MES4110 – Readings of Middle Eastern Texts

After completing this course, you will have gained

• increased familiarity with primary source materials from the Middle East.

• improved proficiency in reading and interpreting texts in a Middle Eastern language.

• critical analysis skills for contextualizing and discussing source materials.

• ability to present and analyze source materials in written form.

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

This course is only available for students admitted to the programme option Middle East Studies (programme option)

Each student must choose one language seminar group according to his or her language specialization (Arabic, Persian or Turkish). This is done in StudentWeb when signing up for the course.

Teaching:

• Format: Weekly 2-hour seminars over a 10-week period.

• Instruction Method: Interactive sessions focused on reading, analyzing, and discussing texts.

• Language: Both English and the focus language may be used for communication in class.

• Participation: Active participation and thorough preparation for each seminar are essential requirements.

Compulsory activities:

• 9 mandatory submissions due before class meetings; at least 6 of these must be preliminarily approved by the instructor based on formal criteria, and at least 3 of them must receive final approval with regard to content.

Detailed submission guidelines will be provided in class at the beginning of the semester. You will also find more information about the requirements for the compulsory assignment and the submission deadline in Canvas.

Approval of the compulsory activities are only valid for the current semester. If you retake the course, you must submit new papers in the semester in which you are taking the exam.

All compulsory activities must be approved to qualify for the exam. It is your responsibility to verify that you have obtained approval for all compulsory activities.

Absence from compulsory activities:

• Here you will find information about compulsory activities at the Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

It is important that you familiarize yourself with the rules regarding absence from compulsory activities, to prevent being excluded from teaching and losing your eligibility to take the exam.

More information on compulsory activities at the University of Oslo:

• Common guidelines relating to compulsory activities - University of Oslo (uio.no)

Access to teaching:

A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.

4-hour school exam.

The exam consists of a written analysis and contextualisation of a randomly selected text from the course readings.

The detailed information regarding the school exam will be announced on Canvas.

This course will pilot UiO’s new exam system, WISEflow, in the autumn semester 2026. Please find information about how to use WISEflow here.

You are personally responsible for familiarizing yourself with the requirements and deadlines for the exam.

All compulsory activities must be completed and approved in order to take the exam.

You can find more information about the exam on the semester page of the course.

Dictionaries that are allowed:

Arabic-English Dictionary - The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Persian-Norwegian. Norwegian-Persian. Turkish-Norwegian. Norwegian-Turkish.

It is possible to take a postponed exam in this course if you are sick on the day of the exam, withdraw during the exam due to illness or have another valid absence from the regular exam. You must apply to take a postponed exam and submit documentation dated the same day as the exam.

Students who fail, withdraw or do not attend the exam without a valid reason are not entitled to a postponed exam. If you are prevented from taking the postponed exam, you must take the exam again the next time the course is held.