Relevant Courses taught by IWI Faculty
Note: For a full range of relevant language courses available in Fall 2026, be sure search SIS/HoosList for: Arabic (ARAB), Persian (PERS), Turkish (TURK), Urdu (URDU), Hebrew (HEBR), Hindi (HIND), Sanskrit (SANS).
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ARAB 3430/5430 Let Us Sing: Arabic Poetry and Songs
Hanadi Al-Samman
This course aims to introduce students of third-year and fourth-year Arabic to Arabic poetry and culture through classical and contemporary songs. Many Arabic songs are taken from poems and they reflect different literary trends: romantic, religious, patriotic, Sufi, and contemplative poems. We will explore these poems, their impact on the Arabic collective unconscious, and cultural influence when turned into songs.
TuTh 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
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ARAB 3672/6672 Review of Arabic Grammar
Bilal Humeidan
In this course students will develop a mastery of core items relevant to Modern Standard Arabic grammar, a mastery which will enable them to produce discreet, sophisticated sentences, as well as to compose paragraphs and essays, all while utilizing the grammar points covered in this class. Those interested in taking this course are required to have completed ARAB 2020 or equivalent, or to receive approval of instructor.
TuTh 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
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ARH 2300 Introduction to Islamic Worlds
Abbey Stockstill and Shankar Nair
This course will introduce students to the multifaceted worlds of Islam, through an interdisciplinary survey of its diverse instantiations across more than 1400 years of history, and geographies that span the globe. Drawing on the resources we have at UVA across multiple departments, students will be offered a pluralistic engagement into social, artistic, intellectual, economic and political worlds infused with Islamic sensibilities and ethics.
TuTh 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
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ARH 2500 Introduction to Southeast Asian Urbanism
Rina Priyani
TuTh 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM
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EGMT 1530 Engaging Aesthetics: Bollywood Pleasures
Geeta Patel
In this class student will learn to describe, analyze, and create aesthetic phenomena, think critically about the nature of art and artistry, become aware of how aesthetic experience underlies social life and can frame our politics, reflect on the historical, geographical, and cultural differences that shape aesthetic expressions and hierarchies, and respond to and take stock of the moral and ethical capacities of the arts.
Mo 5:00pm - 7:30pm (Hoos' List)
Tu 5:00pm - 7:30pm (Hoos' List)
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EGMT 1530 ‘The Jokesters and Tricksters We Share!’ Buffoonery and Roguery in the Medieval and Early Modern Islamic and Mediterranean Worlds
Nizar Hermes
Why study humor, roguery, and transgression in a course on Engaging Difference? Because the way a culture laughs, plays, and rebels tells us as much about its values and tensions as its laws or doctrines. During our seven-week journey, we will discover and explore some of the most entertaining masterpieces of Arabic-Islamic literature written in the pre-modern Islamic world (700-1700). Our exploration will focus on literary representations and socio-cultural as well as theological and philosophical debates around key humanistic themes-humor, frivolity, avarice, roguery, charlatanry, buffoonery, and the underworld. These texts allow us to engage deeply with how difference-social, moral, theological, and regional-was negotiated, celebrated, or ridiculed in a vast, diverse, and dynamic world. We will immerse ourselves in the vibrant textual and cultural landscapes of premodern Islamic leisure, pleasure, and transgressive spaces that span the Mashriq (Islamic East) and the Maghrib (Islamic West), including al-Andalus and Sicily, revealing unexpected commonalities and striking contrasts with other cultures, past and present.
TuTh 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM (Hoos' List)
TuTh 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM (Hoos' List)
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HIAF 3011 North African History from Carthage to the Algerian Revolution
Amir Syed
Surveys the main outlines of North African political, economic, and cultural history from the rise of Carthage as a Mediterranean power until the conclusion of the Algerian war for independence in 1962, and the creation of a system of nation-states in the region. It places the North African historical experience within the framework of both Mediterranean/European history and African history. Focuses mainly upon the area stretching from Morocco's Atlantic coast to the Nile Delta; also considered are Andalusia and Sicily, and the ties between Northwest Africa and sub-Saharan regions, particularly West Africa.
TuTh 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
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HIAF 5559 Sovereignty, Law and Knowledge in African History
Amir Syed and Emily Burrill
Tu 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM
https://hooslist.virginia.edu/ClassSchedule/ClassHistory?subject=HIAF&catalogNumber=5559
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HIME 3501 The Ottoman Empire and the Modern Middle East
Baris Unlu
Th 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM
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HIND 3025 Twelve Colors of Life: Hindi Short Stories and Language in Context
Abdul Nasir
This course offers an exploration of the Hindi language and its cultural landscape through a curated selection of Hindi short stories organized around twelve thematic "colors" of life. Designed for students with upper-intermediate-level proficiency in Hindi, the course uses literary narratives as primary texts to strengthen reading, writing, and speaking skills while deepening cultural understanding.
TuTh 12:30pm - 1:45pm
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MESA 2124 Gateway to the Middle East and South Asia
Samhita Sunya
From the ancient history of games like chess and backgammon, to sports like badminton and falconry, to the "Great Game" of imperial conquests, this course offers a theme-based gateway to the long-connected regions of the Middle East and South Asia. Over the semester, we'll explore this region of the world through short stories, films, tv shows, games themselves, and cameo visits by other faculty--all on the topic of "playing games"!
Mo 3:30 PM – 6:00 PM
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MESA 3111 Film Festivals and Global Media Cultures: ME/SA Spotlight
Samhita Sunya
How do we know what we know, and why do we feel what we feel, about Israel/Palestine? This course challenges us to reflect on this question by offering key perspectives on both the modern history of Palestine/Israel, on the one hand; and the modern history of film, on the other, through a unique set of "outsider" films about Israel/Palestine from across the Middle East and South Asia.
Mo 6:15 PM – 8:45 PM
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MESA 3131/7131 MENASA American Comics
Adrienne Resha
This course offers a survey of Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian American comic books, graphic novels, and graphic memoirs. Reading fiction and nonfiction comics, paired with academic and critical writing and other media, we will think critically about what it means for creators of different diasporas and differently marginalized identities to produce art for readers in the United States.
MoWe 3:00 PM – 4:45 PM
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MEST 1710 The U.S. and the Middle East
Caroline Kahlenberg
Over the past two centuries, the relationship between the US and the Middle East has been characterized by political, economic, military, and cultural collaborations as well as violence. In this first-year writing seminar, we will explore the history of American-Middle Eastern relationships on both the macro- and micro-levels, using sources such as political documents, memoirs, scholarly articles, photographs, and films.
We 2:00pm - 4:30 pm
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MEST 2270 Culture and Society of the Contemporary Arab Middle East
Hanadi Al-Samman
Introduces the cultural traits and patterns of contemporary Arab society based on scholarly research, recent field work, and personal experiences and observations in the Arab world. Taught in English; no knowledge of Arabic is required.
TuTh 11:00am - 12:15pm
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MEST 3232 No Foul- No Game: Sports, Nationality, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Sophia Solomon
This course reviews key milestones of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict throughout the lends of competitive sports in the MENA regions and in Israel in particular. The course examines sports' role in reflecting socio-political divisions of religion, gender, class and representation struggles, while serving political interests as part of culture and identity building, as well as its utilization as a platform for ethno-nationalist violence.
Tu 5:00pm - 7:30 pm
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MEST 3491 Native Translation: Palestinian Voices in Contemporary Israel
Zvi Gilboa
This course provides a close look at Palestinian cultural and literary production within the State of Israel. Muslim and Christian Palestinian citizens of Israel. With the support of region-specific theory, and through a continuous engagement with (the English translation of) literature, music, film, spoken word, visual art, political speeches, and newspaper articles, you will develop a critical understanding of the multifaceted, contemporary manifestation of Palestinian voices in Israel.
MoWe 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
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PERS 3710/7710 The Unexpected Heroes: Advanced Reading in Persian Literature
Parwana Fayyaz
This class is designed to study the marginal characters and neglected events in major Persian literary masterpieces. We will explore the significant role of minor subjects, including the nurses, the slaves, the beggars, the messengers, the soldiers, and possibly also the thieves. We will pay close attention to their actions and the events surrounding their lives in some of the greatest works of Classical and Medieval Persian literature.
TuTh 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
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PETR 3232/7232 Persian Poetry Across Centuries
Parwana Fayyaz
This course is an introduction to major poets of Classical and Medieval Persian literature through learning about different poetic forms and genres, themes and topics, and motifs and images within the Persian literary canon by reading the works of poets from different centuries. We will also learn about these poets, their social lives, cultural changes, court affiliations, thoughts, and philosophies.
TuTh 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
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RELI 2024 Jewish-Muslim Relations
Jessica Andruss
Jewish and Muslim communities share a complex history of interaction, spanning from seventh-century Arabia to the present day, and including instances of collaboration as well as moments of violence. Our course examines this dynamic relationship through documentary and literary sources. We focus on points of contact between Muslims and Jews in contexts ranging from battlefields to universities, from religious discourse to international politics.
TuTh 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
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RELI 2085 Classical Islam
Jessica Andruss
Studies the Irano-Semitic background, Arabia, Muhammad and the Qur'an, the Hadith, law and theology, duties and devotional practices, sectarian developments, and Sufism.
MoWe 12:00 PM – 12:50 PM
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RELI 5637 Anthropology of Islam
Noah Salomon
The discipline of anthropology has made significant contributions to the study of Islam. Yet far too rarely has it been asked, how might we take Islamic traditions' own ways of knowing not merely as objects of inquiry, but as intellectual partners? This course will engage readings in ethnography & critical theory that examine diverse expressions of Islam as it intervenes into debates over what it means to be human in the world.
We 3:30 PM – 6:00 PM
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URDU 3050 Read All about It! (News Media Urdu)
Griffith Chaussee
In this class we will conduct close readings (in Urdu!) of a seminal Urdu newspaper textbook as well as current news articles, and will discuss them in detail. There will be weekly assignments, a final take-home exam, and a final video project. Prerequisite: instructor permission.
TuTh 9:30 AM – 10:45 PM
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