Programs

Ancient Near East

The graduate program in Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations allows students to explore the depths of the ancient Near East through one of three emphases: (1) language, (2) literature, and (3) material culture. Students electing to focus on language can choose from a variety of languages to complete their studies such as Akkadian, Aramaic, Egyptian, Hebrew, Hittite, Old and Middle Iranian, Luwian, and Sumerian. All students, irrespective of their emphasis, shall acquire a rigorous and broad training foregrounding the interconnectedness of the ancient Near Eastern world.

Students who are offered admission into the graduate program in Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations are admitted into the PhD program and earn their master’s degree along the way to the doctorate. Students must pass a series of exams, which vary according to emphasis, before being awarded an MA and subsequently given permission to continue studying for the PhD. At the PhD level, students work closely with faculty to develop their research interests while at the same time finishing coursework and additional exams.

Students also benefit from a number of resources provided by the department such as conference travel subsidies, graduate funding advising, pedagogical training, access to the Gelb Library (the department’s library of Assyriology), and a number of lectures, seminars, and workshops that are tailored to research by faculty and students in the department.

Moreover, a number of centers and institutes focusing on the ancient worlds provide additional resources, research opportunities, and funding to current graduate students, including the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Global Antiquity, the Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World, and the Center for the Study of Religion.

Arabic

The study of Arabic opens the door to the rich history and culture of West Asia and North Africa, and of pre-modern and global Islamic civilizations. Arabic is one of the official languages of the United Nations and is spoken by more some 300 million people, giving it the fifth largest group of native speakers of any language worldwide. It is an official language in 26 countries, and as the language of the Quran, it is used by Muslims daily all around the world.

Our program offers instruction in several varieties of the language, beginning with three years of training that focus on modern standard Arabic, the variety used in writing and in prepared speeches. We also teach spoken Egyptian Arabic, the language of daily life in the most populous Arab country; Levantine Arabic, variations of which are spoken in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel/Palestine; and Maltese, an offshoot of Arabic that is an official language of the European Union. Students interested in modern and contemporary studies will find seminars in modern Arabic thought, literature, film, and song. Those interested in pre-modern traditions will find seminars in classical Arabic literature, Islamic texts, and related topics. Other courses offered by our faculty include Islamic Spain, Arabic sociolinguistics, Arabic-to-English translation, anthropology of the Middle East and North Africa, urbanism in the southern Mediterranean, and anthropology of Islam and religious minorities of the region. Graduate students are encouraged to take the course in teaching Arabic as a second language and to work as teaching assistants in our language classes.

An M.A. in Arabic prepares students for work in any field where language proficiency is an advantage. Such fields include law, business, journalism, translation and interpreting, marketing and advertising, including localization, and language teaching at the high-school and college level. It is also excellent preparation for doctoral work, whether in Arabic, Islamic studies, anthropology, history, political science, or international relations. The Ph.D. in Arabic concentrates on Arabic literature and culture, whether pre-modern, modern, or contemporary, and prepares students for work in academia. Applicants to the Ph.D. program should have at least intermediate proficiency in Arabic and a specific field of research in mind when applying for admission. We encourage applicants to contact the faculty in order to discuss their proposed research.

Armenian Studies

The Program in Armenian Language and Culture at UCLA was inaugurated with the establishment of the Narekatsi Chair in Armenian Studies in 1969, the oldest endowed chair at UCLA.

The Program offers instruction in all three major standards of the Armenian language, Classical, Modern Eastern, and Modern Western.

The Program also services an Armenian concentration in the NELC department’s Middle Eastern Studies Major as well as a popular undergraduate Armenian Studies Minor. Graduate degrees in Armenian Studies are offered at the M.A. and Ph.D. levels.

Recently an introductory class in Armenian Music has been created through cooperation with the Department of Music, which is cross-listed in both departments.

In 2015 the Program was involved in establishing memoranda of understanding between UCLA and the American University of Armenia, the Matenadaran Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, and the National Library in Yerevan and is currently engaged in various collaborative projects with these institutions.

