Mini Courses

Zahra Institute Mini-Courses

Mini-Courses are monthlong explorations of a single topic intended for students, professionals, and the general public. Each course consists of 4 synchronous online sessions. Each session lasts two and a half hours and includes engaging lectures and lively discussion. Homework assignments are minimal, but each class will provide a well-curated supplemental reading list for further study. Our instructors are experts in the field and our students come from all over the world. Join us!
Mini-Course tuition is $200 per course.

Multimedia for Online Language Teaching

Instructor: Shahreena Shahrani

Multimedia for Online Language Teaching is a synchronous online mini course designed for language instructors seeking to strengthen their digital teaching skills. Grounded in a task based approach, the course introduces participants to key multimedia tools and guides them in designing meaningful, learner centered online activities. By the end of the course, participants will have created a small teaching portfolio to support the development of an online language course at their institution.

Sundays, 1-3:30 pm Central Time (GMT -6)
August 2, 9, 16, 23

Kurdish Cinema

Instructor: Bahar Şimşek-Day

This class offers a comprehensive survey of contemporary Kurdish cinema. It aims to develop a critical understanding of how Kurds and Kurdishness appear in and through film. We will focus especially on the promise and uses of cinema for the national aspirations of Kurds in Kurdistan and beyond, with gender, language, religion and class providing important tools to help us understand these acentric political developments. Drawing on films and texts, we ask: Who is the audience of Kurdish cinema, and how do different answers to this question shape different ways of making Kurdish films? How are films screened, and how do the cultural practices of screening affect the aesthetics of film? What ethical questions inform the present and future of Kurdish cinema?

Sundays, 1-3:30 pm Central Time (GMT -6)
September 13, 20, 27, October 4

Qur’an in Historical Context

Instructor: Matthew Niemi

What did the Quran mean to the generation that first heard it, and how did it impact them? In this course we'll be studying passages and vocabulary of the Quran, along with history, language and literature of the time period, to familiarize ourselves with the world that the Quran's first generation lived in, and thus to better understand how the Quran's message functioned in the world and engaged with the thought of Christians, Jews, pagan Neoplatonists, and others.

Saturdays, 1-3:30 pm Central Time (GMT -6)
October 10, 17, 24, 31

Contemporary Kurdish Literature

Instructor: Kaveh Ghobadi

Contemporary Kurdish Literature examines the themes and genres being explored by Kurdish writers in Kurdistan and the Diaspora today. No knowledge of Kurdish is required. We will be discussing works composed in both Kurdish and European languages; English translations will be available for most texts.

Sundays, 1-3:30 pm Central Time (GMT -6)
October 11, 18, 25, November 1

Islamic Constitutionalism and Said Nursi’s Munazarat

Instructor: Mucahit Bilici

An important aspect of modernity in the Muslim world is the emergence of debates surrounding Islamic Constitutionalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One contribution to the genre is Said Nursi’s socio-political treatise Munazarat (1911), a work that argues for the compatibility of Sharia and Constitutionalism. The book takes the form of an imagined dialogue between the author and ordinary Kurdish subjects of the Ottoman Empire. This course explores the key ideas of Munazarat in the context of broader transformations in authority, theology, and the politics of reform.

Sundays, 1-3:30 pm Central Time (GMT -6)
November 8, 15, 22, 29

AUGUST COURSES