Nzoric, thought I'd reply here to stop that thread going well off topic. The Middle East is obviously extremely fascinating in that respect. Is it the general history of the region or a particular people(s), period of history etc that you are interested in? I'd just say that learning the language and culture from a modern perspective opens a lot of doors.
I'm not a fan of studying general history of an area. I'd rather study them all on their own and then draw a conclusion on my own, if you know what I mean? My main focus lies in the colonization of Northern Africa/The Middle East. My first semester subject was called "Middle East in the 20th Century" where we had a short general course spanning from The Mamluks up to the end of the Ottomans. What really caught my interest was Palestine though. But as I see it, the two years of my masters are far from enough to learn everything I want to know about that part of the world, so my goal of drawing my own conclusion could come at my dissertation perhaps
