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Middle East Studies

Concentration Requirements:

  • Please select a minimum of four courses (12 credits total) from the list below, including two INTAF courses.
  • Please note that this list will be reviewed and updated periodically. However, students should always check LionPATH to determine the availability of these courses in any given semester and review any mandatory prerequisites prior to enrolling.
  • Please note that enrollment in any course listed below is not guaranteed, especially when the course is outside of INTAF.
  • Classes included on the list below are approved to use as electives for this concentration. Any course that is not listed below must go through a formal review process. To begin this review process, please complete this form.
    • Courses that are not approved electives from the below list will NOT count towards your concentration unless you obtain approval through the review process.

SIA Elective Courses (please select at least two courses from the following list):

  • INTAF 505 – Strategy, Conflict, Peace (3 credits)
  • INTAF 810 – Energy, International Security, and the Global Economy (3 credits)
  • INTAF 814 – U.S. Policy in the Middle East (3 credits)
  • INTAF 815 – Dynamics of International Economic Order: Law, Politics, and Power (3 credits)
  • INTAF 816 – War and Peace (3 credits)
  • INTAF 817 – Weapons of Mass Destruction and International Security (3 credits)
  • INTAF 818 – U.S. National Security (3 credits)
  • INTAF 819 – Grand Strategies of Established and Rising Powers (3 credits)

Penn State Graduate Elective Courses:

  • CMLIT 524 – Comparative Arab/ic Literature and Criticism (3 credits)
  • HIST 557 – The History of the Modern Middle East (3 credits)
  • HIST 558 – Colonialism and Nationalism in the Middle East (3 credits)
  • HIST 559 – Migrants and Refugees in the Middle East and North Africa (3 credits)
  • HIST 561 – Ottoman Empire (3 credits)
  • HIST 562 – Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Middle East (3 credits)
  • HIST 564 – Islamic Law and Society in Historical Perspective (3 credits)
  • HIST 565 – Palestine/Israel (3 credits)
  • PLSC 567 – Terrorism (3 credits)
  • SOC 523 – Internal and International Migration (3 credits)

Penn State 400-Level Elective Courses (please select no more than three courses from the following list):

  • ARAB 401 – Advanced Language & Cultures I (3 credits)
  • ARAB 402 – Advanced Languages & Cultures II (3 credits)
  • ANTH 420 / CAMS 430 / JST 420 – Archaeology of the Near East (3 credits)
  • CAMS 405 – Law & Economy in the Ancient Near East (3 credits)
  • CAMS 470 – Languages and Cultures of the Ancient Near East (3 credits)
  • CMLIT 449 – Literary Cultures of Islam (3 credits)
  • GEOG 432 – Energy Policy (3 credits)
  • HEBR 401 – Advanced Hebrew – Conversation Emphasis (3 credits)
  • HEBR 402 – Advanced Hebrew – Reading Emphasis (3 credits)
  • HIST 416 / JST 416 – Zionism (3 credits)
  • HIST 443 – Jewish Histories of the Middle East (3 credits)
  • HIST 471Y – Classical Islamic Civilization: 600 – 1258 (3 credits)
  • HIST 473 / JST 473 – The Contemporary Middle East (3 credits)
  • JST 409Y – Antisemitisms (3 credits)
  • JST 401 – Ancient Technologies and Socio-cultural History in the Ancient Levant (3 credits)
  • JST 410 – Jews in the Medieval World (3 credits)
  • JST 411 – Jewish Studies (3 credits)
  • PLSC 467 – International Relations of the Middle East (3 credits)
  • SOC 457 – Jewish Communities: Identity, Survival, and Transformation in Unexpected Places (3 credits)

All World Campus courses, including any that appear as elective class options on this list, require enrollment permission from the SIA faculty director prior to registering for the class. Please contact the SIA academic adviser for more information.