Department of the Languages and Cultures of the Near and Middle East

MA Middle Eastern Studies and Intensive Languages (2022 entry)

Select year of entry: 2022 2021

Overview

Overview and entry requirements

The MA in Middle Eastern Studies provides exceptional opportunities for studying this diverse and fascinating area at the postgraduate level through a variety of disciplinary approaches. The main emphasis of the programme is on the modern period through the modules in history, geography, politics, economics and anthropology. Some exposure is provided, however, to the pre-modern culture and society of the area through modules in religious studies, Islamic art and archaeology, and history.

The MA Middle Eastern Studies with Intensive language programme has many language modules for students to pick and choose from, inlcuding introduction, intermediate, advance Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Turkish. Students will also spend the summer taking an Advanced Study Abroad module, worth 45 credits, while also having a choice of studying two years full-time or four years part-time.

See Near and Middle East Department

Combine Middle Eastern Studies with a language

Languages to choose from: Arabic, Persian, Turkish.

Why study Middle Eastern Studies and Intensive Language at SOAS

SOAS is ranked 1st in London in the Complete University Guide 2021 for Middle Eastern and African Studies, and 6th in UK
SOAS has an unrivalled reputation as the foremost provider of Asian, African and Middle East studies
students have an opportunity to develop a holistic and integrated approach to the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East through their languages and cultures

Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings

Start of programme: September

Mode of Attendance: Full-time or Part-time

Entry requirements

We will consider all applications with 2:2 (or international equivalent) or higher. In addition to degree classification we take into account other elements of the application such as supporting statement. References are optional, but can help build a stronger application if you fall below the 2:2 requirement or have non-traditional qualifications.

Please see our 'postgraduate entry requirements' page for Overseas and EU qualifications and equivalencies.

Featured events

duration:: Two years (full-time), or four years (part-time, daytime only)

Fees 2021/22

UK fees:: £11,520

Overseas fees:: £22,500

Fees for 2021/22 entrants. This is a Band 3 fee. The fees are per academic year. Please note that fees go up each year. Further details can be found in the Fees and Funding tab on this page or in the Registry's Postgraduate Tuition Fees page

Convenors

Dr Yorgos Dedes Convenor

Combinations

May be combined with:

MA Middle Eastern Studies can be combined with the following Intensive Language pathways:

Structure

Students must take 315 credits in total, comprised of 255 taught credits (45 of which are taught abroad as part of a Summer School) and a 60-credit dissertation as outlined below.

In their first year, students on the two-year Intensive Language programmes take 60 credits of intensive language instruction and 60 credits in the discipline. During the summer, they participate in a Summer School abroad. In the second year, they take another 30 language credits as well as 60 credits in the discipline; they also complete their dissertation in the discipline.

On the MA Middle Eastern Studies and Intensive Language:

a maximum of 60 credits can be taken in any one subject area
a minimum of three subject areas must be covered.

For the purposes of this requirement, modules convened by members of SLCL staff (e.g. Turkey: Continuity and Change) may be classified under different disciplines (either history or politics) as indicated in the List of Guided Options so as to allow students maximum choice.

Please see 'Programme specification' below to download the PDF pathways specifications of the four-year part-time version of the programme.

Programme

Year 1 (two years full time)

Discipline Component

The compulsory modules 'Remapping Area Studies' (15 credits) and 'The Middle East in Ten Issues' (15 credits)

Plus

A minor module(s) from the list below to the value of 30 credits.

Language Component

Students take 60 credits in the selected language.

Summer Abroad

Students participate in a Summer School abroad for the selected language.

Year 2 (two years full time)

Discipline Component

A major module(s) from the list below to the value of 15 or 30 credits.

Plus

A minor module(s) from the list below to the value of 30 or 45 credits.

Or

A module(s) from Postgraduate Open Options to the value of 15 or 30 credits

Plus

The dissertation in Near and Middle Eastern Studies (60 credits)

Language Component

Students take 30 credits in the selected language.

Dissertation

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Dissertation in Near and Middle Eastern Studies	15PNMC996	60	Full Year

Compulsory Modules

Taken in Year 1

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Remapping Area Studies in Asia, Africa and the Middle East	15PNMH053	15	Term 1
The Middle East in Ten Issues	15PNMH054	15	Term 2

Anthropology and Sociology

Available as minors only

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Culture and Society of Near and Middle East	15PANH067	15	Term 1

Art and Archaeology

Available as majors or minors

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Arab Painting	15PARH054	15	Term 1
Art and Architecture of the Seljuks and Ottomans (12th -15th centuries)	15PARH070	15	Term 1
China and the Silk Road: Art and Archaeology	15PARH093	15	Term 1
Islam and the West: Artistic and Cultural Contacts	15PARH034	15	Term 2
Islamic Art and Architecture of Eastern Mediterranean of the Period of the Crusades (11th-14th centuries)	15PARH080	15	Term 2
Islamic Visual Culture	15PARH065	15	Term 1

Development Studies

Available as a major or minor

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Problems of Development in the Middle East and North Africa	15PDSH019	15	Term 2

