreward by A. Nafisi. Penguin Classic, 2006 (1st ed.).
Fakhr ad-Din Gurgani, Vis-u Ramin. Trans. by G.Morrison. New York 1972.
Fakhraddin Gorgani, Vis and Ramin. Trans. by Dick Davis. Washington, 2008.
Lewis, F.D., Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teaching and Poetry of
Jalâl al-Din Rumi. Oxford, 2000.
The Mathnavi by Jalal ad-Din Rumi. Gibb Memorial series. 8 vols. Trans. and ed. by
R.A.Nickolson. London 1924-40.
Meisami, J.S,. Medieval Persian court poetry. Princeton 1987. Especially chapters 1, 2,
6.
Thackston, W., A Millennium of Classical Persian Poetry: A guide to the reading &
understanding of Persian poetry from the tenth to the twentieth century. Bethesda,
1994.
(iii) Classical Persian Prose
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: This course is designed to present students with a wide

selection from various types of medieval Persian prose writing, ranging from historical,
ethical, religious and biographical writing to belles-lettres. A close reading of a variety
of representative texts by writers of different periods and styles is accompanied by a
discussion of their cultural and political contexts and an analysis of their style,
structure, and other literary features. Students will be expected to prepare the texts in
their own time so that there will be ample time for in-depth discussion in class. They
will also do a considerable amount of outside reading, and will be expected to write
analytical essays on various topics related to the texts. Teaching for this paper will
involve both text-reading classes students and tutorials.
Kaykavus b. Iskandar, Qabusnama (A Mirror for Princes). Trans. by R.Levy. New

York, 1951.
Meisami, J.S., Persian Historiography to the End of the Twelfth Century, Edinburgh,
1999.
Abu Bakr Muhammad Narshakhi, History of Bukhara. Trans. by R. Frye. Cambridge,

MA, 1954.
The Gulistan of Sadi: The Rose garden of Shekh Muslihu’d-din Sadi of Shiraz. Trans.
by E. B. Eastwick; with a preface, and a life of the author, introd. by Indris Shah,
London, 1996.
Nizami ‘Aruzi Samarqandi, Chahar Maqala, Four Discourses. Trans. by E.G. Browne.
Gibb memorial series. London, 1921.
Ziya’u’d-Din Nakhshabi, Tales of Parrot. Trans. and ed. by M.F.Simsar. Graz, 1978.
Nizam al-Mulk, The book of Government or rules for kings (the Siyasat-nama or Siyar
al-Muluk). Trans. by H.Darke. New Haven 1960.
Peacock, A.C.S., Bal‘ami’s Tarikhnamah, London, 2007.
(iv) Modern Persian Literature
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: These texts represent some of the most interesting and
important examples of twentieth-century Persian prose and poetry. A detailed, accurate
knowledge of the selected texts is expected, as well as an ability to place them in the
wider context of modern Persian literature. Essays will be written on the literary,
political, and historical background, as well as on particular writers, works, and general
literary themes. Teaching for this paper will involve both text-reading classes students
and tutorials.

Essays on Nima Yushij. Animating modernism and Persian poetry, ed. by A.K. Hakkak
and K. Talattof. Leiden-Boston, 2004.
False Dawn. Persian poems by N. Naderpour, introd. and trans. by M.G. Hillmann,
afterword by L. Alishan. Austin, 1986.
Hillmann, M.C., A Lonely Woman: Forugh Farrokhzad and Her Poetry, Washington,
1987.
Kamshad, H., Modern Persian Prose Literature, Cambridge, 1966.
Karimi-Hakkak, A., An Anthology of Modern Persian Poetry, Boulder, 1978.
Katouzian, H., Sadeq Hedayat: the life and literature of an Iranian writer,
London, 1991.
Mafie, F., Nader Naderpour. Iranian poet, thinker and patriot. NY, 2003.
Naficy, M., Modernism and Ideology in Persian literature. A return to nature in the
poetry of Nima Yushij. Lenham-NY-Oxford, 1997.
Once a Dewdrop. Essays on the Poetry of Parvin E‘tesami, ed. with introd. by H.
Moayyad. Costa Mesa, 1994.
Persian literature, ed. by E. Yarshater, E., New York, 1998.

Sadeq Chubak: An Anthology, introd. and ed. by F.R.C. Bagley-NY, 1982.
Sadeq Hedayat: An Anthology, ed. by E. Yarshater. Boulder, 1979.
Sohrab Sepehri, The Water’s Footfall. Selected poems, trans. by Ismail Salami and
Abbas Zahedi, introd. By M. Turner. Tehran, 1382/2004.
(v) Modern Persian Social and Political Writing
SET TEXTS:
Selected texts (copies are available from the Faculty Office in the Oriental Institute).
BRIEF DESCRIPTION:
Students will study examples of modern Persian social and political writing, learning
both to read and comprehend the texts themselves and to understand the context of
particular writers and works. The texts are selected from a number of modern thinkers,
clerics and statesmen. The current list comprises: Mohammad Mosaddeq, Ayatollah
Sayyed Abo'l-Qasem Kashani, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Ayatollah Sayyed
Ruhollah Khomayni, Mehdi Bazargan, Abo'l-Hasan Bani-Sadr, the newspaper article:
'Iran va este'mar sorkh va siyah', Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamene'i, Ayatollah Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hojjatoleslam Sayyed Mohammad Khatami, Ayatollah Hosayn
Ali Montazeri. All of the texts have been collected in an unpublished special edition:
'Persian Texts for Modern Social and Political Writing', Second Edition, October 2009,
Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. This is available for purchase from
the Faculty Office.

Abrahamian, Ervand, A History of Modern Iran, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2008.
Ansari, Ali, Modern Iran: The Pahlavis and after, 2nd edition, London: Longman,
2007.
Avery, Peter; Hambly, Gavin; Melville, Charles (eds.), The Cambridge History of Iran,
volume 7: From Nadir Shah to the Islamic Republic, Cambridge: CUP, 1991;
chapters 7, 20, 21.
Beeman, William O., The "Great Satan" vs. the "Mad Mullahs": How the United States
and Iran Demonize each other, Chicago and London: University of Chicago
Press, 2008; especially chapters 1 'Discourse and Demonization', and 4
'Discourse and Rhetoric'.
de Groot, Joanna, Religion, Culture and Politics in Iran: From the Qajars to Khomeini,
London, I.B. Tauris, 2007; especially chapter 5 'A story of language, symbol
and discourse'.
Gheissari, Ali and Vali Nasr, Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty,
Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Kamrava, Mehran, Iran's Intellectual Revolution, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2008.
Kashani-Sabet, Firoozeh, ‘Cultures of Iranianness: The Evolving Polemic of Iranian
Nationalism’, in Nikkie R. Keddie and Rudi Matthee (eds.), Iran and the
Surrounding World: Interactions in Culture and Cultural Politics, Seattle WA
and London: Washington UP, 2002, pp. 232-53.
Keddie, Nikki, Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution, updated edition, New
Haven and London: Yale UP, 2006.
Milani, Mohsen, The Making of Iran’s Islamic Revolution: From Monarchy to Islamic
Republic, second edition, Boulder Colorado: Westview Press, 1994.
Mottahedeh, Roy, The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran, London,
Chatto and Windus, 1986.
Ridgeon, Lloyd (ed.), Religion and Politics in Modern Iran: A Reader London and
New York: I.B. Tauris, 2005.
10. Persian History and Culture: General Questions
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: One of the following papers:
(i) The transition from Sasanian to Islamic Persia (up to the tenth century AD)
(ii) Iranian history 1501-1722
(iii) Iranian history from the rise of the Qajars to the end of the Constitutional
Revolution
(iv) Iranian history 1921-1979
This is a general history paper including questions on political, economic, social and
cultural history. Each option covers a distinctive and important period in Persian
history. Students will be expected to show thorough knowledge of the subject and the
ability to discuss and interpret major themes in the history of the period in a lucid and
intelligent manner.
(i) Frye, R.N., The Golden Age of Persia, London, 1975.

