Examines the history, politics and society of the countries of the Arabian Peninsula (modern day Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE) in the period between 1800 and the present. The guiding assumption will be that the histories of Arabia cannot be studied in isolation from broader histories of capital formation, imperialism, religious reform, state formation and the discourses and practices which they informed. To that end, the focus will be on Arabia as part of the British, Ottoman and Omani Empires, a participant in Indian Ocean commerce, a source and destination for migrant scholars, students and laborers, the center of the petroleum economy and a domain of struggle for activists and intellectuals representing multiple political/ideological currents-not only Islamist, but also, liberal, socialist and communist.
