Faculty of Arts and SciencesGraduate Program · Humanities

HISTORY

The department offers graduate programs leading to the MA and PhD in Arab and Middle Eastern History. Graduate study in Arab and Middle Eastern History develops essential knowledge of the past of our region as well as awareness of the methodological and theoretical complexities involved in the study of History. By a combination of regular, seminar and one to one tutorial courses students are motivated to read intensively, research professionally and write critically, reflectively and without preconceptions. Graduation, at the MA level, entails a thesis; at the PhD it requires a dissertation. MA students who qualify are eligible for Graduate Assistantships. Doctoral students, depending on need and achievement, are eligible for tuition waiver, a stipend, and housing assistance.

CurriculumThe Master’s degree in Arab and Middle Eastern History is a two-year program of study. Students take a minimum of seven courses and seminars within three semesters and present a thesis based on independent research work and interpretation.

For the doctoral degree in Arab and Middle Eastern History, students take a minimum of six courses and seminars beyond the coursework required for the MA. In exceptional cases students holding bachelor degrees in any of the disciplines approved by the department and having a minimum major and cumulative average of 85 and above may be admitted. The department may require doctoral students to take additional graduate or undergraduate courses, if necessary, in ancillary fields of study or research languages.

Research Opportunities

The History faculty has research interests in all periods of Arab and Middle Eastern history. AUB’s Jafet Library has a host of resources, ranging from medieval Arabic manuscripts, to published primary sources, to one of the world’s leading collections of Arabic newspapers from the modern period, all of which afford students the opportunity to undertake thesis projects in all periods of Arab and Middle Eastern history. Doctoral students may receive funds to undertake research abroad. Beirut’s central location affords researchers easy access to the leading archival and manuscript collections in the region.

Recent MA theses• Joan Chaker, Eastern Tobacco and the

Ottoman Regie: A History of Financiers in the Age of Empire (2012).

• Cyma Farah, Religion, Science, and Power in the Making of the Survey of Western Palestine (2014).

• Hratch Kestenian, A Portrait of Armenian Student Life at the Syrian Protestant College, 1885-1920 (2015).

• Choon Hwee Koh, Qaytbay’s Journey to Bilad al-Sham in 882/1477: Power, Periphery, and Royal Peregrinations (2014).

• Jeremy Randall, Reconfiguring the Abbasid Court: The Case of al-Amin (2013).

• Matthew Sharp, Transformation at the Syrian Protestant College: The Role of Liberal Protestant Theology and Epistemology in the Shifting Vision of a Missionary College (2013).

Placement of recent MA gaduates in doctoral programs

• Harvard University; CUNY; Yale University; University of Pennsylvania.

Recent PhD theses• Aaron Tylor Brand, Lives Darkened by

Calamity: Enduring the Famine of World War I in Lebanon and Western Syria (2014).

• Karen Moukheiber, Slave Women and Free Men: Gender, Sexuality, and Culture in Early Abbasid Times (2015).

Placement of recent PhD graduates• Assistant Professor, American University

of Sharjah; Post-doctoral Fellow, Orient-Institut Beirut.

Graduate Assistantships

AUB offers qualified students graduate assistantships covering tuition and stipend.

GAs assist faculty members in teaching and/or research for a specified number of hours per week.

Faculty Profiles

ABDUL RAHIM ABU HUSAYNOttoman Empire; Lebanon and Syria under Ottoman rule; non-Muslims in the Middle East.

LYALL ARMSTRONGEarly Islamic thought and theology; transmission of religious knowledge; life of the Prophet; Quranic studies.

AHMAD DALLALIslamic exact sciences; science and religion in Islam; early modern and modern Islamic thought and movements; Islamic law.

PAUL DU QUENOYImperial Russia: cultural, intellectual, and diplomatic history; Russia and the Near East; opera and theater from Moscow to the Met.

NADIA MARIA EL-CHEIKHAbbasid history; gender; the Abbasid court; Arab-Byzantine relations.

PATRICK MCGREEVYLandscape and nationalism in 19th-century North America; US-Arab engagements; university studies.

JOHN MELOYMamluk sultanate of Egypt and Syria; the medieval Hijaz; pre-modern state formation.

SAMIR SEIKALYSocio-economic and intellectual transformations in the modern Middle East.

ALEXIS WICKOttoman history; the sea; history of concepts.

Department of HistoryWeb www.aub.edu.lb/fas/histarc Email histarc@aub.edu.lb

Faculty of Arts and SciencesTel +961 1 343 002 Fax +961 1 744 460 Web www.aub.edu.lb/fas Email fas@aub.edu.lb

Current Contact PersonSamir Seikaly, Graduate Student Advisor Email seikaly@aub.edu.lb

Admission Requirements

Applicants submit graduate applications online. Admission is competitive; students must have a superior academic record and good recommendations to be considered. Applicants from universities and colleges other than AUB or recognized institutions in North America, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand will be required to demonstrate proficiency in the English language.

Applications to the MA program are reviewed twice per year, according to deadlines set by the Office of Admissions. Applications to the PhD program are reviewed for admission in the Fall semester only, according to the deadline set by the Office of Admission. Decisions of the department/program and the Graduate Studies Committee will normally be announced by the Office of Admissions within six weeks of application deadlines. Accepted applicants are given one month to decide whether to accept, defer, or decline admission.

Additional information on graduate assistantships and of the full application process can be obtained from: http://www.aub.edu.lb/graduatecouncil/Pages/index.aspx

A useful link to frequently asked questions can also be found at: http://www.aub.edu.lb/graduatecouncil/Pages/faq.aspx

For more information about the MA and PhD Programs: http://www.aub.edu.lb/fas/fas_home/departments-programs/Pages/graduateprograms.aspx