Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies Minor

The undergraduate minor in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies (ISME) is intended to offer students access to two complementary perspectives, the transregional study of Islam and Muslim societies in interaction with surrounding cultures, and the Middle East as a complex region seen through multiple disciplinary perspectives.

Requirements 

In addition to the program requirements listed below, students must:

  • take at least nine hours of their minor "core" requirements at UNC–Chapel Hill
  • earn a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.000 in the minor core requirements. Some programs may require higher standards for minor or specific courses.

For more information, please consult the degree requirements section of the catalog.

The minor consists of five courses, which must be taken in at least two different departments; at least one course must be from the Department of Religious Studies, and at least one course must be at an advanced level (400 and above).

Core Requirements
RELI 180IDEAs in Action General Education logo Introduction to Islamic Civilization 13
or HIST 138 History of Muslim Societies to 1500
One of the following three courses:3
IDEAs in Action General Education logo History of Muslim Societies since 1500
IDEAs in Action General Education logo The Modern Middle East
IDEAs in Action General Education logo Modern Muslim Societies
Three elective courses (see course lists below)9
Additional Requirements
Three of the five courses in the minor (including the required courses listed above) must be selected from one of two subject categories—either Islamic studies or Middle Eastern studies—as indicated by the two lists of approved courses below.
The other two courses must come from the other category.
Total Hours15
1

 Both courses cover material from the seventh century to 1500

One language course at level 5 or higher in Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi-Urdu, Persian, or Turkish can count as a course toward the minor. Up to two courses in Islamic and Middle East studies at Duke University may count toward the minor if approved by the director of the minor.

The minor is housed in the Department of Religious Studies and directed by Dr. Juliane Hammer, a member of the department, who is responsible for advising all students who minor in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies (as necessary beyond general academic advising).

Islamic Studies

ARAB/ASIA/RELI 681Readings in Islamicate Literatures3
ASIA 59IDEAs in Action General Education logo First-Year Seminar: Media Masala: Popular Music, TV, and the Internet in Modern India and Pakistan3
ASIA 331IDEAs in Action General Education logo Cracking India: Partition and Its Legacy in South Asia H3
ASIA/HIST 135IDEAs in Action General Education logo History of the Indian Subcontinent to 17503
ASIA/HIST 136History of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh: South Asia since 17503
ASIA/HIST 138History of Muslim Societies to 15003
ASIA/HIST 139IDEAs in Action General Education logo History of Muslim Societies since 15003
ASIA/RELI 180IDEAs in Action General Education logo Introduction to Islamic Civilization3
ASIA/RELI 181IDEAs in Action General Education logo Modern Muslim Societies3
ASIA/RELI 582IDEAs in Action General Education logo Islam and Islamic Art in South Asia3
ASIA/RELI 584IDEAs in Action General Education logo The Qur'an as Literature3
GEOG 448Transnational Geographies of Muslim Societies3
GSLL/RELI 218Christianity and Islam in the Middle Ages3
PWAD/RELI 481IDEAs in Action General Education logo Religion, Fundamentalism, and Nationalism3
RELI 64IDEAs in Action General Education logo First-Year Seminar: Reintroducing Islam3
RELI 185IDEAs in Action General Education logo Women/Gender/Islam H3
RELI 248IDEAs in Action General Education logo Introduction to American Islam H3
RELI 279IDEAs in Action General Education logo Islamic Law, Ethics, and Practice3
RELI 289IDEAs in Action General Education logo Muhammad and the Qur'an3
RELI 385IDEAs in Action General Education logo Modern Muslims and the Qur'an3
RELI 480IDEAs in Action General Education logo Modern Muslim Literatures3
RELI 485IDEAs in Action General Education logo Gender and Sexuality in Islam3
RELI 486IDEAs in Action General Education logo Islam and Feminism/Islamic Feminism3
RELI 580IDEAs in Action General Education logo African American Islam3
RELI 581IDEAs in Action General Education logo Sufism3
RELI 587IDEAs in Action General Education logo Islam and Sexual Diversity3
SOCI 419IDEAs in Action General Education logo Sociology of the Islamic World3
H

Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply.

