Courses in Middle Eastern Studies
The Judaic and Near Eastern Studies department requires two introductory courses for the major. Middle Eastern Studies majors must complete History 130 and 131, or the approved equivalents as noted below. Students are encouraged to take these introductory courses at UMass, but they can be fulfilled with equivalent,courses offered through the Five College Consortium, (for an updated list, see your email) upon the academic advisor’s permission. Similarly, upper-level requirements can be fulfilled by taking a wide range of courses in the department, the Five Colleges and, with advance permission, approved study abroad programs.
Courses at Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges listed here, as well as others with majority Middle Eastern content, can count towards upper-level course requirements. When one of the required introductory courses is not offered in a given year at UMass, an equivalent course offered elsewhere in the Five College consortium may be substituted with advisor approval.
|
Institution |
Course # |
Course Description |
Professor |
|
Intro-Level MES History Courses (pre-modern) |
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|
UMass |
HISTORY 130 |
Middle East History I |
Anne Broadbridge |
|
Intro-Level MES History Courses (contemporary) |
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|
UMass |
HISTORY 131 |
Middle East History II |
|
|
UMass |
MIDEAST/SPP 151 |
Water, Oil, and Blood: The Middle East in Global Policy |
David Mednicoff |
| Other 100-level MES Courses | |||
| UMass | MIDEAST 105 | Islam in the Middle East, 600-1800 CE: Religion? Civilization? Culture? or What? | Malissa Taylor |
| UMass | MIDEAST/JUDAIC 189 | Culture and Immigration in Israel | Olga Gershenson |
|
Courses in MES Language |
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|
UMass |
ARAB 101 |
Elementary Four-Skilled Arabic I |
Nahla Khalil |
|
UMass |
ARAB 102 |
Elementary Four-Skilled Arabic II |
Nahla Khalil |
|
UMass |
ARAB 126 |
Elementary Arabic I |
Tayeb El-Hibri |
|
UMass |
ARAB 146 |
Elementary Arabic II |
Tayeb El-Hibri |
|
UMass |
ARAB 201 |
Intermediate Four-Skilled Arabic I |
Nahla Khalil |
|
UMass |
ARAB 226 |
Intermediate Arabic I |
Tayeb El-Hibri |
|
UMass |
ARAB 202 |
Intermediate Four-Skilled Arabic II |
Nahla Khalil |
|
UMass |
ARAB 246 |
Intermediate Arabic II |
Tayeb El-Hibri |
| UMass | ARAB 301 |
Four-Skilled Third-Year Arabic I |
Nahla Khalil |
| UMass | ARAB 302 |
Four-Skilled Third-Year Arabic II |
Nahla Khalil |
| UMass | ARAB 326 |
Advanced Arabic I |
Tayeb El-Hibri |
| UMass | ARAB 346 | Advanced Arabic II |
Tayeb El-Hibri |
|
UMass |
HEBREW 230 |
Intermediate Modern Hebrew I |
Ofir Zussman |
|
UMass |
HEBREW 240 |
Intermediate Modern Hebrew II |
Ofir Zussman |
|
Amherst College |
ARAB @ AMH 201 |
Second Year Arabic I |
Mohamed Hassan, Olla Al-Shalchi |
|
Amherst College |
ARAB @ AMH 202 |
Second Year Arabic II |
Mohamed Hassan, Olla Al-Shalchi |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
ASIA @ MNT 232 |
Second Year Arabic I |
|
|
Mount Holyoke College |
ASIA @ MNT 233 |
Second Year Arabic II |
|
|
Smith College |
ARAB @ SMI 200 |
Intermediate Arabic I |
Brahim Oulbeid |
|
Smith College |
ARAB @ SMI 201 |
Intermediate Arabic II |
Brahim Oulbeid |
|
Smith College |
JUD @ SMI 201 |
Readings in Modern Hebrew Language |
|
|
Junior Year Writing |
|||
| UMass | MIDEAST 389 | Topics in Middle Eastern Studies |
Malissa Taylor |
| UMass | HISTORY 450 | Junior Year Writing: Islamic Movements in History |
Anne Broadbridge |
|
Integrative Experience |
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| UMass | HISTORY 394AI | Age of the Crusades |
