Interested in learning more about the Middle East and North Africa? Whether you’re interested in languages, history, politics, or culture, there are options for you at the University of Illinois.
Academic centers
- CSAMES: “The Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (CSAMES, pronounced see-sayms), promotes teaching and scholarship on South Asia and the Middle East and fosters a greater public understanding of these globally influential regions. For over fifty years, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has recognized the importance of South Asian and Middle Eastern studies by supporting student and faculty projects related to the region. Through study abroad programs, language instruction, and faculty teaching and research, the campus offers students a variety of learning opportunities to engage with South Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, histories, and societies. The public engagement events that we host are free and open to the public. CSAMES offers undergraduate minors in South Asian Studies and Islamic World Studies and a Master’s of Arts degree with a concentration in South Asian or Middle Eastern Studies."
- Language Learning Modules
- FLAS (Foreign Language and Area Studies) scholarships
- Summer Institute for Languages of the Muslim World
- ...and much more! Check out the CSAMES website for info on programs and academics.
- Center for African Studies
- Center for Jewish Studies
Programs of study
There is no Department of Middle Eastern and North African studies at UIUC and therefore no MENA studies major. However, there are many degrees of study that are about at least part of the region or can be tailored to focus on MENA:
- Minors
- African Studies
- Arabic Studies
- Asian American Studies
- Global Studies
- Islamic World Studies (through CSAMES)
- Jewish Culture and Society
- Medieval Studies
- Minoritarian Aesthetics
- South Asian Studies (through CSAMES)
- Turkish Studies
- World Literature
- Undergraduate majors:
- Asian American Studies
- Comparative and World Literature
- Global Studies
- Interdisciplinary studies (Jewish studies and medieval studies tracks available)
- Linguistics
- Graduate programs:
- African Studies (MA)
- Comparative Literature (MA and PhD)
- South Asian & Middle Eastern Studies (MA through CSAMES)
- Multiple bilingual-bicultural teaching and language acquisition education degrees are available
MENA languages available at Illinois include:
- Arabic
- Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian
- Greek (koine, classical, and modern)
- Hebrew
- Persian
- Turkish
- Swahili