BA Middle East Studies
About this course
BA in Middle East Studies, a Hebrew and Jewish Studies degree centred on the multidisciplinary study of regional history, politics, and culture. Core topics include Research Methods and Critical & Analytical Thinking. The programme requires no prior language knowledge, though options exist to study Arabic or Persian alongside flexible module choices spanning social sciences and modern history. The first year covers foundational themes through Politics and Economy of the Contemporary Middle East, Introduction to Islam, Introduction to Persian History and Culture, and Histories of the Middle East, 600-1800 C.E., with additional options such as Arabic for Beginners and Elementary Turkish I. Optional modules in subsequent years span topics such as Islamic law, international conflict, and regional ethnography. The final year centres on a compulsory Dissertation, complemented by optional studies in subjects like nationalism, modern Iranian history, and diaspora communities.
Modules
- Politics and Economy of the Contemporary Middle East
- Introduction to Islam
- Introduction to Persian History and Culture
- Histories of the Middle East, 600-1800 C.E.
- Arabic for Beginners
- Introduction to Islamic Archaeology
- Elementary Turkish I
- Elementary Turkish II
- Religious Communities of the Middle East: Culture, Endangerment and Survival
- Power and Democracy
- International Politics of the Global South
- Global Sustainability Policy and Governance
- Regions and Empires in Islamic Archaeology
- Magic and the Abrahamic Religions
- Islamist Movements: From the Muslim Brothers to the Islamic State
- Gender-Identity and Modernity in the Middle East
- Islamic Law and Society
- Ethnography of the Middle East
- Conflict and Peacemaking Palestine/Israel
- Classical Islamic History
- Arabic for Beginners II
- Muslims in Britain
- Political Economy of Development in the Middle East
- Intermediate Turkish I
- Intermediate Turkish II
- A History of the Modern Middle East, 1900-2014
- Dissertation
- From Home Lands to Host States: Migration, Displacement and Diaspora in the Middle East
- Drugs: Histories, Science, Policy
- Nationalisms in the Middle East
- The History and Political Development of Iraq
- The Kurds: History and Politics
- Iranian History, 1500-the Present
- Armed Islamist Movements: Jihadism and Beyond
- Intermediate Arabic Language I
- Britain in the Middle East, 1798-1977
- Politics and Reform in the Gulf
- The Arabian Nights: Perception and Reception
- Gender, Sexuality and Violence in Palestine/Israel
- Queer Theory in a Global Context
- The Politics of Authoritarian Rule
- Violence and Revolution in the Modern Middle East