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WiSe 20/21  
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WiSe 20/21: Interdisciplinary and/or Inter-Institutional master's degree programs

M.A. Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East (2020 study regulations)

0593a_MA120

Die aktuelle Studien- und Prüfungsordnung finden Sie bitte hier .

Please find the current study and examination regulations here . close

  • Studying the Middle East

    0593aA1.1

    Learning objectives:

    Students are aware of the complexity of the Near and Middle East as a field of research, region, and area of cultural production regarding its diversity in terms of languages, religions, and cultures. They gain insights into the fields of study and expertise represented by the disciplines involved in the master’s program Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East with attention to the complex nature of history, societies, cultures of text and cultures of knowledge, languages, and literature. They are familiar with the diversity and interrelatedness of scholarly approaches within Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East, which in turn allows them to assess the corresponding secondary literature critically. They are conscious of intercultural and epistemological challenges involved in dealing with the history, society, culture, literature, and language of the Near and Middle East. This awareness lets them answer complex questions and present the results of their research and analyses coherently and comprehensibly either in writing or orally.

    Content:

    The module offers in-depth, interdisciplinary insights into the Near and Middle East as a field of research, as a region and as a space of cultural production. A variety of phenomena including language, cultural history, religion, and traditions of knowledge are up for discussion, especially regarding paradigms with historical implications, such as identity, gender, cultures of memory, nationalism, modernization, exile; this includes research trends as well as the possibility to focus on historical periods or geographical regions. Students get practice conducting academic work as they encounter varying issues, research debates, and research literature, as well as by using tools specific to the study of the Near and Middle East. Using methods from the humanities and cultural studies, they work on an interdisciplinary topic with a focus on one or more selected regions in the Near and Middle East. This work includes several written assignments designed to help them compose an academic paper.

    Modes of instruction/ Contact hours / Regular attendance required

    Lecture / 2 SWS / yes

    Methodology course / 2 SWS / yes

    Module assessment

    Written assignment (approx. 5000 words); the module assessment is graded on a pass/fail basis only.

    Language

    English (or if applicable, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac-Aramaic,Turkish)

    Total workload

    450 hours (15 credit points)

    duration / Frequency

    One semester / Every winter semester close

  • Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Middle East

    0593aA1.2

    Learning objectives:

    Students gain advanced skills need to conduct independent research in Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East from a global perspective. They can position themselves and situate complex issues from the fields of cultures, literatures, languages, history, and societies of the Near and Middle East in current debates, especially regarding the comparative analysis of processes and problems that cut across different regions. They are skilled to apply interdisciplinary methods to answer complex questions of Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East in writing and orally. They have broad, detailed, and up-to-date knowledge as well as a critical understanding of one or more subject areas in the transregional field of Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East.

    Content:

    The module provides students with sound specialist knowledge of central topics in Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East from a global perspective. The module focuses on the comparative analysis of historical, social, and cultural formations regarding issues that have global relevance, such as gender, human rights, imperialism, nationalism, identity, language, and literature. Students are instructed to compare the effects of such processes in a differentiated manner regarding the Near and Middle East. They practice analyzing problems on their own from a cross-disciplinary and transregional perspective and apply interdisciplinary theories and methods.

    Modes of instruction/ Contact hours / Regular attendance required

    Advanced seminar / 2 SWS / yes

    Methodology course / 2 SWS / yes

    Module assessment

    Term paper (approx. 5000 words)

    Language

    English (or if applicable, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac-Aramaic,Turkish)

    Total workload

    450 hours (15 credit points)

    duration / Frequency

    One or two semesters / Every semester close

  • Communicating Research in Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East

    0593aA1.3

    Learning objectives:

    Students can plan and carry out research endeavors independently and present them comprehensibly. They are enabled to reflect on their research question and substantiate their approach, selection of methods and, if applicable, their choice of sources in the setting of scholarly discussions. They learn how to present the benefits of their theoretical and methodological approaches convincingly by contrasting them with other relevant approaches and explaining the advantages in relation to their thesis project.

    Content:

    Both before and during the master’s thesis, students participate in a colloquium, where they discuss their concepts and open questions with fellow students and instructors. They present their topics, theoretical and methodological approaches to their thesis and initial results.

