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The Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures explores the profound historical connections among diverse cultures, religions, literatures, and languages spanning the Middle East (including Afghanistan, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen, and the UAE), North Africa (covering Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia), and South Asia (encompassing India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka). With decades of interdisciplinary and cross-regional scholarship at our core, we consistently offer instruction in six major languages (currently Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Persian, Sanskrit, and Urdu - spoken by nearly one-third of the global population). Our distinguished faculty brings expertise across multiple disciplines: Language Instruction, Literary Analysis, Linguistics, Islamic Scholarship, Comparative Literature, Historical Studies, Media Research, Anthropological Studies, Cinema Analysis, Textual Criticism, and Gender Research. Our academic team reflects remarkable diversity, with members hailing from various national backgrounds including American, Indian, Israeli, Iranian, Jordanian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, Pakistani, and Yemeni origins.