Department of Near Eastern Studies

Jones Hall, home of Near Eastern Studies, welcomes the 2018-19 academic year

Cole M. Bunzel and his Ph.D. dissertation examination committee, Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Michael A. Cook, and Bernard Haykel, September 4, 2018

New graduate student orientation, September 6, 2018

Faculty members Greg Bell and Nilüfer Hatemi at the 2018 Academic Expo

First Brown Bag Lunch Talk of 2018: Amir Moosavi (Rutgers University–Newark) presenting “Chronic Wounds: Debating the Legacy of the Iran-Iraq War in Arabic and Persian Literatures”

Faculty book party: Author Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Islam in Pakistan cover, Michael A. Cook introducing both

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil speaking about the Syrian refugee problem in Lebanon, September 24, 2018

Near Eastern Studies Fall Reception, September 26, 2018: Acting Chair Bernard Haykel and Director of Graduate Studies Michael Cook opening the festivities

Near Eastern Studies Fall Reception, September 26, 2018

Near Eastern Studies Fall Reception, September 26, 2018

Faculty book party: Marina Rustow introducing author Eve Krakowski and her book; Coming of Age in Medieval Egypt cover; author Eve Krakowski

Usaama A. al-Azami and his Ph.D. dissertation examination committee, Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Michael A. Cook, and examination chair Bernard Haykel, October 23, 2018

Turkish language talk, “Yerini terk idenin yokdur mekânı: Gazzizâde Abdullatif Efendi’nin Kaleminden Vezir Pehlivan İbrahim Paşa (ö. 1766–1820)’nın Çılgın Hayat Hikayesi,” presented by Ali Yaycıoğlu on October 26, 2018

Participants at Transregional Institute Conference "Workshop on Islam and Politics in India," October 26, 2018

TRI lunch talk: “The Veil Decoded” by Isabella de la Houssaye,  November 6, 2018

TRI lunch talk: “The Veil Decoded” by Isabella de la Houssaye,  November 6, 2018

Panel on non-academic career options organized by NES graduate students featuring NES alumni Jessica Selma Menteşeoğlu (Tiregol), Ph.D. 1998, Gregory Dean Johnsen, Ph.D. 2017, Zachary Foster, Ph.D. 2017, and Mehmet Darakçıoğlu, Ph.D. 2010,

The 2018 Leon B. Poullada Memorial Lecture Series: Gülru Necipoğlu speaking on the architecture of early modern Islamic empires

2018 Leon B. Poullada Memorial Lecturer Gülru Necipoğlu with Mrs. Leon Poullada and Peter Poullada

Acting Chair Bernard Haykel speaking at the retirement luncheon for Dr. James Weinberger, Curator of the Library’s Near East Collections, November 29, 2018.

Arabic Study Abroad information meeting led by Arabic lecturer Greg Bell

Near Eastern Studies Holiday Party, December 5, 2018

Near Eastern Studies Holiday Party, December 5, 2018

Near Eastern Studies Holiday Party, December 5, 2018

The final Brown Bag Lunch talk of the Fall 2018-19 Semester: Abigail Krasner Balbale of New York University presenting ""Reimagining the Reconquista: Problems in the Arabic Historiography of al-Andalus"" on December 10, 2018

Changing State-Society Relations in Gulf Rentier States workshop, January 25–26, 2019, organizers Jesse Moritz and Makio Yamada

Changing State-Society Relations in Gulf Rentier States workshop, January 25–26, 2019, participants

First Brown Bag Lunch Talk of Spring Semester, 2019: Brinkley Messick (Columbia University) presenting "Sharia Ethnography"

TRI lunchtime talk: Bernard Haykel (Near Eastern Studies) speaking on "Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi," February 5, 2019

Near East and the Word Seminar Series: American Foreign Policy and the Middle East. Organizer  Michael A. Reynolds and intitial speaker Steven Simon *83 (Amherst College) presenting “The U.S. and the Middle East: Where to Now?” (February 19, 2019)

Near Eastern Studies Take-a-Break social hour, Feb. 21, 2019

Transregional Institute lunch talk: Col. Tony Thacker speaking on “The U.S. Department of Defense’s View of the Middle East,” February 26, 2019

Graduate Applicant Visit weekend: DGS Michael Cook addressing applicants and graduate students, March 1, 2019

Graduate applicant visit weekend March 2, 2019

“On Reasoning with God,” interdisciplinary graduate seminar with Khaled Abou El Fadl (NES Ph.D. ’99), March 28, 2019

Khaled Abou El Fadl (NES Ph.D. ’99) with graduate student participants in an interdisciplinary seminar, “On Reasoning with God,” March 28, 2019

The Transregional Institute Advisory Council with Institute Director Bernard Haykel, April 2, 2019

The Institute for the Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia (TRI) public lecture: TRI Director Bernard Haykel introducing HRH Prince Turki Al Faisal, who spoke on “Understanding the Reforms in Saudi Arabia and Their Regional Implications,” April 2, 2019

NES502/MED502, “An Introduction to the Islamic Scholarly Tradition”: Manuscript workshop, April 8, 2019

Persian calligraphy class, April 9, 2019, with Ostad Manzar Moghbeli

Davis Center Fellows visit the Geniza Lab, hosted by Marina Rustow and Eve Krakowski, on April 10, 2019

Departmental Representative Eve Krakowski addressing prospective concentrators at the NES Sophomore Open House, April 10, 2019

Members of the Advisory Council during their April 12, 2019, visit

Ertegün lecture, April 18, 2019: Yücel Yanıkdağ, University of Richmond, speaking about “Cultural and Gendered Sources of Soldier Motivation and Morale in the Ottoman First World War”

Muslims & Manuscripts, April 23–24, 2019: Convener NES Ph.D. student Deborah Schlein

Muslims & Manuscripts, April 23–24, 2019: Speakers Christiane Gruber and Tehseen Thaver

Near Eastern Studies Take-a-Break social hour, April 24, 2019

Turkish lunch talk, April 26, 2019: Katia Arslan speaking about "Türkiye’de Tespih Kullanımının Toplumsal Temelleri”

Declaration Day, April 26, 2019: NES welcomes new concentrators

“Jews, Herrings & a Hebrew Loan Document from Pre-Expulsion England”: The 40^th Annual Carolyn L. Drucker ’80 Memorial Lecture presented by Judith Olszowy-Schlanger, May 1, 2019

The 40^th Annual Carolyn L. Drucker ’80 Memorial Lecturer Judith Olszowy-Schlanger with Tom Drucker and Marina Rustow

2nd Princeton Undergraduate Near Eastern Studies Conference, May 3–4, 2019, organized by Yousef Elzalabany and Isaac Wolfe: Shaffin Siddiqui ’22 presenting “Streaming Salafiyya”

NES 212, “The Idea of Iran: History, Memory, and the Making of a Cultural Identity,” taught by Daniel Sheffield: Field trip to New York City, May 4, 2019