Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Congratulations to Nicholas Shafer, Arabic and Anthropology major, (Class of 2020) and winner of the 2021 Marshall Scholarship. Nicholas was one of 46 students selected from the U.S. for two years of funded graduate study in the UK. He will be headed to the University of Sussex (MA in Governance, Development, and Public Policy) and then to the University of Oxford (MSc in Modern Middle Eastern Studies).

Holy Fanfiction: Retelling Stories from the Bible and Quran New Course: Jewish Studies 39 https://classes.berkeley.edu//2021-spring-jewish-39-001-se

Religion and the State in Iranian History | Spring 2021 Register here: https://classes.berkeley.edu//2021-spring-nestud-190i-001- This course examines the relationships between religious ideologies and institutions, on one hand, and states, rulers, and political structures, on the other, throughout Iranian history.

Register here: https://classes.berkeley.edu//2020-fall-nestud-190a-001-le Pandemics are not new, and COVID-19 is only the most recent of a long line of epidemics stretching back into antiquity. In this seminar, we will look at the evidence for ancient pandemics and other diseases, and for medical knowledge and treatments, in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Near East from prehistoric times through Late Antiquity.