Anne Broadbridge |
|
UMass |
HISTORY 394TI |
Mongol & Turkish Empires |
Anne Broadbridge |
| UMass | POLISCI 383 | Energy Policy |
Regine Spector |
|
Satisfies 24 upper-level credit courses (approved 200-level or 300+ level) |
|||
|
UMass |
ANTHRO 350 |
Israel & Palestine |
Michael Sugerman |
|
UMass |
ANTHRO 353 |
ST: Archaeology of Egypt & Nubia |
Michael Sugerman |
|
UMass |
ANTHRO 498F |
Archaeology, Survey, and Conservation |
Michael Sugerman |
|
UMass |
ARTH 347 |
Islamic Art & Architecture I |
|
|
UMass |
ARTH 348 |
Islamic Art & Architecture II |
|
|
UMass |
COMPLIT 261H |
Modern Arabic Literature |
Nahla Khalil |
| UMass | HISTORY 203 | The Ancient Near East & Egypt |
Timothy Hart |
|
UMass |
HISTORY 343H |
Modern Middle East |
|
| UMass | HISTORY 394AI | Age of the Crusades (I.E. course) |
Anne Broadbridge |
|
UMass |
HISTORY 394TI |
Mongol & Turkish Empires (I.E. course) |
Anne Broadbridge |
| UMass | HISTORY 320 | From Muhammad to the Caliphate: The Rise of Islam in the Late Antique Context |
Hadi Jorati |
| UMass | HISTORY 415 | *Islamic Movements in History |
Anne Broadbridge |
|
UMass |
HISTORY 491MMH | Mass Migrations in the Modern Middle East | |
| UMass | LEGAL 393LG | Law & Global Migration |
|
| UMass | MIDEAST 220 | The Middle East and the World: 1400-1800 | Malissa Taylor |
| UMass | MIDEAST 233 | Sex, Bodies, & Gender in the Middle East | Malissa Taylor |
| UMass | MIDEAST 245 | Environmental History of the Middle East | Malissa Taylor |
| UMass | MIDEAST 310 | Classical Arabic Literature in Translation | Hadi Jorati |
| UMass | MIDEAST 313 | Mythology of Ancient Persia | Hadi Jorati |
| UMass | MIDEAST/HISTORY 321 | History of Shi'i Islam | Hadi Jorati |
| UMass | MIDEAST/JUDAIC 326 | Sustainability in Comparative Religious Perspective | Aviva Ben-Ur |
| UMass | MIDEAST/JUDAIC 327 | Jewish Food in Historical Perspective | Aviva Ben-Ur |
| UMass | MIDEAST/JUDAIC 328 | Mediterranean Mosaic: Ancient Civilizations, Then and Now | Aviva Ben-Ur |
| UMass | MIDEAST/JUDAIC 344 | Film & Society in Israel | Olga Gershenson |
| UMass | MIDEAST/JUDAIC 351 | Crossing Borders in Israel & Palestine | Rachel Green |
| UMass | MIDEAST/JUDAIC 357 | Israeli Television, Global Reach | Olga Gershenson |
| UMass | MIDEAST 361 | Sufism: Islamic Mystical Tradition | Malissa Taylor |
| UMass | MIDEAST 362 | Religion & Politics of the Early Modern Middle East | Malissa Taylor |
|
UMass |
MIDEAST/JUDAIC 377 |
Israel & Palestine through Film and Pop-Culture |
Olga Gershenson |
| UMass | MIDEAST 390B | Borderlands of Islam | Malissa Taylor |
| UMass | MIDEAST 391A | Islamic Society & Culture in the Middle Ages | Tayeb El-Hibri |
|
UMass |
MIDEAST 392P | Islamic Political Thought: From Revelation to Revolution | Andrew March |
| UMass | MIDEAST 392T | Medieval Arabic Travel Literature |
Tayeb El-Hibri |
| UMass | MIDEAST 420 | Philosophy in the Islamic Civilization |
Hadi Jorati |
| UMass | MIDEAST 321 | History of Shi'i Islam |
Hadi Jorati |
| UMass | MIDEAST 491C | Classical Arabic Seminar: Arabic Historiography |
Hadi Jorati |
| UMass | MIDEAST 497B | Israeli & Palestinian Cinema |
Olga Gershenson |
| UMass | POLISCI 255 |
United States Foreign Policy |
|
| UMass | POLISCI 275 |
Global Political Thought |
|
| UMass | POLISCI 383 | Energy Policy (I.E. course) |
Regine Spector |
| UMass | POLISCI 394AI | Modern Islamic Political Thought (I.E. course) |
Andrew March |
|
Amherst College |
ANTH @ AMH 31 |
Anthropology of Middle East |
|
|
Amherst College |
ARAB @ AMH 301 |
Third Year Arabic I |
Mohamed Hassan |
|
Amherst College |
ARAB @ AMH 302 |