    Modes of instruction/ Contact hours / Regular attendance required

    Colloquium/ 2 SWS / yes

    Module assessment

    Poster presentation (approx. 10 minutes); the module assessment is graded on a pass/fail basis only.

    Language

    English (or if applicable, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac-Aramaic,Turkish)

    Total workload

    150 hours (5 credit points)

    duration / Frequency

    One or two semesters / Every semester close

  • Reading the Middle East

    0593aA2.1

    Learning objectives:

    Students understand the significance of global key concepts and central terms and how they relate to thinking about the Near and Middle East and ascriptions of identity. They are familiar with the scholarly significance of texts and debates that shape the discourse of Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East and learn how to classify them in historical terms as well as from today’s perspective, considering their origins and the changing contexts in which they are used. They have in-depth knowledge of texts that constitute the Near and Middle East from a transregional perspective. They are thereby enabled to classify transdisciplinary methodological and theoretical approaches, especially in comparative cultural studies, and to apply them to their research against the background of current research debates and present the results appropriately, both in writing and orally.

    Content:

    The module discusses key texts, central concepts and fields of researching the Near and Middle East (e.g. Orientalism, world/global literatures, Islam in Europe, postcolonialism, nationalism) in their historical development and from a transregional and cross-disciplinary perspective. Besides, the module explores the historical and transdisciplinary dynamics of terms and concepts, how they circulate, and how their meaning transforms in changing contexts.

    Modes of instruction/ Contact hours / Regular attendance required

    Elective course / 2 SWS / yes

    Elective course / 2 SWS / yes

    Module assessment

    Presentation with follow-up discussion (approx. 20 minutes)

    Language

    English (or if applicable, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac-Aramaic,Turkish)

    Total workload

    450 hours (15 credit points)

    duration / Frequency

    One or two semesters / Every semester close
    Module with no course offerings

  • Reading the Middle East through Its Languages

    0593aA2.2

    Learning objectives:

    Students have a thorough understanding of basic questions about the relationship between text and knowledge; they can analyze the significance of original language texts within the context of the Near and Middle East as a pluricultural, multifaith, and multilingual region. They are confident to reflect on theories and models critically and build a conceptual toolkit to decipher the rhetoric of different texts and genres. Students have the skills they need to reach conclusions about the heuristics of different texts and genres on their own and by using controlled methods; they can present their findings orally and in writing appropriately.

    Content:

    The module develops interdisciplinary terms and concepts from the fields of cultural studies and humanities by means of various forms of original language sources (oral and written) from Arabic, Persian, Syriac-Aramaic, Jewish, Islamic, or Christian culture and literature. Building on this, students examine and discuss methods of text and source analysis used to organize, contextualize, and interpret primary sources; they then apply those methods to selected examples (works by different authors and from different literary genres, periods, movements, etc.).

    Modes of instruction/ Contact hours / Regular attendance required

    Elective course / 2 SWS / yes

    Elective course / 2 SWS / yes

    Module assessment

    Presentation with follow-up discussion (approx. 20 minutes)

    Language

    English (or if applicable, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac-Aramaic,Turkish)

    Total workload

    450 hours (15 credit points)

    duration / Frequency

    One or two semesters / Every semester close

  • Histories and Societies of the Middle East

    0593aB1.1

    Learning objectives:

    Students have in-depth knowledge and understanding of the historical and social formations of the Near and Middle East from late antiquity to the present as well as the historical conditions since antiquity. They are familiar with important current theoretical and methodological debates in social history research that are relevant to the study of the Near and Middle East. Students can recognize, classify, and articulate the circumstances and problems surrounding socialhistorical descriptions of the Near and Middle East; they also know how to consult, evaluate, and interpret source material independently and to apply the tools of history and social sciences when dealing with questions they have developed themselves. They are aware of the central categories of analysis used to examine historical and social processes and know how to discuss and present the results of their scholarly analyses orally and in writing.

    Content:

    In this module, students engage intensively with complex topics such as periodization, dimensions of space (power centers vs. peripheral regions, transregional connections), governance, statehood and social groups as well as identity, mobility, communication, and ethnic and religious minorities. The module teaches them to reflect on topics from the fields of Arab-Islamic, Arab-Christian and Syrian-Christian, Byzantine, Persian, Jewish or Turkish history as well as from historical source studies considering theories and methods specific to historical and social science and by critically evaluating scholarly debates in these fields.

