Recent News
MELC is proud to announce that former MELC undergraduate and recent NMES PhD Corinna Nichols has been been selected to receive the Graduate School’s 2025 Distinguished Dissertation Award in the Humanities & Fine Arts category for her fantastic dissertation, “Entangled Identity: Control, and Depictions of Hair in the Ancient Near East.”
As a further confirmation of the high quality of Corina's work, the Graduate School will submit her dissertation as the UW’s… Read more
Aria Fani's first book, Reading across Borders: Afghans, Iranians, and Literary Nationalism (U. of Texas Press, 2024) has won the American Comparative Literature's prestigious René Wellek prize for best monograph in the field. The members of the prize committee write,
"The book is organized around two major words: adabiyāt, the Persian term for literature derived from the modern European notion of literature as an institutionalized corpus of texts that… Read more
Like Latin, Ge’ez is rarely spoken today. It’s taught at just three universities in the Western world, including by Hamza Zafer at the University of Washington. Zafer, associate professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures, was drawn to Ge’ez by his desire to elevate classical languages of the Global South. In this episode, Zafer discusses the ways centering Ge’ez brings different pieces of history and… Read more
On May 14, 2025, the Arabic Language and Culture Association marked the official launch of its Registered Student Organization (RSO) with a vibrant celebration in Denny Hall. Founded earlier this academic year by a passionate group of students, the organization aims to honor and share the richness of the Arabic language and diverse cultures of the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) region.
The event featured engaging activities such as Islamic scholar trivia and interactive… Read more
MELC is excited to share that MELC major Remi Alidon has been selected for an undergraduate Bonderman Fellowship this year! Each year a select group of UW students are provided a rare opportunity to independently travel the world as Bonderman Fellows. David Bonderman, a UW alumnus, created the Bonderman Travel Fellowship in 1995, and it has funded life-changing global journeys for more than 330 students thus far.
Remi's journey will be an opportunity to explore the unique… Read more
MELC Assistant Professor Aria Fani's co-translations to the modernist Iranian poet, Bijan Jalali, was published earlier this month by Asemana, an independent press in Toronto. The cover of the book is illustrated by MELC major Amelia Ossorio. The book is now available on Amazon for purchase.
Shape of Extinction brings together 59 short poems by Jalali, the first book-length selection of his meditative yet quietly radical approach to poetry. A critical introduction situates Jalali’s work… Read more
The Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures recently celebrated its third annual Walter G. Andrews Lecture, featuring an insightful exploration of Ottoman literary traditions. This event was made possible thanks to the generous contributions from our community supporters of the Turkish and Ottoman Studies Program. Recordings of the previous two lectures are available for viewing on… Read more
The Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of Washington is proud to announce the second cycle of the Iraj Khademi Residency in Persian Literature. This unique residency, named in honor of the late Iraj Khademi, a passionate advocate for Persian literary culture, brings an emerging or established writer, translator, or scholar of Persian literature to campus for a quarter-long engagement with the UW community.
Building on the success of the inaugural cycle, this… Read more
Congratulations to MELC undergraduate minor Griffin Hehmeyer, who was selected for the 2025 Husky 100!
View Griffin's contribution, along with the rest of the list here.
On February 27, Deniz Türker of Rutgers University delivered an insightful lecture at the University of Washington on The Last Ottoman Palace: Yıldız and Its Many Makers (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023). Organized by Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures Turkish and Ottoman Studies Program in collaboration with the Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Near and Middle Eastern Studies, and moderated by Reşat Kasaba, the event drew a diverse audience of students, faculty, and community members… Read more