Morony, M.G., Iraq after the Muslim Conquest. Princeton, 1984.
(ii) Morgan, D. Medieval Persia 1040-1797, London, 1988.
Newman, A.J., Safavid Iran, London, 2006.
Savory, R., Iran under the Safavids. Cambridge, 1980.
(iii-iv) Abrahamian, E. Iran between Two Revolutions, Princeton, 1982.
Ansari, A., Modern Iran since 1921, London, 2003.
Keddie, N.R., Modern Iran, updated edition, New Haven, 2006.
Milani, M.M., The Making of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, second edition,
Boulder, 1994.
11. Spoken Persian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: It will be expected that a good command of spoken Persian

will have been gained during the period abroad, and the purpose of the oral classes
provided at Oxford is to improve and practise the skills necessary for the oral
examination.
This is the course outline if you take the European language as the first subject (List A):
You will take the following five papers. For details of Papers 7, 10, 11 and options (ii),
(iii), and (iv), see the descriptions given above under the same paper titles.
7. Persian Prose Composition and Unprepared Translation
8, 9. Two out of the following papers:

(i) Classical Persian Poetry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION:
This paper is designed to provide a knowledge of the basic genres of Persian lyric and
narrative poetry and of their modes—panegyric, love poetry, epic, romance, homiletic,
didactic and mystical poetry—through a close reading of selected texts, accompanied by a
discussion of the cultural and political contexts of the poems and analysis of their style,
structure, and other literary features. You will be expected to prepare the texts in your own
time so that there will be ample time for in-depth discussion in class. You will also do a
considerable amount of outside reading, and will be expected to write analytical essays on
topics related to the texts.
M. Aminrazavi, The Wine of Wisdom. The Life, Poetry and Philosophy of Omar
Khayyam, Oxford, 2005.
A.J.Arberry, Fifty poems of Hafez, Cambridge, 1947 (1st edition, CUP), 2004 (reprinted
and digitized, Routledge Curzon).
Arberry, A.J, Classical Persian literature. London 1958.
de Blois, F., Persian literature: a bio-bibliographical survey, vol.5, pt.2: Poetry ca. AD
1100 to 1225. London 1994.
C.E. Bosworth, The Ghaznavids. Edinburgh, 1963.
E.G.Browne, A Literary history of Persia. 4 vols. Cambridge 1928 (1st ed. 1904-1924).
de Bruijn, J.T.P., Of Piety and Poetry: The Interaction of Religion and Literature in
the Life and Works of Hakim Sana’i of Ghazna. Leiden, 1983.
J.T.P de Bruijn, Persian Sufi Poetry, Richmond, 1997.
Bürgel, Ch., The feather of Simurgh. New York, 1988.
The Cambridge history of Iran, vols 4 and 5, Cambridge, 1968 and 1975. Especially
vol. 4, chapter 19 “The rise of the new Persian literature” (by G.Lazard); vol. 5, chapter
8 “Poets and prose writers of the late Saljuq and Mongol periods” (by J.Rypka).
Davis, D., Epic and Sedition, The Case of Ferdowsi’s Shah-nameh, Fayetteville, 1992.
Encyclopaedia Iranica, online: http://www.iranica.com/newsite/.

Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), article ‘Iran: Literature’, (available online from the
University network).
Abolqasem Firdowsi, Shahnama. The Persian Book of Kings. Trans. by D. Davis with a
foreward by A. Nafisi. Penguin Classic, 2006 (1st ed.).
Fakhr ad-Din Gurgani, Vis-u Ramin. Trans. by G.Morrison. New York 1972.
Fakhraddin Gorgani, Vis and Ramin. Trans. by Dick Davis. Washington, 2008.
H. Katouzian,. Sa‘di. The poet of life, love and compassion. Oxford, 2006.
Lewis, F.D., Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teaching and Poetry of
Jalâl al-Din Rumi. Oxford, 2000.
The Mathnavi by Jalal ad-Din Rumi. Gibb Memorial series. 8 vols. Trans. and ed. by
R.A.Nickolson. London 1924-40.
Meisami, J.S,. Medieval Persian court poetry. Princeton 1987. Especially chapters 1, 2,
6.
Meisami, J.S., Medieval Persian Court Poetry, Princeton, 1987.
Nizami ‘Arudi Samarqandi, Chahar Maqala, or Four Discourses, trans. E.G. Browne,
Hertford, 1899; London: Gibb memorial series, 1921 (first edition).

Sa‘di, Golistan or Flower-garden. Transl. by J.Ross. London, 1823 (1st ed.)
Tetley, G.E., The Ghaznavid and Seljuq Turks. Poetry as a source for Iranian History.
London-NY: Routledge, 2009.
Thackston, W., A Millennium of Classical Persian Poetry: A guide to the reading &
understanding of Persian poetry from the tenth to the twentieth century. Bethesda,
1994.
(ii) Classical Persian Prose
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: This course is designed to present students with a wide

selection from various types of medieval Persian prose writing, ranging from historical,
ethical, religious and biographical writing to belles-lettres. A close reading of a variety
of representative texts by writers of different periods and styles is accompanied by a
discussion of their cultural and political contexts and an analysis of their style,
structure, and other literary features. Students will be expected to prepare the texts in
their own time so that there will be ample time for in-depth discussion in class. They
will also do a considerable amount of outside reading, and will be expected to write
analytical essays on various topics related to the texts. Teaching for this paper will
involve both text-reading classes students and tutorials.
Kaykavus b. Iskandar, Qabusnama (A Mirror for Princes). Trans. by R.Levy. New

York, 1951.
Meisami, J.S., Persian Historiography to the End of the Twelfth Century, Edinburgh,
1999.
Abu Bakr Muhammad Narshakhi, History of Bukhara. Trans. by R. Frye. Cambridge,

MA, 1954.
The Gulistan of Sadi: The Rose garden of Shekh Muslihu’d-din Sadi of Shiraz. Trans.
by E. B. Eastwick; with a preface, and a life of the author, introd. by Indris Shah,
London, 1996.
Nizami ‘Aruzi Samarqandi, Chahar Maqala, Four Discourses. Trans. by E.G. Browne.
Gibb memorial series. London, 1921.
Ziya’u’d-Din Nakhshabi, Tales of Parrot. Trans. and ed. by M.F.Simsar. Graz, 1978.
Nizam al-Mulk, The book of Government or rules for kings (the Siyasat-nama or Siyar
al-Muluk). Trans. by H.Darke. New Haven 1960.
Peacock, A.C.S., Bal‘ami’s Tarikhnamah, London, 2007.
(iii) Modern Persian Literature
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: These texts represent some of the most interesting and
important examples of twentieth-century Persian prose and poetry. A detailed, accurate
knowledge of the selected texts is expected, as well as an ability to place them in the
wider context of modern Persian literature. Essays will be written on the literary,
political, and historical background, as well as on particular writers, works, and general
literary themes. Teaching for this paper will involve both text-reading classes students
and tutorials.
Essays on Nima Yushij. Animating modernism and Persian poetry, ed. by A.K. Hakkak
and K. Talattof. Leiden-Boston, 2004.
False Dawn. Persian poems by N. Naderpour, introd. and trans. by M.G. Hillmann,
afterword by L. Alishan. Austin, 1986.
Hillmann, M.C., A Lonely Woman: Forugh Farrokhzad and Her Poetry, Washington,
1987.
Kamshad, H., Modern Persian Prose Literature, Cambridge, 1966.
Karimi-Hakkak, A., An Anthology of Modern Persian Poetry, Boulder, 1978.
Katouzian, H., Sadeq Hedayat: the life and literature of an Iranian writer,
London, 1991.
Mafie, F., Nader Naderpour. Iranian poet, thinker and patriot. NY, 2003.
Naficy, M., Modernism and Ideology in Persian literature. A return to nature in the
poetry of Nima Yushij. Lenham-NY-Oxford, 1997.
Once a Dewdrop. Essays on the Poetry of Parvin E‘tesami, ed. with introd. by H.
Moayyad. Costa Mesa, 1994.
Persian literature, ed. by E. Yarshater, E., New York, 1998.

Sadeq Chubak: An Anthology, introd. and ed. by F.R.C. Bagley-NY, 1982.
Sadeq Hedayat: An Anthology, ed. by E. Yarshater. Boulder, 1979.
Sohrab Sepehri, The Water’s Footfall. Selected poems, trans. by Ismail Salami and
Abbas Zahedi, introd. By M. Turner. Tehran, 1382/2004.
(iv) Modern Persian Social and Political Writing

Abrahamian, Ervand, A History of Modern Iran, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2008.
Ansari, Ali, Modern Iran: The Pahlavis and after, 2nd edition, London: Longman,
2007.
Avery, Peter; Hambly, Gavin; Melville, Charles (eds.), The Cambridge History of Iran,
volume 7: From Nadir Shah to the Islamic Republic, Cambridge: CUP, 1991; chapters
7, 20, 21.
Beeman, William O., The "Great Satan" vs. the "Mad Mullahs": How the United States
and Iran Demonize each other, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press,
2008; especially chapters 1 'Discourse and Demonization', and 4 'Discourse and
Rhetoric'.
de Groot, Joanna, Religion, Culture and Politics in Iran: From the Qajars to Khomeini,
London, I.B. Tauris, 2007; especially chapter 5 'A story of language, symbol and
discourse'.
Gheissari, Ali and Vali Nasr, Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty,
Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Kamrava, Mehran, Iran's Intellectual Revolution, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2008.
Kashani-Sabet, Firoozeh, ‘Cultures of Iranianness: The Evolving Polemic of Iranian
Nationalism’, in Nikkie R. Keddie and Rudi Matthee (eds.), Iran and the Surrounding
World: Interactions in Culture and Cultural Politics, Seattle WA and London:
Washington UP, 2002, pp. 232-53.
Keddie, Nikki, Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution, updated edition, New
Haven and London: Yale UP, 2006.
Milani, Mohsen, The Making of Iran’s Islamic Revolution: From Monarchy to Islamic
Republic, second edition, Boulder Colorado: Westview Press, 1994.
Mottahedeh, Roy, The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran, London,
Chatto and Windus, 1986.
Ridgeon, Lloyd (ed.), Religion and Politics in Modern Iran: A Reader London and New
York: I.B. Tauris, 2005.
10. Persian History and Culture: General Questions
11. Spoken Persian (Oral)

TURKISH
Introduction
In order to understand the scope of the EMEL syllabuses in Turkish, a brief explanation
is needed of the relationship between Turkish and Ottoman. Ottoman is the name given
to the various forms of Turkish that were used in the Ottoman empire (1300-1922). The
only common characteristic of the different styles of Ottoman is that they were written
in the Arabic script. (This continued during the first few years of the Turkish Republic,
until the adoption of the Latin alphabet in 1928.) Early Ottoman texts, although
showing some lexical and grammatical differences from modern Turkish, tend to be
fairly simple in style. Middle and late Ottoman texts contain a high proportion of
Arabic and (in poetry and the more ornate prose) Persian vocabulary, and some
grammatical constructions copied from those languages. During the last century of the
Ottoman empire the general movement of modernizing reform brought with it a
movement for simplification and rationalization of the written language, and by the
beginning of the 20th century the rise of Turkish nationalism began to turn this
movement into a drive for linguistic purification. The official language reform
programme launched by Atatürk in the 1930’s took the project of purification much
further than most Ottoman reformers had envisaged, and this movement has been
largely ‘successful’, so that the Turkish of the last five decades or so is very different in
terms of vocabulary from that of even the early years of the Republic.
Both EMEL syllabuses involve the same amount of work on modern Turkish language
skills and on modern Turkish literature. Another component that is compulsory in the
five-paper syllabus (List A), and may also be taken in the six-paper syllabus (List B), is
the study of the political, intellectual and cultural transformation of Turkish society
from the late Ottoman times to the present day, through the medium of selected non-
literary texts, mainly essays and journalistic articles but including also some
documents. List B is intended for those who wish to go more deeply into the study of
the Ottoman world. It offers two papers not available in List A: one based on Ottoman
historical texts from the ‘classical’ period (1300-1700), and the other on early Turkish
and Ottoman literary texts from the period 1300-1900. If you opt to include in List A
the paper on political and cultural texts described above, then you add only one of these
further papers to complete your syllabus.
In the List B syllabus the majority of the Ottoman set texts are studied and examined in
the Arabic script. The List A syllabus, in which the Ottoman set texts are all post-1860,
offers a choice between two modes: one which involves learning the Arabic script, and
one in which a rather larger body of texts is studied, but all in Latin-script transcription.
Teaching staff
Dr Celia Kerslake, University Lecturer in Turkish (St Antony’s). Tel: (2)84741; Email:
celia.kerslake@orinst.ox.ac.uk (on leave 2009-10)
Dr Bilal Kırkıcı, Instructor in Turkish (Michaelmas Term 2009 and Hilary Term 2010).
Oriental Institute, Room 109. Tel. (2)78238; Email: bilal.kirkici@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Dr Laurent Mignon, Departmental Lecturer in Turkish. Oriental Institute, Room 106.
Tel. (2)78213; Email: laurent.mignon@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Ms Şenel Şimşek, Instructor in Turkish. Oriental Institute Room 109. Tel: (2)78238;
Email: senel.simsek@orinst.ox.ac.uk
The year abroad
Assuming that you decide to spend the major part of your year abroad in Turkey, there
are three institutions we particularly recommend, both of them in Istanbul. Istanbul is
unquestionably the most important city for undergraduates to get to know well, because
of its pre-eminent role in the cultural and intellectual life of Turkey from its conquest
by the Ottomans in 1453 right down to the present day. Your reading both of late
Ottoman history and of modern Turkish literature will be immeasurably enriched by a
close knowledge of the former imperial capital, still Turkey’s largest city and the centre
of its economic and cultural life. However, you should be aware that many
seismologists consider that Istanbul is likely to be affected by a major earthquake at
some time within the next thirty years or so. Suitable courses can be found also in other
Turkish cities.
(1) Boğaziçi University, Istanbul

http://www.intl.boun.edu.tr/?q=node/3
Boğaziçi University, which was founded as an American college in 1863 but has
been a Turkish state university since 1971, is one of the best universities in
Turkey, with a strong tradition of liberal scholarship, a wide range of student
activities, and a most beautiful campus situated on a wooded hillside overlooking
the Bosphorus. The medium of instruction here is normally English (except in the
Turkish Language and Literature Department), but the vast majority of the degree
students are Turkish, and Turkish is what is spoken outside the classroom.
The teaching and assessment is organized on a semester basis, as is the standard

pattern at Turkish universities; the first semester runs from late September to
mid-January, and the second from mid-February to the end of early June.
The Faculty of Oriental Studies has an agreement with the Faculty of Arts and
Sciences of Boğaziçi University under which undergraduates reading Turkish at
Oxford can enrol as ‘special students’ for one or two semesters at a reduced fee.
They are supervised by academics who are personally known to the teaching staff
at Oxford, and follow a curriculum of four or five courses per semester from
among those available to Boğaziçi undergraduates. Three of these courses are
likely to be in Turkish for Foreigners and elementary Ottoman Turkish, and
additional options may include an introduction to linguistics, modern Turkish
history or a period of Ottoman history. However, if you have entered Oxford
University with no prior knowledge of Turkish, the provision in Turkish for
Foreigners at Boğaziçi is not at the level of intensity that you are likely to need in
your first few months in the country. For students in this situation a few months’
intensive study at TÖMER or DİLMER (see below) is likely to be the most
efficient way to achieve fluency in everyday communication. If you are staying in
Turkey until the summer you will probably do best to transfer to Boğaziçi for the
second semester, to take advantage of the much richer academic provision that a
university can offer.
(2) The TÖMER language schools

http://www.tomer.ankara.edu.tr/english/index.html
TÖMER (Türkçe Öğretim Merkezi [‘Turkish Teaching Centre’]) is an institution
which originated in the Faculty of Arts of Ankara University, and has become a
semi-autonomous organization with branches all over Turkey. The largest and
probably the most reliable are those in Ankara and Istanbul. All branches operate
the same system of courses at twelve levels, following a common curriculum and
using the same textbooks. As there are no specific entry requirements, you are
likely to find yourself in classes with students from a very wide range of
countries and educational backgrounds. The teaching is given entirely in Turkish,
and there is a strong emphasis on communicative skills.
TÖMER courses are organised in a rolling programme of four-week terms that

run continuously throughout the year. Each level is completed in one term, with
20 hours of teaching per week and an examination at the end. If you are able to
start at the beginning of September, this will enable you to take a month’s break
in December and still complete four levels by the end of January.
(3) The DİLMER language school in Istanbul

http://www1.dilmer.com/
DİLMER (Dil Öğretim Merkezi /Language Teaching Center) is modelled on the

TÖMER pattern, with exactly the same hours per week and 4-week terms. But
DİLMER has only seven levels, which means that the structural material is
covered faster. In recent years student feedback from DİLMER has been rather
better than that from TÖMER.
Accommodation
The best way to acquire fluency in Turkish during your year abroad is to live with
Turkish people - who are rightly famed for their hospitality. One way of doing
this is to stay with a Turkish family, perhaps in return for providing help with
English to members of the household. Such an arrangement can be set up in
advance, with the assistance of teaching staff at Oxford using academic e-mail
networks. Another possibility is to share accommodation with Turkish students.
Bogaziçi University has a modern ‘superdorm', with individual study bedrooms
arranged in flats, which provides just such an opportunity. Alternatively, rented
accommodation can be found over the internet, or through local estate agencies.
Rents are considerably lower than in Oxford.
Course outlines
Prelims
The first three terms of your course are designed to give you a sound foundation in the
Turkish language, including some experience of reading authentic texts. The
examination comprises two written papers of 3 hours each:
1. Prepared and unprepared texts for translation from Turkish into English.
2. Turkish grammar and translation from English into Turkish.

You are expected to attend language classes up to 7-8 hours per week, and to work on
the course material systematically by yourself every day. You will be required to build
up a basic vocabulary, and to learn to handle all the basic grammatical structures during
these three terms. The teaching method combines grammatical exposition with oral
practice and conversation sessions. Written translation exercises are set on the material
covered each week. These are assessed and gone over in class. In the second half of the
year the prescribed texts for Paper 1 are read in detail. The set texts for Paper 1 consist
of some short poems, some traditional Nasrettin Hoca tales and three modern short
stories. Copies are available from the Faculty Office. All texts will be read in full in
class.
SET TEXTS: Orhan Veli, Bütün Şiirleri, İstanbul (12. basılış), 1973, pp. 73, 114, 186,
214, 196-7, 216; İlhami Soysal, 20. Yüzyıl Türk Şiiri Antolojisi, Ankara (3.
basım), 1988, pp. 179, 183; Erdoğan Tokmakçıoğlu, Bütün Yönleriyle Nasrettin
Hoca, Ankara 1981, pp. 88, 100, 135, 137, 162-3, 182; Aziz Nesin, ‘Sınır
Üstündeki Ev’. In Fil Hamdi (7. baskı, İstanbul 1982), pp.70-77; Aysel Özakın,
‘Berlin'de mi Yaşlanacağım?’ In Kanal Boyu, (İstanbul 1982), pp. 19-25; Erhan
Bener, ‘Bir Roman Kahramanı’. In Aşk-ı Muhabbet Sevda (İstanbul 1992), pp.
45-53.
Note: For FHS papers that require the study of set texts, the list of such texts is
finalized at the beginning of Hilary Term in the year before the examination. Your
teachers will provide you with the list of texts for the papers that they teach. With
effect from FHS 2011, lists of set texts for EMEL will also be published in the
Turkish FHS Handbook, available on the Oriental Studies Faculty website and the
list of set texts approved for examination in the following academic by the
Undergraduate Studies Committee will be published on the following webpage by
Friday of 3rd week, Hilary term:
http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/general/set_texts.html.
This is the course if you are taking Turkish as your first subject (List B):
You have to take the following six papers in FHS (numbered as in Examination
Regulations):
6. Unprepared translation from Ottoman and modern Turkish
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Translation of a wide range of Ottoman and modern Turkish

texts into English forms a major part of the work of the ‘set texts’ classes which you
will be attending several hours a week throughout Year 3. The detailed guidance on
translation strategies and techniques that you will receive in these classes should,
together with your own work on vocabulary learning, provide you with sufficient skills
and knowledge to tackle unseen translations with confidence, as least as far as modern
Turkish is concerned. You will also get ‘exam-type’ practice in modern unseen
translation in collections. As your overall exposure to Ottoman will have been less
extensive, in Hilary and Trinity Terms of Year 4 you will have a weekly session on
Ottoman unseen translation.
.
7. Translation into Turkish and essay in Turkish
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Your skills in translating from English into Turkish,

