The Near Eastern Studies Major

A major in Near Eastern Studies offers students the opportunity to explore the languages, literatures, cultures, religions, and history of the Near East/Middle East from antiquity to the modern day. The major is designed to acquaint students broadly with the region and its cultures as well as to study a particular subfield in depth.

Prerequisites

  • The applicant for admission to the major in Near Eastern Studies must have completed at least two Near Eastern content courses, one of which can be a language course. Students are strongly encouraged to enroll in language courses and/or NES 251 or 254 either prior to signing into the major or early on in their major.
  • Prospective majors must meet with the director of undergraduate studies before submitting a major application.
  • To qualify as a major, a cumulative grade average of C or better is required.

Major Requirements

The precise sequence and combination of courses chosen to fulfill the major is selected in consultation with the student's adviser.

All majors must satisfy the following requirements (no course may be used to satisfy two requirements; S/U options not permitted):

  1. Two years of one Near Eastern language or one year of two Near Eastern languages
  2. Nine three- or four-credit NES courses, which must include the following:
    1. NES 251: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam or NES 254: Introduction to Near Eastern Civilizations
    2. NES 460: Junior/Senior Proseminar: Theory and Method in Near Eastern Studies
    3. Seven additional courses, of which
      1. three must fulfill temporal breadth, defined as: one course whose chronological parameters fall within the period 3000 BCE to 600 CE, one course whose chronological parameters fall within the period 600 CE to 1800 CE, and one course whose chronological parameters fall between 1800 CE and the present. The following list provides examples; a complete list can be obtained in the department office.

        3000 BCE to 600 CE

        • NES 223: Introduction to the Hebrew Bible
        • NES 229: Introduction to the New Testament
        • NES 244: Introduction to Ancient Judaism
        • NES 261: Ancient Seafaring
        • NES 266: Jerusalem through the Ages
        • NES 320: Women in the Hebrew Bible
        • NES 360: Ancient Iraq
        • NES 323: Reinventing Biblical Narrative
        • NES 394: Gender, Sexuality. and the Body in Early Christianity

        600 CE to 1800 CE

        • NES 214: Qur'an and Commentary
        • NES 234: Muslims and Jews in Confluence and Conflict
        • NES 256: Introduction to the Qur'an
        • NES 273: History of the Middle East: 13th-18th Centuries
        • NES 339: Islamic Spain
        • NES 351: Law, Society, and Culture in the Middle East
        • NES 418: Seminar in Islamic History

        1800 CE to the present

        • NES 235: Jews and Arabs in Contact and Conflict: The Modern Period
        • NES 274: History of the Modern Middle East: 19th-20th Centuries
        • NES 319: Crime and Conflict in the Modern Arabic Novel
        • NES 385: Middle Eastern Cities
        • NES 393: History of Jews and Christians in the Modern Middle East
        • NES 397: History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
        • NES 493: Cosmopolitan Alexandria
      2. A maximum of three of these courses can be at the 200-level; a minimum of four must be at the 300-level or above.
      3. One of the 300-level or above courses must be a research seminar. A complete listing of these can be found in the departmental office.
      4. A maximum of two independent studies can be applied to the major; a maximum of two relevant but non-cross-listed courses may be applied to the major; a maximum of two courses may receive credit for more than one major; a maximum of 15 credits of relevant, departmentally-approved course work taken overseas or at another university may be applied to the major.

Honors Program

Refer to the Honors Program page for information on graduating with honors in Near Eastern Studies.

Study Abroad

Near Eastern Studies majors may choose to study in the Near East during their junior year. There are various academic programs in the countries of the Near East that are recognized by the Department of Near Eastern Studies and that allow for the transfer of credit. Archaeological field work on Cornell-sponsored projects in the Near East may also qualify for course credit.

Using NES courses to fulfill distribution requirements