At the core of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies’ 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, history of art and architecture.

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 Islamic, ancient Hebrew, Judaic, Turkish and Ottoman, and ancient Iranian 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; others hold leadership positions in government, business, the arts, and media.