1. Graduate
  2. PhD Program
  3. PhD Requirements

Socio-Cultural Studies Track

The Socio-Cultural track focuses on making use of qualitative methods of social science research in the study of social phenomena and their cultural dimensions. The primary disciplines and fields related to the track are cultural anthropology, cultural geography, gender studies, and political science.

Required Courses

Elective Courses

  • HIST 595E: Struggle and Survival: Modern Middle East and North Africa, c. 1850-Present 
  • MENA 508A: Islamic Movements in the Contemporary Muslim World
  • MENA 517A: North African Societies: History, Culture and Politics
  • MENA 551: Gender and Violence in the Middle East 
  • MENA 559A: Turkey, Culture, Power and History
  • MENA 563: Gender Issues and Women's Literature in the Middle East
  • MENA 571: Iranian Cinema, Gender Issues, and Social Change
  • MENA 585M: Medicine and Power in the Middle East   
  • MENA 590: Women in Middle Eastern Society
  • MENA 596E: Marxism and the Middle East 
  • MENA 596G: Islamic Law and Society 
  • MENA 596S: Colonialism and the Critique of Modernity 
  • MENA 696J: Ethnography of the Middle East: Issues and Methods
  • MENA 696Y: Nationalism and Islam 

Coursework should be planned with the advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies.