For long The West has manipulated the Arab World, Ottoman Turkey and its transition into modern Turkey, and Iran. Franz Fanon (The Wretched of the Earth) and Edward Said (Orientalism) exposed the hypocrisy of Europe's so-called Civilising Mission in the Middle East. Dante and other literati had demonised Islam while the Protestant evangelists would combine this mission with their Biblical belief in a Second Coming (of Christ), a prequel to the creation of Israel. Napoleon's brief sojourn did bring with it the values of the French Enlightenment but promises of independence during the First World War were as hollow as the Oslo Peace Accords arguably were in the 1990's. Britain and France deceived the Arabs during the 1956 Suez crisis and Britain's commitment to democracy was belied by the ousting of Mosaddegh in 1953 in favour of the Shah.
Britain, France and The Middle East: Colonial Perfidy or 'Civilising Mission'?
This is an In-person course which requires your attendance to the weekly meetings which take place in Oxford.
Overview
Programme details
Courses starts: 23 April 2025
Week 1: Dante, Wycliffe and Western perceptions of Islam
Week 2: Napoleon, Egypt and La Mission Civilisatrice
Week 3: France, Algeria and Franz Fanon
Week 4: Dreyfus, Herzl, Protestant evangelism and The Rapture
Week 5: Faysal, Lawrence, Hogarth and The Arab Revolt
Week 6: Sykes-Picot, The Balfour Declaration and the British and French Mandates
Week 7: The Yishuv, the Shoah, French support for the Irgun and the creation of Israel/ the Nakba through the eyes of Prof. Israel Shahak and the "The new historians", Benny Morris, Ilan Pappe, Avi Shlaim and Norman Finkelstein
week 8: From Suez to Oslo and the two-state solution
Week 9: Britain, France and Saudi Arabia
Week 10: The British under every stone: Mosadegh, the Shah and MI5
Recommended reading
All weekly class students may become borrowing members of the Rewley House Continuing Education Library for the duration of their course. Prospective students whose courses have not yet started are welcome to use the Library for reference. More information can be found on the Library website.
There is a Guide for Weekly Class students which will give you further information.
Availability of titles on the reading list (below) can be checked on SOLO, the library catalogue.
Preparatory reading
- Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age / Albert Hourani
- A Savage War of Peace / Alistair Horne
- The French Intifada / Andrew Hussey
- Ataturk / Andrew Mango
- The Iron Wall / Avi Shlaim
- The Gun and the Olive Branch / David Hirst
- Orientalism / Edward Said
- The English Job: Understanding Iran and why it distrusts Britain / Jack Straw
- Lords of the Horizon / Jason Goodwin
- Islam in the World / Malise Ruthven
- Iran, Empire of the Mind / Michael Axworthy
- The Cambridge Encyclopedia of The Middle East and North Africa / Trevor Mostyn and Albert Hourani
Digital Certification
To complete the course and receive a certificate, you will be required to attend at least 80% of the classes on the course and pass your final assignment. Upon successful completion, you will receive a link to download a University of Oxford digital certificate. Information on how to access this digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course you attended. You will be able to download your certificate or share it on social media if you choose to do so.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Course Fee | £285.00 |
| Take this course for CATS points | £30.00 |
Funding
If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Tutor
Mr Trevor Mostyn
Trevor Mostyn read Arabic with Persian at Edinburgh University, spending one year at the American University in Cairo and one year at The Middle East Centre at Oxford. Later he taught at Algiers University, then travelled throughout the Middle East as a publisher and then set up and ran the Med Media Programme (media projects between the then 12 EU countries and the 12 Mediterranean non-member countries) for the European Union. He has published 8 books on the region, lectured on ships and written for many newspapers. He teaches Islamic Studies at Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education.
Course aims
To clarify two counter-arguments; Europe's claim that it delivered a Civilising Mission to a backward Middle East contrasted with Arab perception of white, colonial manipulation.
Course objectives:
To help students understand the level of hurt felt by many Arabs, Iranians and Turks over their treatment by the Western world since the 19th century. Broken promises to the Arabs during the First World War, the perfidious Suez crisis, the demonisation of Mosadegh, Iran's democratically-elected leader, and the creation of Israel were the historic backdrop to more recent events, the invasion of Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq and the devastation of Gaza in 2024.
Teaching methods
Detailed advance notes on each subject will be emailed to students each week before the course and will also be printed out each Monday. Questions will be strongly encouraged at ten-minute intervals. A list of suggested essay titles will be provided. There will be a number of impromptu quizzes.
Powerpoint presentations will include photographs, maps, documents and some music.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course students will be expected to:
- understand the reactions of Arabs, Turks and Iranians to the colonial period
- be able to discuss objectively controversial subjects such as the Israel-Palestine narrative and the Armenian question in Turkey
- understand the implications of the Sunni-Shia divide
- understand the relationship between Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Assessment methods
Assessment will be based on coursework and essays.
Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work the required standard.
Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form
Application
To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.
Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an Enrolment Form (Word) or Enrolment Form (Pdf)
Level and demands
The Department's Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, i.e. first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.
Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)
To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.
Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.