NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
New York, New York

Program
Hagop Kevorkian Center
Department of Middle Eastern Studies

Degrees Offered 
Hagop Kevorkian Center: 
MA in Near Eastern Studies
Joint MA with Department of Journalism
MA with concentration in Museum Studies
MA with business option

Department of Middle Eastern Studies

BA
MA
PhD
Joint PhD with Department of History

Department of Anthropology 

PhD with concentration in Near Eastern Studies

Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies

MA
PhD

Department of History

MA
PhD

Institute of Fine Arts

MA
PhD

Department of Politics 

PhD with concentration in Near Eastern Studies

Middle Eastern Languages 

Arabic (Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, Colloquial Egyptian)
Hebrew (Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced)
Hindi/Urdu (Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced)
Persian (Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced)
Turkish (Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced)
Akkadian
Ancient Egyptian
Aramaic
Coptic
Ugaritic 

Courses 
Anthropology 
Graduate: 
Anthropology of the Middle East
Cities of the Middle East
World Cultures: Middle East 

Art History 

Undergraduate: 
Ancient Art
Ancient Egyptian Art
Art in the Islamic World 
Graduate: 
Archaeological Fieldwork in Egypt
Art and Archaeology of the Cities of Asia Minor
Art and Archaeology of Early Iran
Art and Archaeology of Mesapotamia
Art and Architecture of the Islamic Mediterranean
Art of the Fatamids in Mediterranean Centers
Art of the Islamic World: 7th to 9th centuries
Art of Middle Kingdom Egypt
Beginnings of Islamic Art
Byzantine Art of Late Antiquity:  Syria
Byzantine Ecclesiastical Architecture
City of Constantinople
Court Traditions in the Islamic Mediterranean: 10th-13th centuries
Early Byzantine Art
Early Christian Architecture
Egyptian Art 400 BC to AD 100: The Significance of Context
Egyptian Art from the Amarna Period to the End of the Ramessides:
Monotheism and its Impact
Egyptian Art of the Middle Kingdom
Egyptian Art: Ramessies and Third Intermediate Period (1300 - 800 B.C.)
Egyptian Painting, Form and Function: New Kingdom (1550 - 1070 B.C)
Egyptian Temple & Mortuary Development
Expression of Sexuality in Egyptian Art
Figural Tradition in Islamic Art
Later Islamic Empires: Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal
Impact of Europe on Near Eastern Art in the 17th-19th centuries
Late Byzantine Art and Architecture
Mamluk Art and Architecture
Middle Byzantine Art
Motifs of Wall Decoration in Egyptian Temples
Origins of Egyptian Art, 4,000-2,000 BC
Painting in the Islamic World
Patterns, Models, and Replicas in Islamic Art and Architecture
Seti Temple at Abydos
Theory and Practice in the Islamic Book-making Tradition

Classics 
Graduate
The Classical Tradition
Introduction to Ancient Studies

Core Curriculum:World Cultures
Undergraduate
World Cultures ( variable topic)
Ancient Israel
Central Asia
Islam in Asia
Islamic Societies
Mesopotamia and Egypt
Middle East Societies
Muslim Europe
North Africa

Economics

Graduate

Economics of the Middle East
Financial Markets in the Arabian Gulf 
Political Economy of Development in the Middle East

History 

Undergraduate

Ancient Israel: History and Archaeology
Balkans since 1800
Civilizations and Religions of the Ancient Near East
Colonialism, Imperialism, and Nationalism in the Middle East
Crusades and the Crusader Kingdom
Cultural History of Ancient Egypt
Early Modern World of Babur
Eastern Question 1774 - 1923
Emergence of the Modern Middle East
Europe and the Middle East in Historical Perspective
History of the Middle East in the 18th and 19th centuries
History of the Modern Middle East
History of Ancient Egypt 3200-50 BC
History of the Ottoman Empire
Iran Past and Present
Islam and the West
Land of Israel through the Ages
Modern Central Asia
Modern Greek History
Modern Israel
Modern Jewish History
Muslim Societies
Nationalism in the Middle East
The Ottoman Empire and World History (13th - 18th centuries)
Palestine, Zionism, Israel
Seminar in Modern Middle Eastern History
Shaping of the Modern Middle East
Western Europe and the Greeks
Zionism and the State of Israel
Graduate

