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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Princeton, New Jersey
Program
Department of Near Eastern Studies
Interdepartmental Program in Near
Eastern Studies
Degrees Offered
BA
MA
PhD
Middle East Languages
Arabic (Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, Colloquial)
Turkish (Elementary, Intermediate, Ottoman)
Persian (Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced)
Hebrew (Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced - Modern and Biblical)
Courses
Anthropology
Undergraduate
Islamic Social and Political Movements
Art and Archaeology
Undergraduate
The Art and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East and Egypt
Early Islamic Art and Architecture
Later Islamic Art and Architecture
The Arts of the Islamic World
The Representation of Faith and Power: Islamic Architecture in its Context
History
Undergraduate
Introduction to the Middle East
The Ancient Near East
The Near East from Alexander to Muhammad
Islamic History, 600-1050
Islamic History 1050-1800
Mediterranean Islam, 1050-1800
History of the Middle East in the Nineteenth Century
History of the Middle East in the Twentieth Century
Economic History of the Near East and North Africa since 1980
From Ataturk to Ozal: A Survey of Contemporary Turkey
Iranian Civilization in the Golden Age - 9th to 12th Centuries
The Near East and Eastern Question since 1815
The Arab Israeli Conflict
Modern Iran
Islamic Civilization in Africa before 1750
Islamic Civilization in Africa since 1750
The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1800
The Ottoman Empire, 1800-1923
Topics in Ethnic Conflict in the Near East
Topics in Near Eastern Studies
Jews in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1800
Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the Middle Ages
Graduate
Introduction to the Professional Study of the Near East
Departmental Seminar
An Introduction to the Islamic Scholarly Tradition
Themes in Islamic History and Culture
Problems in Islamic History
Readings in Classical Arab Historians and Biographers: Readings in Judeo-Arabic
Problems in Near Eastern Jewish History
Studies in Modern Arab History
Islamic Africa before 1900: Problems in Social and Cultural History
Studies in Modern Iran
Problems in Early Ottoman History
Problems in Ottoman History
Problems in Late Ottoman and Modern Republican History
Humanistic Studies
Undergraduate
The Classical Islamic Tradition
Language and Literature
Advanced Arabic Skills Workshop
Introduction to Modern Arabic Literature in Translation
Introduction to Classical Arabic Literature in Translation
Topics in Bible and Midrash
Masterworks of Hebrew Literature in Translation
Introduction to Classical Persian Literature
Graduate
Readings in Ottoman Turkish
Ottoman Diplomatics: Paleography and Diplomatic Documents
Readings in Talmudic Literature
Readings in Medieval Hebrew Literature
Readings in Modern Hebrew Literature
Readings in Modern Arabic Literature
Readings in Classical Arabic Literature
Studies in Persian Literature
The Arabic Literature of Islamic Africa
Law
Undergraduate
Introduction to Islamic Law
Graduate
Themes in Islamic Law and Jurisprudence
Music
Undergraduate
Music of the Middle East
Politics
Undergraduate
International Relations in the Middle East since the First World War
Political Cultures of the Middle East
Political Systems of the Middle East
Religion
Undergraduate
Readings in the Qur'an
Introduction to Judaism: Continuity and Change
Introduction to the Religion of Islam
Women and Islam
Pilgrimage, Travel and Sacred Space: Muslims, Christians and Jews in the
Land of Islam
Graduate
The Islamic Religion Imagination and Popular Culture
Studies in Islamic Religion and Thought
Faculty
Anthropology
Abdellah Hammoudi (anthropology and sociology of the Middle East)
Lawrence Rosen (Morocco, comparative legal systems)
Art and Archaeology
Thomas Leisten (Islamic art and architecture)
History
Molly Greene (Mediterranean history)
Robert Tignor (colonial period in Africa, economic and institutional history of modern
Egypt)
Music
Harold Powers (comparative study of Indian, Central Asian and MiddleEastern melodic types)
Near Eastern Studies
Edna Bryn-Noiman (Hebrew language teaching)
Jerome W. Clinton (interpretive studies of modern and classical Persian literature and
poetic translations from Persian)
Nancy Coffin (Arabic language teaching)
Mark R. Cohen (history of Jewish communities under medieval Islam)
Michael Cook (Islamic history, history of Islamic doctrine)
Michael Doran (political diplomatic history of the modern Middle East)
Erika Gilson (historical development of Anatolian Turkish, the Turkish language reform
movement)
Andras P. Hamori (medieval Islamic literature: poetry, entertainment literature, and the
artistic shaping of historical narrative)
M. Sukru Hanioglu (intellectual, political and diplomatic history of the Ottoman Empire,
the Middle East and the Balkans)
Norman Itzkowitz (Ottoman institutional history and Turkish studies)
Firoozeh Khazrai (Persian language and literature)
Heath W. Lowry (Ottoman and modern Turkish studies)
Barbara Mann (Hebrew language and literature)
Hossein Modarressi (Islamic law, Shi'ite studies)
Negin Nabavi (Modern Iran)
Samah Selim (Modern Arabic Literature)
Abraham L. Udovitch (social and economic life of the medieval Mediterranean world, rural
society, and Islamic law)
John R. Willis (Islam in Africa) Emeriti
L. Carl Brown, (political and diplomatic history of the Near East and North Africa during
the past two centuries)
Bernard Lewis, (Middle Eastern history)
John H. Marks, (Ancient Near Eastern history)
Religion
John Gager (curse tablets and binding spells from ancient Mediterranean world)
Shaun Marmon (social and cultural history of Islamic Egypt, gender studies, Islamic
religion and ritual)
Students
PhD program, 26 (10 female, 16 male)
MA program, 6 (1 female, 5 male)
Degrees Granted in 2000-2001
PhD, 8 (4 female, 4 male)
MA, 3 (1 female, 2 male)
Chair
Andras Hamori, Chair, Department of Near Eastern Studies, and Director,Interdepartmental
Program in Near Eastern Studies
Degree Requirements
Near Eastern Studies
BA: The Department offers a liberal arts major designed to give students competence in a
Near Eastern language and a broad knowledge of the literatures, civilizations, and history
