Center for Middle East Studies
Fall 2026
A growing number of exciting courses, creative and relevant programming, and a steady stream of post-docs and visiting professors offer unparalleled opportunities for MES concentrators who wish to understand this region and to engage with a broad range of issues that affect our world.
Fall 2026 Courses
MES0451 Pirates, Bandits, Terrorists: Outlaws in the Middle East (Alexander Winder) WRIT
MES1051 Israel-Palestine: Public Humanities (Katharina Galor) WRIT
MES1971 Senior Honors Thesis (Elias Muhanna) WRIT
Languages
Arabic
- ARAB0100 First-Year Arabic (Alla Hassan)
- ARAB0300 Second-Year Arabic (Miled Faiza)
- ARAB0500 Third-Year Arabic (Miled Faiza)
- ARAB700 Advanced Arabic: Tales of the City (Alla Hassan)
- ARAB1990 Special Topics in Arabic Language, Literature, and Culture (Miled Faiza)
Hebrew
- HEBR0100 Elementary Hebrew (Instructor TBD)
- HEBR300 Intermediate Hebrew (Instructor TBD)
- HEBR500 Writing and Speaking Hebrew (Instructor TBD)
Persian
- PRSN0100 Basic Persian (Michelle Quay)
- PRSN0300 Intermediate Persian Language and Culture (Michelle Quay)
- PRSN1100 Reading Persian for Research (Michelle Quay)
Electives
Archaeology
- ARCH0100 Field Archaeology in the Ancient World (Parker VanValkenburgh & Laurel Bestock)
- ARCH0775 Farm to Table: Foodways and Gastro-Politics in the Ancient Near East (Lorenzo Castellano)
Assyriology
- ASYR0800 The Cradle of Civilization? An Introduction to the Ancient Near East (Matthew Rutz)
- ASYR1020 Alien Writing: Invented Scripts from Demons to Dune (Felipe Rojas Silva)
Classics
- CLAS1520 Xenophon’s Anabasis: Empire, Contact, Archaeology (Johanna Hanink and Felipe Rojas Silva)
Comparative Literature
- COLT 0711W Palestinian (Non)Fictions and Films (Ahmad Abu Ahmad) RPP
- COLT1431 Anti Poetry (Maru Pabon)
- COLT 1814S The Balkans, Europe's Other?: Literature, Film, History (Vangelis Calotychos)
Egyptology
- EGYT1050 Gods, Mummies, and Myths: Exploring Ancient Egyptian Society (Christelle Alvarez)
- EGYT1310 Introduction to Classical Hieroglyphic Egyptian Writing and Language (Middle Egyptian I) (Christelle Alvarez)
- EGYT1435 At the Crossroads of Three Continents: Ancient Egypt’s History from the Collapse to Cleopatra (Jonathan Russell)
History
- HIST1202 Formation of the Classical Heritage: Greeks, Romans, Jews, Christians, and Muslims (Kenneth Sacks) RPP, WRIT
- HIST1205 The Long Fall of the Roman Empire (Jonathan Conant)
- HIST1457A Understanding the Palestinians: 1700-1948 (Beshara Doumani)
- HIST 1954F Globalism before Globalization: The Interconnected World of the Early Middle Ages (Jonathan Conant)
IAPA
- IAPA1802S Human Security and Humanitarian Response: Increasing Effectiveness and Accountability (Adam Levine) WRIT
- IAPA1803 Humanitarian Response in Modern Conflict (David Polatty) WRIT
Judaic Studies
- JUDS0050H Israel's Wars (Rachel Rojanski) FYS
- JUDS0050P Sacred Spaces: Synagogues, Churches, Mosques (Katharina Galor) FYS, WRIT
- JUDS0830 The Bible as Literature (David Jacobson)
LITR
- LITR1153G Against Mastery (Siwar Masannat)
Religious Studies
Curricular Programs
WRIT
- MES0451 Pirates, Bandits, Terrorists: Outlaws in the Middle East (Alex Winder)
- MES1051 Israel-Palestine: Public Humanities (Katharina Galor)
- MES1971 Senior Honors Thesis (Elias Muhanna)
- HIST1202 Formation of the Classical Heritage: Greeks, Romans, Jews, Christians, and Muslims (Kenneth Sacks)
- JUDS0050P Sacred Spaces: Synagogues, Churches, Mosques (Katharina Galor)
- IAPA1802S Human Security and Humanitarian Response: Increasing Effectiveness and Accountability (Adam Levine)
- IAPA1803 Humanitarian Response in Modern Conflict (David Polatty)