Every year, the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies sponsors a variety of courses related to modern Israel in departments across campus. These courses qualify for the Israel Studies minor offered by the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures and may qualify for other majors and minors. More information on the Israel Studies minor can be found on the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department website. Search for upcoming, Center-sponsored courses below.
Center-Sponsored Courses
Fall 2024
There are no Center-sponsored courses for the Fall 2024 Quarter.
Winter 2025
Diaspora Politics
Political Science 139: Special Studies in International Relations
Instructor: Dr. Elizabeth Stein
Day & Time: M/W | 9:30–10:45 AM
Location: Public Affairs 2214
Course Description: Diasporasare minority ethnic groups of immigrant origin that have sustained psychological, social,political, and material connections to their putative ancestral homeland or country of origin.The course examines how diasporasorganize to create activist, advocacy, and lobbying movements and organizations to advance their collective interests among domestic policymakers andpoliticalleaders, all while navigating normative, structural, andpoliticalopportunities and constraints in the countries where they live. We examine scholarly approaches and problems relevant todiasporapoliticsin the 21st century with current-events examples from Jewish, Palestinian, Armenian, Iraqi, and Ethiopian communities mostly in the US, and from Hungarian and Turkish communities throughout Europe.
Governing the Mosaic: Israel's Minority Politics in Comparative Perspective
Sociology 180A: Special Topics in Sociology
Instructor: Dr. Tamar Hofnung
Day & Time: M/W | 11:00 AM–12:15 PM
Location: Public Affairs Building 2232
Course Description: Study asks how nations address and manage complexities of cultural and ethnic diversity; to what extent state policies and institutional frameworks impact dynamics between minority and majority groups; and what role social structures and interactions play in shaping collective identity of social groups within national context. Study centers on dynamics of minority-majority relationships, with specific focus on Israel as case study. Key topics for discussion encompass multiculturalism, discrimination, inequality, migration, and social mobility. Also, students make comparisons between how Israel addresses social diversity and how other complex societies—such as U.S., Australia, and European nations—handle similar issues.
Spring 2025
Introduction to Israeli and Palestinian Literature
Comparative Literature (COM LIT) 191: Variable Topics in Comparative Literature
Instructor: Dr. Ethan Pack
Day & Time: Tu/Th | 12:30–1:45 PM
Location: Renee and David Kaplan Hall Room A48
Course Description: A survey of literature from Israel and Palestine, and from wider Israeli and Palestinian diasporas, over past century. Texts grapple with most compelling issues in Israeli and Palestinian life today, including impact of political violence. Students read groundbreaking texts that reflect growth of these two national cultures. Consideration of impact of war, trauma, and postwar trauma; ongoing crisis of Palestinian statelessness; ethnic diversity of Israel's Jewish immigrants; long shadow of Holocaust; place of religion in Israel and Palestine; and changing roles of gender, sexuality, and protest across these two societies. Focus on ways that literature has shaped collective consciousness around these and other formative issues.
National Security versus Human Rights: Israel in Comparative Perspective
International Area Studies 160: Selected Topics in International and Area Studies
Instructor: Dr. Tamar Hofnung
Day & Time: M/W | 5–6:15 PM
Location: Public Affairs Building 2250
Course Description: An examination of constant tension democracies face between protecting human rights and maintaining national security. By reviewing key theoretical approaches to analyzing this tension, study asks how security decisions are made and what considerations guide them; what social goals are advanced under name of national security; and what impact of using national security considerations is on strength of democracy. Israel used as case study. Study utilizes Israel's political and institutional structure, and its continuous dealings with external and internal threats, to highlight ongoing global trends.
Gender in Israel as a Microcosm of Global Trends
Sociology 180B: Special Topics in Sociology
Instructor: Dr. Tamar Hofnung
Day & Time: M/W | 2–3:15 PM
Location: Public Affairs Building 2232
Course Description: Examination of gender relations from sociology of gender perspective, that focuses on how gender is socially constructed. By reviewing key theoretical approaches to gender, exploration of how gender is constructed at social, political, and institutional levels. Analysis of how these constructions shape social world. With Israel as case study, country's political and institutional structure—and its diverse population composition—used to highlight ongoing global trends.
For questions whether a course will count toward another major or minor, please consult your departmental Student Affairs Officer.
Search for classes below related to Israel in a wide range of disciplines. Select academic year and quarter to view course offerings.