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  • Where the Middle East Finds You

    Since 1965, the Middle East Center has been educating and informing the Philadelphia area about the richness and diversity of the Middle East and North Africa. Join us.

  • K-12 Outreach

    The Middle East Center offers K-12 educators and the Philadelphia community access to a range of useful resources.

  • Confused about the Middle East?

    There's a major for that

    Interdisciplinary MMES degree combines History, Political Science, Religious Studies -- and more

Events



The Landscapes of Exile in Premodern Persian Poetry

2025 Trehan Lecture
Apr 21, 2025 at - | Class of 1955 Conference Room (Van Pelt 241)

On Monday, April 21at 5:30 pm, the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures will hold its annual Trehan Lecture in Islamic Studies featuring Sunil Sharma of Boston University speaking on "The Landscapes of…



The Color Black: Enslavement and Erasure in Iran

Booktalk with Beeta Baghoolizadeh
Apr 24, 2025 at - | Annenberg School for Communication room 111

The Middle East Center is hosting Beeta Baghoolizadeh for a book talk on The Color Black: Enslavement and Erasure in Iran.In The Color Black, Beeta Baghoolizadeh traces the twin processes of enslavement and erasure of…



Ethnic Politics and State Foreign Policy in the Middle East and Neighboring Regions

An Emerging Scholars Event
Apr 30, 2025 at - | English Faculty Lounge FBH 135

Join us for a fireside chat between UPenn PhD candidates Sirwan Renas and Daniel Shapiro, where they will explore how ethnic politics intersect with state foreign policy across the Middle East and neighboring regions,…

Courses

Course offerings on the Middle East at Penn are rich and multidisciplinary. All are taught by world-renowned scholars in their field with exemplary records of teaching and publishing some of the most innovative research on the Middle East and Islam.

See Course Offerings