
Academic Programs
Program Highlights

COURSES
Interested in taking MENA courses? Whether your a major, minor, grad student, have a general interest, or are satisfying requirements, check out what courses are being offered!

Research
MENA faculty members produce cutting-edge research and public scholarship on the contemporary Middle East and North Africa, publishing articles in leading academic journals and books that are widely taught and make an impact both in the scholarly world and in the wider cultural conversation.
PROGRAMMING
We host a range of events over the course of the academic year including a quarterly New Directions in Middle East & North African Studies lecture, our MENA Conversations series, the MENA Graduate Student Colloquium, an annual Research Symposium, and events organized by our Working Groups.Upcoming Events
Events
May
18
2026
The End of Managed Conflict: Who Still Controls Escalation? A tal...
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM, Evanston
Join MENA Studies for a talk with Nancy Okail (President and CEO, Center for International Policy): The End of Managed Conflict: Who St...
May
19
2026
A Relational Anthropology of Islam: Sound, Devotion, and Communit...
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Evanston
Speaker: Stefan Williamson Fa, Research and Outreach Associate, Centre for Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge What does it mean ...
May
20
2026
Islamic China: An Asian History
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Evanston
Speaker: Rian Thum, Senior Lecturer in East Asian History, the University of Manchester For more than a millennium, Islam has been a Ch...
