Modern Iranian history from the 1906 Constitutional Revolution to the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the post- revolutionary years. Shi'i Islam, the rise of nationalism, the quest for modernization, democracy and authoritarianism, and imperialism and politics of oil.
5
UnitsOptional
Grading1, 2, 3
PasstimeNone
Level LimitLetters and science
CollegeProfessor Afary is extremely knowledgable about the topic, but her lectures were often hard to pay attention to. The midterm and final are both a mixture of multiple choice and free response questions. Attendance was supposed to be mandatory, but she was very inconsistent about taking attendance. TAKE THIS CLASS WITH JANNA HAIDER IF YOU CAN
She is a very knowledgeable professor with firsthand experience of some of the things discussed which makes for very interesting lectures. Grading is straightforward and not an overwhelming amount of homework and reading
Soft spoken professor and slide dependent lectures but if you want to learn about Iran its a great class to take that wasn't hard really. Two midterms that you have to study for but if you study they're super easy. Section attendance is mandatory but you go over a lot of topics that help with the midterms and final. Final is a paper and easy test
Professor Afary is a very good pressor and I really like her. It is however a bit difficult to understand with no background context. It would be better if you have a family member who was born in Iran and was there during the time of the revolution and likes history. It is definitely not easy but doable.
Definitely dont be afraid of taking her. She is pretty cool but I feel like we got lucky because we had easy TAs. The class is really straightforward. If you go to lectures and take good notes, you're guaranteed an A. The names can be hard so if you're good at making flashcards for the test then you'll definitely pass. Tests were not cumulative
Professor Afary knows her stuff. If you go to lecture and pay attention for even half of it, you wouldn't need to read a page of the textbook (there's an online pdf btw). She made the paper optional. There are weekly quizzes in section based on the supplementary reading, which you WILL need to do. TAs were nice and made study guides for exams.