involving appropriate vocabulary choices in both semantic and stylistic terms,
grammatically correct sentence construction, and the linking of sentences
together in a way which is cohesive and which develops the argument as
required, will be built up gradually over this two-year period.
Essay writing in Turkish involves the same command of vocabulary, idiom and
style, but here, instead of the requirement to reflect the sense of an English source
text as accurately as possible you have the freedom - and the challenge - of
creating a Turkish text that reflects your own knowledge and perspective on a
given topic. The length of essay expected in the examination, and also in your
work for tutorials, is about 400 words. Essays are evaluated not just in terms of
linguistic skills but also as pieces of academic writing. That is to say, as in all
essay writing at Oxford you will be expected to develop a clear, strong argument
and to present appropriate evidence to support it. The topics set may relate
specifically to Turkey or to some aspect of Turkish life, or may reflect issues of
general political or cultural interest. The selection of topics for you to write
essays on for your tutor will be coordinated with the topics that you are working
on in Spoken Turkish classes, which in turn will have been the subject of
newspaper articles read in the language classes ‘Political and Cultural Articles’.
The living experience of Turkish that you will have acquired during your year
abroad will, of course, greatly assist you in the development of your writing
skills.
8, 9. TWO of the following options:
(a) Ottoman history and historical texts, 1300-1700.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: This paper introduces students to the major topics in Ottoman
history and historiography of the 14th-17th centuries through a close reading of
selected primary texts. Selections are from three Ottoman chronicles, a book of travels,
a reform treatise, an autobiographical essay, and a dream diary. You will learn about
the historical contexts these texts reflect and explore how the Ottoman authors
responded to significant developments in Ottoman history. Topics will include the
nature of the early Ottoman expansion and the ghaza thesis; the reconstruction of
Istanbul after the conquest; the late 16th-century transformations in the religio-
administrative system, the 1622 revolt that led to the execution of Sultan Osman, and
the experiences of a 17th-century Ottoman woman mystic.
The examination will contain passages from the set texts for translation and/or
comment, and also a choice of essay questions, some related to the texts themselves,
others more generally to the specified period of Ottoman history.
Faroqhi, S. Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire, New
York, 2000.
Finkel, C. Osman’s Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire 1300-1923, London,
2005.
Goffman, D. The Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe, Cambridge, 2002.
Imber, C. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Power, New York, 2002.
İnalcık H. The Ottoman Empire, The Classical Age 1300-1600, translated by Norman
Itzkowitz and Colin Imber, London, 1989, c1973.
Kafadar, C. Between Two Worlds, The Construction of the Ottoman State, Berkeley,
1995.
(b) Turkish and Ottoman literary texts, 1300-1900
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: This paper is designed to give you an insight into the world of
pre-modern Turkish literature, where the favoured genre was indisputably poetry, and
also into the processes of change that entered that world in the second half of the
nineteenth century. In early Anatolian Turkish poetry religious themes are dominant.
The highly sophisticated classical divan literature that developed as the Ottoman state
grew into an imperial power drew its inspiration from Persian court literature, and
specialized in lyric and panegyric poetry and versified romances. Alongside this a
vigorous tradition of popular poetry produced by itinerant âşık poets gives glimpses
into the lives and concerns of various sections of the wider population. You will also
read an example of narrative prose of an epic character. In the nineteenth century
increasing exposure to European influences caused Turkish writers to question many
aspects of their literary heritage. Included, therefore, in this paper are some examples of
the new poetry of the Servet-i Fünun group, which displays an individualism not seen
before.
The examination will contain translation, commentary and essay questions. In

commentary questions on poetry you will be expected to show knowledge of the
literary conventions within which poets worked, or (in the case of the early modern
texts) the aims and concerns of particular writers.
Andrews, W., Poetry’s Voice, Society’s Song: Ottoman Lyric Poetry, Seattle and
London, 1985.
Evin, A.O., Origins and Development of the Turkish Novel, Minneapolis, 1983.
Halman, T.S. (ed.), Turkey: From Empire to Nation, New York, 1973. (Review of
National Literatures.) (Chapters by T.S. Halman, J.R. Walsh, and R.C. Clark.)
Ostle, R. (ed.), Modern Literature in the Near and Middle East 1850-1970,
London, 1991. (Chapters 1 and 2.)
(c) Turkish history and thought in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The texts set for this paper comprise:
(i) selected excerpts from key constitutional documents of the 19th and 20th
centuries
(ii) an extract from the writings of the 19th-century statesman and historian
Cevdet Paşa;
(iii) an excerpt from Atatürk’s famous five-day speech of 1927;
(iv) selected writings on political and cultural issues, ranging chronologically
from the 1860’s to the 1990’s.
The purpose of this paper is to give you a good understanding of the processes of
political, social and intellectual change that were involved in the transformation
from a traditional, pre-national, multi-ethnic empire to the modern national
Republic of Turkey. As in the case of option (a), the reading of the set texts is
intended to provide insight into the historical conditions and movements that
produced them. Here too the examination will include passages from the set texts
for translation and/or comment, and also a choice of essay questions, some
focusing on the texts themselves, others on major historical topics relating to the
period in question.
Most of the texts in (i) - (iii) and some of those in (iv) are studied and examined
in the Arabic script. You will need to learn the Arabic alphabet before coming
back into residence at the beginning of Year 3. If you are taking List B you are
strongly advised to take the introductory Ottoman course as one of your options
at Boğaziçi University during your year abroad.
Ahmad, F., The Making of Modern Turkey. London, 1993.

Davison, R., Turkey: A Short History. 3rd edn. Huntingdon, 1998.
Heper, M. et al. (eds), Turkey and the West: Changing Political and Cultural
Identities. London, 1993. (Chapters 4, 5, 11.)
Lewis, B., The Emergence of Modern Turkey. 2nd edn. London, 1968.
Mango, A., Atatürk. London, 1999.
Poulton, H., Top Hat, Grey Wolf and Crescent: Turkish Nationalism and the
Turkish Republic, London, 1997.
Zürcher, E.J., Turkey: A Modern History. New revised edn. London, 2004.
10. Twentieth-century Turkish literary texts
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The texts set for this paper consist of selected short
stories and poetry spanning the whole of the twentieth century, from the ‘national
literature’ of the Young Turk era, through the social realism of the middle
decades of the century to the more individualistic explorations of the most recent
period. The detailed class study of the texts makes it possible for any linguistic
problems to be dealt with, and also for attention to be paid to the ways in which a
writer’s style and narrative technique contribute to the meaning of a work. The
texts are discussed both in terms of their literary qualities and, where relevant, in
relation to their historical or political context.
The examination will contain translation, commentary and essay questions.

In commentary questions on short stories you will be expected to bring out the
significance of a particular passage in relation to the work as a whole, and to
discuss issues such as style, narrative technique, point of view, and
characterization. Commentaries on poetry may involve comparisons between two
or more poems, and in all cases you are expected to be able to identify and
discuss the particular strategies that contribute to a poem’s overall effect. Essay
questions will focus on the set texts themselves, but will assume some knowledge
of their authors and of the historical, literary and ideological contexts in which
the works were produced.

Burrill, Kathleen, ‘Modern Turkish Literature’, in Turkey: From Empire to
Nation, ed. Talât Sait Halman, New York, 1973. (Review of National
Literatures.)
Göksu, Saime and Timms, Edward, Romantic Communist: The Life and Work of
Nazim Hikmet, London, 1999.
Heper, Metin et al. (eds), Turkey and the West: Changing Political and Cultural
Identities, London, 1993. (Chapters, 4, 5, 11.)
Kerslake, Celia, ‘New Directions in the Turkish Novel’, in Brian Beeley (ed.),
Turkish Transformation, Huntingdon, 2002.
Ostle, Robin (ed.), Modern Literature in the Near and Middle East 1850-1970,
11. Spoken Turkish (Oral)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Throughout your third and fourth years you will attend
Spoken Turkish classes, designed to develop your oral and aural skills. Much use
is made of material from recent newspapers (‘Political and Cultural Articles’),
both in order to familiarise you with topics of current concern and debate in
Turkey, and also to provide you with the necessary vocabulary and structures to
discuss such issues yourself. A third type of language class is ‘Aural
Comprehension’, which trains you for part (i) of the oral examination.
The Turkish oral examination in FHS consists of the following parts:
(i) Listening comprehension. Candidates will be presented with a list of factual

questions, in Turkish, relating to the content of the text which they are
about to hear. They will be allowed five minutes to study these questions.
A recorded Turkish text, lasting about five minutes, will then be played to
them twice, with a pause of five minutes between the two playings.
Candidates will be required to write brief answers to each question, in
Turkish, in the spaces provided on the question sheet. A further ten minutes
after the end of the second playing of the recorded text will be allowed for
candidates to complete their answers.
(ii) Conversation
(a) Each candidate will be required to discuss with the examiner a topic
chosen by the candidate from a list of three announced one hour
before the commencement of the oral examination. (Approximate
duration ten to fifteen minutes.)
(b) Candidates will be presented with a brief written description, in

