The Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), founded in 1954, seeks to foster knowledge of Middle Eastern and Islamic societies and cultures worldwide, not only for its scholarly value but also for its potential in addressing the region's long-standing economic, political, and other challenges. In doing so, the Center supports faculty and student research that is of historical as well as contemporary significance, through support of outstanding instruction of undergraduate and graduate students in courses and workshops, and through the wider dissemination of this knowledge in the form of publications, outreach to the New England area, and critical discussion of current issues with the international media.

CMES functions as the coordinating body for academic departments, professional schools and policy institutes at Harvard as well as for visiting faculty and research scholars, all of whose teaching and research touches upon this important region and beyond. It welcomes interdisciplinary perspectives ranging from the humanities to the social sciences. In its efforts to impart knowledge of the region, CMES is firmly committed to values of openness, tolerance, fairness, and cooperation.

At the core of our research and teaching is a striving for first-hand knowledge, based on a high proficiency in the reading, writing and speaking of Middle Eastern languages. We demand the same of our graduate students, who are engaged in varied courses of study leading to the master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies or the PhD degree in Middle Eastern studies and either history, anthropology, or fine arts. Some Harvard students are also pursuing advanced degrees with an informal specialization on the Middle East: in government with a concentration in the Middle East; in sociology with an emphasis on the Arab world; in religion with a focus on Islamic, early Christian, or Judaic studies; and in comparative literature with an emphasis on Arabic. Still other doctoral candidates are unofficially affiliated with CMES, notably from among those in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, where students study ancient and modern Middle Eastern literary traditions, as well as comparative semitic philology, archaeology, and other ancient Near Eastern subjects. Students can also pursue concurrent degrees in Middle Eastern studies and law. Graduates of our programs teach at major universities in the United States and abroad, as well as hold leadership positions in government, business, the arts, and media.

CMES Initiatives

CMES is intent upon supporting faculty and student research on a number of projects. Through 2010, CMES has chosen to focus on four important themes under the umbrella of Islamic and Contemporary ME Regional Studies, in conjunction with our already strong program in history: contemporary Islam, science and the environment, contemporary politics and society, and mass media.

One major research initiative is centered on the global study of Islam. The “Islam in the West” project is the historical and contemporary study of the movements of Middle Eastern Islamic peoples around the globe, their lives in the countries in which they have settled and their impact on their adopted nations, and their ongoing relations to the Middle East that they re-visit and often return to permanently. One of the reasons that one cannot speak of Islam as a monolithic entity has to do with the fact that it has taken root in and adapted to many different places on earth and continues to do so at perhaps an even faster rate than at any other time in its history.

While this project will have priority in the Center's plans for fostering ongoing and future research, there are others that are being developed.