Arabic & Middle East Studies Reading List ?

Hey I would be grateful if anybody knows which books the IAIS department suggest for reading ? Would be good ! Thanks in advance :P

Reply 1

mauritius

If they managed to get organised enough to release reading lists pre-term, I'd be surprised. Most likely you will be given a handout or a webreference once te course started. Don't worry, if you aren't emailed anything you are not expected to arrive having read anything - if you'd actually like to use the time you may have outside term-time, get to speak to your departmental rep! :yes:

University of Exeter

Exeter

Reply 2

scarlettroxane

Oh ok, I was just wondering. Last year I bought all the books from Oxbridge from the Arabic department's reading list and have read them (yeh i know i'm a little obsessed, but that's why I wanna do it at uni !), so was just wondering if Exeter had the same.... :smile:

Reply 3

amldawson

Oooo thats too cool, I'm planning on doing Arabic & Middle East Studies. Are you going to Exeter? I still can't decide where to go...
Narrowed it down to Manchester, Leeds and Exeter
So excited about the course tho!

Reply 4

scarlettroxane

Yeh I'm going to Exeter for Arabic and Middle East Studies :smile:

Choose Exeter ! Manchester and Leeds give you NO choice in where to go for your year abroad, whereas Exeter does! I have a place for Manchester too but don't plan on taking it. Would be great to hear what you choose !

Reply 5

mauritius

scarlettroxane

Good choice, you'll certainly benefit from your readings, but unfortunately, Exeter does not issue reading lists before term-time. In any case, your readings in year 1 will be doable, most work will probably be Arabic (unless you have background knowledge). I agree Exeter offers a really good programme, and offers many options, not only regarding your year abroad, but also regarding your later module choices. I can recommend Exeter very much. The staff is also very nice by the way.

Reply 6

scarlettroxane

mauritius

If we have background knowledge in Arabic then what happens ? Are we still required to attend lessons that are too easy ? Can we take different modules or is it even possible to go directly into 2nd year ? Sorry for all the questions, and thanks for the answers :biggrin:

Reply 7

mauritius

Do you speak Fusha at home? If yes, you've chosen the wrong degree, otherwise you will probably be permitted to skip the classes where you learn the alphabet, apart from that you should be learning a standard language which differs considerably from your dialect, so really you wouldn't be able to skip a year - besides you also do some other stuff in year 1 apart from Arabic, courses which you need to proceed to higher year courses. There are every year students who already speak dialect so they are pretty used to it. But are you sure you actually want to study Arabic? From you questions that doesn't become clear. They do Middle Eastern Studies as a 3-year degree, for those who don't want to do Arabic (speaking dialect is also satisfying enough for some).

Reply 8

scarlettroxane

No I am 100% sure I want to study Arabic and have been for about 10 years :biggrin:

I'm not a native speaker of Arabic but I am currently learning fusha. I spent last summer (10 weeks) at the university of Jordan studying it further and plan to return to Amman to study it again, but this time for 3 months (not to UJ though, to Qasid). Hope this clears things up :biggrin:

Reply 9

mauritius

I see, cool, I am sure you'll do really well in your degree then. I suppose in your case you could discuss with them whether you have to attend classes in the first few weeks. I'd try to use the spare time you have by auditing lectures that interest you. It's always good if you are motivated and do stuff on your own, you'll see it on your marks as well. :rolleyes: