The Mediterranean has historically been at the centre of relations of various types: political, cultural, religious, and economic. It has especially been central to the north of the basin, the European world and its diversity, and to the south of the basin, the Arab world and its diversity; cooperation as well as rivaltry between states, businesses and communities belonging to the same area of the basin are not different from the cooperation as well as rivaltry between states, businesses and communities belonging to different areas of the basin. The Mediterranean is a priori plural. However, competing modern nation states and ideologies, all carried out by multiple historical factors, have contributed to forming a gap between the north and south of the basin, which recent partnerships try to overcome collectively for a more cooperative and comprehensive Mediterraean. This course aims at introducing the role of both political ideas and the media in the development of the discourses of change in the south of the Mediterranean, with focus on the Arab world.

By the end of the course, the student will be able to: Know some major intellectual and political figures of Arab politics, males and females; Know some leading Arab Feminists, Liberals, and Leftists; Understand the internal and external dynamics of Arab political life and thought; Contextualize political thought in the Arab Mediterranean world in its regional context; Situate Arab political thought in conversation with the global intellectual scene; Comprehend the role of the mass media and communication in the dissemination of political thought and ideologies in the Arab world; Analytically categorize any political discourse from the Arab Mediterranean world.

The first part of the course introduces some major figures that have influenced the political intellectual scene in the region, males and females belonging to different orientations, conservative, liberal, secular, feminist, socialist and third worldist. As to the second part of the course, it aims to offer a general look at the history of Arab press, journalism and the current digital social media. It analyzes the evolution of the Arab media in relation to the processes of socio-cultural, economic and political changes in the region and beyond cultural change.

Main sourcebook: 1. Suzanne Kassab, Contemporary Arab Thought: Cultural Critique in Comparative Perspective, New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. (70% of the book; chapters 1, 2b-c, 4 a-b-c-d, 5c-d) Additional readings - chapters: 1. John Esposito and Ema El-Din Shahin, eds, The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. (Chapters 1, 2, 20, 24) 2.George Corm, Arab Political Thought – Past and Present, trans. Patricia Batoma and Atoma Batoma, London: Hurst, 2020. 3. Lena Jayyusi and Anne Sofie Roald, eds., Media and Political Contestation in the Contemporary Arab World, Houndmills and New York: Palgrave, 2016. (Chapters 1, 2, 8) 4. Philip N. Howard and Muzammil M. Hussain, Democracy’s Fourth Wave? Digital Media and the Arab Spring, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. (Chapters 1, 5) 5. George Corm, Arab Political Thought – Past and Present, trans. Patricia Batoma and Atoma Batoma, London: Hurst, 2020. (Chapter 14) 6. Samir Amin, Delinking: Towards a Polycentric World [1985], trans. Michael Wolfers, London and New Jersey: Zed Books, 1990. (Chapter 2) 7. Mohammed Hashas, “Arab Mediterranean Islam: Intellectual and Political Trends,” in States, Actors and Geopolitical Drivers in the Mediterranean: Perspectives on the New Centrality in a Changing Region, eds. Francesca Corrao and Riccardo Redaelli (Cham: Palgrave, 2021), pp. 129-155. Optional readings: 1. Francesca M. Corrao, Islam, Religion and Politics, Rome: Luiss University Press, 2017. 2. Donatella della Ratta, Naomi Sakr, Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen, eds., Arab media Moguls, London: I.B.Tauris, 2015. 3. Charles Kurzman, ed. Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. 4. Charles Kurzman, ed. Modernist Islam 1840-1940, A Sourcebook, oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. 5. Edward Said, Covering Islam. How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World, revised edition, New York: Vintage Books, 1997. 6. Albert Hourani, Arab Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962; 2012.

The course stimulates students’ active participation to enhance their critical skills and learning methodologies through the following: class participation, individual and team work (class presentations, writing papers), role-playing, and study of documentaries and films.

Attendance is obligatory. Evaluation of the course is frequent, and is divided as such: Class participation: 15% Quiz: 15% Midterm essay of no more than 2000 words: 20% Class presentation (in 10 minutes): 20% Final oral exam on the whole class programme: 30% The final grading format for this "laboratory course" is Pass/Fail (Idoneo/ Non-Idoneo). International students can, however, receive an extra letter specifying their grade for their home universities.

Not applicable.