As an interdisciplinary concentration, MES integrates diverse methodological approaches drawn from courses offered in the departments of Anthropology, Classics, Comparative Literature, Early Cultures, Egyptology, History, History of Art and Architecture, Judaic Studies, Old World Archaeology, Religious Studies and Political Science.
In recent years, MES has expanded its curriculum to include more courses that address contemporary political and societal issues in the region, with a particular emphasis on public health, redistribution and other elements of global development.
Based at the Watson Institute for International Studies, MES benefits from a distinguished faculty in both the humanities and social sciences. MES concentrators are encouraged to pursue activities in the region through internships or study abroad programs in order to supplement their coursework at Brown with personal experiences.
Through rigorous and interdisciplinary coursework, extracurricular involvement, and dynamic experiences abroad, MES concentrators are uniquely poised to make significant contributions to a broad range of contemporary problems that affect both the Middle East and the world at large.
- Middle East Studies Courses, 2012-13
- Language Courses
- Religion Courses
- Focus Area A: Religions and Cultures
- Focus Area B: Modern Politics and Societies
- Focus Area C: Economies and Resources
- University Courses
Middle East Studies Courses, 2012-13
Spring 2013
- ANTH 1151: Ethnographies of the Muslim Middle East (I. Straughn)
- ARAB 0200: First-year Arabic Miled Faiza (A. Hassan)
- ARAB 0400: Second-year Arabic M. Christoff (M Faiza)
- ARAB 0600: Third-year Arabic (M. Faiza)
- ARAB 0800: Fourth-year Arabic (M. Christoff)
- ARAB1990S01: From Texts to Tweets: Advanced Arabic Translation (A. Hassan)
- ARAB1990S02: Arabic Advanced Reading for Research (M. Christoff)
- ARCH2335: In the Wake of Empire; Anatolia after the Hittites, before Alexander (F. R. Silva)
- AWAS1200: Sacred Spaces and Sacred Times: Religious Travels and Pilgrimages in the Ancient Near East (C Pappi)
- AWAS1600: Astronomy Before the Telescope (J. Steele)
- AWAS1800: Scribes and Scholarship in the Ancient Near East (J. Steele)
- AWAS2750: Art & Visual Culture in the Ancient Near East (O Harmansah)
- COLT1310A: The Classical Arabic Literary Tradition (E Muhanna)
- COLT2820Z: The Encyclopedic Imagination from Pliny to Google Books (E. Muhanna)
- EGYT1320: Introduction to Classical Hieroglyphic Egyptian Writing and Language [Middle Egyptian II] (J. Allen)
- EGYT1420: Ancient Egyptian Religion and Magic (J. Allen)
- EGYT1455: Black Pharaohs: Nubian Rule over Egypt in the 25th Dynasty (K. E. Howley)
- HIAA1410C: What is Islamic Art? (S. Balaghi)
- HIST1453 Civilization, Empire, Nation: Competing Histories of the Middle East (B. Doumani)
- HIST1977G: The Travel Narrative and the “West’s” Encounter with the Middle East (P. Brummett)
- HIST1977M: Twentieth Century Iran (S. Balaghi)
- HMAN2970G: Space and Capital (L Quiquivix)
- HNDI0200: Beginning Hindi-Urdu (A. Koul)
- HNDI0400: Intermediate Hindi-Urdu (A. Koul)
- HNDI1080: Advanced Hindi-Urdu (A. Koul)
- JUDS0050H: Israel’s Wars (R. Rojanski)
- JUDS0120: Elementary Hebrew (R.A.B. Yehuda)
- JUDS0140: Intermediate Hebrew (R.A.B. Yehuda)
- JUDS1440: Ancient Synagogues, Churches, and Mosques in Palestine (K. Galor)
- JUDS1530: Prophets and Priests in Exile: Biblical Literature of the 6th Century BCE (S. Olyan)
- LITR1230O: Suppression and Invention in Modern Persian Literature (S. Mondanipour)
- LITR1230P: The New Wave in Iranian Cinema (S. Mondanipour)
- PRSN0200: Basic Persian (I. Anvar)
- PRSN0400: Intermediate Persian Language (I. Anvar)