of the ancient, medieval and modern Near East (comprising Afghanistan, the Arab countries,
Central Asia, Iran, Islamic Africa, Israel, and Turkey). Accordingly, a major is built
around departmental and cognate courses in languages, history, literature, religion, law,
anthropology, and politics, combined with the study of one or more Near Eastern languages
(Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, or Turkish), determined by the student's interest. Junior
independent work consists of one paper each semester. The choice of a senior thesis topic
must be approved by the student's adviser. The comprehensive examination in the department
consists of an oral examination based on the senior thesis and related topics. PhD: The
Department offers courses of study leading to the doctorate in the fields of medieval and
modern literature and history. It covers the Near East since the rise of Islam, together
with Islamic North and West Africa, and the Jewish communities of most of this region in
late antiquity and Islamic times. The Master of Arts in the Department of Near Eastern
Studies is awarded as an incidental degree, for which doctoral students may apply after
passing the General Examination. Before taking the General Examination, all students must
demonstrate research-level competence in at least one Near Eastern language, and knowledge
equivalent to a minimum of two years of university study of a second Near Eastern
language. In addition, all students must pass an examination in at least one European
language of scholarship other than English. Knowledge of two such languages is often
required. The following are some of the fields which may be offered at the General
Examination: early Islamic history, medieval Islamic history modern Near Eastern history
Ottoman history, classical Arabic poetry, prose or philology, modern Arabic literature,
classical Islamic thought, modern Islamic thought, Jewish history in the medieval Islamic
world. In some cases a student may be permitted to choose one narrowly defined field
involving close work on primary sources relevant to his or her anticipated post-Generals
dissertation research.
Additional Information
Undergraduate: Students may enter the Program in Near Eastern Studies through the
Departments of Anthropology, History, Near Eastern Studies, Politics, or Sociology, or the
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Students from other departments
who have an interest in Near Eastern studies may enter the Program by special arrangements
with the director. Students must meet the entrance requirements of the selected department
in addition to those of the Program. Junior independent work is divided between the
student's department and the Program. The senior thesis is written on a Near Eastern
subject under the supervision of a Near Eastern specialist in the appropriate department
and the Program. MA in Near Eastern Studies: The Master of Arts is granted as a final
degree only to students that are admitted directly to the Program in Near Eastern Studies
which offers a two-year multidisciplinary course of study under the guidance of the
director of the program. Students take appropriate language training and course work
emphasizing the modern history, politics, economy, and social structures of the Near East,
which for purposes of this program is defined to include the entire Arab world, plus Iran,
Israel, and Turkey. They present a thesis by May l of the second year and take a
comprehensive examination. The curriculum is adjustable to the individual needs of
students who are considering careers in diplomacy, business, the media, or international
public and private agencies as related to the Near East. Doctoral Study: This program
enables students to supplement their
doctoral training in a discipline with a coordinated course of study in the languages,
contemporary institutions, and modern history of the Near East. Students interested in
this course of study enter one of the following departments, in accordance with their
chief interest:
anthropology, economics, history, Near Eastern studies, politics, or sociology.Students
from other departments may enter the Program by special arrangement with the director of
the Program in Near Eastern Studies. Their work is guided by their own departmental
adviser and the director of the Program. Students follow the course of study in their
department, with certain exceptions. Students in economics, politics, sociology, or
anthropology will normally take: a Near Eastern seminar in their department a Near Eastern
seminar in at least one of other departments just mentioned and a relevant history seminar
in the Department of Near Eastern Studies. Students in Near Eastern Studies will normally
take Near East seminars in at least two other departments. The Program in Near Eastern
Studies also facilitates doctoral courses of study that bridge customary disciplinary or
subject boundaries (e.g. European and Near Eastern history, international relations with
emphasis on the Near East plus another world area, economic development and comparative
politics, or the comparative study of colonialism and empires)
Scholarships/Graduate Support
University, FLAS, assistantships in instruction, and foundation fellowships
Special Features
NYU/Princeton University Joint National Resource Center for Near Eastern Studies. Efforts
are made to facilitate student participation in any of a number of excellent
intensive summer language study programs in the US and the Middle East. Princeton is a
member of the Eastern Consortium for summer intensive Turkish and Persian and administers
a summer FLAS program with awards that may be taken to Middlebury and CASA (intensive
Arabic) and Bogazici (intensive Turkish).
Inquiries
Andras Hamori, Director
Department of Near Eastern Studies and
Interdepartmental Program in Near Eastern Studies
110 Jones Hall
Princeton University
Princeton NJ 08544
609-258-4280
For catalog information visit:
http://www.princeton.edu/~nes/fcurrentcourse.htm
For additional PhD information contact:
Christine Riley,
Graduate Secretary
609-258-4272
criley@princeton.edu
For additional MA information contact:
Kate Hering, Program Manager
609-258-4272
Program in Near Eastern Studies
110 Jones Hall
Princeton University
Princeton NJ 08544
www.princeton.edu
Last updated Tuesday, August 19, 2003