The nucleus of the university’s rich Armenological holdings was formed by the bequest of the library of Dr. K.M. Khantamour in the late 60s, subsequently enhanced by the accession of the Minassian collection of manuscripts (most of which are digitized), archives, and printed books that buttressed the Program’s research capabilities. Collection development has been facilitated by a recent endowment from the Friends of the UCLA Armenian Language and Culture Studies, a support group that provides liaison with the Armenian community of Greater Los Angeles.

Assyriology and Cuneiform Studies

Assyriology and Cuneiform Studies examines the languages and civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and related areas, such as ancient Anatolia. Our PhD program allows students to engage in research concerning what was arguably the first—certainly the best documented—high civilization in history. The Babylonian writing system, cuneiform, spans thousands of years of use, with hundreds of thousands of clay tablets and inscriptions on other media today housed in public and private collections around the world, and many thousands more of these unique historical records becoming available for research each year. The study of Assyriology encompasses many different languages, including Sumerian and Akkadian. Through the vast range of preserved textual, material, and archaeological evidence, students may also investigate over three-thousand years of the history, religion, and culture of Mesopotamia and the wider ancient Near East. Such connections are essential: Cuneiform Studies further includes Hittite and related languages such as Luwian, which were spoken in Anatolia in the Late Bronze Age and recorded on clay tablets in a cuneiform script adapted from their Mesopotamian neighbors.

Students in Assyriology will take a minimum of two languages (including Akkadian, Sumerian, Hittite, and others) as part of their language requirement, and will engage in the respective textual traditions surrounding each. Further courses on Mesopotamian history, religion, and literature are also required. The aim of the program is for students to become proficient in the relevant and required ancient Mesopotamian languages, and in doing so come to understand all aspects of the related intellectual, socio-economic and material culture. This groundwork will give students the tools needed to successfully conduct independent and original research in the field.

Egyptology and Nubian Studies

UCLA offers one of the few graduate programs in Egyptology and Nubiology in the United States. Students may specialize in ancient Nubia and the kingdoms of Kush (Kerma, Napata, and Meroe) and ancient Egypt from material and philological perspectives. We provide our students with rigorous training in the language, literature, religion, archaeology, history, art and architecture of ancient Nubia and Egypt.

Graduate students can become proficient in a number of languages, including all phases of the ancient Egyptian language: Old Egyptian, Middle Egyptian, Late Egyptian, Demotic and Coptic. Unique to our program is the opportunity to study Nilo-Saharan and Afro-Asiatic linguistics in order to understand Nubian languages (Meroitic) and other languages of the Horn of Africa (Cushitic, Beja, and Tamazight, spoken by the Amazigh), including languages of ancient Ethiopia in the Nile Valley watershed (Ge’ez/Ethiopic, the ancient liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church). We require two primary research languages, and students usually choose a combination of German, French, or Arabic. Graduate students must pass a research language exam that shows reading proficiency or pass the last quarter of second year language with at least a B. In many cases, students are encouraged to take Egyptian Arabic for research in the field.

Egyptology faculty at UCLA come from a wide array of specializations, including art history, Nubian studies, archaeology, philology, and history. We aim for a multidisciplinary and contextual approach to the ancient world, broadening our area of inquiry to include Egypt, Nubia, and Ethiopia. UCLA has a vast array of resources available for students of Egyptian and Nubian studies, including regular TAships, potential employment with Digital Humanities or the Writing Center, fellowships that provide concentrated time for research, the opportunity to teach your own Writing II seminar, research travel funding, and conference travel subsidies. NELC graduate students can also earn certificates in writing pedagogy and digital humanities pedagogy. The department works with students to identify fieldwork experience abroad in Egypt and Sudan. Great emphasis is placed on students’ own empowerment and professionalization. Students work closely with their faculty advisors to develop original research topics, prepare for comprehensive exams, and identify possible career options. The dissertation is written with the aid of an interdisciplinary committee after a prospectus workshop.

Our graduate students have received museum internships at Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy. Graduates of the UCLA program have gone on to accept high level postdoctoral fellowships, including at the Institute for Study of the Ancient World at NYU and Brown University. Our UCLA PhDs are well placed, occupying positions in academia, both teaching and academic affairs/university administration at institutions throughout North America, including UCLA, UCSB, California State Fullerton, University of Missouri, University of Saskatchewan, and SUNY.

