B.A. in Middle East Studies

  • Our Major
  • Learning Objectives
  • Academic Advising
  • Adding an Arabic Minor

Our Major

This major is an interdisciplinary degree with an emphasis on the pressing problems of globalization and the environment of the peoples, cultures, and societies of the Middle East. Its courses offer students interested in exploring the richness and complexity of the Middle East, broadly defined as extending from Morocco through Iran, a framework for developing both expertise and wide-ranging critical perspectives on the region’s past, present, and future. The variety of courses allows students to build on their firm grounding in at least one of the region’s languages and pursue their research interests in their capstone projects.

Nine total courses are required for the major. No more than two courses may be counted toward this major and another major. Students participating in USC Overseas Studies programs should contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies to discuss course selection for the major. Students must meet with a Faculty Mentor from the department upon declaring a major in Middle East Studies.

Learning Objectives

-Offer foundational knowledge of the geography, cultures, and history of the Middle East and North Africa.

-Provide rigorous training in a range of social science and humanities approaches from history, economics, political science, geography, and international relations to literary and cultural criticism.

-Develop critical thinking skills that enable the student to place recent and current regional events in context.

-Enhance students’ ability to question non-scholarly accounts of the region’s past and present.

-Deliver firm grounding in at least one of the region’s languages: 4th semester proficiency in Arabic, Hebrew, or Persian.

-Train students to conduct informed research on the Middle East.

Academic Advising

To speak to a college advisor about your interests, contact Isaura Pena (isaurape@usc.edu)

Adding an Arabic Minor

For students interested in majoring in Middle East Studies and minoring in Arabic, please note that in addition to ARAB 252 and MDES 201,  you must select seven upper-division courses for the MDES major from outside the ARAB prefix.

OVERVIEW

  • I. Language (1 Course)

    All MDES majors must demonstrate fourth semester competency in a Middle Eastern language. This can be achieved through placement, transfer credits from other institutions (subject to approval by the MDES Curriculum Committee), from study abroad, or through successfully completing the level IV Arabic (ARAB 252), Hebrew (HEBR 315) or Persian (IRAN 250) courses at USC. Students who place out of the requirement to take ARAB 252, HEBR 315, or IRAN 250 must take an additional elective course.

    ARAB 252 Arabic IV*

    HEBR 315 Modern Hebrew Language (Hebrew IV)*

    IRAN 250 Persian IV*

    II. Required Course – Lower Division (1 Course)

    All students must take the following course.

    MDES 201 The Middle East: Global and Environmental Perspectives (GE-G)

    III. Required Courses – Upper Division (2 Courses)

    All students must take the following two courses.

    MDES 301 The Global Middle East (GE-C)

    MDES 475 Seminar in Middle East Studies

    IV. Concentration I (2 Courses)

    Students must take at least two courses from this list, one of which must be an MDES course.

    ARAB 300 Introduction to Translation

    ARAB 322 Advanced Arabic I

    ARAB 333 Colloquial Arabic: Regional Dialects

    ARAB 334 Media Arabic

    ARAB 352 Advanced Arabic II

    CLAS 349 Ancient Empires

    CLAS 371 From Alexander to Cleopatra: The Mediterranean in an Age of Expansion

    CLAS 378 Ptolemaic Egypt

    COLT 437 Arabic Autobiography: Writing and Interpreting the Self

    COLT 447 Traveling Genres: Politics/Poetics of Modern Arabic Prose

    HIST 382 The Middle East, 500–1500

    HIST 480 Seminar in Middle East History

    IRAN 320 Advanced Persian I

    IRAN 325 Business Persian

    IRAN 350 Advanced Persian II

    JS 389 Culture and Society in Israel: Inventing the Dream

    MDES 312 Medieval Iran: Society and Culture

    MDES 313 Modern Iran

    MDES 316 The Great Muslim Empires of the Near East and India (GE-H)

    MDES 324 Persian Literature

    MDES 325 Politics of Film and Literature in Modern Iran (GE-B)

    MDES 335 Nation and State in Modern Turkey

    MDES 343 Modern Arab Culture and Literature (GE-B)

    REL 394 Archaeology of Egypt and the Near East

    REL 402 Cultural Heritage, Religion, and Politics in the Middle East

    V. Concentration II (2 Courses)

    Students must take at least two courses from this list, one of which must be an MDES course.

    ECON 342 Economic Development of the Middle East

    IR 362 The International Relations of the Contemporary Middle East

    IR 363 Middle East Political Economy

    IR 464 US-Middle East Foreign Policy Issues

    MDES 314 Politics, Ideologies, Cultures of the Global South (GE-H)

    MDES 340 The United States and the Middle East

    MDES 342 Arab Intellectuals in Question (GE-C)

    MDES 345 Power and Authority in the Middle East

    MDES 375 Politics and Society in the Contemporary Middle East

    MDES 401 Environment and Politics in the Middle East

    MDES 403 Infrastructures of Dominance: Technology, Development and the Struggle for Power

    MDES 441 Cities of the Middle East (GE-G)

    POSC 351 Middle East Politics

    VI. Elective Courses (1 Course)

    Students must also take one upper-division course, chosen from the list below. Students who place out of the requirement to take ARAB 252, HEBR 315 or IRAN 250 must take two elective courses.

