About the Course
Digital Methodologies in Middle Eastern Studies
New York University
Jared McCormick, Clinical Associate Professor of Near Eastern Studies, designed and taught this course in Spring 2019 and Spring 2021 at NYU's Kevorkian Center. Current work continues at the intersection of digital methods and Middle Eastern studies, most recently in Critical Thinking with AI: Knowledge, Power, and the Middle East.
Course Overview
This course is a broad survey of artistic, academic, and activist production of digital material over the last 15 years in the Middle East, as well as workshops that introduce and problematize certain "Digital Humanities" tools and methods to students. The course explores the landscape of changing production and dissemination of research in the region, while also addressing how graduate students can think digitally in their own work.
This course is about your project & thinking, how to think more broadly and boldly with new methods to ask, research, and produce your scholarship!
Format
Synchronous Sessions: Meet Thursdays 2–4:45pm. Each module has regional platforms and datasets which motivate and guide our study.
Kevo Digital Forays: Attend the Digital Forays events which precede class. Events meet 12:30–2pm. These events extend conversations beyond the classroom "walls."
Assignments & Grading
Attendance & Participation
NYCDH Event / Workshop Writeup & Report
Due April 1, 2-page writeup
One-on-One Check-ins (2×)
One before midterms, one after (5% each)
Midterm: Developing & Brainstorming a Project
Due April 15, 2-3 page writeup + 5 min talk
Expanding Resources Consult
Meet with Guy Burak, one-on-ones with Digital Services
Suggestions for Digital Platforms / Projects / Portals
Each student contributes 10 resources to an ongoing class index
Final Project: Grant Application
Due May 18, 10-20 page grant application
Digital Forays Workshop Series
Six workshops were scheduled before class (the final event was canceled), featuring guest speakers and hands-on engagement with digital tools and methods.
Digital Data Gathering & Changing Ways of Knowing I: Witnessing + Proof + Human Rights
Digital Data Gathering & Changing Ways of Knowing II: Social Media Afterlives
Space & Place I: Critical Mapping & Counter-Cartography
Space & Place II: Visualization & Digital Storytelling
Future Digital Research on/in/from the Middle East
Lightning Talks: Junior Scholars Present Digital Scholarship in Progress
License
Published under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0. Reuse, adapt, and share freely, with attribution (BY), for non-commercial purposes (NC), and under the same license (SA). The course concluded, but the syllabus, readings, and Digital Forays archive are meant to keep circulating.