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PhD Program in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies

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Fall 2026 Admissions Update: Admissions to the joint PhD programs in Middle Eastern studies have been paused and will not be accepting applications for Fall 2026 The joint program in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies is designed for students...

Islamists and Spirit Exorcisms in Contemporary Morocco: A Critique of Anthropological Orthodoxy

Events

The CMES Director's Series presents Emilio Spadola Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Tufts University; Associate Professor of Anthropology, Colgate University (on leave, 2017-18); President, Middle East Section, American...

Anthropology

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The Anthropology of Islamic Law: Education, Ethics, and Legal Interpretation at Egypt's Al-Azhar

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The Anthropology of Islamic Law shows how hermeneutic theory and practice theory can be brought together to analyze cultural, legal, and religious traditions. These ideas are developed through an analysis of the Islamic legal tradition, which examines...

Shaping Anti-Syrian Perceptions in Turkey: Anthropological and Political Science Approaches

Events

The Center for Middle Eastern Studies presents Dr. Ezgi Canpolat, Visiting Scholar at Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), and Ahmet Akbiyik, Ph.D. candidate in Political Economy and Government at Harvard Kennedy School This event brings...

Desire, the Poetics of Divorce, and the Laws of Remarriage in Iraqi Kurdistan

Events

The Department of Anthropology and CMES are pleased to present Andrew Bush Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Bard College Andrew Bush is Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Bard College. He was previously a Visiting Fellow at...

Steven Caton

Person

Since the beginning of his career, Caton has been a specialist of Arabic and the Middle East, with an emphasis on Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula. His earliest work was in anthropological linguistics and poetics which culminated in his first book, Peaks...

Oman, Zanzibar, and the Politics of Becoming Arab

Events

The CMES Arabian Peninsula Studies Lecture Series presents Mandana Limbert Associate Professor, Anthropology, Queens College and the Graduate Center, CUNY Mandana Limbert is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Queens College and the Graduate Center...

The Wings of Desire or The Sky over Shatila: Precarity, Hope, and Gender among Palestinian Refugee Young Men in Lebanon

Events

The CMES Director's Series presents Gustavo Barbosa Associate Researcher, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro Discussant: Steven C. Caton (Harvard) Register: https://bit.ly/30AkENi. Gustavo Barbosa in an...

**POSTPONED**: Yemen at the Crossroads: Present Conditions, Future Prospects

Events

The CMES/WCFIA Middle East Seminar presents Steven C. Caton Khalid Bin Abdullah Bin Abdulrahman Al Saud Professor of Contemporary Arab Studies, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University; author, Yemen Chronicle: An Anthropology of War and Mediation...

Islamic Governance, Sharīʿa Interpretation, Imamic Yemen

Events

Committee on the Study of Religion and Harvard Law School present The Inaugural Lecture of the Harvard Law and Religion Lecture Series with Brinkley M. Messick Professor in Anthropology, Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies, Columbia University...

Q&A with Emrah Yildiz

News

Emrah Yildiz is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Middle East and North African Studies at Northwestern University. He completed his PhD in Anthropology and Middle East Studies at Harvard in 2016. How was your first term on the faculty at...