Arabic, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies (AIMES) is the study of the history, religions, politics, cultures, and literatures of the Arab and Muslim worlds and their diasporas. As an interdisciplinary endeavor, AIMES combines the resources and perspectives of many fields to produce nuanced understandings that reject overgeneralization and oversimplification, while asking critical questions about Western hegemony, the legacies of Orientalism and colonialism, the relationship between power and knowledge, and the politics of translation and transnational circulation.  

Our faculty specialize in postcolonial, diasporic, immigrant writing; film and media across the Middle East, modern Turkish culture and secularism, and queer theory; gender, sexuality, and postcolonial/transnational feminism; Middle Eastern history, empire, and history of science; religious history and literature; and authoritarian regimes in the Middle East. Many of us share research and teaching interests that intersect with the Islamic tradition in all its multivocality.  

Our courses cover a wide range of topics, from the discourse of the veil to Syria’s civil war; from Islam in the Americas to new media publics in the Middle East; and from magic, science, and religion in the Mediterranean to Anglophone-Arab writing. We also offer and strongly encourage coursework in Arabic and other understudied languages of the Arab and Muslim worlds. Our thematic minor allows you to make AIMES a central part of your CC education.  

Our community welcomes all students with an interest in Arabic, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies. Some students come with a familial connection to one of our studied regions or traditions, while others are newcomers to the places and issues at stake. We support student-led and collaborative initiatives that enrich our classes, involve the broader campus, and strengthen community with and among students. AIMES offers everyone interdisciplinary opportunities to build upon existing knowledge and open up new avenues of inquiry.