English, of a situation from everyday life in which they are required
to imagine themselves. The description will include instructions as to
what they are trying to achieve by verbal communication in that
situation. Each candidate will be given five to ten minutes’
preparation time, and will then be asked to conduct a dialogue with
the examiner, in Turkish, appropriate to the situation and goal
specified. (Approximate duration, excluding preparation time, five to
ten minutes.)
(iii) Interpreting. Each candidate will be required to interpret, in a non-

technical subject area, between a person speaking Turkish and a person
speaking English. (Approximate duration ten minutes.)
This is the course if you are taking Turkish as your second subject (List A):
You have to take the following five papers in FHS:
7. Unprepared translation from modern Turkish
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Translation of a wide range of modern Turkish texts

into English forms a major part of the work of the ‘set texts’ classes which you
will be attending regularly throughout these years. The detailed guidance on
translation strategies and techniques that you will receive in these classes should,
together with your own work on vocabulary learning, provide you with sufficient
skills and knowledge to tackle unseen translations with confidence. You will also
get ‘exam-type’ practice in unseen translation in collections.
8. Translation into Turkish and essay in Turkish

(As Paper 7 of List B, above.)
9. Turkish history and thought in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: There are two versions of this paper, and you have a
free choice between them. Mode A is identical with Paper 8/9(c) of List B
(above), and involves learning the Arabic script. Mode B, designed for those
students who do not wish to devote time and effort to mastering a non-European
alphabet, involves a body of texts very similar (often identical) in content to those
set for Mode A, but 25% greater in overall volume, and published in Latin-script
transcription. A large proportion of the vocabulary of even 19th-century Ottoman
Turkish is Arabic, and the main disadvantage of reading Ottoman texts in Latin-
script transcription is that it becomes harder to recognize the etymological
relationships between different Arabic words, because letters that are distinct in
the Arabic script but pronounced the same in Turkish are not distinguished in
modern Turkish orthography.
RECOMMENDED INTRODUCTORY READING: As for Paper 8/9(c) of List B.
10. Modern Turkish literary texts
BRIEF DESCRIPTION:
This paper is designed to introduce you to a representative sample of modern
Turkish literature, from its beginnings in the late 19th century right down to
recent years. The texts consist mainly of short stories and poetry. As in Paper 9,
you have a choice between a Mode A paper in which some of the pre-1928 texts
are studied and examined in the Arabic script (i.e. as originally published), and a
Mode B paper in which all texts are studied and examined in Latin-script
transcription. Again as in the case of Paper 9, the body of texts set for Mode B
includes, as far as possible, all the material set for Mode A, plus an additional
25% in lieu of the challenge of dealing with the Arabic script.
The detailed class study of the set texts makes it possible for any difficulties of
comprehension to be addressed, and for close attention to be paid to the ways in
which a writer’s use of language contributes to the meaning of a particular
literary work. The texts selected are studied and discussed both in terms of their
literary qualities and (where relevant) in relation to their historical or political
context.
The examination will require translation, commentary and essay-type answers. In

commentary answers on short stories you will be expected to bring out the
significance of a particular passage in relation to the work as a whole, and to
discuss issues such as style, narrative technique, point of view and
characterization. Commentaries on poetry may involve comparisons between two
or more poems, and in all cases you are expected to be able to identify and
discuss the particular strategies that contribute to a poem’s overall effect. Essay
questions will focus on the set texts themselves, but will assume some knowledge
of their authors and of the historical, literary and ideological contexts in which
the works were produced.
Burrill, Kathleen, ‘Modern Turkish Literature’, in Turkey: From Empire to

Nation, ed. Talât Sait Halman, New York, 1973. (Review of National
Literatures.)
Göksu, Saime and Timms, Edward, Romantic Communist: The Life and Work of
Nazim Hikmet, London, 1999.
Heper, Metin et al. (eds), Turkey and the West: Changing Political and Cultural
Identities, London, 1993. (Chapters, 4, 5, 11.)
Kerslake, Celia, ‘New Directions in the Turkish Novel’, in Brian Beeley (ed.),
Turkish Transformation, Huntingdon, 2002.
Ostle, Robin (ed.), Modern Literature in the Near and Middle East 1850-1970,
11. Spoken Turkish (Oral)
(As Paper 11 of List B, above.)

Appendix A: Faculty Information
Contents:
1. University complaints and appeals procedure
2. Student feedback form and notes
3. Use of external examiners
4. Note on voluntary submission of extended essay on CD
5. Weblink for regulations on use of IT
6. List of weblinks for study skills and other resources
7. University definition of plagiarism
8. Study abroad statement
9. Study Abroad feedback form

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Complaints and academic appeals within the Faculty of Oriental Studies
1. The University, the Humanities Division and the Oriental Studies faculty all hope
that provision made for students at all stages of their programme of study will make the
need for complaints (about that provision) or appeals (against the outcomes of any form
of assessment) infrequent.
2. However, all those concerned believe that it is important for students to be clear
about how to raise a concern or make a complaint, and how to appeal against the
outcome of assessment. The following guidance attempts to provide such information.
3. Nothing in this guidance precludes an informal discussion with the person
immediately responsible for the issue that you wish to complain about (and who may
not be one of the individuals identified below). This is often the simplest way to
achieve a satisfactory resolution for complaints; for appeals against assessment, please
see below.
4. Many sources of advice are available within colleges, within faculties/departments
and from bodies like OUSU or the Counselling Service, which have extensive
experience in advising students. You may wish to take advice from one of these sources
before pursuing your complaint.
5. General areas of concern about provision affecting students as a whole should, of
course, continue to be raised through Joint Consultative Committees or via student
representation on the faculty/department’s committees.
Complaints
3.1 If your concern or complaint relates to teaching or other provision made by the
faculty, then you should raise it with the chairman of the Undergraduate Committee
(Prof. Clive Holes) or with the Director of Graduate Studies (Prof. Polly O’Hanlon) as
appropriate. Within the faculty/department the officer concerned will attempt to resolve
your concern/complaint informally.
3.2 If you are dissatisfied with the outcome, then you may take your concern further by
making a formal complaint to the University Proctors. A complaint may cover aspects
of teaching and learning (e.g. teaching facilities, supervision arrangements, etc.), and
non-academic issues (e.g. support services, library services, university accommodation,
university clubs and societies, etc.). A complaint to the Proctors should be made only if
attempts at
informal resolution have been unsuccessful. The procedures adopted by the Proctors for
the consideration of complaints and appeals are described in the Proctors and
Assessor’s Memorandum[http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/proctors/pam/] and the relevant
Council regulations [http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/statutes/regulations/]
[ 4. If your concern or complaint relates to teaching or other provision made by your
college, then you should raise it either with your tutor or with one of the college
officers, Senior Tutor, Tutor for Graduates (as appropriate). Your college will also be
able to explain how to take your complaint further if you are dissatisfied with the
outcome of its consideration. ]
Academic appeals
5. An appeal is defined as a formal questioning of a decision on an academic matter
made by the responsible academic body.
6. For undergraduate or taught graduate courses, a concern which might lead to an
appeal should be raised with your college authorities and the individual responsible for
overseeing your work. It must not be raised directly with examiners or assessors. If
it is not possible to clear up your concern in this way, you may put your concern in
writing and submit it to the Proctors via the Senior Tutor of your college. As noted
above, the procedures adopted by the
Proctors in relation to complaints and appeals are on the web
[http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/statutes/regulations/].
7. For the examination of research degrees, or in relation to transfer or confirmation of
status, your concern should be raised initially with the Director of Graduate Studies.
Where a concern is not satisfactorily settled by that means, then you, your supervisor,
or your college authority may put your appeal directly to the Proctors.
8. Please remember in connection with all the cases in paragraphs 5 - 7 that:
(a) The Proctors are not empowered to challenge the academic judgement of examiners
or academic bodies.
(b) The Proctors can consider whether the procedures for reaching an academic
decision were properly followed;
i.e. whether there was a significant procedural administrative error; whether there is
evidence of bias or inadequate assessment; whether the examiners failed to take into
account special factors affecting a candidate’s performance.
(c) On no account should you contact your examiners or assessors directly.
9. The Proctors will indicate what further action you can take if you are dissatisfied
with the outcome of a complaint or appeal considered by them.
G:\EPSC\Complaints and appeals template 2.doc

