This course addresses the ways in which language defines and projects power and identity, as well as its role as a societal force with the capacity to embrace or marginalize individuals and entire communities. The course will consider what language is in these contexts as well as public and official conceptions of what it ought to be, and will utilize a combination of primary and secondary sources to introduce relevant theoretical concepts and ground them in real-world, practical examples. The course material will be drawn from the rich socio-cultural environment of the Middle East and North Africa and will focus on events and thought from the nineteenth century forward, though the principles explored and conclusions reached will be of relevance above the level of regional specialty and inform understandings of the position of language in human society at large.