2023-24 Academic Catalog

Through the Middle East Studies Minor students can develop an inter-connected understanding of diverse Middle Eastern cultures and societies, past and present, in regional and global contexts. We define the Middle East broadly to include the majority-Arabic-speaking states and territories from Morocco to the Persian Gulf, Israel, Turkey, Iran, and Central Asia. Our interdisciplinary approach will also help students to explore linguistic, literary, religious, and other sociocultural ties with Middle Eastern diasporas in Europe and the Americas, and with those regions in Sub-Saharan Africa where Arabic serves as language of literature and culture.

Requirements for the Middle East Studies Minor

The Middle East Studies Minor requires a total of 45 credits. No more than 24 credits may be from any one department. Outside of these 45 credits, students must also complete either Hebrew 204 or Arabic 205, or equivalent, or fulfill their Carleton language requirement with another language relevant to the Middle East (with director's approval).

45 credits completed as follows:

• Foundations Courses: 12 credits from the following list, no credits from OCS programs may substitute. Once you have fulfilled the core requirement, further courses from among these five may serve as electives.
  • ARBC 100 Arabs Encountering the West
  • ARBC 144 Arabic Literature at War (not offered in 2023-24)
  • ARBC 185 The Creation of Classical Arabic Literature
  • ARTH 155 Islamic Art and Architecture (not offered in 2023-24)
  • HIST 165 A Cultural History of the Modern Middle East
  • POSC 242 Middle East Politics
  • RELG 120 Introduction to Judaism
  • RELG 122 Introduction to Islam
  • RELG 162 Jesus, the Bible, and Christian Beginnings
  and any new 100-level classes being taught by tenured, tenure-track or continuing faculty at the committee's discretion.

• Supporting Courses: 30 credits from among the following two groups, with a minimum of 12 in each. Up to 12 credits from approved OCS programs may count toward this total (with MES director approval), but these must be from OCS courses with a content focus (not just language instruction).
  Group 1, History, Social Sciences, Religion (12 credit minimum)
  
  • AFST 130 Global Islam and Blackness (not offered in 2023-24)
  • ARCN 395 Archaeology: Science, Ethics, Nationalism and Cultural Property
  • CLAS 122 The Archaeology of Mediterranean Prehistory: From the Beginning to the Classical Age (not offered in 2023-24)
  • HIST 131 Saints and Society in Late Antiquity (not offered in 2023-24)
  • HIST 133 Crisis, Creativity, and Transformation in Late Antiquity (not offered in 2023-24)
  • HIST 233 The Byzantine World and Its Neighbors, 750-ca. 1453 (not offered in 2023-24)
  • HIST 260 The Making of the Modern Middle East
  • HIST 265 Central Asia in the Modern Age (not offered in 2023-24)
  • HIST 267 Muslims and Modernity (not offered in 2023-24)
  • HIST 284 History, Culture, and Commerce Africa and Arabia Program: Heritage in Africa and Arabia
  • HIST 285 History, Culture, and Commerce Africa and Arabia Program: Critical Historical Research
  • HIST 360 Muslims and Modernity (not offered in 2023-24)
  • POSC 235 The Endless War on Terror (not offered in 2023-24)
  • POSC 280 Feminist Security Studies
  • POSC 282 Terrorism and Counterterrorism (not offered in 2023-24)
  • POSC 324 Rebels and Risk Takers: Women and War in the Middle East (not offered in 2023-24)
  • RELG 162 Jesus, the Bible, and Christian Beginnings
  • RELG 221 Judaism and Gender (not offered in 2023-24)
  • RELG 235 Religion and Identity in the Medieval Middle East
  • RELG 266 Modern Islamic Thought
  • RELG 285 Islam in America: Race, Religion and Politics (not offered in 2023-24)
  • RELG 322 Apocalypse How?
  • SOAN 151 Global Minnesota: An Anthropology of Our State (not offered in 2023-24)
  • SOAN 201 Colonialism, Oil, And The War On Terror: The Global Middle East (not offered in 2023-24)
  
  Group 2, Literature, Culture, and the Arts (12 credits minimum)
  
  • ARBC 100 Arabs Encountering the West
  • ARBC 144 Arabic Literature at War (not offered in 2023-24)
  • ARBC 185 The Creation of Classical Arabic Literature
  • ARBC 206 Arabic in Cultural Context
  • ARBC 222 Music in the Middle East (not offered in 2023-24)
  • ARBC 223 Arab Music Workshop (not offered in 2023-24)
  • ARBC 245 Modern Arab Environments (not offered in 2023-24)
  • ARBC 310 Advanced Media Arabic
  • ARBC 315 Readings in Premodern Arabic Anthologies (not offered in 2023-24)
  • ARBC 387 The One Thousand and One Nights
  • ARTH 155 Islamic Art and Architecture (not offered in 2023-24)
  • ARTH 255 Islam in the Eyes of the West (not offered in 2023-24)
  • CAMS 236 Israeli Society in Israeli Cinema (not offered in 2023-24)
  • CCST 100 Cross Cultural Perspectives on Israeli and Palestinian Identity
  • FREN 350 Middle East and French Connection (not offered in 2023-24)
  • FREN 360 The Algerian War of Liberation and Its Representations
  • MELA 230 Jewish Collective Memory (not offered in 2023-24)
  • SPAN 318 Islamic Spain (not offered in 2023-24)

• Capstone MEST 395, Senior Colloquium, 3 credits

Middle East Studies Courses