University of Oxford
Faculty of Oriental Studies
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT FEEDBACK ON LECTURES AND CLASSES
The Faculty values students’ views on the teaching it provides. Please complete one
form for each course of lectures and classes that you have attended this term. Mention
what you have found good as well as what you consider needs to be improved. You are
not obliged to indicate which year of your degree course you are in, but it makes the
feedback much more useful if you do.
The forms will be seen only by the Chairman of the Undergraduate Studies Committee
and the Academic Administrator: any comments will be passed to the teacher
concerned in an anonymous form. The form itself will not be seen by the teacher.
Further information about what will happen to your comments is provided in each
undergraduate subject handbook.
Students are encouraged whenever possible to discuss concerns directly with their
teacher, as this is often the quickest and most constructive way to deal with problems.
……… Term 200..
Title of lecture series or class:
Name of lecturer(s) /class teacher(s):
What year of your degree course are you in?
YOUR COMMENTS
This form should be returned to the Academic Administrator, Room 316, Oriental
Institute, Pusey Lane, by the end of each term. It can be emailed, sent by
messenger or handed in at the Lodge.
STUDENT FEEDBACK AND COMPLAINTS
The Faculty values students’ views on the teaching it provides. Feedback forms are
sent to all students each term, giving them an opportunity to comment on the
teaching they are receiving that term. Forms are sent out by e-mail from the
Faculty Officer, and are returned by students anonymously to enable them to
comment on individual teaching staff. Whenever possible students are encouraged
to discuss concerns directly with the teacher, as this is often the quickest and most
constructive way to deal with problems.
Feedback forms will be dealt with by the Faculty in the following way:
Completed forms are only seen by the Assistant Administrator and the Chair of the
Undergraduate Studies Committee. Any comments will be passed to the teacher
concerned in an anonymous form, and the teacher will not see the form itself.
During a member of teaching staff’s probationary period, all feedback is

anonymised and forwarded both to the member of staff concerned and their mentee,
together with the recommendation that, should there be any negative feedback, the
mentor and mentee should meet to discuss it and, if appropriate, meet with the
whole class from which the negative feedback was generated. The feedback forms
and recommendations are also copied to the Tutorial Secretary and will also
eventually be seen by the faculty committee responsible for reviewing the member
of staff’s initial period of appointment at the end of their probationary period.
Outside the member of staff’s probationary period (or for teachers who are not
members of staff in Oriental Studies), all anonymised reports are forwarded to the
member of staff concerned and to the Tutorial Secretary, with the same
recommendation that, should there be any negative feedback, the member of staff
and the Tutorial Secretary should meet to discuss it and, if appropriate, meet with
the whole class from which the negative feedback was generated.
Feedback forms commenting upon the teaching of a Tutorial Secretary are copied
to the Faculty Board Chairman.
General issues (but not those regarding individual teachers) raised by student
feedback forms should be brought by the Tutorial Secretary to Joint Consultative
Committee meetings, and a written report on the outcome of any complaints should
be published by the convenor of the JCC (even if no student members attend).
3. USE OF EXTERNAL EXAMINERS
Any student achievement that contributes to a named award will be moderated by an
external examiner, except for First Public Examinations (FPE) and M.Phil Qualifying
Examinations in Cuneiform Studies and M.Phil Qualifying Examinations in
Egyptology.
4. SUBMISSION OF ADDITIONAL COPY OF EXTENDED ESSAY ON CD

The Faculty of Oriental Studies requests students voluntarily to submit a copy of their
extended essay on CD (preferably in pdf).
5. USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES

Your attention is drawn to University regulations concerning the use of Information
Technology Facilities:
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/statutes/regulations/196-052.shtml
6. STUDY SKILLS AND OTHER RESOURCES
 General Guidelines for Thesis (or dissertation) Writers

https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/access/content/group/a55c44d3-9f21-4dec-b48c-
2dc6fa4e4bee/Exams/General_Guidelines_for_Thesis_Writers.pdf
 EPSC Study Skills Resources
(Access to the online (anti-)plagiarism course mentioned on this webpage is via the
SkillsPortal website (www.skillsportal.ox.ac.uk). You will need to create a user
account before taking an online course.)
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/epsc/plagiarism/electrores.shtml
 Library Training and Workshops
http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/services/training
 Careers and Skills Development
http://www.ox.ac.uk/current_students/careers_skills.html
 Oxford University Language Centre
http://www.lang.ox.ac.uk/
 Student Counselling Service
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/shw/counserv.shtml
 Plagiarism
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/epsc/plagiarism/index.shtml
7. UNIVERSITY DEFINITION OF PLAGIARISM

Cf. http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/epsc/plagiarism
Plagiarism is the copying or paraphrasing of other people’s work or ideas into your own
work
without full acknowledgement. All published and unpublished material, whether in
manuscript, printed or electronic form, is covered under this definition. Collusion is
another form of plagiarism involving the unauthorised collaboration of students (or others)
in a piece of work.
Cases of suspected plagiarism in assessed work are investigated under the disciplinary
regulations concerning conduct in examinations. Intentional or reckless plagiarism may
incur severe penalties, including failure of your degree or expulsion from the university. In
their Memorandum, Essential Information for Students, the Proctors and Assessor draw
attention to the disciplinary regulations relating to plagiarism that must be observed by
both undergraduate and graduate students. Please read Section 9.5 on the weblink:
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/proctors/pam/index.shtlm
8.
Faculty of Oriental Studies
Study Period Abroad Statement
For Oriental Studies, the learning outcomes of the Study Period Abroad are for students
to:
 Improve their language skills in a variety of practical contexts
 Acquire first-hand knowledge of the culture of the target language(s)
 Develop the ability to cope independently in the target language(s)
Assessment for the Study Period Abroad includes:

 In-country assessment
 Language collection in 0th week after the student completes their study abroad.
Oriental Studies defines the sharing of responsibilities between the Faculty Board of
Oriental Studies and the Subject Groups as follows:
The Faculty Board of Oriental Studies is responsible for:

1. defining the learning outcomes and assessment of the Study Period Abroad;
2. maintaining a database of previous students’ reports on their experiences,
available to current students;
3. ensuring that appropriate study abroad opportunities are available for each of the
courses which include a mandatory period of study abroad
4. appointing a Study Abroad Coordinator for each of the languages for which the
Faculty offers courses requiring a Study Period Abroad.
The members of the Subject Groups are responsible for:

1. satisfying themselves that each undergraduate is enrolled for an appropriate
course of study for the required period and reporting this to the Board;
2. advising individual students and providing suitable induction before travel,
including guidance on cultural, social and political matters important for
successful fulfilment of the Study Abroad requirement of their course;
3. overseeing applications to courses;
maintaining pastoral advice and reviewing individual progress via email, mail
and/or telephone during the Study Period Abroad as necessary;
4. receiving complaints and addressing them or passing them on to the Board as
appropriate;
5. receiving from students at the end of their period abroad a report on their
experience and forwarding to the Board a review of the student feed-back with
their comments.
Oriental Studies expects students to be responsible during the period abroad:

