Middle East Studies MA (joint Hons)

In the first two years of your degree (known as sub-honours) you will take the required modules in Middle East Studies along with modules from your chosen joint subject.

1st Year

Students are required to take two of the following modules (which include some Middle East content) in their first year:

• The Early Modern Western World (c. 1450 – c. 1770): looks at continental European history in the early modern period, and the expansion of Europe.
• The Fall of Rome and the Origins of Europe (400 – 1000): examines how political, cultural and social life changed in the Byzantine, British and 'barbarian' worlds in response to major upheavals.
• Themes in Late Modern History (c.1776 – 2001): provides a thematic coverage of major political and social developments in the Western world during the 19th and 20thcenturies.

Students are required to take the following compulsory module in their second year:

• Introduction to Middle Eastern History: provides an introduction to Middle Eastern history from the dramatic reconfiguration of the Middle East in late Antiquity to its contested and contentious recent past.

You must also choose one of the following modules:

• History as a Discipline: Development and Key Concepts: provides an introduction to key theoretical and methodological approaches which have characterised the emergence of history as a discipline since mediaeval times.
• Mediaeval Europe (1000 – 1400): surveys the history of Europe and the Mediterranean world from the 12th to the 15th centuries and examines key themes that helped to shape Western Europe in this period.
• Scotland, Britain and Empire (c. 1500 – 2000): provides an introduction to how and why the British nation state evolved from the separate kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland and how and why it has survived over the last three centuries.

If you take Middle East Studies in your third and fourth years, you will choose from a variety of advanced options from the history of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires to contemporary issues in modern Iran.

Examples of Honours modules which have been offered in the past include:

• Britain and Iran in the Modern Era
• Eastern Approaches: Early Mediaeval Armenia
• The Formation of Islamic Iran: From the Arab Conquests to the Seljuq Empire
• From Leo VI to Basil II: Byzantium in the 10th Century
• The Imperial City: Byzantine and Ottoman Constantinople
• The Iranian World from the Timurids to the Safavids.

In fourth year, students also undertake a dissertation of c.10,000 to 12,000 words on a topic of their choice or an Honours Project. These modules based on independent research enable you to develop key research skills which are desired by both prospective employers and by graduate schools offering postgraduate degrees.