For centuries, and still today, the Middle East and North Africa have been the site of major civilizations that have attracted attention from afar. Bowdoin College’s program in Middle Eastern and North African studies oversees students’ interdisciplinary study of this region. Students minoring in Middle Eastern and North African studies take courses in a Middle Eastern language and in relevant courses in at least two other disciplines.

The Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies (LACLaS) Program explores the history, aesthetic production, and contemporary relationships of the diverse cultural groups of Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Latinx population in the United States. Its multidisciplinary approach is designed to integrate the scholarly methods and perspectives of several disciplines in order to foster increased understanding of Latin America’s social differences and economic realities, cultural diversity, transnational connections, historical trajectories, and range of popular culture and artistic and literary expression.

Africana studies offers courses in the following fields of study: African American; African, and African diaspora. Over the course of their major/minor in Africana studies, students acquire knowledge and develop skills through coursework, independent studies, and, in some cases, a senior honors project.

The German department offers courses in the language, literature, and culture of the German-speaking countries of Europe. The program is designed for students who wish to become literate in the language and culture, comprehend the relationship between the language and culture, and gain a better understanding of their own culture in a global context.

The Department of Music offers courses in the following three areas: music in social and historical context (x1xx-x3xx); music theory and composition (x4xx-x5xx); and music performance (x6xx-x8xx). Majors can choose either to pursue a broader curriculum with some balance among these areas, or to concentrate in one of them as indicated in the concentrations listed below.

Students undertake a flexible path of rigorous study through the major in order to become engaged, informed, and resourceful readers and writers. Majors develop fluency in critical methodologies and paradigms of the field. Students may also choose from courses in creative writing, including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and screenwriting. The department's curriculum contributes to Africana studies; Asian studies; cinema studies; environmental studies; gender, sexuality, and women’s studies; and theater.

The Department of Religion at Bowdoin engages students in efforts to understand how and why people are religious in various historical and cultural contexts, from a range of academic perspectives, and without sectarian bias. In a global context of increasing connectivity and conflict, religion courses at Bowdoin provide an unparalleled opportunity for students to have lucid and enduring encounters with an array of authoritative narratives, gender disciplines, kinship configurations, moral and legal obligations, and imagined utopias.

Faculty and students in the Department of Earth and Oceanographic Science (EOS) at Bowdoin investigate fundamental questions about our planet’s past, present, and future. In our courses and research programs, we sample rocks, sediments, shells and waters to reconstruct Earth’s geologic history, including past climates. We study Earth’s systems at all scales—atoms to oceans—and use state of the art instrumentation and data analysis to unravel Earth’s past so that we can better understand and prepare for our future.

The interdisciplinary Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program (GSWS) combines a variety of scholarly traditions to develop a culture of critical thinking about the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and class. Drawing primarily on the humanities and the social sciences, courses in GSWS explore the social construction of identity and experience as well as how difference, marginalization, and resistance exist within and across cultures and historical periods. In its curriculum and its faculty research, GSWS explores the multiple directions that feminist and queer scholarship and activism take locally, nationally, and transnationally.

The mathematics major welcomes students from a broad range of backgrounds and driven by a diverse set of interests. It is designed with one common purpose: the pursuit of mathematics as a fundamental human endeavor with the ability to describe both the concrete and abstract aspects of the world around us. The power and utility of mathematics comes from its analytical approach to problem-solving. Our courses and requirements develop the ability to reason from hypothesis to conclusion, to analyze and solve quantitative problems, and to clearly and precisely articulate the underlying thought process.

The major in government provides a broad introduction to the art, and science, of politics—that is, of the mechanisms by which human beings solve collective problems and pursue the common good. The subfields of contemporary political science are encompassed by courses in American politics, political theory, comparative politics (with regional coverage of much of the globe), and international relations. These may include offerings in political institutions and behavior, US and international law, public policy (including environmental politics), political economy, and the qualitative and quantitative methods used in the discipline.

The Department of Classics offers a classics major with three different concentrations: one with a focus on Greek and Roman culture and history (classical studies), one with a focus on Greek and Roman material culture (classical archaeology), and one with a focus on Greek and Latin literature (classical languages and literature). Students pursuing these majors are encouraged to study not only the languages and literatures but also the physical monuments of Greece and Rome. This approach is reflected in the requirements for the three concentrations: courses in classical archaeology, history, culture, and Greek and/or Latin must be fulfilled in each concentration.

The Asian Studies Program offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Asia that spans the regions of East Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and the Asian diaspora. In addition to language study, students may take courses in anthropology, art history, cinema, gender and sexuality studies, government, history, literature and culture, music, religion, and sociology. For the major, each student is required to concentrate in a geographic area or discipline, acquire a working proficiency in one of the languages of East or South Asia, develop theoretical or methodological sophistication, and demonstrate a degree of applied specialization. These principles are reflected in the requirements outlined below.

Cultural anthropology explores the diversities and commonalities of cultures and societies in an increasingly interconnected world.

It begins by showing how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the modern Middle East are closely intertwined with politics and their local contexts.