Assyriology and Cuneiform Studies examines the languages and civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and related areas, such as ancient Anatolia. Our PhD program allows students to engage in research concerning what was arguably the first—certainly the best documented—high civilization in history. The Babylonian writing system, cuneiform, spans thousands of years of use, with hundreds of thousands of clay tablets and inscriptions on other media today housed in public and private collections around the world, and many thousands more of these unique historical records becoming available for research each year. The study of Assyriology encompasses many different languages, including Sumerian and Akkadian. Through the vast range of preserved textual, material, and archaeological evidence, students may also investigate over three-thousand years of the history, religion, and culture of Mesopotamia and the wider ancient Near East. Such connections are essential: Cuneiform Studies further includes Hittite and related languages such as Luwian, which were spoken in Anatolia in the Late Bronze Age and recorded on clay tablets in a cuneiform script adapted from their Mesopotamian neighbors.

Students in Assyriology will take a minimum of two languages (including Akkadian, Sumerian, Hittite, and others) as part of their language requirement, and will engage in the respective textual traditions surrounding each. Further courses on Mesopotamian history, religion, and literature are also required. The aim of the program is for students to become proficient in the relevant and required ancient Mesopotamian languages, and in doing so come to understand all aspects of the related intellectual, socio-economic and material culture. This groundwork will give students the tools needed to successfully conduct independent and original research in the field.

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible, also known as the Tanakh or the Old Testament, is one of the classic texts for the Jewish tradition. It narrates the creation of the universe, the emergence of civilization, and the redemption of God’s chosen people. It is not only a sacred text for Jewish communities, but also a foundational text for the Christian and Islamic traditions. Hebrew Bible at UCLA is an exciting Graduate program for ambitious students looking to immerse themselves in the world of ancient Israel and early Judaism. Students will study the Hebrew Bible and related literature as well as its ancient near eastern historical context and reception (e.g., Dead Sea Scrolls). The program is designed for students who wish to become teachers and researchers in the Hebrew Bible and cognate literatures as well as the history of ancient Israel and early Judaism.

Iranian Studies

The Program of Iranian Studies at UCLA, one of the oldest doctoral programs in the field, was established half a century ago, in 1963. Bestowed with a number of endowed chairs, fellowships, and lecture series, and commanding several hundred enrollments per annum, it remains the largest and most comprehensive program of its kind in the Americas. It covers the entire spectrum of Iranian studies across disciplines, linguistic boundaries, and periods. Among its distinctive strengths is the focus on Old and Middle Iranian philology, ancient Iranian history and religions, archaeology, as well as the study of classical and modern Persian literature. In addition, courses in Judeo-Persian literature and Baha¹i history and religion are regularly read in the Program.

Islamic Studies

The UCLA Islamic Studies program, founded in the late 1950’s, is among the oldest of such programs in the country. The program is dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of Islam and global Muslim communities. Students work with affiliated faculty whose regional specializations include North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia and whose interests span the rise of Islam up to the modern period. Islamic Studies courses are offered across academic fields and disciplines including history, law, Arabic, comparative literature, anthropology, sociology, study of religion, philosophy, and art and art history.

The Ph.D. program in Islamic Studies is designed primarily for students preparing for an academic career. Doctoral students are encouraged to construct individualized programs of study that will prepare them to carry out pioneering research leading to the Ph.D. The MA program serves as a gateway to the PhD track. It is also useful for students seeking careers in teaching, business, journalism, government service, public policy and other areas for which advanced knowledge of Muslim cultures and civilization and Islamic history would be useful.

Applicants should study the course offerings and the research and teaching interests of the affiliated faculty. Prospective students are encouraged to contact affiliated faculty members in their fields of interest.

