Dr. Sarah BrooksAssociate Professor of Art History

Dr. Rahel FischbachAssistant Professor of Religious Studies

Dr. Timothy FitzgeraldAssistant Professor of History

Ms. Elena GuoloInstructor of Foreign Languages

Dr. Manal JamalAssociate Professor of Political Science

Dr. Stephen PoulsonProfessor of Sociology

Dr. Sofia SamatarAssistant Professor of English

Dr. Shah Mahmoud HanifiProfessor of HistoryMECM Coordinator

tel 540 568 1743 e hanifism@jmu.edu

The Middle Eastern Communities and Migrations minor concentrates on social and political issues involving Muslim, Christian and Jewish populations in their own right and in relation to one another in the territory between the Nile and Indus rivers during the modern period.

The program is also designed to accommodate consideration of other communities including Hindu and other South Asians, Anatolian and Central Asian Turks, and Mediterranean peoples in the larger area stretching from North Africa to Southeast Asia as well as Middle Eastern diaspora communities in Europe and the Americas from the ancient period to the present.

The interdisciplinary orientation of the program emphasizes comparison and a synthesis of local, regional, trans-national and global perspectives. The program provides an intellectual foundation that can be usefully applied and built upon in graduate school, the private sector or government service.

minor description facultymiddle eastern

communities and migrations

course information

Students are required to take 18 credits comprised of six credits of core course work and 12 credits of electives structured as follows. Students may take no more than nine credits from a single academic unit.

Students must take two of the following three courses to fulfill the six-credit core course work required for the minor:

Core Courses Credit HoursChoose two:HUM 252. Global Cultures (Islamic Civilization)1 HIST 269. Premodern Middle East1 HIST 270. The Modern Middle East2

Choose any of the following courses to fulfill the remaining 12 credits of course work required for the minor:

Regular Offerings

ARAB 101. Elementary Arabic I1 ARAB 102. Elementary Arabic II2 ARAB 111. Intensive Arabic I3 ARAB 212. Intensive Arabic II3 ARAB 231. Intermediate Arabic I1 ARAB 232. Intermediate Arabic II2 FL 490. Special Studies in Foreign Languages7 HUM 252. Global Cultures (Turkey: Meeting of East and West)PERS 101. Elementary Persian I1 PERS 102. Elementary Persian II2 PERS 231. Intermediate Persian I1 PERS 232. Intermediate Persian II2

Regular Offerings (continued) Credit Hours

ARTH 332. Islamic Art and Architecture6

ARTH 424. Arts of Ancient Egypt6

ARTH 439. Topics in Medieval Art (Medieval Jerusalem)1

ARTH 440. Jerusalem6

ARTH 446. Renaissance Art and the East6 SOCI 342. Social Movements in the Middle East HIST 269. Premodern Middle East1 HIST 270. The Modern Middle East2 HIST 372. Afghanistan in Regional and Global Systems6 HIST 373. History of the Ottoman Empire, 1453-19226

HIST 473. Early Modern Islamic Empires6 HIST 485. Colonialism in the Greater Middle East6 REL 201. Introduction to Hebrew Bible/Old Testament4 REL 202. Jesus and the Beginnings of Christianity4 REL 305. Islamic Religious Tradition5 REL 320. Judaism5 REL 350. Islamic Law and Society6 HEBR/REL 131-132. Elementary Biblical Hebrew6 HEBR/REL 231-232. Intermediate Biblical Hebrew6 POSC 354. Politics of the Modern Middle East1

ANTH 373. Anthropological Perspectives on Environment and Development SOCI 311. Sociology of the Environment SOCI 321. Politics in Society SOCI 348. Introduction to Developing Societies SOCI 360. Social Movements ARTH 419. Topics in African Art ENG 430. Advanced Studies in Comparative Literature ARAB 330. Business Arabic ARAB 339. Liteatures of the Islamic World 600-1500 A.D. ARAB 340. Intermediate Arabic Conversation ARAB 400. Advanced Arabic Writing and Conversation ARAB 447. Special Topics in Arabic Civilization and Culture ARAB 448. Special Topics in Arabic Linguistics POSC 340. Political Development in the Third World POSC 361. Topics in International Relations POSC 371. Topics in Comparative Politics REL 300. Selected Topics in Religion7 REL 309. Jihad in Islamic Traditions6

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Additional Offerings Credit Hours

The following three-credit courses are offered at varying intervals and can count toward the MECM minor if they are structured to include substantial content relating to the foci and goals of the program. Contact the program coordinator to apply one of these courses to the MECM minor.

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446644

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1 Offered every fall semester.2 Offered every spring semester.3 Offered May–June summer term only.4 Offered every third semester.5 Offered fall or spring semester.6 Offered every two years.7 Offered every fall and spring.