COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
New York, New York

Degrees Offered
Certificate
BA
MA
Mphil
PhD 

Middle East Languages
Arabic (3 years plus, including Colloquial, Classical and Con­temporary Literature and Cultural History)
Aramaic
Hebrew (3 years plus, Modern, in­cluding Modern Hebrew Literature)
Persian (3 years plus, including Prose and Poetry)
Turkish (3 years plus, Modern and Ottoman, including Ottoman and Modern Literature and Folk Literature)
Armenian (3 years plus, including the History of Literature and Cultures from Pre-Classical Times to World War II)
Bengali
Hindi
Nepali
Sanskrit
Tibetan
Akkadian (Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced)
Urdu

Courses
Anthropology
Prehistory of Southwest Asia and the Near East
Peoples of the Old World: The Middle East
Culture Change in the Middle East
Peoples and Cultures of North Africa and the Middle East
Art History and Archaeology
Islamic Art and Society
Egyptian History, Culture and Art
The New Kingdom
Late Bronze Age in Western Asia
The History, Culture and Art of the Late Period in Egypt
Crafts and Professions in Ancient Egyptian Art
Archaeology of the Bible
Archaeology of Turkey
History of Ottoman Architecture
Problems of Canaanite Art
Phoenician Art and its Historical and Religious Background
The Archaeology of Cyprus and its Near Eastern Connections
Problems in the Archaeology of the Aegean Areas
Problems in Anatolian Archaeology
Problems of Anatolian and Syrian Glyptic Art
Archaeology of the Aegean Areas
Art of Pre-Islamic Iran
Art and Archaeology of Mesopotamia
Readings in the Archaeology of Mesopotamia in the 4th and 3rd Millennium BC
Problems in the Glyptic Art in Mesopotamia from Gudea to the End of the Old Babylonian Period
The Assyrian Reliefs and Seals
Figured Luristan Bronzes in the Sackler Collection
Seals of the Middle and Late Bronze Age Levant
Readings in Iranian Archaeology
Museum Studies
The International Style of the Later 2nd Millennium BC in Meso­potamia and Iran
Problems in Iranian and Mesopotamian Art
Achaemenid Art
Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Art: Special Reference to Cylinder Seals
Neo-Elamite, Neo-Assyrian, Urartian Cylinders and Stamp Seals
Prob­lems in Iranian Art of the 1st Millennium BC
The Art of Islam from the 8th to the 15th Century
The Art of Islam from the 15th to the 19th Century
Survey of Islamic Miniature Painting
Islamic Miniature Painting as Illustration
The Human Figure in Islamic Art
Islamic Textiles and Rugs
The Medieval West and Islam
Persian Painting
Museum Studies: Mongol Painting
Museum Studies: Costume in Persian Painting from the 14th to the 16th Century
Museum Studies: Persian Painting, 1450-1500
Animals and Birds in Islamic Decorative Art and Miniature Painting from the 8th to the 18th Century
Plants, Trees, and Vegetal Forms in Islamic Art from the 8th to the 18th Century
The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Near East
Art of Anatolia
Problems of Iranian and Mesopotamian Art
Business Economics
Seminar on Energy in its Worldwide Context (with primary consideration on the role of the Middle East and North Africa)
Seminar on Financial Markets in the Arabian Gulf
Economics
Economic Organization and Development in the Middle East and North Africa
Colloquium on the Economic Development of the Middle East
History
Topics in the Ancient History of Southwest Asia
Persian Political, Social, and Cultural History in Ancient Times
Persian Political, Social, and Cultural History from the Advent of Islam to Modern Times
Political, Social and Cultural History of Persia in Modern Times
Byzantine History, 330-1453
Pre-Ottoman Anatolia and the Turkic World, 1000-1400
History of the Ottoman Turks, 1400-1700
The Arab World and Southeast Asia
The History of Islamic Society
Islamic Renewal and Revolutionary Movements in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, 18th-20th Century
Revolutionary Sects in Iran and Islam
The History of North Africa and the Sahara to 1500
Modern History of the Middle East
The Indian Ocean
Armenian History and Civilization I, II
History of Afghan and Russian Central Asia
Colloquium on Byzantium and the West
Colloquium on Byzantium and the East
Colloquium Seminar in Middle Eastern History
Seminar in Central Asian Studies
Seminar in Armenian Studies
Studies in the Modern and Contemporary Middle East and North Africa
Studies in Ottoman Texts
Ancient History of Mesopotamia
The Ancient History of Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean
Greece, Israel and the Near East, 1250-366 BC
Main Currents in Middle Eastern History
Introduction to Major Topics in Asian Civilizations: The Middle East and India
History of Astrology in the Ancient and Classical World
Religion and Philosophy in Medieval Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
History of the Eurasian Steppe
Modern History of the Ottoman Turks
History of Zionism
Sources in Jewish History
Colloquium on the History of Zionism
Sources of Jewish History: Jewish Historiography in the 16th Century
History of Ancient Mesopotamia and Asia Minor
Interdisciplinary
Seminar on the Study of Selected Aspects of the Modern and Con­temporary Middle East for Training in the Integration of Middle East and Extra-regional Sources
Islamic  
Contemporary Islamic Civilization
Science and Sources on Development of Alchemy and Astrology in the Islamic Middle Ages
Introduction to Islamic Philosophy
Islamic Religion
Major Themes in the Qur'an
Development of Religious Thought in Islam
Modernist Thought and Nationalism in the Arab World
Shi'ite Islam
Survey of Islamic Science
Education and Educational Institutions in Medieval Islam
Emergence of the Arab Nationalist Idea
The Institutions of Islam
Colloquium on Modernist Thought in the Arab World
Colloquium on the Qur'an
History of Sufism
Colloquium on the Institutions of Islam
Islam
Sexual Ethics and the Family in Islamic Law
Introduction to Islamic Civilization
Readings in Islamic Texts
Colloquium on the Qur'an
Mysticism in Islam
Law
Islamic Law
Seminar on Middle East Legal Institutions
Literature
Contemporary Hebrew Poetry I, II
Islamic Literature in Translation I, II
Central Asian Literature
Ethnicity and Literature
Exemplary Moments in Hebrew Literature
Literary Nationality Seminar
The Epic in the Middle East
Literature of the Mystics in the Middle East
Readings in Ugaritic Literature
Survey of Classical Arabic Literature
Survey of Modern Arabic Literature
Studies in Classical Arabic Literature
Studies in Modern Arabic Literature
Armenian Literature from the Pre-classical Tradition to the End of the 8th Century
Medieval Armenian Literature from the 9th to the End of the 18th Century
Modern Armenian Literature from the Beginning of the 19th Century to World War II
Introduction to Modern Hebrew Literature in Translation I, II
The Essay in Modern Hebrew Literature
Contemporary Israeli Short Story
The Short Story in Modern Hebrew Literature I, II
History of Hebrew Literature
Modern Hebrew Poetry
Lectures and Readings from the Mishnah and Midrash
History of Persian Literature before Islam
History of Persian Literature (Prose)
Modern Persian Writing (Prose)
Modern Persian Writing (Poetry)
Reading in Persian Classics (Poetry)
Turkish Folk Literature I, II
Ottoman Turkish Literature I, II
Modern Turkish Literature I, II
Studies in Literature of the Turks
Literature of Mystics in the Middle East
Drama and Theater of the Russian Middle East
Middle Eastern Drama
Chazatay Literature
Music
Ethnomusicology
Music of Turkey 
Political Science  
Palestinian-Israeli Politics and Society
Politics in the Middle East and North Africa
International and Regional Politics in the Middle East and North Africa in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Soviet Nationalities and the Formation and Structure of the USSR
Studies in the Modern and Contemporary Middle East and North Africa
Soviet Ethnic Policies
Seminar in Soviet Nationality Problems
Inter-Arab Politics
Politics of Persian/Arabic Gulf Region
Regimes and Opposition in the Middle East
Conflict and Conflict Resolution in the Middle East
Additional Courses
(Partial Listing) Ethnicity and Literature
Introduction to Major Topics in Oriental Civilization: The Middle East and India
Introduction to Old Babylonian Royal Inscriptions of the Sargonic Period
Introduction to Old Babylonian Letters and Inscriptions of the Hammurabi Period
Iran-A Culture History
Studies in Pe­ripheral Akkadian
Readings in Canaanite and Aramaic Inscriptions
Sociology of Middle Eastern Cinema
Introduction to the Civilization of the Ancient Near East
Introduction to the Com­parative Grammar of the Semitic Languages
Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Bible
The Bible and Modern Scholarship
Composition and Style in Arabic
Survey of Classical Arabic Literature
Survey of Modern Arabic Literature
Readings in Classical Arabic I, II
Readings in the Qur'an and Related Texts
Survey of Islamic Science
Emergence of the Arab Nationalist Idea
Iranian Civilization During the Islamic Era
Indo-Iranian Philology
Indo-Iranian Languages and Peoples
Introduction to Persian Literature
Readings in Persian Literature
Readings in Persian Classics
Iranian Mythology
Seminar in Iranian Studies
Religions and Philosophies of Ancient Iran
Seminar in Persian Studies
Literary Responses to National Catastrophe
Medieval Hebrew Prose and Poetry
Colloquium in Hebrew Literature
Seminar in Hebrew Studies