    Modes of instruction/ Contact hours / Regular attendance required

    Elective course / 2 SWS / yes

    Elective course / 2 SWS / yes

    Module assessment

    Written assignment (approx. 5000 words)

    Language

    English (or if applicable, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac-Aramaic,Turkish)

    Total workload

    450 hours (15 credit points)

    duration / Frequency

    One or two semesters / Every semester close

  • Traditions of Texts and Knowledge in the Middle East

    0593aB1.2

    Learning objectives:

    Students have a thorough understanding of the emergence and systematization of various traditions of knowledge and texts in the Near and Middle East, including their presentation and mediality, as well as the people involved in those traditions and the authority associated with them regarding religious, social and epistemological structures, especially from the beginnings of Islam to the present. They are aware of the historical and contemporary processes of collective formation and positioning of identity in cultures of knowledge and texts in the Near and Middle East; they have a conceptual toolkit of established theories and methods from the history of knowledge, cultural studies, and philology, which allows them to reflect on sources from different knowledge and text cultures and to present the results of their analyses orally and in writing appropriately.

    Content:

    The module deals with the history and current significance of textual cultures and knowledge cultures from the Near and Middle East, especially from the beginnings of Islam to the present day. This includes, on the one hand, the reception and further development of antiquity’s legacy in natural sciences and humanities (in philosophy, logic, mysticism, etc.) as well as scientific literature in the broadest sense through the centuries and, on the other hand, normative traditions, such as the exegesis of sacred texts as well as the study of traditions, norms, dogmatics, hagiography, religious ethics, or rituals. One focus is on the cultural and intellectual history of the Arabic-speaking world, Jewish history of knowledge and the relationship between Judaism and Islam as well as facets of the Christian Orient and Iranian religions in the past and present.

    Modes of instruction/ Contact hours / Regular attendance required

    Elective course / 2 SWS / yes

    Elective course / 2 SWS / yes

    Module assessment

    Written assignment (approx. 5000 words)

    Language

    English (or if applicable, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac-Aramaic,Turkish)

    Total workload

    450 hours (15 credit points)

    duration / Frequency

    One or two semesters / Every semester close

  • Languages of the Middle East

    0593aB1.3

    Learning objectives:

    Students can reflect critically on linguistic developments in the Near and Middle East drawing from the most important primary and secondary sources. They know the principles of classifying languages of the region (e.g. historically, comparatively, typologically, regionally) and are confident in applying various methods from empirical linguistics to the languages of the region (e.g. language documentation, field research, dialectology, variational linguistics, sociolinguistics). They know how to make use of models and examples demonstrating the complex interrelationship between language and society in different historical contexts; they can examine oral and written sources independently regarding linguistic issues and to present their observations in oral and written form in a structured and logical way.

    Content:

    The courses provide an overview of the region’s language groups, their historical sources, and their current classification (e.g. Semitic, Iranian, Turkish); furthermore, the module surveys linguistic ecology regarding topics such as nation states, minorities, gender, regional languages, diglossia, writing systems, and linguistic ideologies.

    Modes of instruction/ Contact hours / Regular attendance required

    Elective course / 2 SWS / yes

    Elective course / 2 SWS / yes

    Module assessment

    Written assignment (approx. 5000 words)

    Language

    English (or if applicable, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac-Aramaic,Turkish)

    Total workload

    450 hours (15 credit points)

    duration / Frequency

    One or two semesters / Every semester close

  • Literatures of the Middle East in their Social Dimensions

    0593aB1.4

    Learning objectives:

    Students develop their analytical skills in the scholarly handling of written and oral sources from the Near and Middle East; they have an awareness of the origins and reception of literary production in the past and present. They can approach research questions in a methodologically and terminologically reflective manner based on various genres of texts and literary phenomena; they know how to evaluate secondary literature as well as the most important primary sources critically, and to describe, analyze and classify them historically and aesthetically. They can recognize connections and intertextual references and understand and historically contextualize mutual influences, continuities, and ruptures. They strengthen their ability to reflect and reason complex, multilingual, transregional matters. They are skilled to reflect their approaches to research questions and to present their analyses orally and in writing appropriately.

