
Brown Professor of History and Faculty Affiliate in Arabic Studies, Leadership Studies and Religion, Chair of Global Studies
Spring 2023 Class Hours
Mon – 7:00 pm to 9:40 pm
Spring 2023 Office Hours
TBD
Education
M.A. Yale University, Religion (1992)
Ph.D. Yale University, History (1999)
Courses
HIST 109 / ARAB 109 TUT
The Iranian Revolution (not offered 2023/24)HIST 110 / WGSS 110 / ARAB 215 TUT
The Veil: History and Interpretations (not offered 2023/24)HIST 111 / ARAB 111 / LEAD 150 SEM
Movers and Shakers in the Middle East (not offered 2023/24)HIST 301 SEM
Approaching the Past: The Use and Abuse of History (not offered 2023/24)HIST 307 / ARAB 307 SEM
To Die For? Nationalism in the Middle East (not offered 2023/24)HIST 310 / ARAB 310 LEC
Iraq and Iran in the Twentieth Century (not offered 2023/24)HIST 409 / ARAB 409 / GBST 409 SEM
Crescent, Cross, and Star. Religion and Politics in the Middle East (not offered 2023/24)HIST 411 / REL 321 / ARAB 411 SEM
Happy Holidays! A Comparative History of Commemorations and Festivals (not offered 2023/24)HIST 413 / ARAB 413 / ENVI 413 / GBST 413 SEM
The Big Ideas: Intended and Unintended Consequence of Human Ambition (not offered 2023/24)HIST 489 / ARAB 408 TUT
Appropriating History. Who Owns the Past? (not offered 2023/24)Biography
Magnus T. Bernhardsson specializes in the modern Middle East, specifically the political and cultural history of Hashmite Iraq (1921-1958). After earning his B.A. degree in theology and political science at the University of Iceland, he came to the United States and completed a masters degree in religion from Yale Divinity School in 1992. After a year in Syria studying Arabic, he returned to Yale and finished a Ph.D in Middle Eastern History in 1999. Prior to coming to Williams in 2003, he taught at Hofstra University for four years. He is the author of several books and edited volumes including Reclaiming a Plundered Past. Archaeology and Nation Building in Modern Iraq (Texas, 2005). He is currently researching and writing a book called History be Dammed! which is about hydro-electric dams in the Middle East and how they have impacted and destroyed historical sites.
Selected Publications
Mið-Austurlönd. Fortíð, nútíð, framtíð [In Icelandic. The Middle East. Past, Present, Future]. Published by Forlagið, Reykjavík, 2018.
Editor, with Abbas Amanat, U.S-Middle Eastern Historical Encounters. A Critical Survey (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2007).
Editor, with Hanna Ragnarsdottir and Elsa Jonsdottir, Fjölmenning á Íslandi [in Icelandic] (e. Multiculturalism in Iceland) (Reykjavik: University of Iceland Press, 2007).
Reclaiming a Plundered Past. Archaeology and Nation Building in Modern Iraq (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005).
Píslarvottar Nútímans. Íslam í Írak og Íran [in Icelandic] (e. Martyrs of Modernity. Islam in Iraq and Iran) (Reykjavik: Mál og Menning, 2005).
Editor, with Abbas Amanat, Imagining the End. Visions of Apocalypse from the Ancient Middle East to North America (London: I.B. Tauris, 2001).
Research Interests
Modern Middle Eastern history, Modern Iraq, Nationalism, US-Iraqi relations, History of Archaeology.
Theses Advised
Kenneth Thomas Marshall ’20 – Fighting the Jihad of the Muslims: Al-Sulami’s Kitab al-Jihad and continuity in Islamic thought during the “counter-Crusade
Ian Concannon ’19 – Williamstown and the Peacock Family Throne: Constructing Meaning from the Exile of the Iranian Royal Family
(with Karen Merrill)
Phoebe Hall ’16 – Representations of Workers on the Aswan High Dam Project
Alexandra Oviedo ’14 – Creating Kings: Gertrude Bells’ Evolving Views of Arab Political Aspirations and the Creation of Iraq
Nicholas Tyson ’14 – Atatük and the Turkish Language Reforms: One Man’s Vision and the Future of a Nation
Galen Jackson ’09 – Militarized Democracy: The American Reactions to the Coups in Turkey
Si-Hyun Woo ’09 (with Eric Goldberg) – Scripture and Tradition: A Rappprochement of the Reformations
Jimmy Bierman ’08 – Interventions: Lebanon 1958-1982
Karl Naden ’06 – Securing the American Stake in Iraqi Oil. The Open Door Policy in American Foreign Oil Policy, 1922-1931
Zachary Ulman ’06 – What Kind of Israel Do We Want? Israel’s Existential Crisis and Battle Over Rabins Legacy
Marissa Doran ’05 – Pulling Teeth. Energy and Crisis in the Carter Era 1976-1981
Sarah Whitton ’05 – Fighting the Dead Hands of Sarah. Premillennialists, Arabs and Islam from Balfour to Babylon
Program Connections at Williams
Megamenu Social