Spring 2026 Courses

Arabic 3702 - Place, Space, and Migration in Modern Arabic Literature and Film

This course on modern Arabic literature and culture in translation focuses on questions of belonging, relationship to space, and migration. It examines how Arabic literary narratives, films, documentaries, and other arts have imagined modes of belonging to spaces such as cities and nations, the natural world (and even the universe!) from the early postcolonial period to the present.

Prereq: English 1110

GE Theme: Lived Environments

Professor: Johanna Sellman

Credit Hours: 3 

Arabic 5405 - ALI Advanced Arabic for the Professions

This advanced-level course immerses students in the complexities of professional Arabic used in governmental and organizational contexts, including diplomacy and fields of work that are adjunct to it. Focusing on verbal communication in the classroom, the course presents language skills that enable students to professionally express practical themes and topics used by embassies, NGOs, and more.

Prereq: GPA 3.0 or above in Arabic major/minor courses, and Soph, Jr, Sr or Grad standing.

Professor: Hekmat Dirbas

Credit Hours: 3

Jewish Studies 2201 - Introduction to Jewish Culture, Thought, & Practice

An introduction to the historical, ideological, and cultural growth of Judaism examined from a variety of methodological perspectives.

Islam 3201 - Muslims in America and Europe: Migration and Living Between Worlds

Explore the experiences of religious minorities in the U.S. and Europe for Muslims whose families are originally from the Arab world, Iran, South Asia, Turkey, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia.

Prereq: Not open to students with credit for NELC 3201.

GE Theme: Citizenship for a Diverse and Just World

Professor: Parvaneh Hosseini

Credit Hours: 3

NELC 5103 - Phoenician Grammar

The Phoenicians were master seafarers, merchants, and artisans whose trade networks spanned the Mediterranean, spreading goods, technologies, and ideas across cultures. By transmitting the alphabet and facilitating the circulation of Near Eastern knowledge, they helped lay the foundations upon which Greek culture and ultimately Hellenism could flourish. As intermediaries between Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Mediterranean, the Phoenicians occupy a central place in understanding the interconnected world of the ancient Near East. In this course, we will read from the breadth of surviving genres in Phoenician and early Punic, including literary inscriptions, economic records, religious texts, administrative documents, and more. 

Prereq: Students must have completed at least one semester of any Semitic language, ancient or modern. Graduate students without a background in a Semitic language may undertake a brief self-study in the basics of Phoenician over winter break, if they choose to join.

Professor: James Moore

Credit Hours: 3

Weds: 2:15 - 5:00 PM

Persian 2701 - Persian Literature in Translation

A study of Persian literature in translation and the history of its discourses, genres, and styles. This course will expose students to Persian literature in translation from both classical and modern periods in order to make it available to students and comparativists in other languages and disciplines. Become acquainted with a number of representative works of Persian literature, identify enduring themes in the literature, and see the ways in which modern Persian literature has grown from its classical origins.

Prereq: English 1110, or GE foundation writing and info literacy course.

GE Foundation: Literature, Visual and Performing Arts

Professor: Mehrak Kamali Sarvestani

Credit Hours: 3

SASIA 2230 - Living Everyday Lives: Systems of Discrimination in the United States and South Asia

The course shows how everyday life in South Asia where caste is a category of oppression compares to everyday life in the United States where race is a category of oppression. Everyday life will also introduce students to how race and caste as categories of oppression interact with gender and ethnicity in the United States and South Asia.

GE Foundation: Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity

Professor: Richa Jhaldiyal

Credit Hours: 3