Communities of Knowledge: Medieval Histories and Identities
Early Middle Ages
Early Modern Central Asia
Early Modern Ottoman History
Egypt in Modern Times
Gender and Nation in the Middle East and South Asia
History of the Ancient Near East
History of Byzantium I and II
History of Contemporary Israel
History of the Middle East 600 - 1200
History of the Middle East 1200 - 1800
History of the Middle East 1750 to present
History of Muslim Central Asia
History of the Yishuv and Israel
History of Zionism
Jewish Historiography
late Ottoman Empire
Mediterranean Identities and Histories
Modern Iran
Nationalism in Greece and the Balkans
The Ottoman Empire in the 19th century
Politics of Memory in the Middle East and South Asia
Problems and Methods in Middle Eastern Studies
Problems in Safavid History
Problems in Waqf Studies
Seminar in Modern Middle Eastern History I and II
Seminar in Ottoman Studies
Topics in Byzantine History
Topics in Medieval Islamic History

Law

(Graduate)

Introduction to Islamic Law
Islamic Law and Society 
Women and Islamic Law
Islamic Law
Talmudic Law

Literature 

Undergraduate

The Arabian Nights
Arabic Literature & Film: Women & War
Comparative Imperialisms
Conflict and Resolution in Modern Israeli Poetry
Introduction to Islamic Texts
Literature and Society in the Arab World
Masterpieces of Hebrew Literature in Translation
Masterpieces of Islamic Literature in Translation
Self and Other in Israeli Short Story
Topics in Hebrew Literature: Poets, Critics, Revolutionaries in the First
Half of the 20th Century
Graduate

Bible and Literary Criticism
Classical Arabic: Prose and Poetry
Drama in the Contemporary Arab World
Hebrew Short Story: Genre, Gender, and the Subject
Israeli Literature: Memory and Narrative
Israeli Women Writers: Feminism and Its Discontents
Medieval Arabic Prose
Modern Arabic Literary Criticism
Modern Arabic Prose and Poetry
Modern Hebrew Novel: Traditionalism to Postmodernism
Readings in Ancient Semitic Texts I and II
Readings in Qur’an and Tafsir
Readings in Persian Literature
Recognition & Anagnoresis in Arabic, Islamic, and European Narratives
Seminar in Medieval Arabic Literature
Seminar in Modern Arabic Literature I & II
Seminar in Persian Literature
Topics in Modern Hebrew Poetry
Topics in Modern Hebrew Literature
20th Century Arabic Literature in English
Translating Culture: North Africa

Near Eastern Studies 

Internship

Reporting the Middle East

Philosophy

Undergraduate
Modern Jewish Philosophies
Philosophies of Averroes
Graduate

Emergence of Philosophy, Theology and Theosophy in Islam
Ghazali-Averroes Controversy
Maimonides Guide to the Perplexed I and II
Modern Jewish Thought
Responses to Maimonides

Politics

Undergraduate

Islam and Politics
International Politics of the Middle East
Politics and Society in Iran
Religion, State and Society in the Modern Middle East
Graduate 

Government and Politics in Iran
Government and Politics of North Africa
France and the Magreb
Middle East Government and Politics

Religion

Undergraduate

Biblical Archaeology
Dead Sea Scrolls
Emergence of Classical Judaism
Introduction to the Egyptian Religion
Islamic Political Movements
Jesus and his Times
Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Sufis: Mystics of Islam
What is Islam? 
Graduate

Babylonian Talmud
Dead Sea Scrolls
Early Jewish Mystical Literature
The Gnostic Imagination
The Gospels
Islam in the Modern World
Islamic Institutions
Jerusalem: the Contested Inheritance
Jesus and Muhammad
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Muhammad and The Qur’an
Problems and Methods in the Study of Radical Parties of Islam
Shi’ite Islam
Shi'i Thought
Talmudic Literature
Topics in the Bible

Sociology

Populations of the Near East and North Africa
Revolutions in the Islamic Near East
Sociology of Islam
Topics in the Sociology of the Modern Middle East

