Courses

MES_V 450 Directed Studies Project / Middle East Studies Student Workshop
6 credits – Full Year
Restricted to upper-level undergrads; Instructor approval required

Mandatory Core Course

MES_V 300 (3) The Middle East: Critical Questions and Debates. This innovative, interdisciplinary course introduces students to the study of the Middle East. Each week we will engage with crucial questions and debates that continue to shape scholarly and public perceptions of this widely misunderstood region. Adopting a critical perspective on area studies, we will expose the ‘Middle East’ as a problematic construct that holds the potential to limit our imaginations, distort our understanding of its diverse cultures, and obscure the connections between it and other areas of the world. By doing so, we grapple with how best to navigate the complex challenges inherent to Middle East Studies and contest the paradigms that posit the Middle East as exceptional in the worst sense of the term. This is an introductory course and no prior knowledge of the Middle East is required. Prerequisites: None.

Special Topics Courses*

Each year, some departments offer special topics course with MES-related content. Please inform the Program Chair if you are taking one of these courses and wish for it to count towards the MES Minor.

MES_V 450 Arabic for Heritage Learners (title tentative – offered 2022W T2)

HIST_V 105-B The Global War on Terror

HIST_V 4030-E Seminar in the History of International Relations: The Middle East in Graphic Novels: History, Politics and the Tragic Comic

*This list is not exhaustive. Please consult with the Program Chair if you locate other potential special topics courses with MES content that might count.

New Courses for 2022W

Introductory Modern Standard Arabic I (ARBM 101)

Complete List of Approved Courses

Many of the courses offered this year are highlighted in the list below. Please note the following:

Departments often add course offerings. Some courses may be offered this coming year but are not highlighted here.
Upon consultation, the Program Chair may approve courses not listed here.
Students are encouraged to speak with the Program Chair or other relevant MES-affiliated faculty about the possibility of conducting directed readings or student-directed seminars
Language courses are optional. There is no language requirement for the MES Minor.

Lower-level

ARBC_V 101 (3) Beginning Classical and Quranic Arabic I
ARBC_V 102 (3) Beginning Classical and Quranic Arabic II
ARBC_V 201 (3) Intermediate Classical and Quranic Arabic I
ARBC 202 (3) Intermediate Classical and Quranic Arabic II

ARBM_V 101 (3) Introductory Modern Arabic I
ARBM_V 102 (3) Introductory Modern Arabic II

ASIA_V 206 (3) Modern Islam
ASIA_V 207 (3) Classical Islam

AMNE_V 160 (3) Introduction to the Western (Abrahamic) Religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (formerly RELG_V 101)
AMNE_V 170 (3) Temples, Tombs, and Tyrants: The Archaeology of the Middle East, Greece, and Rome (formerly CNRS_V 104)
AMNE_V 200 (3) Approaching the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East
AMNE_V 251 (3) Near Eastern and Biblical Mythology (formerly RELG_V 201)
AMNE_V 260 (3) Scriptures of the Near East (formerly RELG_V 203)
AMNE_V 261 (3) Eden to Exile: Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (formerly RELG_V 209)
AMNE_V 262 (3) Introduction to Judaism and its Texts (formerly RELG_V 206)

HEBR_V 101 (3) Beginning Biblical Hebrew I
HEBR_V 102 (3) Beginning Biblical Hebrew II
HEBR_V 201 (3) Intermediate Biblical Hebrew I
HEBR_V 202 (3) Intermediate Biblical Hebrew II

HIST_V 280 (3) Islamic World History

NEST_V 101 (3) Introduction to Near Eastern and Egyptian Archaeology

PERS_V 100 (3) Basic Persian I
PERS_V 101 (3) Basic Persian II
PERS_V 104 (3) Persian Reading and Writing for Persian-Speaking Students
PERS_V 200 (3) Intermediate-Low Persian I
PERS_V 201 (3) Intermediate-Low Persian II

