Modern Middle East Languages

Harvard Crimson thumbnail

Harvard Offers Kurdish Language Course for First Time in University History

October 2, 2023

Harvard offered its first Kurdish language course in the University’s history this fall after students from Kurdish-speaking backgrounds pushed for its creation. The course focuses not only on the Kurdish language but also on topics in Kurdish culture, history, and politics. Read more about the course in the Harvard Crimson.

Read more about Harvard Offers Kurdish Language Course for First Time in University History
At the El-Zitouna Mosque in the Medina of Tunis

In the Shadow of History: A Summer in Tunisia

August 15, 2022

In the summer of 2022, after a two-year hiatus due to Covid-19, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies’ five-week Arabic language program in Tunis made its long-awaited return. Led for a fifth time by the Gordon Gray Research Professor of Arabic and outgoing CMES Director William Granara, the program synthesized modern Tunisian history, literature, and culture through various texts dating from the early-twentieth-century pre-Independence period to the contemporary, post-Revolution setting. Nicolas Pantelick ’24, a joint NELC and government concentrator pursuing a concurrent AM degree...

Read more about In the Shadow of History: A Summer in Tunisia
Cooperson Gibb 2022 group

The Gibb Lecture Series 2022: Two Talks by Michael Cooperson

May 27, 2022

by Hacı Osman Gündüz, PhD Candidate, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

After two years of dormancy due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Hamilton A. R. Gibb Lecture Series was back in action in March 2022. The series is the tāj (crown) of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, as CMES Director William Granara, Gordon Gray Professor of the Practice of Arabic, described it. The series was established in 1964 with funds provided by Mr. John Goelet, who was a student of Sir Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb (d. 1976), the former James Richard Jewett Professor of Arabic and University Professor at Harvard University. This year’s guest speaker was Michael Cooperson, Professor of Arabic at the University of California, Los Angeles, who is the first speaker of the series to have completed all his higher education—AB ('87), AM ('91), and PhD ('94) —at Harvard..... Read more about The Gibb Lecture Series 2022: Two Talks by Michael Cooperson

Village of Roussillon summer 2018

Arab and European Interactions in Aix-en-Provence

January 25, 2019

In summer 2018, Gordon Gray Professor of Arabic and CMES Director William Granara, along with Khaled al-Masri, Associate Professor of Arabic at Swarthmore, led undergraduates on a Harvard Summer School program in Aix-en-Provence, France. The program, which Granara has led for several years, brings together students of Arabic and French language and culture to examine historical, literary, and cultural aspects of Arab and European interactions in the colonial and postcolonial eras. Andrew Aoyama ’21 wrote about his experience on the trip.... Read more about Arab and European Interactions in Aix-en-Provence

Said Hannouchi

Multilingual Education in Morocco: Back to the Future?

January 19, 2018

"Language education in Morocco reflects a complex interplay between ethnic diversity/identities, political interests, and language ideologies and attitudes," writes Said Hannouchi, Preceptor in Arabic in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. "Economic realities and development in Morocco’s particular context also play a significant role in shaping education policy broadly, and language policy specifically. Above all, any discussion of the status of language education policy in Morocco must be conducted against the backdrop of the country’s historical experience with...

Read more about Multilingual Education in Morocco: Back to the Future?
bizerte tunisia

Traveling beyond the Classroom: J-Term Excursion to Tunisia

February 9, 2017

Brittany Landorf, an MTS candidate at Harvard Divinity School, participated in the Center for Middle Eastern Studies' 2017 winter session study excursion to Tunisia. "The trip reminded me why I love what I study so much, and I returned to campus this semester with renewed energy and new curiosity," Landorf writes. "Sometimes our classrooms can feel so far away from what we are studying (literally and figuratively); I think that immersive learning experiences like this are invaluable." Read more about her experience at the Harvard Divinity School Admissions Blog.

Hazem Ben-Gacem January 2017

Video: CMES Tunisia Office Inaugural Celebration

January 17, 2017

Hear opening remarks from donor Hazem Ben-Gacem AB '92, CMES Director William Granara, Margot Gill, Administrative Dean for International Affairs, Harvard University, and Malika Zeghal, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor in Contemporary Islamic Thought and Life, Harvard University, at the inaugural celebration of the Tunisia Office of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University.

...

Read more about Video: CMES Tunisia Office Inaugural Celebration