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Indiana University Bloomington
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Welcome to the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (NELC) at Indiana University-Bloomington

It is our hope that these pages will introduce you to our department, which offers an interdisciplinary approach to Near Eastern languages and cultures that spans the humanities and the social sciences. In order to meet the academic and professional needs of our students, our faculty members collaborate with their colleagues in many other academic units. These include IU-Bloomington’s programs in Jewish Studies and in Middle East and Islamic Studies, academic departments like Central Eurasian Studies (CEUS), History, Political Science, Art History, Folklore & Ethnomusicology, Anthropology, and Religious Studies, and the Schools of Law and of Journalism, to name but a few. The NELC department offers undergraduate and graduate courses leading to Bachelor’s, Masters, and Doctoral degrees, and provides its students with advanced instruction in one or more of the following Near Eastern languages: Arabic, Hebrew and Kurdish [Kurmanji dialect]. NELC students also have opportunities for advanced study in Persian, Turkish and Pashto through the Department of Central Eurasian Studies (CEUS). We also offer our students advanced training in Middle Eastern literatures, including modern Hebrew, Persian, and Turkish literatures, classical and modern Arabic literature (both poetry and prose), as well as comparative study of two or more of the above.

Our outstanding faculty offer a wide variety of courses in the arts, the humanities, and the social sciences that introduce our students to contemporary critical approaches to the study of Islam, Muslim societies and cultures, the literatures, cinemas, and popular cultures of the Middle East, the region’s politics, Diaspora studies, issues of immigration and transnationalism, and the modern interpretations of Islamic texts. It is our goal to broaden and deepen our students’ understanding of Near Eastern societies and cultures in order to meet the increasing demands of business, government and academia for specialists skilled in the critical languages of the Middle East and possessing expert knowledge of the region’s culture, politics, and history.  We sincerely hope that you share our educational goals and that you will join us in exploring the many ways in which the study of the languages and cultures of the Middle East could have a significant, positive impact on your life and on the lives of thousands of others with whom you come into contact as you pursue your personal, academic, and professional goals.

M. Nazif Shahrani
Professor of Anthropology and Chair
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

 

EVENTS Announcements
IU Calendar of Events
  • October 1st, 2:00pm - 3:30pm, seminar by Professor William Maley of the Australian National University organized by MECR.
  • October 1st, 4:00pm - 5:30pm, public lecture by Professor William Maley of the Australian National University organized by MECR.
  • Updated documents:
    NELC Graduate Handbook
    NELC Arabic Curriculum