• Modern Iran: This course follows issues of Iranian history from the early Qajar period to the post-revolutionary period. The course simultaneously presents the course of events in the country and various aspects of Iran's social and cultural history relevant to the discussed period.
• Masculinity, Society, and Politics in Modern Iran: The course examines how Iranian men's gender identity was shaped throughout the modern history of Iran, and asks how these changes influenced on and were influenced by other historical developments.
• The Objects That Changed the Middle East: What links a Singer sewing machine, the Jaffa Clock Tower, detachable collars and cigarettes? All are objects that carried with them, in addition to their practical uses, an ideological, political, and economic significance. This course examines the ways in which new objects and technologies drove and formed historical processes in the modern Middle East, as well as their position as symbols and agents of modernization.
• Culture and Resistance in Modern Iran: Despite the repressive political atmosphere of 20th century Iran, artists and writers have shown and still show resistance to the regime, to tradition, and to limitations of their freedom of expression. The course examines how such resistance became manifest in journalistic and literary text, as well as in movies, visual art and music. In addition, the course looks at the artists, the period in which they operated and the issues they dealt with in their art.
• A History of Children and Childhood in the Middle East: Childhood, much like gender, is a social and cultural construct, changing according to time and place. This seminar follows the rise of modern childhood in the Middle East, as well as how practices of childhood changed accordingly. The seminar looks into the changing status of children in the family, the nation state, the market, and the local culture.