The material was surprisingly interesting. You get to choose movies to watch and write essays about them which were graded leniently. The books that you're required to buy are needed to cite in your midterm and final essays.
Lots of reading and it's important to go to the lectures, yet he also gives great lectures and provides what I felt was a fair and balanced view. You'll have to do a lot of readings, but they're all really interesting.
Al-Sabagh is such a father figure. Super caring and passionate about the subject. His lecture slides are dense, and it's good to attend because sometimes he'll make important points that aren't on the slides. He's an interesting guy and the materials he had us read were also interesting, but there were A LOT.
This was one of the best classes I've had at UCSB. The readings are long but Munther is pretty upfront about what will show up on the final - which was a take home exam. He's super respectful as well and made sure he could be heard at the back of the lecture hall. It's a pretty well rounded introduction to the Middle East.
Munther is a one of a kind guy. His lectures are interesting, but seemed to be heavily based on the Arab perspective. Sometimes I had trouble focusing during lecture though due to any number of puffy-style ski vests he would don as he passionately spelled out the case for why Zionism is a bad thing. I gotta say, very convicting, changed my mind!
Munther is a decent professor. Took his class over the summer. The midterm and final are 20% of your grade each and he gives you the exams ahead of time. The rest of the grade is a film review, section attendance/participation, and weekly journals. Attendance isn't required but his slides are useless, most of the information comes from what he says
Munther is a nice and easy-going professor. You will do well if you do the readings and pay attention to lecture, though there are almost tons of readings
Terrible teacher. He is from the most interesting part of the world but focuses on the most uninteresting topics in MES 45. Please, please don't take him. As a GLOBAL STUDIES major I hated him and this class. Absolutely deplorable.
Clear syllabus, get ready to read, interesting subject, easy to get a good grade. Attendance is mandatory (iClicker is 10% of grade). Tests straightforward with ID responses, final has three short essays (he gave questions a week before final).
My only complaint about this class was that the readings were pretty dry and long. However, other than that I really enjoyed the class. I am a biochemistry major with no previous knowledge in MES, for reference. He gave study guides that literally turned into the test. There was no tricks, that is, if you actually studied the material. I recommend.
He was very unbiased when talking about the middle east and only stated the facts. He uses a lot of slides which I personally really like in a teacher. He also discusses with the class a lot during lecture (something I don't like, but some people do)
He teaches in a way that makes boring content seem more interesting. He is also pretty fun and modern. I loved how he was not biased against "the west", but actually very neutral when talking about Middle Eastern issues.