Students must also complete the Undergraduate Registration Requirement and the degree requirements of their home school.

NOTE: This Catalog describes Weinberg College BA requirements that pertain to students who matriculated at Northwestern after spring quarter 2023. Refer to the Archives if you are following BA requirements described in the 2018-2019 through 2022-2023 editions.

Major Requirements (15 units)

• Language requirement: 6 courses in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, or Turkish beyond the first year
  • Native-speaker proficiency, determined by testing, fulfills the language requirement but does not count for course credit. Native speakers may complete this 6-course requirement with courses in a second MENA language or approved MENA content courses.
  • Students completing the Minor in Arabic may use courses applied to the minor to fulfill the MENA Studies language proficiency requirement. However, course credits applied to the Minor in Arabic cannot be double-counted as course credits for the MENA Studies major. Students may substitute units of MENA content courses and/or non-Arabic MENA language courses to complete the 6 required units.
• MENA 200-0 Making the Modern Middle East: Culture, Politics, History
• 2 quarters of Seminar in Middle East and North African Studies (MENA 301-1, MENA 301-2, MENA 301-3).
• 6 additional courses, each chosen from the approved program list for the quarter or with the director.
  • Distributed among three disciplinary categories
    • 2 in history
    • 2 in social sciences (including anthropology, economics, linguistics, political science, psychology, and sociology)
    • 2 in humanities (including art history, art theory and practice, comparative literary studies, English, humanities, philosophy, and religious studies)
  • At least 5 of the 6 must be primarily focused on the Middle East and/or North Africa.
  • Additional quarters of Seminar in Middle East and North African Studies (MENA 301-1, MENA 301-2, MENA 301-3) count in the disciplinary category of the respective instructor.
• At most 2 courses may be double-counted toward another major.
• The major also requires a study abroad experience in the Middle East or North Africa, either during the summer via intensive language study or other study abroad, or during the academic year; consult the program director for advice and approval. Students may petition for a waiver or modification of this requirement in exceptional cases.

Honors in Middle East and North African Studies

The MENA Program offers exceptional students the opportunity to write a year long Senior Honors Thesis with a faculty adviser drawn from the Core Faculty of the MENA Program.  Majors with strong academic records and an interest in pursuing honors should submit an honors application, including a brief research proposal, to the program office by the third week of spring quarter of junior year. Students studying abroad during the spring of their junior year are required to contact the MENA Director about their intentions in writing (email is acceptable). Accepted students complete a thesis, normally through 2 quarters of senior-year independent study (MENA 399-0); the two units must be counted toward different disciplinary categories.

Students whose theses and grades meet program criteria are recommended to the college for graduation with honors. For more information consult the program website, visit the program office, and see Honors in the Major.