Middle East Studies

Through the Middle East Studies Minor students can develop an inter-connected understanding of diverse Middle Eastern cultures and societies, past and present, in regional and global contexts.

We define the Middle East broadly to include the majority-Arabic-speaking states and territories from Morocco to the Persian Gulf, Israel, Turkey, Iran, and Central Asia. Our interdisciplinary approach aims at helping students to explore linguistic, literary, religious, and other sociocultural ties with Middle Eastern diasporas in Europe and the Americas, and with those regions in Sub-Saharan Africa where Arabic serves as language of literature and culture.

Minor Requirements – 45 Total Credits

The Middle East Studies Minor requires a total of 45 credits, taken from the following groups:

Foundations Courses – Required 12 credits

12 credits from the following list. Once you have fulfilled the core requirement, further courses from among these five may serve as electives. No credits from OCS programs may substitute.

• ARBC 148: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• ARBC 185: The Creation of Classical Arabic Literature
• ARTH 155: Islamic Art and Architecture (not offered 2025-26)
• CCST 220: East/West in Israeli, Palestinian Fiction & Film (not offered 2025-26)
• HIST 165: A Cultural History of the Modern Middle East
• MEST 110: Introduction to the Middle East
• MEST 148: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• MEST 185: The Creation of Classical Arabic Literature
• POSC 242: Middle East Politics (not offered 2025-26)
• RELG 120: Judaism: Text, History, Practice
• RELG 122: Introduction to Islam
• RELG 162: Jesus, the Bible, and Christian Beginnings

• Other 100-level classes (with director’s approval).

Supporting Courses – Required 30 credits

30 credits from among the following two groups, with a minimum of 12 in each. Up to 12 credits from approved OCS programs may count toward this total (with MES director approval), but these must be from OCS courses with a content focus (not language instruction).

Senior Capstone Seminar – Required 3 credits

• MEST 395: Middle East Studies Capstone

Additional Departmental Notes

The Middle East Studies minor does not have a language requirement. However, students who are considering graduate studies or a career in the field are strongly encouraged to pursue one of the Middle Eastern languages offered at Carleton, Arabic or Hebrew. 

No more than 24 credits may be from any one department.

• MEST 110 Introduction to the Middle East

  In this introduction to Middle East Studies, we will embark on an interdisciplinary exploration of a region that spans from Central Asia to North Africa. We will study the Middle East as a multilingual, multireligious, multicultural space that, because of its unique cultural geography connecting peoples and governments from Africa, Asia, and Europe, has developed distinguishing characteristics over time. We will build familiarity with the diversity of this region and explain its multiple cultural and sociopolitical crossroads through analysis of storytelling, food, music, religious practices, governments, economies and more.

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: IS, International Studies No Exploration WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 100 level MEST Studies Foundation
  • Faculty: Kambiz GhaneaBassiri 🏫 👤 · Summer Forester 🏫 👤

• MEST 135 Imagining Arab Worlds

  In this course we will study representations of the environments and landscapes of the modern Arab world, with particular focus upon five distinct but connected types of places– city, country, mountain, desert, and sea– and their entanglement with various myths of nationhood and peoplehood. Through study of Arab fiction and film and in conversation with history, spatial theory, and ecocriticism,  we will think about how environment has shaped those societies, and how members of those societies have made claims of their own about and upon their surroundings.

  In translation, no Arabic required. All course readings will be in English.

  ARBC 135 is cross listed with MEST 135.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
  • Tags: CL: 100 level MEST Supporting Group 2
  • Faculty: Zaki Haidar 🏫 👤

• MEST 148 The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

  This course provides students with the knowledge and analytical tools needed to engage productively and respectfully with current events surrounding Israel and Palestine. It situates the war in Gaza, along with other recent events, within the broader history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We will study key moments in the history of the conflict and examine the conflicting narratives formed by different actors within the Israeli and Palestinian communities, as well as by other related communities. Students are not expected to adopt a particular viewpoint; rather, the course emphasizes historical context, critical analysis, and careful engagement with competing perspectives. Discussions will be based on primary sources and interdisciplinary academic scholarship.

  ARBC 148 is cross listed with MEST 148.

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
  • Tags: ARBC Pertinent CL: 100 level MEST Pertinent MEST Studies Foundation
  • Faculty: Yaron Klein 🏫 👤

• MEST 185 The Creation of Classical Arabic Literature

  In this course we will explore the emergence of Arabic literature in one of the most exciting and important periods in the history of Islam and the Arab world; a time in which pre-Islamic Arabian lore was combined with translated Persian wisdom literature and Greek scientific and philosophical writings to form the canon of learning of the new emerged Arab-Islamic empire. We will explore some of the different literary genres that emerged in the New Arab courts and urban centers: from wine and love poetry, historical and humorous anecdotes, to the Thousand and One Nights, and discuss the socio-historical forces and institutions that shaped them. All readings are in English. No Arabic knowledge required.

  ARBC 185 is cross listed with MEST 185.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: CX, Cultural/Literature IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
  • Tags: ARBC Literature and Culture CL: 100 level ENGL Foreign Literature MARS Core Course MARS Supporting MEST Pertinent MEST Studies Foundation MEST Supporting Group 2
  • Faculty: Yaron Klein 🏫 👤

• MEST 230 Worlds of Jewish Memory

  Transmitting Jewish memory from one generation to the next has always been a treasured practice across the Jewish world. How have pivotal environments for Jews lived on in Jewish collective memory? How do they continue to speak through film, art, photography, music, architecture, museum/ memorial/ summer camp design, prayer, cuisine, and more? We'll compare dynamics of remembering and memorializing several Jewish worlds: ancient Egypt, medieval Spain, early modern Germany, pre- through post-Holocaust Europe and Russia, colonial into contemporary New York City, 1950s Algeria, and pre-State into contemporary Israel. Research projects can include family history explored through scholarship on cross-cultural memory.

  CCST 230 is cross listed with MEST 230.

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: CX, Cultural/Literature HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CCST Principles Cross-Cultural Analysis CL: 200 level EUST Transnational Support HIST Early Modern/Modern Europe HIST Pertinent Courses JDST Pertinent MEST Supporting Group 2 RELG Pertinent Course RELG XDept Pertinent
  • Faculty: Stacy Beckwith 🏫 👤

• MEST 395 Middle East Studies Capstone

  The Middle East Studies capstone will allow students to reflect upon their experiences with Middle East studies, including on-campus and off-campus classwork, internships, and cross-cultural experiences, and to synthesize their work in the minor. The course will involve selected readings from a number of disciplinary perspectives and it will culminate in a final oral presentation on a project that brings together each student’s work in Middle East Studies at Carleton.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 3
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Tags: CL: 300 level
  • Faculty: Yaron Klein 🏫 👤