Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

Established in 1953, the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies (NEJS) program is devoted to two interlocking fields: the history, languages, and cultures of the ancient Near East and the modern Middle East, and the study of the Jewish people, including its history, religion, literature and place in civilization.

 

Crown Forum on Middle East Issues

In 2005, the Crown Center for Middle East Studies launched the Crown Forum, a series of off-the-record lunch briefings held in Boston with Middle East insiders regarding regional developments. Designed to enrich the community’s understanding of the Middle East, invitees include a select group of Boston business leaders, senior members of the media, and the intellectual communities of Brandeis University, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

MakiyaIraq Memory Foundation

The Iraq Memory Foundation, created by the Sylvia K. Hassenfeld Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies Kanan Makiya, is devoted to preserving and documenting over 11 million pieces of records detailing the inner workings of the Ba'thist institutions of repression and social control that dominated all aspects of Iraqi life between 1968 and 2003.

 

Brandeis-Al-Quds Partnership 

Brandeis is engaged in a partnership with Al-Quds University, a Palestinian university with its main campus in the West Bank.  Activities include faculty exchange on pedagogy and curriculum, and a workshop for undergraduates held in Istanbul, Turkey.

 

Hebrew and Arabic Languages Program 

28 courses are offered from beginning to advanced language study. 

Middle East

Fin Garden, Kashan, Iran

Fin Garden, Kashan, Iran

For a host of reasons, ranging from the roots of our university founders to concern for the United States’ security and well-being, Brandeis pays particular attention to the Middle East. The university offers an unsurpassed level of scholarship, opportunities in the United States and abroad for personal encounters with the region and its peoples, and a variety of connections with Middle Eastern universities.

Brandeis aspires to comprehensive, objective study of every aspect of this region that has been a venue for diverse, competing cultures since time immemorial. Brandeis' approach both embraces and challenges conventional political science and history. There are strong programs in Hebrew and Arabic, and we apply all the tools of the arts and the humanities as well as the social sciences to study of this vital region.

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