Major in Middle East Pluralities (BA)

During the past 35 years, issues pertaining to the Middle East have preoccupied the world at large and pushed the region into the limelight. The international events closely related to the Middle East since September 2001 has made the study of the history, religion, politics, international relations, sociology, geography, economics, culture and literature of the region more attractive to students. Events of December 2010, dubbed as the Arab Spring and preceded by Iran’s Green Movement have added to the interest in this region. Issues such as the economic might and political muscle of the Gulf States, implications of the rise of political and radical Islam in the world, reactions to Islamic radicalism and growing Islamophobia in the west, the models of transition to democracy experimented in the region are all piquing the interest and curiosity of students who witness the ever increasing interlacing of the Middle East with their own lives and academic curiosities as well as its impact on the world at large. The study of the Middle East has become a medium and an optic of understanding the world.

The Major in Middle East Pluralities is designed to expose students to the broad Middle East, including North Africa, as a region composed of countries with their own specificities; geographic, ethnic, religious, linguistic, cultural, anthropologic, social, political and economic. The BA in Middle East Pluralities informs students about the heterogeneity as well as the similarities within Middle Eastern countries and the Middle East as a region as whole. The courses in the major introduce students to the actors and factors which make up the region and the countries in it as well as the interaction of each particular country with one-another and the world community. This major combines a social science approach to regional studies without neglecting the humanities approach.