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Middle Eastern & South Asian Languages & Cultures

SANS 3028 Buddhacarita of Asvaghosa
Spring 2023

This course centers on selected passages from the Buddhacarita of Asvaghosa. Class time will be devoted primarily to translation and grammatical analysis and secondarily to discussion of the content. This …

Rating
Difficulty
GPA
SATR 3040 Poetry of Love and Devotion
Fall 2025

What is love? How is it articulated? Is love devotion? What is passion? What are the different forms of desire? The object of desire may be human (male or female), …

Rating
Difficulty
3.96
GPA
URDU 3040 Magic, Dreams, and Absence: The Fiction of Naiyer Masud
Fall 2026

In this class we will conduct close readings (in Urdu!) of several of Masud's short fiction writings, and will discuss them in detail. There will be weekly assignments, a final …

Rating
Difficulty
GPA
URDU 3050 Born for the Stage: A Survey of Modern Urdu Drama
Spring 2026

In this class we will conduct close readings (in Urdu!) of several 20th-century dramas/plays, and will discuss them in detail. There will be weekly assignments, a final take-home exam, and …

Rating
Difficulty
GPA
MESA 3110 Sustainable Environments Middle East and South Asia
Fall 2022

From arid cities to irrigated fields, hot deserts to high mountains, the Middle East and South Asia encompasses a range of environments for thinking through the relationships between nature and …

4.3
Rating
3.0
Difficulty
3.66
GPA
MESA 3111 Film Festivals and Global Media Cultures: ME/SA Spotlight
Fall 2026

"Film Festivals and Global Media Cultures: Middle East- South Asia Spotlight"- With an emphasis on transnational film festival histories and collective media cultures in the Middle East and South Asia, …

3.6
Rating
2.3
Difficulty
3.87
GPA
MESA 3120 Classics of Islamic Literature: Islamic Mystical Writing
Fall 2024

This course surveys the classics of Islamic mystical writing, spanning from the Middle East to South Asia and the Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and Indian vernacular languages. With an eye to …

Rating
Difficulty
3.38
GPA
PETR 3125 #MahsaAmini: Revolution and Media
Fall 2024

This course examines the role of media in the formation, development, and outcomes of revolutions. Cases of the Iran Revolution of 2022, the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and the Constitutional …

Rating
Difficulty
3.98
GPA
MESA 3131 MENASA American Comics
Fall 2026

This course offers a survey of Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian American comic books, graphic novels, and graphic memoirs. Reading fiction and nonfiction comics, paired with academic and …

Rating
Difficulty
3.57
GPA
MEST 3131 Macho Men and Submissive Women (?): Gender in Contemporary Hebrew Fiction
Spring 2024

Examining representations of gender, this course will analyze novels written by major Jewish-Israeli authors, both women and men, in order to understand the contemporary struggle of Jewish-Israeli society with issues …

Rating
Difficulty
GPA
PETR 3131 Love, Lust, and the Divine in Persian Literature
Spring 2026

This course aims to introduce students to Persian literature's contribution to global humanism through poetry and poetics. We'll explore how Persian romance novels in verse (masnavi) engage with themes like …

Rating
Difficulty
GPA
PETR 3220 Twentieth-Century Persian Literature in Translation
Fall 2022

Introduces modern Persian literature in the context of Iranian society and civilization. Lectures and discussions follow the development of modern Persian poetry and prose, and trace the influence of Western …

Rating
Difficulty
3.53
GPA
ARAB 3230 Arabic Conversation and Composition
Spring 2024

Using a communicatively oriented, proficiency-based approach the course will focus on the communicative prodution skills (speaking and writing) in the language through a combination of interactive classroom activities, take-home assignments …

Rating
Difficulty
3.94
GPA
PERS 3230 Introduction to Classical Persian Literature
Fall 2024

A comprehensive, historical introduction to Persian poetry and prose from the 10th to the 18th centuries. Emphasizing the history and development of Persian poetry and prose, this advanced-level language course …

3.2
Rating
2.0
Difficulty
3.73
GPA
MEST 3232 No Foul- No Game: Sports, Nationality, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Spring 2026

This course reviews key milestones of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict throughout the lends of competitive sports in the MENA regions and in Israel in particular. The course examines sports¿ role in …

2.3
Rating
2.0
Difficulty
3.76
GPA
PETR 3232 Persian Poetry Across Centuries
Fall 2026

This course is an introduction to major poets of Classical and Medieval Persian literature through learning about different poetic forms and genres, themes and topics, and motifs and images within …

Rating
Difficulty
GPA
MEST 3240 Israel/Palestine Through Literature and Film
Fall 2025

This course will approach the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the lens of literature and film. We will study memoirs, short stories, documentaries, and feature films in order to …

Rating
Difficulty
3.80
GPA
ARTR 3245 Arabic Literary Delights
Spring 2025

In this course, we will venture into the fascinating words and worlds of premodern Arab-Islamic leisure and pleasure. We will focus specifically on the literary representation of and socio-cultural/theosophical debate …

Rating
Difficulty
3.70
GPA
ARAB 3259 Advanced Arabic for Business
Spring 2026

The course aims to provide advanced training in developing linguistic and communicative skills in business Arabic. The business topics cover data & communication, finance, insurance, law & contract, research & …

Rating
Difficulty
GPA
MESA 3270 A History of Astrology
Spring 2026

In this course we will examine the history of astrology, as both a body of knowledge and a process of discovery, from the ancient to the contemporary periods. Astrology played …

Rating
Difficulty
GPA