Middle Eastern Studies

Overview

Training and research supervision in all major cultures (except Turkey) and periods of the region are delivered by experts whose publications contribute to their subject on an international level. 

The The University of Manchester Department was awarded the role of hosting (together with Edinburgh and Durham) the national Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World ( CASAW ) in 2006. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise a total of 60% of its research was deemed to be in the two top quality categories of 4* (world-leading) and 3* (internationally excellent).

CASAW regularly organises seminars, workshops and conferences, and offers some specialist training opportunities. Another major research centre, the Centre for Jewish Studies ( CJS ), brings together a wide range of specialists from across the University, and a large and active body of graduate students working on various aspects of Jewish culture and history, including modern Israeli society. 

The Manchester Iranian History Academic Network ( MIHAN ) organises seminars, workshops, and international conferences providing an intellectual and organisational framework for a sizeable and active group of graduate students working on Iranian history.

Research specialisms in Middle Eastern Studies and related subject areas include literature, gender, culture and history of the Arab countries (Salhi, Mostafa, Buckley), Islamic societies and practices, including Shiism (Buckley, Aishima), the modern and contemporary history of Iran, with a special focus on its politics and relations to other parts of the Middle East, to Europe, and to the US (Bast, Randjbar-Daemi), modern Israel and Palestine, and the emergence of Middle Eastern nationalisms (Behar), and Jewish literature, culture and thought from antiquity to modernity (Samely, Smithuis, Langton).

Other areas of doctoral supervision can be offered or are available through inter-disciplinary collaboration. Manchester's experts in Middle Eastern Studies contribute to the public debate on contemporary cultural-religious issues in the UK, the analysis and contextualization of current affairs in the Middle East, and the understanding of gender roles and the relations between 'East' and 'West'. 

Manchester is the editorial home of the Journal of Semitic Studies ( JSS ), an internationally renowned academic journal which recently celebrated its fiftieth anniversary.

Career opportunities

Most doctoral students go into university teaching either in the UK or in their country of origin, sometimes via post-doctoral research projects.