Upper-level

AMNE_V 314 (3) Early Empires of the Ancient Middle East (PLEASE CONTACT MES CHAIR TO HAVE THIS COUNT TOWARDS MES MINOR) (formerly NEST_V 301)
AMNE_V 320-A (3) Topics in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern History and Culture
AMNE_V 361 (3) The Origins of Judaism (formerly RELG_V 330)
AMNE_V 363 (3) Talmud, Midrash and the Rabbinic Imagination (formerly RELG_V 308)
AMNE_V 364 (3) Magic, Prophecy, and Divination in the Biblical World (formerly RELG_V 305)
AMNE_V 366 (3) The Origins of Christianity (formerly RELG_V 317)
AMNE_V 367 (3) The Origins of Christianity: Literary Contexts (formerly RELG_V 316)
AMNE_V 371 (3) Ancient Egypt: Archaeology of the Land of the Pharaohs (formerly NEST_V 304)
AMNE_V 372 (3) The Archaeology of Ancient Iraq and Syria: Babylon and Beyond (formerly NEST_V 319)
AMNE_V 373 (3) Archaeology and the Bible (formerly RELG_V 306)
AMNE_V 382 (3) Egyptomania (formerly NEST_V 318)
AMNE_V 393 (3) Introduction to Coptic (NEST_V 317)
AMNE_V 440-A (3) Seminar in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Literature and Ideas – ANC MED IDEAS
AMNE_V 441 (3) Literature of Ancient Egypt or the Ancient Near East (formerly NEST_V 401)
AMNE_V 462 (3) Topics in Early Judaism (formerly RELG_V 407)
AMNE_V 470-A (3) Seminar in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Archaeology – ANC MED ARCH
AMNE_V 470-B (3) Seminar in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Archaeology – ANC MED ARCH
AMNE_V 471 (3-6) The Archaeology of Urbanism (formerly NEST_V 402)
AMNE_V 572-A (3) Studies in Near Eastern Archaeology in the Bronze Age

ANTH_V 311 (3) Ethnography of the Middle East

ARBC_V 420 (3-12) Supervised Study in Classical and Quranic Arabic

ARTH_V 350 (3) Grounding the Islamic Image
ARTH_V 351 (3) Art and Urban Culture in the Islamic World
ARTH_V 354 (3) Mughal India: Art, Architecture and the Spectacle of Empire
ARTH_V 450 (3) Seminar in Art in the Islamic World

ASIA_V 310 (3-6) Studies in the History of a Major Asian Civilization (dependent on iteration)
ASIA_V 330 (3) Muslims in Modern South Asia
ASIA_V 331 Islam in South Asia (750-1750) (PLEASE CONTACT MES CHAIR TO HAVE THIS COUNT TOWARDS MES MINOR)
ASIA_V 360 (3-9) A Specific Asian Literature in Translation (dependent on iteration)
ASIA_V 380 (3) Modern Arabic Literature from the Middle East and North Africa in Translation
ASIA_V 392 (3) Classical Persian Literature in English Translation
ASIA_V 393 (3) History of Iran from the Sasanians to the Safavids
ASIA_V 394 (3) Post-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema
ASIA_V 395 (3) Modern Persian Literature
ASIA_V 408 (3) Religion, Society, and Secularism in Modern India
ASIA_V 414 (3) Architecture and Urbanism in Islamic South Asia
ASIA_V 428 (3) Mughal India
ASIA_V 433 (3) The Cinematic Lives of Muslims in South Asia
ASIA_V 461 (3) Gender and Sexuality in Modern Iranian Narratives

ENGL_V 370 (3-6) Literatures and Cultures of Africa and/or the Middle East (dependent on iteration)

GEOG_V 498 (3) Geographies of the Middle East

GRSJ_V 410 (3) Religious Feminisms

HEBR_V 479 (3-12) Supervised Study in Classical Hebrew

HIST_V 341 (3) Medieval Jewish History
HIST_V 342 (3) Modern Jewish History
HIST_V 352 (3) Modern Middle Eastern History
HIST_V 353 (3-6) Special Topics in Middle Eastern History
HIST_V 354 (3) The Ottoman Empire
HIST_V 388 (3) India in the Early Modern World: Kings, Courtesans, and Saints (PLEASE CONTACT MES CHAIR TO HAVE THIS COUNT TOWARDS MES MINOR)
HIST_V 405 (3) Diplomacy and Conflict in the Middle East, 1914 to the Present

PERS_V 300 (3) Intermediate-High Persian I
PERS_V 301 (3) Intermediate-High Persian II
PERS_V 400 (3) Persian Short Story for Native and Heritage Speakers
PERS_V 401 (3) Contemporary Iranian Cinema for Advanced Speakers of Persian (PLEASE CONTACT MES CHAIR TO HAVE THIS COUNT TOWARDS MES MINOR)