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Middle East and Islamic Studies at Duke University Libraries
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Building Bridges: Muslims in America
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Graduate Certificate
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Duke University Middle East Studies Center

The Duke University Middle East Studies Center (DUMESC) is a hub for research, policy, education, and outreach about the Middle East. DUMESC supports in-depth Middle Eastern language training and a variety of interdisciplinary courses on the region's geopolitics, culture, and society.

On Duke's campus, DUMESC creates an intellectual community by supporting curricular programs such as study abroad, DukeEngage, Middle East related majors and minors, and the graduate certificate in Middle East Studies. It also offers a wide array of programming from guest speakers to conferences and film festivals.

With its renowned faculty expertise in the humanities and the interpretive social sciences, DUMESC emphasizes the importance of the Middle East to global education, engaging in a variety of topics from literature to policy. As part of the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies, DUMESC reaches a wide community of scholars seeking to understand the Middle East. 

Subscribe to the DUMESC newsletter to keep updated!

 

Graduate Certificate

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Critical Genealogies of Middle East Studies

The Middle East Studies and Islamic Studies faculty, course offerings and library resources available to students at Duke are enhanced by the close collaboration between Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill.

The Duke-UNC graduate certificate trains students for interdisciplinary research in Middle East Studies and is designed to complement the disciplinary training in their home departments.

Learn more about the Middle East studies certificate.

Languages

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Arabic

The Duke Arabic program develops skills in speaking, reading, writing, and listening, from beginning levels through advanced upper levels. Advanced students will explore political, literary, religious, historical, archival, and media sources in their original language.

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Hebrew

The Modern Hebrew program at Duke is developed and taught exclusively by native Hebrew speakers. The 4-year program offers students of all levels the opportunity to acquire and fine tune their linguistic command of the Hebrew language in multiple registers.

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Persian/Farsi

Persian is the ancient and modern language of Persia, Iran, and Afghanistan. The Duke Persian program provides a language skills foundation through a task-based, learner-centered, communicational and interactive method enriched with authentic culture.

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Turkish

Learning Turkish gives access to many new opportunities in policy, international studies, business, science, technological research, and journalism. The Turkish program at Duke takes students from introductory to advanced levels of Turkish language study.

Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies

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DUMESC is part of the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies. The consortium combines the strengths of our center with those of the Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies at UNC. 

With Title IV support, the center encourages collaboration and cooperation in all aspects of Middle Eastern studies across our two campuses and across disciplines. 

Visit the consortium website.

View past events that we have put together over the years. 

News

Duke community mourns Turkey, Syria earthquake victims at vigil

February 10, 2023

By Katie Tan | @katietan_

February 10, 2023 | 8:37am EST​​​​​​​

Dozens of Duke community members gathered outside the Chapel Thursday night to mourn the victims of the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday.

...

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Malcolm X’s Gospel

April 4, 2022

By Dr. Ellen McLarney

Originally published here. https://www.aaihs.org/malcolm-xs-gospel/

In April 1957, Malcolm X began writing his “God’s Angry Men” column in the New York Amsterdam News , immediately after the brutal...

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Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies

DUMESC is part of the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies. The consortium combines the strengths of our center with those of the Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies.

 

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Building Bridges: Muslims in America

In Spring 2018, Duke Performances launched its three-year Building Bridges: Muslims in America initiative, a new project showcasing the richness and diversity of Muslim culture in this...

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JMEWS: Journal of Middle East Women's Studies

This interdisciplinary journal advances the fields of Middle East gender, sexuality, and women's studies through the contributions of academics, artists, and activists from around the globe working in the interpretive social sciences and humanities.