1. as representatives of the University of Oxford and as members of the host
institution;
2. for fulfilling attendance requirements of the period of study, as set out by the
Faculty Board and Study Abroad Coordinator ;
3. for informing their Faculty tutors in the event of illness and/or any other reason
for absence from the required study abroad course.
4. for keeping in touch with their Faculty tutors, and for alerting them to any
problems which might hinder progress or satisfactory completion of the study
abroad course.
Further reading on other relevant University guidance and policy:

 Section 10 on ‘Conduct’ from the ‘Proctors and Assessor’s memorandum: Essential
Information for Students’,
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/proctors/info/pam/section10.shtml;
 The University Policy Statements on ‘Safety in Fieldwork’ and ‘Overseas Travel’,
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/safety/0507.shtml,
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/safety/0307.shtml);
 Advice available from the Travel Clinic of the University Occupational Health Service,
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/uohs/services/travel.shtml;
 EPSC’s ‘Brief Guidelines for Lecturers and Tutors’ on planning for students with
Special Educational Needs and Disability,
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/eop/disab/brief.pdf.
Role of colleges
The interface between Colleges and the Faculty is of great importance when students of
Oriental Studies are on their Study Period Abroad. This applies particularly in the
following circumstances:
If a student has a serious medical condition or has a disability, it is important that the
institution abroad be made aware of this, provided that due confidentiality is respected.
It is suggested that the College discuss with the Faculty any concerns in this respect so
that appropriate action may be taken.
If a student’s health gives serious cause for concern while on the year abroad or if a
student suffers an accident, the institution will communicate this to the Faculty, and the
Faculty will immediately contact the College. Normally, in the first instance, the
College will communicate with the family of the student if this is necessary.
If a student has serious problems of an academic nature during the year abroad, the
institution abroad will communicate this to the Faculty which will immediately inform
the student’s College. The College and the Faculty together will decide if it is necessary
to take any action.
Should a situation arise in the area or country of the Study Period Abroad that in any
way threatens the students’ safety, in addition to monitoring the situation daily via the
Foreign Commonwealth Office website and ensuring that it has regular communication
with the students, the Faculty undertakes to make regular reports to the Colleges.
If a College is aware that any of its students faces financial difficulties which may be a
cause for concern in relation to the year abroad, this should be communicated to the
Faculty.
In the course of the Study Period Abroad, any reports sent by the institutions abroad to
the Faculty relating to the conduct or progress of students, academic or otherwise, will
be communicated immediately to the relevant College.
G:\Oriental Studies\A A - Maria\Study abroad and field trips\Study Abroad Statement\Study Abroad Statement
Study Period Abroad Termly Assessment Report
Please take some time to respond to the following questionnaire. When complete, the
form should be returned to your Oxford study abroad coordinator by the 8th week of
Term.
Answers may be completed on additional pages.
1) Describe the nature and content of your language tuition this term.
2) List courses outside of language classes which you are enrolled in or are auditing.
3) Outline the content of this/these course/s and how you see that as fitting in the scope
of your chosen course of study in Oriental Studies at Oxford.
4) Please assess the academic conduct of your courses. Does it match your needs and
expectations?
5) Please assess the non-academic provisions of the University you are attending. For
example, is the housing adequate? Were you informed of services available to you as a
foreign student?
6) Who is in charge of overseeing the conduct of your tuition and whom do you contact
for administrative advice and assistance?
7) What is your overall evaluation of your experience so far?
Study Period Abroad Exit Interview and Assessment
Please take some time to respond to the following questionnaire. At the beginning of
the first term when you have returned to Oxford—but not later than the end of 1st
week—please get in touch with your Oxford study abroad coordinator to set up a
meeting to discuss your experience.
1) Please describe what you feel you have learned from the language instruction during
your time abroad. How would you rate your own proficiency at this point?
2) Please assess the overall academic conduct of your courses. Did it match your needs
and expectations?
3) What do you feel were the strengths and weaknesses of the program(s) you attended
during your time abroad?
4) How would you assess the degree of support you received from Oriental Studies?
What might you change about it?
5) What is your overall evaluation of your experience so far? What suggestions do you
have to improve your experience?

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FACULTY OF ORIENTAL STUDIES

EUROPEAN & MIDDLE EASTERN

A handbook for Undergraduates reading EMEL

ACADEMIC YEAR 2010-11

Academic Year 2010 - 11: Dates of Full Term

Michaelmas Term Sunday, 10 October - Saturday, 4 December

The aims of the course are

One component of the final examination is a compulsory Extended Essay,

This handbook is intended only as a guide to the Middle Eastern components

Oxford is confusing to everyone at first, its institutions labyrinthine, and its

STRUCTURE OF THE EMEL COURSE

All syllabuses are published annually in the University’s Examination Regulations, to

What to do if something goes wrong...

Arabic: Dr Nadia Jamil

Convenors of Joint Consultative Committees (2010-11)

Islamic World: Dr Christopher Melchert

THE FOUR LANGUAGES

This course aims:

1. To give you a thorough grounding in written and spoken Arabic.

2. To provide you with a detailed knowledge of selected literary texts in both

3. To develop in general your skills of description, interpretation and analysis of

The Year Abroad

Addresses of centres offering courses recognised by the Faculty Board

Damascus Institut Français du Proche-Orient (I.F.P.O.)

Cairo DÉPARTEMENT D’ENSEIGNEMENT DE L’ARABE

Tel : (00 202) 23 91 21 38

1. Translation and précis into English.

This is the course outline:)

6A. Composition in Arabic

6B. Arabic Unprepared Translation into English and Comprehension

10. A paper chosen from the following:

i. Islamic History 570-1500 A.D.

WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS: Years 3 and 4.

Year 4. What is offered is essentially a more advanced version of the Year 3

ARABIC UNPREPARED TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH AND

Year 4. In Year 4, what is offered is a more advanced version of the 3rd-year

TEACHING STAFF: Dr Nadia Jamil, Mr Taj Kandoura, Dr Otared Haidar.

WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS: Years 3 and 4.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Through a variety of textual and audio-visual materials,

In the examination a candidate will normally be required to show competence in the

(i) Comprehension of passages of text. In this comprehension test, candidates will

(ii) Reading aloud of a passage of text with grammatical vocalisation.

WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS: Year 3, MT-HT, 16+16 hours lectures, equally divided

(b) modern: Muhammad al-Muwaylihi: Hadith ‘Isa b. Hisham, Chapter 2; Jibran

RECOMMENDED INTRODUCTORY READING:

M. M. Badawi (ed.), The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: Modern Arabic

M. M. Badawi, A Critical Introduction to Modern Arabic Poetry (Cambridge 1975).

T. Eagleton, Literary Theory: An Introduction (Oxford, 1990).

S. Hafez, The Genesis of Arabic Narrative Discourse (London, 1993).

M. Shaheen, The Modern Arabic Short Story (London 1989).

R. Wellek and A. Warren, Theory of Literature (London 1976).

TEACHING STAFF: Dr Christopher Melchert and Mr Ron Nettler.

RECOMMENDED INTRODUCTORY READING:

Schacht, Joseph. An Introduction to Islamic Law, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964. BP

Schimmel, Annemarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam, Chapel Hill: University of

Paper 10.i ISLAMIC HISTORY, 570-1500

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: This paper provides a chronological and topical introduction

RECOMMENDED INTRODUCTORY READING:

Endress, G., An Introduction to Islam, Edinburgh, 1988.

TEACHING STAFF: Professor Geert Jan van Gelder

WHEN TAUGHT/HOURS: Year 3, TT, 16 hours lectures; 4 tutorials/essays.

RECOMMENDED INTRODUCTORY READING:

TEACHING STAFF: Dr Mohamed-Salah Omri