Available as minors only

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Water and Development: Commodification, Ecology and Globalisation (Development Studies)	15PDSH049	15	Term 2
Water Justice: Rights, Access and Movements (Development Studies)	15PDSH041	15	Term 1

Economics

Available as a major or minor

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Political Economy of Development and Change in the Middle East	15PECC028	15	Term 1

Available as a minor only

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Topics in the Political Economy of Contemporary Middle East	15PECC029	15	Term 2

Gender

Available as minors only

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Gender in the Middle East	15PGNH001	15	Term 1
Queering Migrations and Diasporas	15PGNH002	15	Term 2
Queer Politics in Asia, Africa and the Middle East	15PGNH007	15	Term 2

History

Available as majors or minors

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Empire and Reform in the Modern Middle East, 1789-1914	15PHIH031	15	Term 1
Empire, Law, and Citizenship in the Middle East and the Balkans	15PHIH049	15	Term 2
Historical Perspectives on Gender in Asia, Africa and the Middle East	15PHIH029	15	Term 2
Nationalism and Revolution in the Modern Middle East, 1914-1979	15PHIH032	15	Term 2
The Early Development of Islam: Emerging Identities and Contending Views	15PHIH039	15	Term 2

Available as a minor only

Module	Code	Credits	Term
The Afghanistan Wars, 1979 to the Present	15PHIH056	15	Term 1

Language

You may select modules to the value of 60 credits from the languages below.

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Arabic 1 (PG)	15PNMC413	30	Term 1
Arabic 2 (PG)	15PNMC439	30	Term 2
Higher Intermediate Arabic/English/Arabic Translation Project (PG)	15PNMC419	30	Full Year
Intensive Advanced Summer Arabic (PG)	15PNMC416	45	Full Year
Intensive Higher Advanced Summer Arabic (PG)	15PNMC417	45	Full Year
Intensive Intermediate Summer Arabic	15PNMC414	45	Full Year

Students are allowed to take any of the NME language courses offered in any given year

Law

Available as majors or minors

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Human Rights and Islamic Law	15PLAC150	30	Full Year
Law and Society in The Middle East and North Africa	15PLAC130	30	Full Year

Available as minors only

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Gender, Law and Society in The Middle East and North Africa	15PLAH056	15	Term 2
Islamic Law (MA/LLM)	15PLAC121	30	Full Year
Islamic Law in Global Financial Markets	15PLAC159	30	Full Year
Israel, Palestine, and International Law (15Cr)	15PLAH081	15	Term 2
Israel, Palestine, and International Law (30Cr)	15PLAC133	30	Full Year

Media

Available as a major or minor

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Mediated Culture in the Middle East: Politics and Communications	15PMSH003	15	Term 2

Music

Available as majors or minors

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Music in Morocco: Saints, Shrines and Scrolls	15PMUH033	15	Term 1
Music, Exile and Diaspora: the Jews of Arab Lands	15PMUH011	15	Term 1

NME Culture

Available as majors or minors

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Cinemas of of the Middle East and North Africa 1	15PNMH048	15	Term 1
Cinemas of of the Middle East and North Africa 2	15PNMH049	15	Term 2
Iran: History, Culture, Politics	15PNMC405	30	Full Year
Modern Trends in Islam	15PNMC228	30	Full Year
Qur'an and Hadith Studies	15PNMC006	30	Full Year

NME History

Available as majors or minors

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies I: History and Politics	15PNMH006	15	Term 1
Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies II: Culture and Society	15PNMH007	15	Term 2
From Palestine to Israel: 1900 to 1948	15PNMH021	15	Term 1
Iran: History, Culture, Politics	15PNMC405	30	Full Year
Israel and the Palestinians: from 1948 to Oslo	15PNMH022	15	Term 2
Jerusalem: City in Conflict (PG)	15PNMH008	15	Term 1
Zionism: Critical Perspectives (PG)	15PNMH011	15	Term 2

NME Literature

Available as majors or minors

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Classical Ottoman Texts (PG)	15PNMC385	15	Term 1
Classical Persian Poetry: Texts and Traditions (PG)	15PNMC401	15	Term 1
Modern Palestinian Literature (PG)	15PNMC379	15	Term 2
Reading Classical Arabic Historians: Themes and Trends in Islamic Historiography	15PNMH035	15	Term 2
Reading Classical Arabic Historians: Themes and Trends in Islamic Historiography	15PNMH035	15	Term 2
Social and Political Dimensions of Modern Arabic Literature (PG)	15PNMH032	15	Term 1

NME Politics

Available as majors or minors

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies I: History and Politics	15PNMH006	15	Term 1
Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies II: Culture and Society	15PNMH007	15	Term 2
From Palestine to Israel: 1900 to 1948	15PNMH021	15	Term 1
Iran: History, Culture, Politics	15PNMC405	30	Full Year
Israel and the Palestinians: from 1948 to Oslo	15PNMH022	15	Term 2

Politics

The two 15 credit modules below together constitute the major option for Politics of the Middle East

