News

Amid Violence in the Middle East, Palestinian American Poet Shares Work at Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies

October 25, 2023

Lisa Suhair Majaj — an author and scholar of Arab American Literature — shared a collection of her poems at a Tuesday event at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Majaj, who was born in America and grew up in Jordan, shared 17 of her poems chronicling...

Emergency Aid for Palestine

October 17, 2023

As of October 15, 2023, the bombardment of Gaza had already killed 2,670 Palestinians and injured more than 9,600. At least 600,000 Palestinians have been displaced. In concomitant attacks in the West Bank, 56 Palestinians have been killed and 1,173...

MESA Board Statement on Palestine and Israel

October 17, 2023

The Executive Committee of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies endorses the October 16, 2023, statement by the Board of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) condemning the killing of all civilians in Palestine and Israel. The statement asserts...

The Ragusa Road and the Ottoman Balkans

October 11, 2023

In a new episode of the Ottoman Podcast, CMES Associate Director for Research Jesse Howell (PhD '17) discusses the history of the early modern caravan route between Ragusa (modern-day Dubrovnik) and Istanbul. In attending to the long-distance connections...

Harvard Offers Kurdish Language Course for First Time in University History

October 02, 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...

Harvard Students Launch Fundraisers for Morocco Earthquake Relief

September 15, 2023

Harvard students and affiliates raised more than $19,000 in donations through fundraisers for disaster relief following a deadly earthquake that hit Morocco last Friday. The earthquake, which struck near Marrakesh, Morocco, is one of the deadliest to hit...

Support for Earthquake Relief Efforts in Morocco

September 14, 2023

On September 8, a massive earthquake struck the Marrakesh–Safi region of Morocco, the largest recorded in the country's history and the deadliest since 1960. CMES mourns the thousands of lives lost in this disaster. Local and international rescue and...

Amal Walks Across America

August 03, 2023

Little Amal, whose name means “hope” in Arabic, is an internationally celebrated 12-foot-tall puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl. She has been welcomed by more than 250 uniquely created artistic events across the globe since her initial 5,000...

Everett Mendelsohn, Who Linked Science and Society, Dies at 91

July 15, 2023

Everett Mendelsohn, who as a scholar of the history of science explored how science's evolution has been influenced by historical and cultural trends and vice versa, died on June 6, 2023, at his home in Cambridge. He was 91. A longtime professor at...

Congratulations, 2022-23 CMES Graduates!

May 30, 2023

CMES is pleased to congratulate this year's graduating students in our AM and PhD programs. AM Graduates Shamma Faisal Al Bastaki—Thesis: "Al-Majaz: A Crossing" / Advisor: Steve Caton / CMES Thesis Prize Faisal Alghassab Giulia Benvenuto—Thesis: "Islam as...

Q&A With Becca Wadness

May 22, 2023

Becca Wadness is a 2018 graduate of the CMES AM Program in Middle Eastern Studies. She currently works as Senior Tunisia Desk Officer in the Bureau for the Middle East at USAID. What is the mission of the USAID Bureau for the Middle East, in general and...

Nafplio Conference Caps Multi-year Byzantine Studies Initiative

May 08, 2023

by Jesse Howell, PhD ’17, CMES Academic Programs Manager and Associate Director of the AM Program Certain dates stand out in the collective historical consciousness. On May 29, 1453, Ottoman forces under the command of the twenty-one-year-old Ottoman...