Interdivisional
Website: http://middleeastern.bard.edu
Updated December 3, 2021
Advising
Faculty
1.
Dina Ramadan Arabic (co-director)
2.
Elizabeth M. Holt - Arabic
(co-director)
3.
Omar Youssef Cheta
History
4.
Nora Jacobsen Ben Hammed Religion
5.
Pinar Kemerli
Political Studies
6.
Shai Secunda
- Religion
7.
Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins
Anthropology
Non-Advising Faculty:
8.
Katherine
M. Boivin Art History
9.
Joshua Calvo
Jewish Studies
10.
Ziad
Dallal Arabic
11.
Yuval Elmelech
Sociology
12.
Tabetha
Ewing History
13.
Nuruddin
Farah Literature
14.
Jeffrey Jurgens
- Anthropology
15.
Joel
Perlmann Economics
16.
Karen
Raizen - Italian
17.
Karen Sullivan - Literature
The Middle Eastern
Studies Program (MES) offers courses that focus on the Middle East through
multiple disciplinary perspectives including anthropology, history, literature,
art history, and religious studies. Moderation
into MES draws upon courses offered by core and affiliated MES faculty, as well
as by other faculty who cross-list their courses with MES.
Students who come to Bard with basic proficiency
in either Arabic or in Hebrew are not required to complete language study
within MES.
Moderation
Requirements:
1.
Arabic or Hebrew language course (4
credits)
2.
Arabic or Hebrew language course (4
credits) (total of 1 full year of the same language)
3.
100- or 200-level designated core MES
course (4 credits)
4.
100- or 200-level designated core MES
course (4 credits)
Core courses offer
students an overview of key debates and themes in the field of MES through a
specific disciplinary lens and provide a broad historical and geographical
overview. Core courses
include but are not restricted to Islam (REL
106), The Making of the Modern Middle East (HIST 185), The
Arabic Novel (LIT 2060), The Arab Renaissance (LIT 228), Anthropology
of the Modern Middle East (ANTH 288), Middle Eastern Cinemas (LIT 232), The
Ottomans and the Last Islamic Empire (HIST 134), In the Garden
of Empire: Nature and Power in the Middle East (ANTH 277), Labor
and Migration in Arabic Literature (LIT 227).
At
moderation, students will indicate whether they wish to moderate into the
Social Studies (SST) or the Languages and Literature (L&L) Divisions.
Graduation
Requirements:
5.
200-level MES cross-listed course in
the area of interest (4 credits)
6.
200-level MES cross-listed course in
the area of interest (4 credits)
7.
MES Junior seminar (4 credits)
8.
at least one 300-level MES
cross-listed seminar (4 credits)
9.
Senior Project I (4 credits)
10.
Senior Project II (4 credits)
·
L&L students must also complete a second
year of Arabic or Hebrew (8 credits).
·
SST students are encouraged to
continue with language study, especially if they intend to conduct ethnographic
fieldwork or archival research.
The senior project
must address a topic, question or debate relevant to the Middle East broadly
defined. Students may combine methods
from a number of disciplines or choose to draw heavily from one method in
particular. These can include literary
or textual analysis, media analysis, archival research or anthropological
fieldwork. The geographical focus of the
senior project may be confined by the regions modern boundaries but may also
include a focus on Middle East diasporas, migration
and non-Middle Eastern representations of the Middle East.