Modality
On Campus
Program URL
https://grad.georgetown.edu/arab-studies/#about-the-program
https://history.georgetown.edu/programs/doctoral/
The joint program in Arab Studies and History provides students with the opportunity to earn a Master of Arts degree in tandem with a Doctor of Philosophy degree. Students gain comprehensive interdisciplinary training in politics, culture, history, economics, and language of the contemporary Arab Middle East and North Africa while developing the ability to evaluate scholarly arguments by analyzing responses to previous contributions, investigation use of primary evidence, weighing logical construction and development, and assessing rhetorical style.
Academic Policies
Students in the joint program in Arab Studies and History are expected to comply with the polices outlined in the program handbooks and the Graduate Bulletin.
Program Requirements
Arab Studies
Students have considerable flexibility in designing their program in order to meet their academic and professional goals and interests. To complete the program, students must meet the following requirements:
Course List
| Code |
Title |
Credits |
| ARST 5500 | Constructing the Modern MENA | 3 |
| ARST 5501 | Studying the Arab World | 3 |
| 9 |
| Politics & Society in MENA | |
| International Politics: ME | |
| Culture & Society: Arab World | |
| Women&Gender in Arab World | |
| Development in Arab World | |
| Political Economy: Middle East | |
| Social Cultrl Hist ME & N Afr | |
| 21 |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| Total Credits | 36 |
History
Students must complete 36 credit hours of graduate coursework, along with taking the Core Colloquium course and a two-semester research seminar sequence in their major fields. One course students take as part of their coursework must be a theory and/or methods class. Doctoral students must demonstrate competence in two foreign languages relevant to their research. Electives from the Arab Studies program may be applied to some of the credit requirements, per approval from the History Department.
Required Examinations
Arab Studies
Students must pass the program’s oral and written exams for Modern Standard Arabic by the end of their tenure in the program.
Additionally, students have the option of taking an oral comprehensive examination in lieu of a thesis. The exam is designed to provide a cross-disciplinary conclusion to the student’s coursework and total educational experience in the program. The exam is administered by a panel of three faculty members and takes place after the student as completed all course requirements.
History
Comprehensive Examinations are administered during the third year of doctoral study and are intended to test a student’s knowledge and analytical ability in each of the three fields of study. The exams combine one written examination covering the major and research fields, one essay or portfolio of work with accompanying bibliography covering the minor field, and an oral examination covering all three fields.
Thesis Requirements
Arab Studies
Students may opt to write a master’s thesis I lieu of the oral comprehensive examination. The thesis is written in the final semester of the program. Students are required to take a methods course and enroll in the three-credit Thesis Colloquium. Both courses count as electives.
History
Once students have completed the comprehensive exams, they must form a Dissertation Committee who have special competence in the area or topic and who collectively can help with the theoretical, methodological, and empirical dimensions of the student’s research.
Students will spend at least two years researching and writing the dissertation. Results of the research will be presented at a public dissertation defense