Jewish Studies

Offering degrees at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, NELC’s program in Jewish Studies provides students with a rich understanding of the literature, history, religion, languages, and culture of Jewish communities both past and present. The graduate program offers a variety of Jewish Studies specializations, such as Second Temple Judaism, and Rabbinic and Late Antique Judaism. Students complete advanced language training (e.g., Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Arabic) and learn how to examine Jewish sources in their original context and in later interpretations. The program is primarily designed for those pursuing a career in academia, those who wish to research and teach Jewish Studies in the future. The NELC department also offers a major and minor in Jewish Studies to undergraduate students. Students wishing to major or minor in Jewish Studies may choose from either Biblical Hebrew or modern Hebrew as part of the Hebrew language requirement. 

Because Jewish Studies is, by necessity, multidisciplinary, the NELC department works with the UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies, which has numerous affiliated faculty members teaching more than 2,000 students. The Center makes a variety of resources available for students and faculty to immerse themselves in their scholarly endeavors. Opportunities such as service learning, leadership council, research grants, and scholarships are available to UCLA students and faculty. Furthermore, the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies also promotes the study of the history, culture, and society of Israel as a modern Jewish state. It sponsors courses, innovative research, and events that bring leading scholars, policymakers, and artists to UCLA for public programs and performances.

Near Eastern Archaeology

Archaeology enriches our knowledge of past people and culture through artifacts and material culture. Near Eastern Archaeology narrows this endeavor by focusing on the study of the past peoples and cultures who resided in the Near East. Graduate students who choose to specialize in Near Eastern Archaeology will learn about the political, economic, and ideological landscape throughout the Near East as they relate to societal changes.

As one of the few departments in the country that offers a graduate program in Near Eastern Archaeology, the UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures boasts a broad spectrum of courses covering the archaeology of specific regions, topics, and methodological approaches. These courses are designed to give students rigorous training so as to prepare them for both academic and field work after they complete their degrees.

Graduate students in the program choose faculty advisors whose research interests align with their own. Faculty advisors work closely with their advisees to help them develop research topics, prepare for comprehensive exams, and provide career and funding advice. The department also works with students to identify fellowships that will allow them to conduct research and fieldwork abroad.

Graduates of this program have gone on to accept postdoctoral fellowships, positions in academia and museum, and field research positions.

Semitics

Semitics refers to the study the languages, literature, culture, and history of the language families are most commonly found in Southwest Asia and North Africa. Semitic languages such as Arabic, Ethiopic, and Hebrew still continue to be utilized as a primary languages for over 500 million people today across the world. Other languages such as neo-Aramaic are dying out, while others such as Ugaritic or Akkadian are long extinct. The languages store important ideas and values that have been carried for thousands of years. UCLA offers a wide variety of courses in Semitic languages including Akkadian, Aramaic, Arabic, Hebrew, Ugaritic, and Syriac. In addition, related languages such as Sumerian, Hittite, Luwian, and Egyptian are also offered. Students are expected to reach a high proficiency level in one of the main Semitic languages with a secondary competence in at least two other related languages.

Turkic Studies

Currently not accepting graduate students for this specialization.

Turkic studies encompasses the language and literature of the nation state of Turkey. The various Turkic languages including Turkish, Uzbek, Tatar and the rest of the 35 languages are spoken by 170 million people as a primary language and over 200 million people as a second language. Turkic languages are distributed primarily over Eastern Europe and Central and North Asia, including Iran to the Arctic Ocean. All Turkic languages show similarities in their phonology, morphology, and syntax. Nevertheless, languages that have come into contact with Turkic have changed the structure of the Turkic language. Modern Turkic dialects exhibit borrowing from Persian and Indo-Iranian elements. Likewise, Turkic literature have been heavily influenced by Persian and Arabic literature, but with their own folklore that highlight the culture and ideas of each respective Turkic ethnicity.

The graduate program in Turkic Studies at UCLA offers both a language emphasis and a literature emphasis. The language emphasis requires students to know either Turkic or Uzbek as a primary language, a second Turkic language, and know the history and literature of their primary language. The literature emphasis requires proficiency in two Turkic languages and knowledge of the written literature of both languages. The department offers a variety of resources that students can use to enhance their proficiency in Turkic as well as discovery the political and cultural history of central Asia and of Anatolia. Students will have the language skills to excel in academia, business, journalism, or government work.