- PRSN0600: Advanced Persian Language (I. Anvar)
- PRSN1200: Iranian Cinema: Before and After the Islamic Revolution (I. Anvar)
- RELS0600: Islam and Modernity (N. Khalek)
- RELS1505: Critical Approaches to Islamic Law Reform (A. Shalakany)
- RELS1530B: Methods and Problems in Islam: Heresy and Orthodoxy (N. Khalek)
Fall 2012
- ANTH0066S: Contemporary Egypt in Revolution (Ian Straughn)
- ANTH 1940: Ethnographic Research Methods (L. Fruzzetti)
- ARAB 0100: First-year Arabic (Alla Hassan, Miled Faiza)
- ARAB 0300: Second-year Arabic (M. Christoff, Miled Faiza)
- ARAB 0500: Third-year Arabic (Miled Faiza)
- ARAB 0700: Fourth-year Arabic (M. Christoff)
- AWAS0800: Introduction to the Ancient Near East (M. Rutz)
- COLT0510J: Modern Arabic Literature (R. Creswell)
- COLT0510K: The 1001 Nights (E. Muhanna)
- COLT 1421D: Mediterranean Fictions (N. Panou)
- COLT1813A: What Went Wrong? Narratives of Decline in Arabic Literature (E. Muhanna)
- EGYT1310: Intro. to Hieroglyphic Egyptian Writing and Language (J. Allen)
- EGYT1330: Selections from Middle Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts (J. Allen)
- EGYT1410: Ancient Egyptian Literature (Leo Depuydt)
- HIAA1410D: War, Revolution, and Art (S. Balaghi)
- CLAS0660: The World of Byzantium (E. Papaioannou)
- HIST 1020: Living Together: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Medieval Iberia (A. Remensnyder)
- HIST1361: Empire and Nation: Violence and Cosmopolitanism in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1856-1922 (P.P. Chronakis)
- HMAN1970D: Places of Healing: Memory, Miracle, and Storytelling (O. Harmansah)
- HMAN1970N: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in the Global Scene (L. Quiquivix)
- HIST1977E: The Ottoman Empire & Europe: Interactions and Representations in the Long Early Modern Era (P. Brummett)
- HNDI 0100: Beginning Hindi-Urdu (A. Koul)
- HNDI 0300: Intermediate Hindi-Urdu (A. Koul)
- HNDI 1080: Advanced Hindi-Urdu (A. Koul)
- JUDS0050E: From Amsterdam to Istanbul: Christians, Moslems, and Jews (Adam Teller)
- JUDS 0110: Elementary Hebrew (R.A.B. Yehuda)
- JUDS 0130: Intermediate Hebrew (R.A.B. Yehuda)
- JUDS 0150: Writing and Speaking Hebrew (R.A.B. Yehuda)
- JUDS1450: The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Katharina Galor)
- JUDS1980Q: Jews and Muslims (M. Mandel)
- JUDS1981Q: History of the State of Israel: 1948 to Present (R. Rojanski)
- LITR1230O: Suppression and Invention in Modern Persian Literature (S. Mondanipour)
- PRSN0100: Basic Persian (I. Anvar)
- PRSN0300: Intermediate Persian Language and Culture (I. Anvar)
- PRSN0500: Advanced Persian Language and Culture I (I. Anvar)
- PRSN1200: Iranian Cinema: Before and After the Islamic Revolution (I. Anvar)
- RELS 0400: New Testament and the Beginnings of Christianity (N. Denzey, D. Picus)
**
The list below represents all the courses in the Brown catalogue that may be taken towards the concentration in Middle East Studies. Not all of these courses are offered in any given year.
Language Courses
Arabic
ARAB 0100-S01 First-year Arabic
ARAB 0100-S02 First-year Arabic
ARAB 0100-S03 First-year Arabic
ARAB 0200-S01 First-year Arabic (Spring 2012)
ARAB 0200-S02 First-year Arabic (Spring 2012)
ARAB 0200-S03 First-year Arabic (Spring 2012)
ARAB 0300-S01 Second-year Arabic
ARAB 0300-S02 Second-year Arabic
ARAB 0400-S01 Second-year Arabic (Spring 2012)
ARAB 0400-S02 Second-year Arabic (Spring 2012)
ARAB 0500-S01 Third-year Arabic
ARAB 0600-S01 Third-year Arabic (Spring 2012)
ARAB 0700-S01 Fourth-year Arabic
ARAB 0800-S01 Fourth-year Arabic (Spring 2012)
ARAB 1990-S01 Special Topics on Arabic Language, Literature, and Culture
ARAB 1990-S02 Special Topics on Arabic Language, Literature, and Culture
Hindi-Urdu
HNDI 0100-S01 Beginning Hindi-Urdu
HNDI 0200-S01 Beginning Hindi-Urdu (Spring 2012)
HNDI 0300-S01 Intermediate Hindi-Urdu
HNDI 0400-S01 Intermediate Hindi-Urdu (Spring 2012)
HNDI 1080-S01 Advanced Hindi-Urdu
Hebrew
JUDS 0110-S01 Elementary Hebrew
JUDS 0120-S01 Elementary Hebrew (Spring 2012)
JUDS 0130-S01 Intermediate Hebrew
JUDS 0140-S01 Intermediate Hebrew (Spring 2012)
JUDS 0150-S01 Writing and Speaking Hebrew
Persian/Farsi:
PRSN 0100-S01 Basic Persian
PRSN 0200-S01 Basic Persian (Spring)
PRSN 0300-S01 Intermediate Persian Language and Culture (Fall)
PRSN 0400-S01 Intermediate Persian Language and Culture (Spring)
PRSN 0500-S01 Advanced Persian Language and Culture
PRSN 0600-S01 Advanced Persian Language and Culture II
Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies
AWAS 2310A-S01 Ancient Scientific Texts: Akkadian (Spring 2012)
EGYT 1310-S01 Introduction to Classical Hieroglyphic Egyptian Writing and Language (Middle Egyptian I)
EGYT 1320-S01 Introduction to Classical Hieroglyphic Egyptian Writing and Language (Middle Egyptian II)
EGYT 1330-S01 Selection From Middle Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts
EGYT 1330-S02 Selection From Middle Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts
Religion Courses
Christianity
RELS 0110-S01 Christianity (Spring 2012)
RELS 0400-S01 New Testament and the Beginnings of Christianity
Islam
RELS 0150-S01 Islam: From Mohamed to 9/11 and Beyond
Judaism
JUDS 0990G-S01 Difficult Relations? Judaism and Christianity from the Middle Ages until the Present
Alternative courses to fulfill the requirement must be approved by the concentration advisor.
Focus Area A: Religions and Cultures
Anthropology
ANTH 1151 Ethnographies of the Muslim Middle East
Archaeology and the Ancient World
ARCH 0150 Introduction to Egyptian Archaeology and Art
ARCH 0351/AWAS 0800 Introduction to the Ancient Near East
ARCH 0360 East Meets West: Archaeology of Anatolia
ARCH 0440 Archaeologies of the Ancient “Middle East”
ARCH 0445 Archaeology of the Bible
ARCH 0600 Intro To Islamic Archaeology
ARCH 0650 Islamic Civilizations
ARCH 1200F City and the Festival: Cult Practices and Architectural Production in the Ancient Near East (History of Art and Architecture 1200)
ARCH 1200G Arabia and the Arabs: The Making of an Ethnos
ARCH 1200H Islamic Landscapes: Cities, Frontiers, and Monuments
ARCH 1200I Material Worlds: Art and Agency in the Near East and Africa
ARCH 1436 The Archeology of Jerusalem (register for JUDS 1390)
ARCH 1437 The Archaeology of Palestine (register for JUDS 1400)
ARCH 1475 Petra: Ancient Wonder, Modern Challenge
ARCH 1490 The Archaeology of Central Asia: Alexander in Afghanistan, and Buddhas in Bactria
ARCH 1600 Archaeologies of the Near East
ARCH 1630 Fighting Pharaohs: Ancient Egyptian Warfare
ARCH 1635 The Great Heresy: Egypt in the Amarna Age
ARCH 1810 Under the Tower of Babel: Archaeology, Politics, and Identity in the Modern Middle East
ARCH 2010C Architecture, Body, and Performance in the Ancient Near Eastern World
ARCH 2300 The Rise (and Demise) of the State of the Near East
ARCH 2340 The Archaeology of the Assyrian Empire: Cities, Landscapes and Material Culture
ARCH 2400 Archaeologies of Place
ARCH 2710 The Archaeology of Nubia and Egypt
Classics
CLAS 1750L Erotic Desire in the Pre-modern Mediterranean
Comparative Literature
COLT 0510J Modern Arabic Literature
COLT 0510K The 1001 Nights
COLT 1310A The Classical Arabic Literary Tradition
COLT 1430V Comparative Modernisms
COLT 1811T – Levantine Cities: Alexandria, Istanbul, Athens
COLT 1813A What Went Wrong? Narratives of Decline in Arabic Literature
Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies
AWAS 0300 Babylon: Myth and Reality. First year seminar
AWAS 0800 Introduction to the Ancient Near East
AWAS 1100 Imagining the Gods: Myths and Myth-making in Ancient Mesopotamia
AWAS 1500 Ancient Babylonian Magic and Medicine
AWAS 1600 Astronomy Before the Telescope
AWAS 1650 Time in the Ancient World
AWAS 1700 Astronomy, Divination and Politics in the Ancient World
AWAS 1750 Divination in Ancient Mesopotamia
AWAS 2310B Assyriology I
AWAS 2310C Assyriology II
AWAS 2700 Special Topics in Ancient Sciences
EGYT 1410 Ancient Egyptian Literature
EGYT 1420 Ancient Egyptian Religion and Magic
EGYT 1430 History of Egypt I: The History and Society of Ancient Egypt
EGYT 1440 History of Egypt II: The New Kingdom
EGYT 1470 Egypt After the Pharaohs: Archaeology and Society in the Coptic and Early Islamic Periods. First year seminar
EGYT 1490 Calendars & Chronology in Ancient Egypt and the Ancient World
EGYT 1500 Ancient Egyptian Art and Architecture
EGYT 1510 Ancient Egyptian Art II
EGYT 1520 The Archaeology of Ancient Egyptian Household and Settlement
EGYT 1550 Ethnic Identity in Graeco-Roman Egypt
EGYT 1910 Senior Seminar I
EGYT 1920 Senior Seminar II
EGYT 2210 Introduction to Coptic
EGYT 2310 History of the Ancient Egyptian Language
EGYT 2410 Introduction to Late Egyptian
EGYT 2510 Social Life in Ancient Egypt
EGYT 2610 Introduction to Demotic
EGYT 2810 Introduction to Old Egyptian
Gender and Sexuality Studies
GNSS1700 Iranian Women’s Resistance Strategies: Gender Discrimination and the Law Since 1979
History
HIST 0971E US and the Middle East: Images and Imperialism
HIST 1020 Living Together: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Medieval Iberia
HIST 1440 Islamic History, 1400-1800
HIST 1460 The Modern Middle East Since 1918
HIST 1971L History of Islamic Law: Theory and Practice
HIST 1971Z Memoirs and Memory: The Individual Experience of Modern Jewish Life
HIST 1972F Muslims and Jews
HIST 1972V Modernity, Jews, and Urban Identity in Central Europe, 1867-1938
HIST 1976M-S01 Women in the Islamic Middle East
HIST 1977E The Ottoman Empire and Europe: Interactions and Representations in the Long Early Modern Era
HIST 1977G Journey to the East: Travel Narratives and the ‘West’s’ Encounter with the Middle East
History of Art and Architecture
HIAA 0410 Islamic Art and Architecture
HIAA 1410A Topics in Islamic Art: Islamic Art and Architecture on the Indian Subcontinent
HIAA 1430B First Two Hundred Years under Islamic Rule: Creation of a New Visual Expression, 7-9th centuries CE
Judaic Studies
JUDS 0010 Judaism: Text and Context
JUDS 0019 Death and Afterlife in the Biblical Tradition
JUDS 0050E From Amsterdam to Istanbul: Christians, Moslems, and Jews. Freshman year seminar
JUDS 0080 Jewish Art and Architecture from Antiquity to Modernity
JUDS 0260 The Bible as Literature
JUDS 0300 Israeli Literature in Hebrew
JUDS 0320 Israelite Religion
JUDS 0470 The Hebrew Bible and the History of Ancient Israel
JUDS 0530 Judaism, Christianity, and the Bible
JUDS 0870 Israeli Society (Spring 2013)
JUDS 0980G Jews, Kurds, Copts: The Middle East’s Forgotten Minorities (Spring 2013)
JUDS 0990L: Jews Between Christians and Moslems in the Early Modern World
JUDS 1390 The Archeology of Jerusalem
JUDS 1400 The Archaeology of Palestine
JUDS 1410 The Talmud
JUDS 1440 Ancient Synagogues, Churches, and Mosques in Palestine
JUDS 1450 The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls
JUDS 1530 Exilic Responses to Crisis: Biblical Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E.
JUDS 1980C Problems in Israelite Religion and Ancient Judaism
JUDS 1980K Biblical History: What Really Happened?