Faculty
Edward Allworth, Emeritus (Turco-Soviet studies)
Magda Al-Nowaihi (Arabic Literature)
Gil Anidjar (Hebrew Literature and Literary  Theory
Peter Awn (religion)
Dwijen Bhattachariya (Bengali)
Richard W. Bulliet (history)
Pierre J. E. Cachia, Emeritus, (Arabic language and literature)
Elaine Combs-Schilling (anthropology)
Hamid Dabashi (Iranian studies)
Ainslie T. Embree, Emeritus (history)
Nina Garsoian, Emeritus, (Armenian history and civilization)
Maan Madina (Arabic studies)
Manouchehr Kasheff (Persian)
Joseph Massad (Modern Arabic Politics and Intellectual History)
Dan Miron (Hebrew)
Marc Nichanian (Armenian Studies)
Frances Pritchett (Hindi-Urdu)
Ruth Raphaeli (Hebrew literature)
Theodore Riccardi, Jr. (Indic studies). Emeritus
George Saliba (Arabic studies)
Marc Van de Mieroop (ancient Semitic languages)
Alex Way­man, Emeritus (Sanskrit)
Ehsan Yarshater, Emeritus (Iranian studies)

Chairs/Directors
Marc Van De Microop Jr., Chair, Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures
Hamid Dabashi, Acting Chair (99-00) Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures
Ehsan Yarshater, Director, Center for Iranian Studies
Kathleen Burrill, Director, Center for Turkish Studies
Nina G. Garsoian, Emeritus
Marc Nichanian, Director, Center for Armenian Studies
Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, Director, Cen­ter for Israel and Jewish Studies

Scholarships/Graduate Support
University fellowships and assistantships, FLAS, NDEA, Armenian fellowships, internships in international affairs

Special Features
The Middle East Institute offers graduate, interdisciplinary training on the Middle East, past and present, with primary attention to the 19th and 20th centuries. The program combines the study of language with region-wide instruc­tion in anthropology, economics, history, law, politics, and religion, and research specialization in one or more sub-regional cultures (i.e. Armenian, Iranian, Israeli, or Turkish), depending on language proficiency. The Department offers both undergraduate and graduate programs and is interdisciplinary in focus. Its geographic scope is also wider than that of the Institute, for it embraces India and the Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia. The Institute relies on the Department for instruction in languages, literature, and Islamic civilization, and the Department on the Institute for instruction in the social sciences. The Department offers the BA, MA, MPhil, and PhD degrees. The Institute awards Certificates, but no degrees, to degree candidates in the Departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, including Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, or in one of the professional schools (most commonly International and Public Affairs, Business, and Law). The Institute belongs to the following academic consortia: AIIS, ARCE, ARIT, and CASA. University seminars sponsored by the Institute and the Department provide outreach to academics in the Greater New York area and beyond and to the business, financial, foundation, media, and government communities. Also features ad hoc joint programs with all Columbia professional schools formal program collaboration with the School of International and Public Affairs. The Certificate of the Institute may be earned simultaneously with any graduate degree in the University.

Additional Information
Close working relations with New York City research institutions such as American Numismatic Society, Council on Foreign Relations, Met­ropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, and United Na­tions agencies

Inquiries
Departmental Administrator
Department of Middle East Languages and Cultures
602 Kent Hall
1140 Kent Hall, Mail Code 3928
Columbia University
New York NY 10027
212-854-2556
fax: 212-854-5517
jr650@columbia.edu
mf399@columbia.edu

Rashid Khalidi, Director
The Middle East Institute
1113 International Affairs Building
Columbia University
New York NY 10027
212-854-2584, or 2585
www.columbia.edu
http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/REGIONAL/mei/

Marc Van De Mieroop, Chair
Dept. of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures
602 Kent Hall MC 3928
New York, NY 10027
(212) 854-2556 (phone)
(212) 854-5517 (fax)
www.columbia.edu/cu/mealac/

Last Updated: Thursday, August 04, 2005