Faculty
Peter J. Chelkowski (Persian literature, mysticism, Islamic studies and performing arts of the Middle East)
Jill N. Claster (medieval cultural and intellectual history, the Crusades and the Crusader Kingdom in the east, the classical                           tradition and its transmission through the Middle Ages)
Joan Connelly (Eastern Hellenism, Seleucid garrison cults of the Near East)
Jenine Abboushi Dallal (North African/Francophone literature, comparative imperialisms, literary and cultural theory)
David Engel (history of the Jews in Eastern Europe, Holocaust, Zionism and Israel)
Sibel Erol (Turkish language; writing, literature, and language instruction)
Khaled Fahmy (social history of the modern Middle East (emphasis on law and medicine), gender studies, Egypt)
Yael Feldman (Hebrew language and literature, literary theory, gender and cultural studies)
Ahmed A. Ferhadi (Arabic language, socio-linguistics, technology
applications in pedagogy)
Daniel Fleming (Assyriology, Hebrew Bible interpretation and cultural history, ancient Syria)
Katherine Fleming (Modern Greek history, Balkans, late Ottoman history, nationalism, religion)
Michael Gilsenan (anthropology of Arab societies, forms of power and hierarchy, urban studies)
Ogden Goelet (ancient Egyptian cultural history, religion and lexicography)
Donald P. Hansen (ancient Near Eastern art and archaeology)
Bernard Haykel (Islamic law and society, Yemeni society and history)
Adnan Husain (Medieval Middle Eastern and European history, cultural history and theory, religion, mysticism, apocalypse)
Gabriela Nik Ilieva (Foreign language pedagogy, gender and pragmatics in Hindi and Sanskrit, historical Indo-Aryan                                     linguistics)
Alfred L. Ivry (medieval Islamic philosophy and theology, medieval Jewish philosophy, modern Jewish philosophy)
Rosalie Kamelhar (Hebrew language)
Farhad Kazemi (comparative and international politics, Middle East politics, urban and rural politics)
Philip Kennedy (Classical and modern Arabic literature (poetry and prose), wine poetry, modern vernacular poetry)
Mohammad Khorrami (Computer-based language training, modern Persian literature)
Zachary Lockman (modern Middle Eastern history, particularly Egypt and Palestine)
Thomas F. Mathews (early Christian and Byzantine art and architecture)
Robert D. McChesney (Early modern history or Iran and Central Asia)
Mona Mikhail (modern Arabic language and literature, gender studies)
Timothy Mitchell (Middle East politics, political economy, postcolonial theory)
David O’Connor (ancient Egyptian art history and archaeology)
Francis E. Peters (Islamic history and religion, comparative Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Hajj)
Christopher Ratte (archaeology of Turkey, Greek and Roman art and architecture)
Ariel Salzmann (Political economy of the Ottoman empire, comparative history)
Lawrence H. Schiffman (Judaism in late antiquity, Dead Sea Scrolls, Talmudic literature)
Priscilla P. Soucek (Islamic art and architecture)
Rita Wright (urbanism, state formation, gender relations, the ancient Near East and South Asia)


Scholarships/Graduate Support 
Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships
Multi-year McCracken Fellowships, University and Developmental Fellowships
Teaching Assistantships
Graduate Assistantships
Federally funded Work-Study awards
Dean's Dissertation Grants
Lane Cooper Fellowships
R Bayly Winder Fellowships

Special Features 

The Hagop Kevorkian Center organizes academic forums and public events to encourage new understandings of the politics, cultures, and history of the Middle East and related world regions.  The Center's regular events include the New York Middle East Research Workshop, which brings leading scholars from the United States and abroad to discuss their research-in-progress with faculty and graduate students from within NYU and beyond; a luncheon seminar series for informal discussions with Middle East writers, filmmakers, human rights workers, political actors, and scholars; film screenings; annual symposia in fields such as Ottoman history, postcolonial theory, Arabic literature, law and society; and the annual Hagop Kevorkian Lectures in Near Eastern Art and Civilization.

The Center is designated, jointly with Princeton University, as a federally funded National Resource Center, to serve schools, colleges, and the general public as a source of information and education about the Middle East.  The Center runs teacher training workshops and summer institutes for high school teachers, and produces classroom teaching materials which are available on its website.

The Hagop Kevorkian Center houses the Department of Middle Eastern Studies and the Program in Near Eastern Studies. The building, which was designed by Philip Johnson, includes offices, seminar rooms, an auditorium, a computer language lab, and the Richard Ettinghausen Reference Library. Its design incorporates the main decorative elements from an 18th century Damascene house including a mosaic fountain, boiserie, and a muqarnas niche.

Inquiries 
Office of Enrollment Services
Graduate School of Arts and Science
PO Box 907
New York NY 10276-0907 
212-998-8050
gsas.admissions@nyu.edu 
www.nyu.edu/gsas 

Hagop Kevorkian Center
50 Washington Square South
New York NY 10012 
212-998-8877
fax 212-995-4144
kevorkian.center@nyu.edu
 
www.nyu.edu/gsas/program/neareast 

Department of Middle Eastern Studies
50 Washington Square South
New York NY 10012 
212-998-8880

fax 212-995-4689

mideast.studies@nyu.edu
 
www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/mideast/ 

Last Updated: Wednesday, December 08, 2004

 

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©2004 Middle East Studies Association of North America, Inc.