UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies

🎥 Join UCLA Library for a screening of “Ojalá Supieras” (I Wish You Knew), a documentary excavating the long-suppressed history of Islam in colonial Mexico. Drawing on unpublished manuscripts and inquisitorial records, director Mariam Saada reconstructs the lives of those persecuted for crypto-Islamic practice and reveals the intertwined presence of Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Indigenous peoples at the heart of colonial society.

📢 The screening will feature a Q&A with Dr. Saada and a curated display of UCLA Library holdings.

To RSVP, visit: ucla.in/3O36Y9J

Bruin Giving Day is April 28-29! During this annual campus-wide challenge, consider a contribution to the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies. Gifts like yours support our student fellowships and travel grants, faculty research initiatives, community engagement, and public programming and lectures.

Visit the UCLA International Institute Bruin Giving Day page https://bit.ly/4cBNbaJ, find the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies, and click "Give" to make your contribution.

Join us next week for a hybrid graduate student colloquium on visual culture of Algeria. The colloquium will bring together early-career scholars working on the visual culture of Algeria from the Ottoman period to the present. It will focus on the movement of artists, artworks, materials, and ideas across local, regional, and global networks, situating Algerian visual culture as a site of innovation, negotiation, and exchange.

For more details and to register: https://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/event/17524

In March 2026, the University of California at Los Angeles and Université Internationale de Rabat jointly organized a two-day international conference, “Landscapes in Transition: Human-Environment Relations Across Mountainscapes,” held in Rabat, Morocco, marking another step forward in the growing collaboration between the two universities. The collaboration is initiated by Aomar Boum (UCLA Anthropology, interim director of CNES, Maurice Amado Chair in Sephardic Studies, and member of the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco) and further developed by Boum alongside Stephen Acabado (UCLA Anthropology, director of CSEAS) and Abdellatif Bencherifa (UIR).

Read the entire conference summary here: https://forms.international.ucla.edu/cnes/article/294682

FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY FOR UCLA STUDENTS! The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library is offering a new Technical Services Fellowship during the 2026-27 academic year. Applicants must be a registered Ph.D. or Master's student at UCLA during the fellowship year and should have familiarity with library services in an academic or research library environment. This fellowship offers a $36,500 stipend plus standard tuition and fees.

Applications are due by March 1, 2026. For full details and requirements, please view the flyer or scan the QR code.

UCLA CMRS Center for Early Global Studies UCLA Library UCLA History Department UCLA Department of English W.A. Clark Memorial Library UCLA Department of Classics UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies

Call for Proposals for a Graduate Student Colloquium: The Visual Culture of Algeria Through Exchange, Circulation, and Global Networks

The colloquium focuses on the movement of artists, artworks, materials, and ideas across local, regional, and global networks, situating Algerian visual culture as a site of innovation, negotiation, and exchange. We invite papers addressing a wide range of visual-material practice, periods, and methodological approaches that examine questions of exchange, circulation, and networks.

Submission deadline: February 27, 2026
Details: https://ucla.in/4bhle7U

www.international.ucla.edu

On November 17, 2025, the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies and Professor Luke Yarbrough (UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures) co-organized a one-day workshop and a public symposium on the provenance of Arabic-script manuscripts housed at UCLA Library. Read more about this event below:

https://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/article/292651

At the Center, we are grateful to be able to support research on the Middle East and North Africa conducted by our graduate students. Fellowship opportunities, like our Mosafer Centennial Fund for Middle Eastern Scholars, make this possible.

Last summer, several of our graduate students traveled to Europe and the Middle East to conduct their research. Naz Oktay, a PhD Student in Gender Studies, traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, to conduct archival research on LGBTQ organizing, nationalism, and construction of urban space in 1990s Turkey. Askhaan Kashani, a PhD Student in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (Persian Studies), traveled to Paris, France, to digitize three medieval manuscripts by Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi. Learn more about their and other student research here: https://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/supportedresearch

On this Giving Tuesday, consider supporting the Center to help us continue offering opportunities for exceptional graduate students: https://giving.ucla.edu/Standard/NetDonate.aspx?SiteNum=757&AZF=Y&Fund=62310O&HIF=Banner_757_NearEastern.jpg&Code=M-1484

UCLA International Institute Giving to UCLA

Today we’re celebrating Nicholas Muench, an outstanding member of our alumni community whose passion and hard work continue to make us proud. His recent accomplishments remind us why we do what we do—and how powerful it can be when students are given the support and space to shine.

As Giving Tuesday approaches tomorrow, we invite you to help us continue this mission. Your support enables the Center for Near Eastern Studies to provide meaningful opportunities for students like Nicholas to grow, lead, and make a lasting impact.

Make a Giving Tuesday contribution here: https://ucla.in/48Hwyr9

Thank you for being part of our community!

Spotlight On! ✨

This week we are shinning a spotlight on our incredible PhD candidate, Atiyeh Taghiei. We’re proud to celebrate her journey, achievements, and the bright future ahead.

As we approach Giving Tuesday, consider supporting the Center to help us continue offering student opportunities that support students like Atiyeh: https://ucla.in/48Hwyr9

Manuscripts in Arabic script at UCLA: Where Did They Come From?

Did you know that UCLA holds the second-largest collection of Arabic-script manuscripts in the Americas, including what may be the region's largest collections of Persian and Ottoman Turkish manuscripts?

Join us on Monday, November 17, 2025, for a one day conference dedicated to exploring the provenance and untold histories of these remarkable manuscripts through insightful talks from scholars working in this field.

📅 Monday, November 17, 2025
🕙 1:00 PM (Pacific Time)
📍YRL– Main Conference Room
🎟️ RSVP at https://ucla.in/4qaaKw6