    ARAB 300 Introduction to Translation

    ARAB 322 Advanced Arabic I

    ARAB 333 Colloquial Arabic: Regional Dialects

    ARAB 334 Media Arabic

    ARAB 352 Advanced Arabic II

    CLAS 349 Ancient Empires

    CLAS 371 From Alexander to Cleopatra: The Mediterranean in an Age of Expansion

    CLAS 378 Ptolemaic Egypt

    COLT 437 Arabic Autobiography: Writing and Interpreting the Self

    COLT 447 Traveling Genres: Politics/Poetics of Modern Arabic Prose

    ECON 342 Economic Development of the Middle East

    FREN 448 France and Islam

    HIST 382 The Middle East, 500–1500

    HIST 384 Popular Culture in the Middle East

    HIST 480 Seminar in Middle East History

    IR 362 The International Relations of the Contemporary Middle East

    IR 363 Middle East Political Economy

    IR 464 US-Middle East Foreign Policy Issues

    IRAN 320 Advanced Persian I

    IRAN 325 Business Persian

    IRAN 350 Advanced Persian II

    JS 314 Holy War And History: Jews, Christians, Muslims (GE-B and GE-H)

    JS 389 Culture and Society in Israel: Inventing the Dream

    MDES 312 Medieval Iran: Society and Culture

    MDES 313 Modern Iran

    MDES 314 Politics, Ideologies, Cultures of the Global South (GE-H)

    MDES 316 The Great Muslim Empires of the Near East and India (GE-H)

    MDES 324 Persian Literature

    MDES 325 Politics of Film and Literature in Modern Iran (GE-B)

    MDES 335 Nation and State in Modern Turkey

    MDES 340 The United States and the Middle East

    MDES 342 Arab Intellectuals in Question (GE-C)

    MDES 343 Modern Arab Culture and Literature (GE-B)

    MDES 345 Power and Authority in the Middle East (GE-H)

    MDES 375 Politics and Society in the Contemporary Middle East

    MDES 401 Environment and Politics in the Middle East

    MDES 403 Technology, Development and Power in the Middle East

    MDES 441 Cities of the Middle East (GE-G)

    POSC 351 Middle East Politics

    REL 315 Thought and Life of Islam

    REL 316 Women and the Islamic Tradition

    REL 394 Archaeology of Egypt and the Near East

    REL 402 Cultural Heritage, Religion, and Politics in the Middle East

    REL 414 History of Islamic Law

    Note

    Concentration I and II courses may not be double counted as elective courses. MDES 490 and 492 may only be taken by departmental approval.

    *Counts as an upper division course for the major.

  • I. Students wishing to pursue an Iranian Studies concentration must demonstrate fourth-semester proficiency in the Persian language. This can be achieved through placement, transfer credits (subject to approval), from study abroad, or through successfully completing the level IV Persian (IRAN 250) course at USC. Students who place out of the requirement to take IRAN 250 must take an additional elective course. 

    IRAN 250 Persian IV

    II. Orientation courses: all students must take the following courses

    MDES 201 The Middle East: Global and Environmental Perspectives

    [AFTER] AND

    MDES 213 Iran: From Antiquity to Modernity (GE-C)

    OR

    MDES 312 Medieval Iran: Society and Culture

    III. Required Upper Division: all students must take the following course

    MDES 313 Modern Iran

    IV. Topical Courses: students must take at least three courses from this list. IR 363, MDES 375, and POSC 351 require departmental approval.

    IRAN 320 Advanced Persian I

    IR 363 Middle East Political Economy

    MDES 301 The Global Middle East

    MDES 314 Politics, Ideologies, Cultures of the Global South

    MDES 340 The United States and the Middle East

    MDES 345 Power and Authority in the Middle East

    MDES 375 Politics and Society in the Contemporary Middle East

    MDES 401 Environment and Politics in the Middle East

    MDES 403 Technology, Development and Power in the Middle East

    MDES 441 Cities of the Middle East

    POSC 351 Middle East Politics

    V. Elective: Students must take one course from the list below. Students who place out of language requirements must take two elective courses.

    CLAS 349 Ancient Empires

    ECON 341 Economic Development of the Middle East

    HIST 382 The Middle East, 500-1500

    HIST 480 Seminar in the Middle East History

    IR 363 Middle East Political Economy

    IR 464 US-Middle East Foreign Policy Issues

    IRAN 320 Advanced Persian I

    IRAN 325 Business Persian

    IRAN 350 Advanced Persian II

    MDES 312 Medieval Iran: Society and Culture

    MDES 314 Politics, Ideologies, Cultures of the Global South

    MDES 316 The Great Muslim Empires of the Near East and India

    MDES 324 Persian Literature

    MDES 325 Politics of Film and Literature in Modern Iran

    MDES 340 The United States and the Middle East

    MDES 345 Power and Authority in the Middle East

    MDES 375 Politics and Society in the Contemporary Middle East

    MDES 401 Environment and Politics in the Middle East

    MDES 403 Technology, Development and Power in the Middle East

    MDES 441 Cities of the Middle East

    POSC 351 Middle East Politics

    VI. Capstone Project

    Students must take the following course. After taking at least one upper-level course, students are required to produce a substantial piece of original and informed research employing sources in the Persian language.

    MDES 475 Seminar in Middle East Studies

From our student

Coco Zhang is a double major in Middle East Studies and Computer Science. During the summer of 2022, she studied abroad in the University of Cambridge after receiving the Dean Joan MetCalf Travel Award.

The biggest, and most exciting, thing I’ve really appreciated from this program is the exposure to more of the world of academia, especially in getting to work with multiple people on my research project. It’s been really great just being able to discuss my work in all different kinds of contexts.