MA Near and Middle Eastern Studies

Learn a language as part of this programme

Degree programmes at SOAS - including this one - can include language courses in more than forty African and Asian languages. It is SOAS students’ command of an African or Asian language which sets SOAS apart from other universities.

Students take 180 credits, 60 of which are a dissertation and a 120 from taught modules. Of the taught modules, students select 30 credits from the list of majors, 60 credits from the list of minors and a further 30 credits are from the list below or from the approved open options list.

One of the modules is designated as a major, in relation to which students complete a 10,000 word dissertation. Note that some modules can only be taken as a major and some, including language modules, only as a minor.

As the emphasis in the Regional Studies programmes is on interdisciplinary study, students are required to select their modules from a minimum of three different disciplines, and a maximum of 60 credits may be taken in any one discipline.

Some disciplines such as politics, economics or social anthropology require an appropriate qualification (such as all or part of a first degree) if any of their courses are to be taken as the major subject.

Students who intend to register for the MA Near and Middle Eastern Studies program, but choose 3 options also available in the MA Israeli Studies program will be required to apply for MA Israeli Studies.

• Dissertation in Near and Middle Eastern Studies

Students must select 15 or 30 credits from the list of available majors, depending on the value of the major on which they have been accepted.

Depending on the credits value for the major, students choose a further 90-105 credits from any list below or 60-75 from the list below and 30 credits from the open options list.

• Issues in the Anthropology of Gender
• Culture and Society of Near and Middle East

• Islamic Art & Architecture of Medieval Anatolia and the South Caucasus (11-13th centuries)
• Arab Painting
• Art and Architecture of the Fatimids
• Islam and the West: Artistic and Cultural Contacts

• Problems of Development in the Middle East and North Africa

• Economic development of the Middle East

• Gender in the Middle East
• Gendering Migration & Diasporas

Please note that the 'Modernity and Transformation' courses can be taken together or individually, ONLY as majors.

• Reading Classical Arabic Historians: Themes and Trends in Islamic Historiography
• Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies I: History and Politics
• Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies II: Culture and Society
• Encountering the Other: the Middle East during the Crusading Period
• Zionist Ideology
• Israel and the Palestinians
• Jerusalem: Life in a Contested Place
• Outsiders in Medieval Middle Eastern Societies: Minorities, Social Outcasts and Foreigners
• Turkey:Continuity and Change
• Modernity and the Transformation of the Middle East I
• Iran: History, Culture, Politics
• Modernity and the Transformation of the Middle East II

You may only select modules to the value of 30 credits from the languages below.

• Introduction to Standard Modern Arabic
• Arabic 2 (PG)
• Arabic 4 (PG)
• Advanced Standard Modern Arabic
• Intermediate Standard Modern Arabic
• Intermediate Arabic/English Translation Project (PG)
• Higher Intermediate Arabic/English/Arabic Translation Project (PG)
• Advanced Arabic/English/Arabic Translation Project (PG)
• Elementary Hebrew (PG)
• Intermediate Hebrew (PG)
• Advanced Hebrew (PG)
• Modern Hebrew Language: Elementary (PG)
• Elementary Written Turkish
• Intermediate Modern Turkish Language (PG)
• Intensive Turkish Language (PG)
• Ottoman Turkish Language (PG)
• Advanced Translation (Turkish)
• Advanced Turkish Language (PG)
• Elementary Written Persian
• Persian Language 3 (PG)
• Persian for Readers of Arabic Script (PG)
• Intensive Persian Language
• Intermediate Persian Language (PG)
• Practical Translation Persian into English
• Practical Translation English into Persian
• Elementary Persian Texts (PG)
• Avestan I
• Pahlavi Language

• Islamic Law (MA/LLM)
• Law and Society in The Middle East and North Africa
• Human Rights and Islamic Law

• Identity and Language in Hebrew Literature
• Modern Palestinian Literature (PG)
• Arabic Women's Writing: Theories and Practices
• Social and Political Dimensions of Modern Arabic Literature
• Arabic Popular Literature: Themes, Genres & Theory
• Arabic Poetry and Criticism
• Modern Palestinian Literature (PG)
• Reading Classical Arabic Historians: Themes and Trends in Islamic Historiography
• Medieval Arabic Thought
• Classical Persian Poetry (Masters)
• Modern Arabic Literature and the West

• Communication, Culture and Politics in the Middle East: Theoretical and Analytical Approaches
• Film and Society in the Middle East
• Mediated Culture in the Middle East: Politics and Communications
• Theoretical Approaches to International Journalisms
• Theoretical and Contemporary Issues in Global Media and Post-National Communication
• International Political Communication
• Transnational Communities and Diasporic Media:Networking, Connectivity, Identity

• Political society in the Middle East
• State and transformation in the Middle East

• Comparative politics of the Middle East
• The Law & Politics of State Violence: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

• Israel and the Palestinians
• Turkey:Continuity and Change
• State and Society in Central Asia and the Caucasus
• Geopolitics and Security in Central Asia and the Caucasus
• Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies I: History and Politics
• Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies II: Culture and Society

• Zoroastrianism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
• Christians and Muslims in Syriac Texts
• Modern Trends in Islam
• Religion, Nationhood and Ethnicity in Judaism
• Zionist Ideology

If you are a current student you can find structure information on Moodle or through your Department.

• MA Near and Middle Eastern Studies - Programme Specifications 2017-18 (pdf; 133kb)

Important notice regarding changes to programmes and modules