Third Year Arabic II |
Mohamed Hassan, Olla Al-Shalchi |
|
Amherst College |
ARAB @ AMH 401 |
Fourth Year Arabic: Media Arabic |
Mohamed Hassan |
|
Amherst College |
ARAB @ AMH 402 |
Fourth Year Arabic: Topics in Arabic Language & Culture |
Mohamed Hassan |
|
Amherst College |
ASIA @ AMH 320 |
The Arts of Exchange: Cross-Cultural Interaction in the Islamic World, 1400-1800 |
Yael Rice |
|
Amherst College |
ASIA @ AMH 320 |
Religion/Empires/Secular State |
Trent Maxey, Monica Ringer |
|
Amherst College |
ASIA @ AMH 355 |
Early Islam: Construction of an Historical Tradition |
Monica Ringer |
|
Amherst College |
ASIA @ AMH 356 |
The Islamic Mystical Tradition |
Tariq Jaffer |
|
Amherst College |
ASIA @ AMH 363 |
Women in the Middle East |
Monica Ringer |
|
Amherst College |
HIST @ AMH 294 |
The History of Israel |
Adi Gordon |
|
Amherst College |
HIST @ AMH 319 |
Religion/Empires/Secular State |
Trent Maxey, Monica Ringer |
|
Amherst College |
HIST @ AMH 393 |
Early Islam: Construction of an Historical Tradition |
Monica Ringer |
|
Amherst College |
HIST @ AMH 397 |
Women in the Middle East |
Monica Ringer |
|
Amherst College |
HIST @ AMH 492 |
Inside Iran |
|
|
Amherst College |
RELG @ AMH 263 |
Ancient Israel |
Susan Niditch |
|
Amherst College |
RELG @ AMH 284 |
Knowledge Triumphant in Classical Islam |
Tariq Jaffer |
|
Amherst College |
RELG @ AMH 385 |
Islamic Mystic Tradition |
Tariq Jaffer |
|
Amherst College |
SWAG @ AMH 362 |
Women in the Middle East |
Monica Ringer |
|
Hampshire College |
CIS @ HAMP 271 |
Global War on Terror |
Falguni Sheth |
|
Hampshire College |
CSI @ HAMP 230 |
Middle Eastern Economics |
Omar Dahi |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
ASIA @ MNT 332 |
Third Year Arabic I |
Heba Arafah |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
ASIA @ MNT 271 |
Arts of Islam: Book, Mosque, Palace |
M. Davis |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
ARTH @ MNT 271 |
Arts of Islam: Book, Mosque, Palace |
M. Davis |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
HIST @ MNT 273 |
The Inheritance of Iran: The Iranian World from Antiquity to the Middle Ages |
M. Renda |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
INTL @ MNT 211 |
Middle East Politics |
Hasan Kosebalaban |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
INTL @ MNT 222 |
U.S., Israel and the Arabs |
Hasan Kosebalaban |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
INTL @ MNT 224 |
The United States and Iran |
Sohail Hashmi |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
INTL @ MNT 322 |
International Politics of the Middle East |
Sohail Hashmi |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
INTL @ MNT 337 |
Just War and Jihad: Comparative Ethos of War & Peace |
Sohail Hashmi |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
INTL @ MNT 341 |
Political Islam |
Sohail Hashmi |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
INTL @ MNT 342 |
Comparative Politics of North Africa |
Sohail Hashmi |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
JWSH @ MNT 249 |
Encounters between Judaism and Other Religious Traditions: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism |
L. Fine |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
JWSH @ MNT 270 |
Jewish Religious Art & Material Culture: From Ancient Israel to Contemporary |
L. Fine |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
RELG @ MNT 201 |
Introduction to the Qur'an |
A. Steinfels |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
RELG @ MNT 202 |
Introduction to Islam |
The Department |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
RELG @ MNT 205 |
