Urban

Elizabeth Urban

Courses Taught

  • HIS 100: The World Since 1900
  • HIS 101: History of Civilization I
  • HIS 300: Varieties of History
  • HIS 308: Intro to the Islamic World
  • HIS 375: The Arab-Israeli Conflict
  • HIS 381: The Forgotten Queens of Islam 
  • HIS 397: Women & Gender In the Islamic World
  • HIS 400: Seminar in History 
  • HIS 411: The Middle East to 1700
  • HIS 412: The Middle East since 1600
  • HIS 509: The Modern Middle East and the West

About Me

Professor Urban (Ph.D. The University of Chicago, 2012) joined the WCU history department in 2014. She has diverse interests in the field of Islamic history, including gender, slavery, and empire. Her recent monograph, Conquered Populations in Early Islam (Edinburgh UP, 2020), examines how new Muslims of slave origins joined the early Islamic community and articulated their identities within it. While she specializes in the medieval period, Dr. Urban also teaches courses on the modern Middle East and contemporary issues in the Islamic world.

Prof. Urban has had several opportunities to travel to the Middle East, most recently in Summer 2018, when she traveled to Jordan with a group of West Chester students. She has also studied Arabic in Egypt, Tunisia, and Syria, and she is delighted to share her love of Arabic language, culture, music, and food with students.

In addition to studying Arabic texts and preparing new courses in Islamic history, Prof. Urban enjoys cooking Tex-Mex food, rooting for the Houston Astros, and calling people "y'all."

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