The Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (CSAMES) is an integral part of the intellectual life of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. As an interdisciplinary unit, CSAMES draws upon the expertise of 63 affiliated faculty members across multiple colleges, including the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Education, the College of Fine and Applied Arts, the College of Media, and the Gies College of Business. This broad institutional reach reflects the center’s commitment to fostering cross-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration. Our affiliates represent a diverse range of scholarly approaches—history, political science, anthropology, religious studies, comparative literature, art history, and economics, to name a few—demonstrating the center’s capacity to support wide-ranging research and teaching on South Asia and the Middle East. This collaborative model ensures that CSAMES remains responsive to the evolving conversations in these fields while encouraging faculty and students to engage with the Center’s activities and with the world at large.
CSAMES provides a dynamic space for both academic research and public engagement on campus. We regularly sponsor or co-sponsor lectures, workshops, book talks, and cultural events, while also hosting visiting scholars from around the country to promote critical perspectives on regional and transregional issues. In 2025, one of our signature initiatives has been a year-long series titled “Palestine in the World,” a collaboration between CSAMES and several partners at the Illinois Global Institute and across campus. The series brings together scholars, writers, and artists to reflect on the historical and contemporary significance of Palestine in a global context. It has included lectures, roundtables, an art exhibit, and film screenings, all designed to engage both academic and public audiences.
CSAMES has also played a central role in strengthening global education at Illinois through its administration of Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships. These fellowships provide financial support for undergraduate and graduate students who pursue the study of Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Hebrew in combination with area studies coursework. The availability of these fellowships showcases the center’s commitment to long-term engagement with the languages and cultures of the Middle East region. Beyond administering these fellowships, CSAMES advises and supports students in building interdisciplinary language-based academic paths that improve their research and career trajectories. The Center also houses an MA program that helps prepare students for PhD programs or for careers in government, NGOs, business, the media, international law, private foundations, or cultural exchanges, and offers two undergraduate minors- South Asian Studies and the Study of the Islamic World to further expand opportunities for students to engage with the region.
Finally, in all its efforts, CSAMES helps UIUC to stay true to its land-grant mission: to foster education that is both locally grounded and globally aware by linking faculty, students, and community partners across disciplines and institutions. Our goal is to enrich the university’s intellectual life while also creating spaces for dialogue, critical inquiry, and meaningful engagement with some of the most dynamic and complex regions of the world. In doing so, CSAMES cultivates a community of learners and scholars who are equipped to think critically, act ethically, and contribute to an increasingly interconnected world.