This workshop serves as a multidisciplinary platform where students and faculty in the humanities and social sciences can discuss a wide array of academic questions related to the history, languages, societies, cultures, and politics of the Middle East. As an area studies workshop, we accept papers dealing with this broad range of subjects throughout the geography of the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia, and over a time span extending from the advent of Islam to the present. In bringing to the table work from a variety of fields, the workshop's main ambition is to bridge the existing gap between factual and theoretical approaches to studies of the Middle East, as well as to encourag an interdisciplinary approach to such studies. Papers are pre circulated to encourage attendance and informed academic discussion, and whenever possible, discussants will be appointed.