Report shows near-total erasure of Armenian heritage sites
The study compiled decades of high-resolution satellite imagery from the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan.
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Near East, Middle East, Southwest Asia & North Africa
Near Eastern Studies
We offer undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to study the languages, literatures, cultures, religions and history of regions from ancient Sumer to the modern Middle East. We also help to educate students and the wider academic community about cross-cultural, trans-historical and inter-religious issues related to the region.
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New Jewish studies major approved in College of Arts & Sciences
“These efforts recognize the critical questions Jewishness raises and its place as part of a shared heritage.”
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NES graduate student wins poetry award
NES Ph.D. student Sasha Prevost received the UW Madison Summer Program Poetry Award.
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Kroll Travel Awards help undergrads study in Israel
Adam Nerenberg '25 and Jeremy Zarge '25 both received awards for study this summer in Israel.
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Alumni Spotlight: Melanie Larkins
As a student in the College of Arts and Sciences, Melanie double majored in Near Eastern Studies and Economics, exploring her two passions of international relations and business. After completing her undergraduate degree in 2014, Melanie spent three years working in the Healthcare Group in the Inve...
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Job Posting: Assistant Professor, Arabic and Islamic Studies
The Department of Near Eastern Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, Cornell University, seeks to appoint a tenure track assistant professor who specializes in Arabic and Islamic studies in the Middle East and North Africa prior to 1800.
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Desert sounds offer lessons in solitude and community
In a new book, Kim Haines-Eitzen explores the rich range of desert sounds and what they can teach us about place, the past, solitude and community.
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Ancient Jewish text preserves real-world remedies
The Babylonian Talmud, a collection of rabbinic writings produced in ancient Persia, contains a great deal of medical knowledge, according to a recent book by the new director of the Jewish Studies Program.
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Sonorous Desert
Princeton University Press, July 2022
Enduring lessons from the desert soundscapes that shaped the Christian monastic tradition.
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Major in Near Eastern studies
Interested in exploring the languages, literatures, cultures, religions, and history of the Middle East from antiquity to the modern day? Consider pursuing a major in Near Eastern studies.
We also offer undergraduate minors in Arabic and Near Eastern studies.
Take a class
Explore the diversity of the Middle East in a class like "Wondrous Literatures of the Near East" (NES 2754) or "Islam and Gender" (NES 2270).
We offer classes on a wide range of topics, regions, and time periods of the Middle East.
Study a Near Eastern language
Take Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, or Persian to fulfill the College of Arts & Sciences language requirement!
We also offer instruction in some of the ancient Middle Eastern languages like Akkadian and Biblical Hebrew.
See all of the Middle Eastern languages taught in the department.
Get department updates
We send out e-newsletters regularly during the academic school year.
Support Near Eastern studies at Cornell
Your support enables the department to enhance the experience for undergraduate and graduate students and contribute to faculty excellence. Gifts can help fund lectures and conferences, faculty and student research, distinguished speakers, and other department priorities. We will greatly appreciate and immediately put into use any gift, no matter the amount.
We place gifts made to this fund into an endowment account where they are invested in perpetuity. Income from the endowment is provided each year to the department for priorities.