JUDS 1980Q Jews and Muslims
JUDS 1980X Religion in the Dead Sea Scrolls
JUDS 1981D Parting of the Ways: The Separation of Judaism and Christianity
Religious Studies
RELS 0090B Hindu & Christian Modes of Loving Devotion
RELS 0020 Death and Afterlife in Biblical Tradition
RELS 0090E Faith and Violence
RELS 0105 Judaism: Text and Context
RELS 0110 Christianity
RELS 0150 Islam: From Mohamed to 9/11 and Beyond
RELS 0320 Israelite Religion
RELS 0410 Christianity in Late Antiquity
RELS 0640 Martyrdom and Jihad in the Islamic Tradition
RELS 1500 Islam and Politics in the Modern World
RELS 1540 Monks, Mystics and Martyrs: Abrahamic Traditions Compared
RELS 1520 Pilgrimage and Sacred Travel in the Lands of Islam
RELS 1530B Methods and Problems in Islam: Heresy and Orthodoxy
RELS1880A The Gift in Antiquity
RELS 2900 Women and Gender in the Islamic Tradition
Focus Area B: Modern Politics and Societies
Anthropology
ANTH 1151 Ethnographies of the Muslim Middle East
Archaeology and the Ancient World
ARCH 1630 Fighting Pharaohs: Ancient Egyptian Warfare
ARCH 1810 Under the Tower of Babel: Archaeology, Politics, and Identity in the Modern Middle East
Comparative Literature
COLT 0610M – The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Contested Narratives (UNIV 0980)
COLT 1811T – Levantine Cities: Alexandria, Istanbul, Athens
Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies
EGYT 2510 Social Life in Ancient Egypt
Gender and Sexuality Studies
GNSS1700 Iranian Women’s Resistance Strategies: Gender Discrimination and the Law Since 1979
History
HIST 0971E US and the Middle East: Images and Imperialism
HIST 1020 Living Together: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Medieval Iberia
HIST 1450 History of the Modern Middle East 1800-1918
HIST 1460 History of the Modern Middle East since 1918
HIST 1590 Beyond Hindu, Muslim: Recovering Early South Asia
HIST 1950F From Morocco to China: Frontier Societies, Cultural Brokers. Multiple Identities in Portuguese Empire
HIST 1970O Moving Boundaries: Inequalities, Histories and Making of a Post Colonial South Asia
HIST 1971L History of Islamic Law: Theory and Practice
HIST 1971N Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
HIST 1971P Identity Conflicts in Mid East History, 1900-Present: A Proseminar through Memoirs, Novels and Films
HIST 1972F Muslims and Jews
HIST 1972V Modernity, Jews, and Urban Identity in Central Europe
HIST 1975U Gender, Empire and Nation in the Middle East
HIST 1975V Culture, Politics, and History in the Middle East
HIST 1976M-S01 Women in the Islamic Middle East
Judaic Studies
JUDS 0050E From Amsterdam and Istanbul: Christians, Moslems, and Jews
JUDS 0990L: Jews Between Christians and Moslems in the Early Modern World
JUDS 0300 Israeli Literature in Hebrew
JUDS 0470 The Hebrew Bible and the History of Ancient Israel
JUDS 0650 History of Zionism and the Birth of Israel
JUDS 0870 Israeli Society (Spring 2013)
JUDS 0980G Jews, Kurds, Copts: The Middle East’s Forgotten Minorities (Spring 2013)
JUDS 1980K Biblical History: What Really Happened?
JUDS 1981Q History of Israel
Political Science
POLS 1270 Middle East Politics
POLS 1821X Politics of Social Welfare in the Middle East
Religious Studies
RELS 0075 Reel Religion: Representations of Religions in Film
RELS 0640 Martyrdom and Jihad in the Islamic Tradition
RELS 1500 Islam and Politics in the Modern World
RELS 2900 Women and Gender in the Islamic Tradition
Focus Area C: Economies and Resources
Anthropology
ANTH 1151 Ethnographies of the Muslim Middle East
Archaeology and the Ancient World
ARCH 0440 Archaeologies of the Ancient “Middle East”
ARCH 0600 Introduction to Islamic Archaeology
ARCH 1200H Islamic Landscapes: Cities, Frontiers, and Monuments
ARCH 2340 The Archaeology of the Assyrian Empire: Cities, Landscapes and Material Culture
History
HIST 0971E US and the Middle East: Images and Imperialism
HIST 1970O Moving Boundaries: Inequalities, Histories and Making of a Post Colonial South Asia
HIST 1971N Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
HIST 1972F Muslims and Jews
HIST 1972V Modernity, Jews, and Urban Identity in Central Europe
HIST 1976M-S01 Women in the Islamic Middle East
History of Art and Architecture
HIAA 0410 Islamic Art and Architecture
HIAA 1410A Topics in Islamic Art: Islamic Art and Architecture on the Indian Subcontinent
HIAA 1430B First Two Hundred Years under Islamic Rule: Creation of a New Visual Expression, 7-9th centuries CE
Judaic Studies
JUDS 0080 Jewish Art and Architecture from Antiquity to Modernity
JUDS 1390 The Archeology of Jerusalem
JUDS 1400 The Archaeology of Palestine
JUDS 1440 Ancient Synagogues, Churches, and Mosques in Palestine
JUDS 1450 The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Political Science
POLS 1270 Middle East Politics
POLS 1821X Politics of Social Welfare in the Middle East