    Content:

    The module deals with selected epochs, authors, genres, language levels of the Near and Middle East or of a specific literary genre, using the most important sources and critically illuminating specialist literature. The courses provide an overview of partial epochs or literary genres, including debates concerning specific literary, social and gender-historical research problems. Students discuss significant texts in the regional languages regarding authorship, production processes, and media representations, as well as to influences and patterns of perception that have an impact on the literary reception from the regions of the Near and Middle East; thereby, they experiment with theoretical approaches to interpretation of sources from Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Syriac-Aramaic, or Turkish literature.

    Modes of instruction/ Contact hours / Regular attendance required

    Elective course / 2 SWS / yes

    Elective course / 2 SWS / yes

    Module assessment

    Written assignment (approx. 5000 words)

    Language

    English (or if applicable, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac-Aramaic,Turkish)

    Total workload

    450 hours (15 credit points)

    duration / Frequency

    One or two semesters / Every semester close

  • Research Perspectives

    0593aC1.1

    Learning objectives:

    Students practice forms of debate in Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East by examining current research projects. The aim of the module is to prepare students to compose a draft of an independent research project, which could serve as the basis for a master’s thesis and/or dissertation for those potentially interested in an academic career. Upon completion of the module, students will have gained an overview of current research trends in the Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East as well as in-depth knowledge and a critical understanding of a representative subject area and field of research; they will be able to participate in academic discussions with colleagues. They are familiar with different phases and aspects of research in Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East, and know how to identify methodological problems as well as the broader scholarly and social relevance of Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East.

    Content:

    In this module, students attend a course offering insights into current research perspectives, for example research colloquia at one of the cooperating institutes. Students discuss methodological, content-related and practical aspects of their research projects with researchers using presentations, selected current secondary literature, or previously circulated drafts of texts.

    Modes of instruction/ Contact hours / Regular attendance required

    Elective course / 2 SWS / yes

    Module assessment

    Academic conversation (approx. 20 minutes); the module assessment is graded on a pass/fail basis only.

    Language

    English (or if applicable, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac-Aramaic,Turkish)

    Total workload

    450 hours (15 credit points)

    duration / Frequency

    One or two semesters / Every semester close

  • Internship

    0593aC1.2

    Learning objectives:

    By completing an internship, participants in the module acquire experience in the professional application of knowledge from Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East in relevant institutions, organizations and companies, e.g. in university and non-university research institutions, in documentation institutions, journalism, archives and museums, in international organizations, non-governmental organizations, in working with migrants, in tourism; in adult and continuing education, furthermore, in the mediation of intercultural problems in academic and non-academic teaching and education settings, in knowledge transfer, management, and social, political and cultural lobbying, especially in companies and organizations operating internationally or in special world regions.

    Content:

    This module introduces students to the demands and nature of applying knowledge from Interdisciplinary Studies of the Middle East to professional work through an internship of at least nine weeks at an institution of their choosing. It is also possible to do complete shorter internships with a total workload of at least 360 hours. Before the internship, an agreement must be drafted and signed between the student, the degree program coordinator, and the internship host, in which the rights and obligations of the parties involved during the internship are defined. An internship report serves as feedback to the degree program coordinator; the report consists of an objective description of the work done and a reflection on the transfer of the student’s knowledge acquired through research to practical contexts.

    Modes of instruction/ Contact hours / Regular attendance required

    Internship / 9 weeks / yes

    Module assessment

    Internship report (approx. 5 pages); the module assessment is graded on a pass/fail basis only.

    Language

    English (or if applicable, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac-Aramaic,Turkish)

    Total workload

    450 hours (15 credit points)

    duration / Frequency

    One or two semesters / Every semester close
    Module with no course offerings

  • Modules w/o courses in this semester

    5 Modules
    • Complementary Module (15 CP) 0593aC2.1
    • Complementary Module (10 CP) 0593aC2.2
    • Complementary Module (5 CP) 0593aC2.3
    • Complementary Module (5 CP) 0593aC2.4
    • Complementary Module (5 CP) 0593aC2.5

Subjects A - Z