Modern Middle Eastern Studies

In the Modern Middle Eastern Studies track within any type of NELC concentration students study the cultures, as well as their diasporas. Such study involves a combination of courses in a variety of fields and disciplines drawn from the humanities and the social sciences. We take the modern period to mean early modern and modern (roughly from the seventeenth century to the present). The requirements are designed with sufficient flexibility so that students may pursue the field as an introduction to the region as a whole, or as a more narrowly-focused exploration of a particular country or theme, depending on their interests. The Modern Middle Eastern Studies track is currently curated by the DUS, with Prof. Malika Zeghal and Prof. Adam Mestyan.

NELC concentrators who choose the Modern Middle Eastern Studies track must take MODMDEST100/200, "The Modern Middle East Real and Imagined: an Introduction." Please note that this course is currently taught every other year. Students concentrating in the Modern Middle East should plan in advance to make sure to take it. In addition, students are encouraged to prioritize courses taught by NELC faculty and visiting faculty, including in the Program in General Education. The DUS, in association with the student’s advisor, will sign off on courses taken outside of NELC.

Below is a list of NELC courses and courses taught by NELC faculty in Fall 2026 that students in the Modern Middle Eastern Studies track, or interested in concentrating in this track, are encouraged to take:

 Fall 2026

FYSEMR 66P: Jews in the Modern Middle East and North Africa, 1800-Present (for first year students)

FYSEMR 68E Reel Visions: The Middle East Through Its Filmmaker's Lens (for first year students)

MODMDEST100/200: The Modern Middle East, Real and Imagined: An Introduction (required for students in the Modern Middle East Studies track)

GENED 1185: The Power and Beauty of Being In Between: The Story of Armenia

Spring 2026

ARMENST 201 Threads of Survival: Armenian Liturgical Textiles 

ISLAMCIV 104 Christians and Muslims in the Eyes of One Another in the Early Modern Period (16th-18th c.)

ISLAMCIV 105 The West in Middle Eastern Eyes Through Travel Literature (17th–21st Century)

ISLAMCIV 201 Islamic Intellectual History: A Survey of the Field

JEWISHST 107/227 Jews and Other ‘Others’ in Modern North Africa

MODMDEST 113 Empire and Sovereignty in the Modern Middle East

MODMDEST 114/201 A Techno-Environmental History of the Modern Middle East: Machines, Nature, Energy

NEC 120 Jerusalem, a History: From Antiquity to the Present