This course will examine the rise of dual nationalisms, Zionism and
Palestinian nationalism and the concept of territory in general and
the Holy Land in particular in the contemporary Israeli/Palestinian
conflict. We will not focus primarily on the political aspects of
the conflict but rather the social and cultural dimensions of
nationalism and the role it plays in how each side constructs itself
and the other. We will read primary and secondary literature on the
idea of nationalism and the nation-state, its western European
origins, it Middle East off-shoots, and its roots in the religions
of Judaism and Islam.