Middle East Studies
Global and International Studies Program
Division of Social Sciences
Humanities and Social Sciences 3042
Telephone: (805) 893-7860
E-mail: gisp@global.ucsb.edu
Website: www.global.ucsb.edu/programs/mes/mes.html (will open in a new browser window)
Chair: Nancy E. Gallagher
Contents:
- Middle East Studies Advisory Committee
- Overview
- The UCSB Center for Middle East Studies
- The Undergraduate Middle East Studies Major
- Undergraduate Program
- Middle East Studies Courses
Middle East Studies Advisory Committee
Juan E. Campo, Ph.D. (Religious Studies)
Adrienne L. Edgar, Ph.D. (History)
Racha El-Omari, Ph.D. (Religious Studies)
Nancy E. Gallagher, Ph.D. (History)
W. Randall Garr, Ph.D. (Religious Studies)
Lisa Hajjar, Ph.D. (Law and Society)
R. Stephen Humphreys, Ph.D. (History)
Kathleen Moore, Ph.D. (Law and Society)
Roger O. Friedland, Ph.D. (Sociology)
Mary Hancock, Ph.D. (Anthropology)
Richard D. Hecht, Ph.D. (Religious Studies)
Barbara Holdrege, Ph.D. (Religious Studies)
Mark Juergensmeyer, Ph.D. (Sociology)
Nuha N. N. Khoury, Ph.D. (History of Art and Architecture)
Gurinder Singh Mann, Ph.D. (Religious Studies)
Scott Marcus, Ph.D. (Music)
Stuart Smith, Ph.D. (Anthropology)
Christine Thomas, Ph.D. (Religious Studies)
The Middle East Studies Program is an interdisciplinary undergraduate program in which students can explore the myriad peoples, societies, languages, and cultures of the Middle East and North Africa from a variety of perspectives. The program brings under one roof studies on the languages, cultures, and history, politics and societies of the region in the ancient, medieval, and modern periods. The program also offers courses on the religious and cultural traditions of Islam, not only of the Middle East and North Africa, but also in other areas where these traditions have come to play a major role - South and Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and North America. The cultural, religious, and intellectual works generated there by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have been so durable, and so closely intertwined with one another, that our understanding of any one of them is fatally flawed if we try to study one in isolation from the other two. Likewise, Islam was born in the Middle East and evolved its core traditions there, but has long since taken root throughout the world and must be studied in a world context.
The program offers an undergraduate major but does not offer the M.A. or Ph.D. However, it can help graduate students to coordinate interdisciplinary study across departmental lines, and it also provides an enrichment of UCSB’s own resources through the lectures, colloquia, and seminars that it sponsors.
The UCSB Center for Middle East Studies
The program also collaborates with UCSB Center for Middle East Studies, the Von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies at UC Los Angeles, and the Center for Middle East Studies at UC Berkeley in areas of common concern. The UCSB Center is a federally designated National Resource Center for Middle East Studies and offers graduate Foreign Language and Area Studies grants for Arabic language study as well ass a very active program of films, lectures, seminars, and symposiums.
The Undergraduate Middle East Studies Major
The B.A. in Middle East Studies aims to provide an educational experience satisfying in and for itself, while simultaneously developing the body of knowledge and skills necessary for graduate study or an area-based career in foreign relations, international development, business, or government. Obviously no undergraduate program can provide a deep expertise in the whole of this vast arena. Students should however expect to achieve a well-defined sense of the whole, as well as to acquire the basic linguistic and conceptual tools needed to approach the region with real understanding. To this end, the program gives students considerable flexibility in designing their course of studies, but it also demands coherence and rigor.
As a key part of their studies students are urged though not required to study in one of the UC Education Abroad Program centers in the Middle East or in other similar programs. Members of the Advisory Committee will work actively with interested students to help them identify opportunities for study abroad.
Undergraduate Program
Bachelor of Arts - Middle East Studies
Preparation for the major. Students must take Middle East Studies 45. In addition, they must complete either History 46 or Religious Studies 5, and one of the following language series: Hebrew 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (Modern Hebrew: Department of Germanic, Slavic, and Semitic Studies); Religious Studies 10A-B-C-D-E-F (Arabic); Religious Studies 17A-B-C, 121A-B (Biblical Hebrew); Religious Studies 17A-B, 122A-B (Targumic Aramaic); Religious Studies 57A-B-C-D-E-F (Persian); Religious Studies 90A-B-C (Turkish). Students who take Targumic Aramaic, Syriac, or Coptic should consult with their faculty advisor on how to achieve an intermediate level of language competency within the framework of the major. Students who already have the equivalent of two years’ proficiency in the above languages or in another major Islamic or Near Eastern language may petition to satisfy the language requirement with a proficiency examination.
Upper-division major. Before students begin the upper-division major, they are required to meet with the faculty advisor to discuss and have approved their academic plan. With the assistance of the faculty advisor, students will develop a broad, coherent plan which supports both the integrity of the major and their own interests.
A total of 36 upper-division units are required from the following courses. No more than 16 units may come from a single department and no more than 20 from a single area.
Area A: Languages and Cultures.
Languages: Arabic: Religious Studies 148A-B-C; Coptic: Religious Studies 139C-D-E; Hebrew: Hebrew 114A-B-C, 115A, Religious Studies 142A-B-C; Persian: Religious Studies 157A-B-C.
Cultures: Anthropology 118TS, 138TS, 176TS; History of Art and Architecture 101D, 105C, 132A-C-D-E-I, 133AA-ZZ, 186Q; Music 168x, 175F; Music A170M, A170N (up to 4 units); Religious Studies 115A, 116B, 128A, 130, 131J, 185, 186A, 189A-B.
Area B: History, Politics, and Societies. Anthropology 121MS; History 118A-B, 119, 142, 145A-B, 145D, 146, 146P, 146PW, 146T, 146W; Middle East Studies 145, 194; Political Science 150A-B; Religious Studies 131H, 140A-B-C-D-F; Sociology 130SA.
Middle East Studies Courses
45. Introduction to Islamic and Near Eastern Studies
(4) Staff
Exploration of the ancient, medieval, and modern cultures of the near and middle east and North Africa, and the religion, music, art, language, and daily life of Muslim societies from Africa to Asia.
145. Model Arab League
(4) Campo
Prerequisite: upper-division standing.
May be repeated for credit to a maximum of 12 units, but only 8 units may be applied toward the major.
In-depth study of political, strategic, economic, cultural, and environmental issues in the Arab world as seen from the perspective of the Arab League. Each year a different Arab country is the focus. Students also practice caucusing, speaking, and drafting resolutions.
194. Group Studies for Advanced Students
(1-4) Staff
Prerequisite: upper-division standing.
May be repeated for credit to a maximum of 12 units, but only 8 units may be applied toward the major.
Topics vary according to instructor.
199. Independent Studies
(1-4) Staff
Prerequisites: upper-division standing; consent of department and instructor.
Students must complete two upper-division courses in the Islamic and Near Eastern Studies major requirements. Students must have a minimum grade-point average of 3.0 for the preceding three quarters and are limited to 5 units per quarter and 30 units total in all 98/99/198/199/199AA-ZZ courses combined. INEST 199 may be repeated for credit to a maximum of 8 units, but only 4 units may be applied toward the major.
Directed research in Islamic and Near Eastern studies.
