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Major/Minor

HOW TO DECLARE A MAJOR OR MINOR

Students may declare a major or minor in political science by completing the corresponding Weinberg College Declaration of Major or Declaration of Minor form. This process can be completed remotely. See the instructions and additional details below to declare your major or minor:

Weinberg Major Declaration form

Weinberg Minor Declaration form

 Instructions

  1. Download the declaration form and fill out the student and major/minor information sections. 
    • Mac users: Please fill out forms in Adobe Reader or Acrobat rather than Preview. Information filled out in Preview is not retained when the pdf is opened in other applications. 
    • Adobe Reader is available as a free download: get.adobe.com
  2. Save the pdf named as: “<Your Last Name>_<Your Student ID>”.
  3. Email the form to the current MENA director. They will review the form and submit it to the Weinberg College Office of Undergraduate Advising. 

Major in Middle East and North African Studies

Major requirements (15 units)

  1. Language requirement: *6 courses in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, or Turkish beyond the first year

    *Native-speaker proficiency, determined by testing, fulfills the language requirement but does not count for course credit. Native speakers may complete this 6-course requirement with courses in a second MENA language or approved MENA content courses.

    *Students completing the Minor in Arabic may use courses applied to the minor to fulfill the MENA Studies language proficiency requirement. However, course credits applied to the Minor in Arabic cannot be double-counted as course credits for the MENA Studies major. Students may substitute units of MENA content courses and/or non-Arabic MENA language courses to complete the 6 required units.

    1. MENA 200: Making the Modern Middle East: Culture, Politics, History (offered annually)
    2. 2 course units of MENA 301
    3. 6 course units distributed among the three disciplinary categories:
      * 2 in history
      * 2 in social sciences (including anthropology, economics, linguistics, political science, psychology, and sociology)
      * 2 in humanities (including art history, art theory and practice, comparative literary studies, English, humanities, philosophy, and religious studies)

    * At least 5 of the above 6 disciplinary courses must relate to the Middle East, including North Africa. The other, if not in the MENA region, should be related to the student’s focus within the major, either supplementing the student’s disciplinary training/focus, providing comparative perspective on the MENA region, or in a region adjacent to MENA (e.g., Sub-Saharan Africa; South Asia), and approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

    * Additional quarters of MENA 301 (beyond the 2 required for the major) may be taken for major credit, so long as content varies, with the permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Additional credits beyond the 2nd credit of MENA 301 apply to the discipline of the professor teaching the course.

    * At most 2 courses may be double-counted toward another major.

    * Courses must be chosen from an approved list or in consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the MENA Program.

  3. Study abroad: While study abroad is not required for the MENA Studies major, we strongly encourage students who are able to study abroad to take advantage of the invaluable chance to learn about the region from the region. A study abroad experience in the Middle East or North Africa could be a summer language institute in the region, summer research, or a study abroad program during the academic year. Students should explore possible study abroad options early in their sophomore year. Please write the MENA Studies Director with any questions about how to integrate study abroad into your MENA studies experience.
  4. Honors (optional): Thesis (two quarters, enrolled as independent studies during the senior year, which count toward nine course units in 2.b. above, and distributed in any two of the three disciplinary categories, with a maximum of 1 credit per category), reviewed by the MENA Executive Committee for honors. Students must apply to the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the spring of their junior year to write a thesis. Applications (consisting of a 1-2 pp. description of the project, 1 p. bibliography, and letter of endorsement by the advising faculty member) are reviewed by the MENA Executive Committee. Note that acceptance into the honors thesis program is not a guarantee that the thesis or the student will receive honors in the MENA major.

Minor in Middle East and North African Studies

Minor requirements (8 units)

Students need 8 courses to complete the minor. Only 2 of these can be language courses, but language courses are not required for the minor.

  1. At least 2 courses are selected from each of the three disciplinary categories:
    1. 2 in history
    2. 2 in social sciences (including anthropology, economics, linguistics, political science, psychology, and sociology)
    3. 2 in humanities (including art history, art theory and practice, comparative literary studies, English, humanities, philosophy, and religious studies)
    4. All 8 courses must relate to the Middle East, including North Africa.
    5. Courses must be chosen from an approved list or in consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the MENA Program.
  2. Students who satisfactorily complete two years of language study in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, or Turkish may complete the minor with only 6 disciplinary courses. Native-speaker proficiency does not count for course credit; native speakers may take 2 courses in another non-native language towards the minor, or take 8 non-language courses.
  3. There is no study abroad required for the minor.