Middle Eastern Studies

ARAB 150IDEAs in Action General Education logo Introduction to Arab Cultures3
ARAB 151IDEAs in Action General Education logo Arabic Literature through the Ages3
ARAB 211IDEAs in Action General Education logo Arab Comics3
ARAB/ANTH 214IDEAs in Action General Education logo Medicine in the Arab World3
ARAB 350IDEAs in Action General Education logo Women and Leadership in the Arab World3
ARAB/ANTH 354IDEAs in Action General Education logo Everyday Lives in the Middle East: Anthropological Perspectives3
ARAB/ANTH 432IDEAs in Action General Education logo Science and Society in the Middle East3
ARAB 434IDEAs in Action General Education logo Modern Arabic Literature in Translation3
ARAB 453IDEAs in Action General Education logo Film, Nation, and Identity in the Arab World3
ASIA 73IDEAs in Action General Education logo First-Year Seminar: Popular Culture in the Arab World3
ASIA 126IDEAs in Action General Education logo Introduction to Persian Literature3
ASIA 235IDEAs in Action General Education logo Israeli Cinema: Gender, Nation, and Ethnicity H3
ASIA 431IDEAs in Action General Education logo Persian Sufi Literature3
ASIA 435IDEAs in Action General Education logo The Cinemas of the Middle East and North Africa3
ASIA/CMPL 256IDEAs in Action General Education logo Love in Classical Persian Poetry3
ASIA/CMPL 258IDEAs in Action General Education logo Iranian Prison Literature3
ASIA/CMPL 359IDEAs in Action General Education logo Literary Diasporas of the Middle East3
ASIA/CMPL 442IDEAs in Action General Education logo Postcolonial Literature of the Middle East3
ASIA/GEOG 447Gender, Space, and Place in the Middle East3
ASIA/HIST 276IDEAs in Action General Education logo The Modern Middle East3
ASIA/HIST 277IDEAs in Action General Education logo The Conflict over Israel/Palestine3
ASIA/HIST 536Revolution in the Modern Middle East3
ASIA/HIST 538The Middle East and the West3
ASIA/HIST/WGST 537Women in the Middle East3
ASIA/JWST 60IDEAs in Action General Education logo First-Year Seminar: Israeli Culture and Society: Collective Memories and Fragmented Identities3
ASIA/JWST 436IDEAs in Action General Education logo Language, Exile, and Homeland in Zionist Thought and Practice3
ASIA/JWST/PWAD 462IDEAs in Action General Education logo The Arab-Jews: Culture, Community, and Coexistence3
ASIA/PWAD 69IDEAs in Action General Education logo First-Year Seminar: Wars and Veterans: Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan3
ASIA/RELI 583IDEAs in Action General Education logo Religion and Culture in Iran, 1500-Present3
ASIA/WGST 127IDEAs in Action General Education logo Iranian Women Writers3
ASIA/WGST 329IDEAs in Action General Education logo Middle East Women Writers3
ASIA/WGST 471IDEAs in Action General Education logo Gender and Sexuality in Middle Eastern Literature3
GEOG 59IDEAs in Action General Education logo First-Year Seminar: Space, Identity, and Power in the Middle East3
GERM 385Schein/Sein: Turkish German Culture, 1964 to Today3
HIST 63IDEAs in Action General Education logo First-Year Seminar: Water, Conflict, and Connection: the Middle East and Ottoman Lands H3
HIST 163IDEAs in Action General Education logo Modern Central Asia H3
HIST 273IDEAs in Action General Education logo Water, Conflict, and Connection in the Middle East3
HIST 5119/11 in World History H3
JWST/RELI 343IDEAs in Action General Education logo Religion in Modern Israel3
H

Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply.

See the program page here for special opportunities.

Department of Religious Studies

Visit Program Website

125 Carolina Hall, CB# 3225

(919) 962-5666

Director of the Minor

Juliane Hammer

jhammer@email.unc.edu

Chair

Barbara Ambros

Director of Undergraduate Studies

Brandon Bayne

bayne@unc.edu

Student Services Manager, Registrar

Myra Quick

quick@unc.edu