Middle Eastern Studies at The University of Texas

09/21/2026

Fri Oct 2 | 3-5pm | CAL 516

Join us for a screening of Kedi (Ceyda Torun, 2016; Turkish with English subtitles)

See Istanbul through the eyes of its most captivating residents! Ceyda Torun’s critically acclaimed documentary Kedi follows seven unforgettable street cats as they prowl rooftops, patrol restaurants, charm shopkeepers, and weave themselves into the lives of the people who care for them. Filmed from whisker-level and high above the city, Kedi is at once a playful feline adventure, a gorgeous portrait of Istanbul, and a moving meditation on community, independence, and our connection to the natural world. Cat lover or not, you may leave the screening seeing both animals—and cities—a little differently.

09/14/2026

Join a language table this semester! These meetings are great to practice your language skills in a casual environment. Visit the link in our bio for full schedule and details for each of the language table sessions.

09/11/2026

Sept 26 & 27 | RLP 1.302D

The Timelines of Arabic conference will be held over the weekend at the end of September. This discussion-driven workshop brings together scholars of different methodological backgrounds working on Arabic's linguistic history: Arabic in its Semitic context, the language before the 7th c. CE, the Arabic grammatical tradition and nature of Classical Arabic, and the origin and diversification of the medieval and modern dialects. No registration is required, unless you would like to attend online (registration link for virtual participation can be found in the event page, linked in bio).

09/11/2026

Persian table starts on Monday Sept 14! Meetings will take place most Mondays from 4-5pm in CAL 516. See the full schedule on our website (link in bio).

09/03/2026

Mon Sept 14 | 4:30pm | RLP 1.302B

Dr. Jake Nabel from Penn State University will present his lecture "Freedom in the Political Though of Late Antique Iran"

A long tradition of scholarship on the concept of freedom in antiquity imagines it as a proprietary value of the Greeks and Romans. In other ancient cultures, the story goes, freedom was of marginal importance, and it was subordinated to other political ideals. This narrative founders, however, in the world of late antique Iran, where freedom (āzādīh in Middle Persian) is abundantly attested as a core value of the Sasanian ruling classes. This talk will explore the concept’s manifestations in diverse evidence from Sasanian epigraphy, Zoroastrian religious literature, Armenian historiography, and documentary texts in Bactrian and Sogdian. It will also compare Iranian āzādīh with Greco-Roman freedom to reassess the narrative of ancient civilizational divergence that has often been predicated upon this political value.

08/26/2026

We are excited to announce that the 2026 Middle Eastern Studies Annual newsletter is now available! Learn about the incredible achievements and innovations of the UT Austin Middle Eastern Studies community over the last year.

You can access the newsletter via the link in our bio.

08/20/2026

Dr. Drumsta has published an article in Comparative Literature Studies entitled" New Criticism in Baghdad: Nazik al-Mala'ikah, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Arabic Literary Criticism in the 1950s."

Click the link in our bio to access the news article on our website with more information on these publications.

07/13/2026

Dr. Nahid Siamdoust just published her collection Iran Amplified: One Hundred Years of Music and Society, co-edited with H. E. Chehabi (Harvard, 2026). This is the first edited volume on music in modern Iran, presenting a cross-genre collection of compelling scholarship, musician narratives, and primary sources. The volume offers historiography and critical examination of music’s significant role in social and political mediation in Iran spanning the past 100 years.

On July 11, Dr. Siamdoust published an article in The New York Review of Books, "Spreading Static." The article discusses the manipulation of Iran’s information space toward war.

Click the link in our bio to access the news article on our website with more information on these publications.

05/08/2026

Congratulations to the 2026 Middle Eastern Studies graduates! On Wednesday, we celebrated graduates from the Department with a lively celebration that included music from Bereket, UT's Middle Eastern music ensemble, and a spontaneous dabke. Best wishes to the students for a wonderful graduation weekend!

04/24/2026