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).

Group 1, History, Social Sciences, Religion – (Minimum 12 credit)

  • ARCN 395: Archaeology: Science, Ethics, Nationalism and Cultural Property (not offered 2025-26)
  • HIST 131: Saints and Society in Late Antiquity (not offered 2025-26)
  • HIST 233: The Byzantine World and Its Neighbors 750-ca. 1453 (not offered 2025-26)
  • HIST 234: Constantinople, 1453: History, Experience, Narrative
  • HIST 260: The Making of the Modern Middle East
  • HIST 265: Central Asia in the Modern Age (not offered 2025-26)
  • HIST 267: Muslims and Modernity (not offered 2025-26)
  • HIST 360: Muslims and Modernity (not offered 2025-26)
  • POSC 235: The Endless War on Terror (not offered 2025-26)
  • POSC 280: Feminist Security Studies (not offered 2025-26)
  • POSC 282: Terrorism and Counterterrorism (not offered 2025-26)
  • POSC 324: Rebels and Risk Takers: Women and War In the Middle East
  • RELG 162: Jesus, the Bible, and Christian Beginnings
  • RELG 221: Judaism, Gender, and Other Intersections (not offered 2025-26)
  • RELG 235: Religion and Identity in the Medieval Middle East (not offered 2025-26)
  • RELG 265: Religion & Violence (not offered 2025-26)
  • RELG 266: Modern Islamic Thought
  • RELG 322: Apocalypse How?
  • SOAN 201: Colonialism, Oil, And The War On Terror: The Global Middle East (not offered 2025-26)

Group 2, Literature, Culture, and the Arts – (Minimum 12 credits)

  • ARBC 135: Imagining Arab Worlds
  • ARBC 185: The Creation of Classical Arabic Literature
  • ARBC 206: Arabic in Cultural Context (not offered 2025-26)
  • ARBC 222: Music in the Middle East (not offered 2025-26)
  • ARBC 223: Arab Music Workshop (not offered 2025-26)
  • ARBC 310: Advanced Media Arabic (not offered 2025-26)
  • ARBC 315: Readings in Premodern Arabic Anthologies (not offered 2025-26)
  • ARBC 387: The One Thousand and One Nights
  • ARTH 155: Islamic Art and Architecture (not offered 2025-26)
  • ARTH 216: Revolutionary Image Regimes: Curating Middle Eastern Photographs and Prints after the Digital Turn (not offered 2025-26)
  • ARTH 250: The Coded Gaze: AI and Art History (not offered 2025-26)
  • ARTH 257: Modern Art and the Museum in the Middle East (not offered 2025-26)
  • CAMS 236: Israeli Society in Israeli Cinema (not offered 2025-26)
  • CCST 100.02: Cross Cultural Perspectives on Israeli and Palestinian Identity (25/FA)
  • CCST 220: East/West in Israeli, Palestinian Fiction & Film (not offered 2025-26)
  • CCST 230: Worlds of Jewish Memory
  • FREN 240: Imagining North Africa: Arabs, Berbers, and Beurs
  • FREN 350: Middle East and French Connection (not offered 2025-26)
  • FREN 360: The Algerian War of Liberation and Its Representations (not offered 2025-26)
  • MEST 135: Imagining Arab Worlds
  • MEST 185: The Creation of Classical Arabic Literature
  • MEST 230: Worlds of Jewish Memory
  • RELG 372: Sensory Cultures of Religion

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.