Module	Code	Credits	Term
State and transformation in the Middle East	15PPOH011	15	Term 1
Political society in the Middle East	15PPOH008	15	Term 2

Available as minors only

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Comparative politics of the Middle East	15PPOC026	30	Full Year
International politics of the Middle East	15PPOH047	15	Term 1
Islam and political ideologies	15PPOH007	15	Term 2
Islam and politics	15PPOH006	15	Term 2
Islamic/Democratic Political Thought	15PPOH046	15	Term 1
Market Politics: Political Economies of a Globalizing Middle East	15PPOH075	15	Term 1
Political violence	15PPOH009	15	Term 1
Politics of resistance in the Middle East	15PPOH010	15	Term 2
State and Society in Central Asia and the Caucasus	15PPOH022	15	Term 1
The Politics of Solidarity in the Middle East	15PPOH044	15	Term 2
Theorising Prisons, Borders and Walls	15PPOH074	15	Term 2
Urban Politics in the Middle East	15PPOH042	15	Term 2

Study of Religions

Available as majors or minors

Module	Code	Credits	Term
Judaism and Gender	15PSRH029	15	Term 2
Religion, Nationhood and Ethnicity in Judaism	15PSRH030	15	Term 2
The Holocaust in Theology, Literature and Art	15PSRH028	15	Term 2
Zoroastrianism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives	15PSRC052	30	Full Year

Programme Specification

MA Near and Middle Eastern Studies and Intensive Language Programme Specifications 2019/20 (pdf; 230kb)

Important notice

The information on the programme page reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session. If you are a current student you can find structure information on the previous year link at the top of the page or through your Department. Please read the important notice regarding changes to programmes and modules.

Teaching and Learning

Teaching & Learning

One-year Masters programmes consist of 180 credits. 120 credits are taught in modules of 30 credits (taught over 20 weeks) or 15 credits (taught over 10 weeks); the dissertation makes up the remaining 60 units. The programme structure shows which modules are compulsory and which optional.

Contact hours

As a rough guide, 1 credit equals approximately 10 hours of work. Most of this will be independent study, including reading and research, preparing coursework and revising for examinations. It will also include class time, which may include lectures, seminars and other classes. Some subjects, such as learning a language, have more class time than others. At SOAS, most postgraduate modules have a one hour lecture and a one hour seminar every week, but this does vary.

There are ten weeks of teaching and a Reading Week in each of Term 1 and 2, and two weeks of revision teaching in Term 3, the rest of which is dedicated to exams. 15-credit modules are taught over ten weeks in either Term 1 or Term 2.

More information is on the page for each module.

Part-time studies

Part-time students divide their workload of the required modules evenly between the number of years of part-time study, with the dissertation module taken in the last year of study. It is also best practice to take the Major module in the last year of study. However, different arrangements are possible with the approval of the convenor of the Major module.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge

How to assess data and evidence critically from manuscripts and digital sources, solve problems of conflicting sources and conflicting interpretations, locate materials, use research-sources (particularly research-library catalogues) and other relevant traditional sources.
Subject-specific skills are an amalgam of the skills described for each of the three options chosen by candidates from the cross-department/faculty choices available in the relevant course-descriptors.

Intellectual (thinking) skills

Students will learn to become precise and cautious in their assessment of evidence and should also come to understand through practice what documents can and cannot tell us.
Students will learn to question interpretations, however authoritative, and reassess evidence for themselves.
Communicate effectively in writing.

Subject-based practical skills

Language-students will learn the chosen language at the appropriate level.
Present seminar-papers.
Listen and discuss ideas introduced during seminars.
Practise research-techniques in a variety of specialised research-libraries and institutes.

Transferrable skills

Writing good essays and dissertations.
Structure and communicate ideas effectively, both orally and in writing.
Study a variety of written and digital materials in libraries and research-institutes of a kind they will not have used as undergraduates.
Present (non-assessed) material orally.

Linguistic skills (two-year Intensive Language pathways)

To acquire/develop skills in a language spoken in the Near and Middle East to Effective Operational Proficiency level
To demonstrate awareness of the conceptual and communicative underpinnings of that language and through this interlinguistic and intercultural understanding.
Communicate in written and spoken medium in a relevant language.
Engage with people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, understand the role of different frames of reference.

SOAS Library

SOAS Library is one of the world's most important academic libraries for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, attracting scholars from all over the world. The Library houses over 1.2 million volumes, together with significant archival holdings, special collections and a growing network of electronic resources.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

Fees for 2021/22 entrants, per academic year (Band 3 tuition fee)

Full-time		Part-time 2 Years		Part-time 3 Years		Part-time 4 Years Intensive Language only
UK Students	Overseas Students	UK Students	Overseas Students	UK Students	Overseas Students	UK Students	Overseas Students
£11,520	£22,500	£5,760	£11,250	£3,840	£7,500	£5,760	£11,250

Fees go up each year, therefore, your tuition fee in your second and subsequent years of study will be higher.

Our continuing students, on the same degree programme, are protected from annual increases higher than 5%.

Full details of postgraduate tuition fees can be found on the postgraduate tuition fees page.