Issues in Islamic History: Classical Islamic Civilization |
A. Steinfels |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
RELG @ MNT 207 |
Women & Gender in Islam |
The Department |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
RELG @ MNT 236 |
Early Christianity in Iraq and Iran |
M. Penn |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
RELG @ MNT 239 |
Love & Family in Contemporary Iranian Cinema |
Victoria Gardner |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
RELG @ MNT 249 |
Encounters between Judaism and Other Religious Traditions: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism |
L. Fine |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
RELG @ MNT 270 |
Jewish Religious Art & Material Culture: From Ancient Israel to Contemporary |
L. Fine |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
RELG @ MNT 311 |
Sufism: The Mystic Path in Islam |
A. Steinfels |
|
Mount Holyoke College |
WOMN @ MNT 210 |
Women & Gender in Islam |
The Department |
|
Smith College |
ARAB @ SMI 300 |
Advanced Arabic I |
John Weinert |
|
Smith College |
ARAB @ SMI 301 |
Advanced Arabic II |
John Weinert |
|
Smith College |
ARAB @ SMI 401 |
Media Arabic |
Mohammed Mack |
|
Smith College |
ARTH @ SMI 228 |
Islamic Art and Architecture |
TBD |
|
Smith College |
FRN @ SMI 230 |
French Islam |
Mohammed Mack |
|
Smith College |
FRN @ SMI 262 |
After Algeria: Revolution, Republic, and Race in Modern France |
Jonathan Gosnell |
|
Smith College |
GOV @ SMI 224 |
Colloquium: Islam and Development |
Bozena Welborne |
|
Smith College |
GOV @ SMI 248 |
The Arab-Israeli Dispute |
Donna Robinson Divine |
|
Smith College |
GOV @ SMI 341 |
The Middle East in World Affairs |
Bozena Welborne |
|
Smith College |
GOV @ SMI 347 |
North Africa in the International System |
Greg White |
|
Smith College |
HST @ SMI 208 |
The Making of the Modern Middle East |
Greg White |
|
Smith College |
HIST @ SMI 209 C |
COLQ: Aspects Middle East History |
|
|
Smith College |
HIST @ SMI 227 |
Topics: Crusade and Jihad: Religious Violence in the Islamo-Christian Tradition |
Joshua Birk |
|
Smith College |
JWSH @ SMI 235 |
Perspectives on Israeli People |
Justin Cammy |
|
Smith College |
JWSH @ SMI 236 |
Documentary Film, Contemporary Israel |
Miriam Talmon-Bohm |
|
Smith College |
JWSH @ SMI 237 |
Forbidden Love: Cinema, Desire, Israel |
Miriam Talmon-Bohm |
|
Smith College |
RELG @ SMI 213 |
Prophecy in Ancient Israel |
Joel Kaminsky |
|
Smith College |
RELG @ SMI 221 |
Jewish Spirituality: Philosophers and Mystics |
Lois Dubin |
|
Smith College |
RELG @ SMI 245 |
Islamic Tradition |
Suleiman Mourad |
|
Smith College |
RELG @ SMI 246 |
Islaimc Thought & Modernity |
Suleiman Mourad |
|
Smith College |
RELG @ SMI 248 |
COLQ: Topics in Modern Islam |
Suleiman Mourad |
|
Smith College |
RELG @ SMI 345 |
Islamic Thought: Topic: The Making of Mohammed |
Suleiman Mourad |
|
Smith College |
RELG @ SMI 345 |
Islamic Thought: Topic: The Qur'an |
Suleiman Mourad |
|
Smith College |
RELG @ SMI 310 |
Seminar: Hebrew Bible: Topics: Sibling Rivalry: Israel & the Other in the Hebrew Bible |
Joel Kaminsky |
|
Smith College |
SPAN @ SMI 235 |
Topics: Jewish Women of the Muslim Mediterranean |
Ibtissam Bouachrine |
|
Smith College |
SPAN @ SMI 250 |
Sex and the Medieval City |
Ibtissam Bouachrine |
|
Smith College |
SPAN @ SMI 332 |
SEM: The Middle Ages Today - Topics: Queer Andalusia & North Africa |
Ibtissam Bouachrine |
* Islamic Movements in History will only fulfill the Junior Year Writing requirement when it is offered as HISTORY 450. HISTORY 415 is NOT a Junior Year Writing course and will not fulfill the JYW requirement.
