Week 1 has passed and we’re into the quarter full-swing. This quarter I’m taking Arabic, the first section of Middle East historiography that focuses on the Ottoman Empire from the 18^th to the 20^th centuries (Historical Scholarship of the Modern Middle East, Late Ottoman Empire), and Historical Studies of Women and Gender. Both the Middle East course and the women and gender course have great syllabi that I’m looking forward to sharing with you.

I’ve also been assigned an undergraduate class for which I’m going to be grading the midterm and final; as of last count, the class had about 75 students, but will probably whittle down to around 50. The class is outside my major field, and covers Mexico in the 19^th century from decolonization to revolution (1810-1910). For it being an immediate neighbor to the south, I unfortunately know very little about Mexican history and am looking forward to learning more.

I hope you enjoy following along for the next two and a half months!