The Graduate Program in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures

The Ancient Iranian Studies concentration provides students with training in the languages and textual and material cultures of antique and late antique Iran and Central Asia (roughly 6th c. BCE to 8th c. CE). Students obtain proficiency in Old and Middle Iranian languages and philological and literary-critical approaches to texts in those languages, in-depth knowledge of Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, as well as familiarity with visual and material sources from Iran and Central Asia. There are also opportunities to conduct hands-on research with Berkeley's holdings of Middle Persian manuscripts and Sasanian seals and sealings, and archaeological fieldwork projects in Central Asia. Themes in graduate coursework, in addition to language seminars, include late antique religions, philological method, social and cultural history, historical (socio)linguistics, and more.

The Arabic Language and Literature program is currently not accepting new applicants, but will do so in the near future.

The Cuneiform Studies program is currently not accepting new applicants, but will do so in the near future. 

The Egyptology concentration provides professional training in two specializations, archaeology and philology. Students learn to analyze the textual, material and visual culture of ancient Egypt and its neighbors from the Pharaonic Era to the Greco-Roman Period using campus collections as well as in faculty-led projects in Egypt. Topics such as the digital humanities, reception history, religion, magic, museum and cultural heritage studies are common themes in graduate training. 

The Islamic Studies concentration provides cross-disciplinary training in the field of Islamic Studies that incorporates the historical-philological, developmental, and disciplinary approach to Islam with suitable theoretical frameworks and perspectives drawn from allied areas, such as ethnography, literary criticism, sociology, and anthropology.  Students obtain proficiency in two languages fundamental to the development of Islam (including Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and Turkish), and are trained in the textual traditions and theoretical interventions that allow for engagement in contemporary topics of global and transregional concern. While students are provided with significant training in the pre-modern historical and textual developments of the religion, dissertation research may take any period or region as its focus and may draw from the disciplinary approaches that are most suitable to the object of its study.

The Middle Eastern Art and Archaeology concentration provides professional training in the material and visual culture of the Middle East, with a particular focus on Mesopotamia, the Levant, Iran, and Arabia. Students are trained in field, laboratory, and collections-based research and use these skills to conduct independent research for their dissertation projects. Students are prepared for careers in research, teaching, museum curation and exhibition, and cultural heritage management.  

The Persian literature concentration provides students with professional training in Persian literary history, theory, and criticism, as well as the cultural heritage of the Persian speaking lands since the advent of Islam to the modern/contemporary period. The geographical expanse of the sub-plan extends to Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan as well as Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The flexible program of study will allow students to obtain a comprehensive understanding of Persian poetics, rhetoric, and stylistics and to enrich their knowledge of such topics as Persian Sufi poetry and prose, comparative poetics, translation studies, historiography, and the Persian philosophical tradition and forms of knowledge. Graduate students in Persian literature are encouraged to complement their studies by taking courses broadly related to Persian studies in other departments.