Middle Eastern Studies at the Five Colleges
Middle Eastern Studies is coordinated on a Five College basis by an interdisciplinary faculty committee. Collaborative activity includes sponsorship of cultural programming, publication and coordination of courses, and administration of a Five College Certificate Program in Middle Eastern Studies.

The Committee also oversees a cooperative program in Arabic.

Five College Certificate Program in Middle Eastern Studies

NB: The Five College Certificate Program in Middle Eastern Studies is pending approval at Amherst College. Students at Amherst should consult the campus advisor about the current status of the program at their institution.

The Five College Certificate Program provides an opportunity for students to complement a disciplinary major with multidisciplinary studies and linguistic attainments. Because of the wide range of courses available through the five colleges, students must design a program that will meet their intellectual, academic, and prospective professional needs in conjunction with an advisor from their home institution. The Program is administered by the Five College Committee for Middle Eastern Studies, which includes the program advisors from each campus. Students are encouraged to declare intentions and begin work with an advisor during the sophomore year. In addition to the courses offered through each of the five insitutions, students are encouraged to spend time in the Middle East, learning Arabic and other languages and immersing themselves in the culture of the area. Plans for study abroad should be designed in consultation with the student's advisor. Courses from outside the five colleges will be counted as contributing toward fulfillment of Certificate requirements on the recommendation of the campus advisor and the approval of the Committee. Students must receive a grade of B or better in every course counted towards the Certificate.

Requirements

1. Knowledge equivalent to at least two years of college study of a language of the region. Arabic and Modern Hebrew are currently taught in the Five Colleges; in consultation with an advisor, other languages of the region may be substituted.

2. Two introductory courses providing a historical overview of the medieval and modern periods.

3. Five courses from the following categories. Students must take at least one course from each of the first three groups, but no more than two from any single group will be counted toward certificate credit.

Group one: Religion/Philosophy

Group two: History/Literature/Art

Group three: Social Science

Group four: Additional language study beyond what is required to satisfy the language requirement above.

A list of courses offered at the five colleges that qualify for each of the requirements is available from the advisors below and through the Five College Center. Courses not listed, whether taken at one of the five colleges or elsewhere, must be approved by the Committee on the recommendation of the campus advisor.

Advisors

Amherst College: Jamal J. Elias

Hampshire College: Aaron Berman

Mount Holyoke College: Sohail Hashmi

Smith College: Karen Pfeifer

University of Massachusetts Amherst: Walter Denny & Tayeb El-Hibri

Requirements for the Program
1: Knowledge equivalent to at least two years of college-level study of a Middle Eastern language, such as: Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Persian, and Armenian. Requirement may be fulfilled through course completion or by examination.

2: Two introductory courses providing an historical overview of the medieval (600-1500 A.D.) and modern (1500-present) periods. Students must at least take one course from each of the following categories:

a: Medieval Period: 7th to 15th Century

• AC His 72 The Middle East from 600-1300 A.D.
• MHC Rel 202 Introduction to Islam
• MHC Rel 205 Religious Issues in Islamic History
• SC His 208 The Shaping of the Modern Middle East
• UM His 130
• Neast 100 Near Eastern Civilization I.

  b: Modern Period: 15th Century to Present

• AC His 73 The Middle East from 1300 to present.
• SC His 208 Islamic Civilization Since the 15th Century.
• UM His 131 Near Eastern Civilization II.

3: In addition, students must take five courses from the following lists. Students must at least take one course from each of the following three groups. No more than a total of two courses in any of these groups can be counted toward fulfilling the program requirement.

Group One: Religion/Philosophy

• AC Rel 17 The Islamic Religious Tradition
• AC Rel 24 Muhammad and the Qur'an
• AC Rel 53 Sufism
• AC Rel 55 Islam in the Modern World
• MHC Rel 20l Introduction to the Qur'an
• MHC Rel 207 Women and Gender in Islam
• SC Rel 110 Colloquia: Thematic Studies in Religion--Islamic Mysticism
• SC Phi 226 Sources of Islamic Political Philosophy.
• SC Rel 274 The Making of Muhammad
• SC Rel 275 The Islamic Tradition
• SC Rel 375 Modern Islamic Thought
• UM His 340 Islamic Institutions to 1900.
• UM His 342 Civilization of Islam II.

  Group Two: History, Literature and Arts

• AC Arabic 21 Introduction to Arab Culture and Society.
• AC Asian 11 Perspectives on Asia
• AC His 72 The Middle East from 600-1300
• AC His 73 The Middle East from 1300 to the Present
• AC His 79 History of Israel.
• HC SS 139 Zionism and Struggle for Palestine.
• HC SS 251 Nationalism in the Middle East.
• MHC Art 271 Art of Islam: Book, Mosque, and Palace.
• MHC Rel 345 Islam in Urban, Village, and Tribal Contexts
• SC ArH 228 Islamic Art and Architecture
• SC ArH 288 Colloquium: Architectural Studies: The Palaces, the Garden, and the City in the Early Modern Islamic World
• SC CompLit 275 Israeli Literature
• SC His 207 Islamic Civilization to the 15th Century
• SC His 208 The Shaping of the Modern Middle East
• SC His 209 Egypt in the 19th Century
• UM ArtHis 536 Survey of Islamic Art I: Origins to 1250 CE.
• UM ArtHis 537 Survey of Islamic Art II:  1250-1800.
• UM ArtHis 581 History of the Oriental Carpet.
• UM ArtHis 583 Orientalism in Western Art
• UM His 100 Middle Eastern History
• UM His 297 Crusades and Islam
• UM His 340 Civilization of Islam I.
• UM His 341 History of Ottoman Empire.
• UM His 342 Civilization of Islam II.
• UM His 343 The Modern Middle East.
• UM JS 325 Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Medieval World.
• UM JS 366 Zionism and the State of Israel.
• UM JS 391 Modern Arabic Literature in Translation.
• UM JS 392 Comparative Modern Israeli and Arabic Literature in Translation.
• UM WS 394 Arab Women in Fiction.

  Group Three: Social Sciences

• HC SS 235 Societies and Cultures of the Middle East.
• HC SS 325 Colonial Encounters.
• HC SS 213 Theories of Social Change and Middle Eastern Societies.
• HC SS 234 Sociology of Islam.
• MHC GEOG 215 Geography of the Middle East and North Africa
• MHC IR 211 Introduction to Middle East Politics
• MHC IR 222 United States, Israel, and the Arabs
• MHC IR 224 United States and Iran
• MHC IR 323 Comparative Politics of the Middle East
• MHC IR 333 Just War and Jihad: Comparative Ethics of War and Peace
• MHC IR 341 Political Islam
• MHC IR 342 Comparative Politics of North Africa
• SC Eco 214 Economies of the Middle East.and North Africa (not offered 1997-8)
• SC Gov 248 The Arab Israeli Dispute.
• SC Gov 223 Governments and Politics of the Middle East & North Africa.
• SC Gov 227 Government and Politics of Israel.
• UM Near 231 Critical Perspectives on Modern Middle East.

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