The Program in Contemporary Middle Eastern Studies

TEL: 00967 1 270 200

FAX: 00967 1 270 127

P.O. Box 3671

Sana’a – Republic of Yemen

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Program in Contemporary Middle Eastern Studies

This program is intended for students taking a semester or year of study abroad and are seeking credit for their course work at their home institutions. Credit is transferred to a home university, generally under pre-approval, through a YCMES transcript. Classes are held on the credit-system, with each course meeting four hours a week for a fourteen-week semester (each course is given a weight of four course credits).

It is run by the Associate Dean for the PCMES, with the assistance of the College’s Honorary Dean, Steven C. Caton.

Instruction and Advising

The PCMES offers a wide range of university-level courses on contemporary Middle East Studies. The faculty is comprised of the world’s most distinguished regional specialists, most of whom hold professorial appointments at leading universities.

Courses for students enrolled in the PCMES are offered in two fourteen-week semesters (fall and spring). There is a three-week winter session for students wishing to travel, do research, or take an intensive Arabic course, as well as a ten-week summer school session, when courses are more concentrated in time and content. A student may enroll for only one semester or for the whole year, depending on individual needs and interests, though for those students pursuing a comprehensive and integrated course of instruction on the study of the contemporary Middle East, the equivalent of a full year of instruction or more is encouraged. Whatever the length of study, the student will receive a grade transcript after completing the course of study. A special certificate will be awarded to those students who successfully complete the recommended Program in Contemporary Middle Eastern Studies.

Students will consult with the associate dean and faculty members to help plan their course of study and discuss their developing intellectual interests in the Middle East.

College enrollment is kept small, in an effort to make both student-to-faculty as well as student-to-student interactions more accessible and appealing. At the same time, the College tries to maintain diversity by welcoming qualified students not only of different gender, race, and class but also at different levels of education (undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate) and of varied professional backgrounds. In the context of a diverse college, it is hoped that students will be able to learn as much from their peers and their varied experiences in the Middle East as they will from their instructors.

Classes are conducted in English. In exceptional cases, instruction can be offered in Arabic, depending on student preparation. For the most part classes are in seminar format; however, lectures and cultural performances are periodically presented to the whole student body and independent studies with particular professors on specialized topics are possible (where instructor availability permits). While the course work of most classes is equivalent to the average U.S. undergraduate work-load (averaging four books, or the equivalent thereof in articles, per semester), it may contain a separate graduate component with a greater number of required readings or simply more challenging and specialized assignments. Depending on the nature of the course, the class might include field trips to various places in Yemen or supervised site visits for limited (and approved) research purposes.

Philosophy of the Curriculum

While the study of the region’s pre-history and pre-modern history (pre-Islamic, early Islamic and medieval Islamic periods) is often well served at European and U.S. universities that offer instruction on the Middle East, the study of the contemporary Middle East is often underrepresented, if represented at all, at these same institutions. To offset this imbalance, the College’s curriculum focuses on the study of the contemporary Middle East, with historical courses offered to students who feel the need for such background.

Courses range in topic (e.g., religion, gender, development, and politics) and discipline (e.g., anthropology, economics, geography, history, literature and the arts, political science, and sociology), but individual courses are usually inter-disciplinary in any case. A limited number of basic courses are offered each term (though taught on the basis of sufficient demand of five or more students per course) to reflect what the College considers to be important regional knowledge expected of any student concentrating or majoring in contemporary Middle Eastern studies. A set of more specialized courses is also offered each term, representing a range of topics that will vary depending on faculty specialization as well as student interest.

The expectation is that most (though not necessarily all) students will take Arabic language courses at the Yemen Language Center while majoring in contemporary Middle Eastern studies at the College, and they will consult with a faculty advisor to strike a balance between the two. Year-long course work minimally required for such a concentration includes four basic courses (200-level) and two specialized courses (300-level), if students are concurrently enrolled in Arabic language classes. If not, in addition to the basic courses they are required to take four specialized courses. A Certificate in Arabic and Contemporary Middle East Studies is issued to the student who has successfully completed the year-long program.