The languages and civilizations of the Near East have been a major part of the University of Chicago's teaching and research commitment since its inception. Currently, the Department of Middle Eastern Studies continues this tradition through its interdisciplinary scholarship created by philologists, linguists, archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, students of religion and law, and others. The Department of Middle Eastern Studies offers academic opportunities for students to take coursework in: History and Culture, Language and Literature (including Linguistics), Intellectual History, and Art and Archaeology.
While MAPH students can take coursework through the department, students should determine if MAPH or the MA Program in Middle Eastern Studies offered through the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) may be a better fit. If you have questions, we recommend you contact MAPH and CMES to discuss your options.
Selected Faculty
Sample Courses
Poetry and Empire: Readings in Abbasid Arabic Poetry (ARAB 30211) Autumn 2026
Arabic poetry has been a major force in Middle Eastern societies since the seventh century when it became the elite culture of the Arabo-Islamic empire until today. This course focuses on poetry from the "Golden Age of Islam" during the Abbasid period and especially on three famous poets: Abū Nuwās (d. 814), al-Mutanabbī (d. 965), and al-Maʿarrī (d. 1057). While the emphasis will be on close reading of their poems (in Arabic), we will also discuss broader questions: How does this poetry reflect the world of the vast and quickly evolving world of the Islamic empire? How does it relate to its societies, political structures, and religious institutions? Ideally, students with 3 years of Arabic (or equivalent) would take this class. If you have less and have a good reason to take it, please contact the instructor. (Pamela Klasova)
The Armenian Middle East (ARME 30400) Spring 2026
This course approaches the modern Middle East through the prism of the Armenian diasporic experience. Using an interdisciplinary framework, the course seeks to situate the Armenian experience of displacement, refugeehood, reconfiguration and resilience as central to a transnational Middle East. (Sossie Kasbarian)
Portraying Palestine (ARAB 30580) Winter 2027
In this graduate level course, we explore the multiple valences and meanings that Palestine has come to hold in literature and film from the Arab world and in the Arabic-speaking diaspora. We will examine as well as interrogate the ways that Palestine is framed by Palestinians and other Arabs, and the concepts that have attached to its cultural forms and practices since the Nakba, such as (but not exclusively) ṣumūd, turāth, and muqāwama. We will attend especially to the dynamic cultural landscapes and intersections with politics of poetry, prose, and film since 1948 within Palestine and its diasporas, as well as surrounding critical and theoretical discourses. (Ghenwa Hayek)
Death, Burial and Afterlives in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia (NEAA 30146) Autumn 2026
The treatment of the dead in past cultures provides insights into how communities engaged with religious beliefs and cosmology and how they conceptualised identity among the living. This seminar examines death, funerary practices, and beliefs in the afterlife from a cross-cultural perspective, based in the ancient cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Within each of these cultures, the rituals and format of burials and beliefs about 'life' after death varied widely. Most archaeological focus on burials in these cultures has been on the dead as the primary data, and many studies reflect simplistically on the economic cost of burials, rather than the effect of death on the living, the family or the socio-political structure. But there are hints in the archaeological and textual record at the response and responsibilities of those burying the dead. This seminar will use archaeological data, artworks and textual materials (in translation) to examine the diversity of responses to death in two important literate cultures. The seminars will foster engagement with theoretical approaches, varied methodologies, and two extremely rich datasets. (Augusta McMahon and Anna-Latifa Mourad-Cizek)
A complete listing of offerings is available at the Department’s course page.
Middle Eastern Studies Specialization
The Middle Eastern Studies Specialization allows students to structure their coursework and thesis around the study of the Middle East within MAPH. Students who complete the following requirements will receive a Middle Eastern Studies Studies transcript notation:
For Ancient Studies:
- MAPH Core Course (Foundations of Interpretive Theory)
- 3 graduate-level MES archaeology courses
- 2 or 3 graduate-level MES ancient language courses (I and II, possibly III of an intro sequence)
- One of the following:
- If taking 2 language classes: 3 electives; or 2 electives and a thesis
- If taking 3 language classes: 2 electives; or 1 elective and a thesis
For Modern Studies:
- MAPH Core Course (Foundations of Interpretive Theory)
- 4 graduate-level MES electives or 3 electives and a thesis
- The thesis would be on a topic related to the Middle East and supervised by MES faculty or someone approved by MES
- If a student takes the language option, the language will need to be one taught at MES
Please direct any questions you may have about specializing in Middle Eastern Studies to maph-support@uchicago.edu.
Recent Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Thesis Projects
"Imagining Palestine: Modes of Haunting and Resistance"
Mariam Alafranji, MAPH TLO '26
Advisor: Ahmad Qabaha
"“Heart,” “Mind,” and Behavioral Causation in the Songs of Sinuhe"
Boban Dedovic, MAPH '20
Advisor: Janet Johnson
"Inherited Statelessness: Becoming Armenian within Fractured Sites of Cultural Awareness"
Meagan Toumayan, MAPH '20
Advisor: Hripsime Haroutunian