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Summer Workshop: Teachers discuss Arab development, Darfur, and Iranian cinema
Zeina Azzam Seikaly
Published in 2006
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Summary:
The week-long teacher outreach workshop was held June 26-30, 2006, and brought 27 area teachers to the Georgetown campus. The premise of the program is to introduce different ways of learning and teaching about the Middle East and Islam through diverse multidisciplinary perspectives.
The week-long teacher outreach workshop was held June 26-30, 2006, and brought 27 area teachers to the Georgetown campus. Although the workshop retains the same title each year, the program changes completely so that many teachers return to attend each summer.
The premise of the program is to introduce different ways of learning and teaching about the Middle East and Islam through diverse multidisciplinary perspectives. This allows for new and creative approaches to studying the region, thus expanding the horizons of educators involved in teaching about the Middle East.
Rochelle Davis (Assistant Professor of Culture and Society, CCAS) began the workshop with a presentation on “Culture and Society of the Middle East.” She discussed the notion of national identities, explaining that they are constructed by culture and society, including religious, ethnic, and linguistic affiliations. She went on to enumerate the different factors under these general categories that combine to form identity, which is continuously evolving. Dr. Davis then tackled the topic, “Thinking About Darfur: How Do We Understand What is Happening?” Asserting that ethnicity is a very mobile, elastic concept, she explained that in order to understand the conflict in Darfur, we need to view it as much more complex than one of Arabs vs. non-Arabs, and to go beyond the simplistic media portrayals of the situation. Randa Kayyali (author and PhD student, George Mason University) expanded on the identity theme in her presentation on “Arab Americans: The Salience of Multi-Layered Identities.” She provided an overview of Arab immigration to the United States, demographics of the Arab American community, and how values and issues stemming from family, religion, gender roles, language, assimilation, and generational conflict, as well as the climate after 9/11, together influence the Arab American identity.
Four additional speakers discussed cultural and linguistic factors, though from different lenses. William Granara (Professor of Arabic, Harvard University) addressed “The Politics and Poetics of Reading Al-Andalus in Modern Arabic Literature.” He began the session with a brief overview of the history of the Arab novel, then described the society in Islamic Spain in order to provide context for the ensuing discussion. Before the workshop, participants had read the novel Granada (by Radwa Ashour), which Dr. Granara had translated from Arabic, so the session was largely devoted to discussing the story and its historical and social—as well as literary—context. Mohssen Esseesy (Head of the Arabic Program, George Washington University) addressed “Arabic: A Vehicle for Arabness, providing a history of the language from pre-Islam to the present, and placed it within the Afro-Asiatic family of languages, of which Semitic is a branch. He explained the diglossia of Arabic (Modern Standard Arabic vs. colloquial) and its characteristics, and connected the language to the formation of Arab identity. Jamsheed Akrami (Professor of Film Studies, William Paterson University) discussed “Iranian Cinema: The Unlikely Development of a National Art From.” With copious examples of film clips from Iranian films, he gave a history of this art form through the 1979 revolution and to the present, with its many influences. He talked about the problems that filmmakers face, including how to present females in films in ways that address censorship regulations yet remain a realistic reflection of Iranian society. Dr. Akrami also discussed the heavy use of symbolism and allegory, especially when films tackle political themes. Sophia Husain (English teacher, Wakefield High School in Arlington, VA) presented “Mightier than the Sword: Calligraphy of the 16th Century Imperial Courts—A Multidisciplinary Webquest for High School Students.” Participants met in a computer room to explore this hands-on, online unit (see http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/gallery/callig), which provides a creative and interactive approach to studying many of the major empires that dominated the world stage in the 15th and 16th centuries. Using Islamic calligraphy as an entry point, students learn about eight empires from historical, literary, and artistic angles. (Read a full feature on this webquest on the Center’s web site, http://ccas.georgetown.edu.)
The presentation by Edmund Ghareeb (Mustafa Barzani Scholar in Global Kurdish Studies, The American University) was titled “Reinventing Iraq: An Examination of Iraq’s History and Politics.” He offered a detailed history of Iraq from the 7th century until modern times, asserting that Iraq has always been a very important center of Islam and Arab history and theology. He spoke about Iraq as a central location in Muslim, and Arab history and discussed the identities of the diverse ethnic and religion groups and communities—including the Sunni, Shi`a, Kurds, marsh Arabs, Chaldeans, and Yazidis, among others—in the country. A student of Dr. Ghareeb, Ms. Betoul al-Sidairi, then offered a multimedia cultural presentation about Iraqi poetry and dance.
John Duke Anthony (Founding President and CEO, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations) tackled “The Changing Nature of American Interests in Arabia and the Gulf: Implications for U.S. Policies.” He discussed Washington’s interests in the region as economic, political, defense, and commercial in nature, with interests in supporting democratization efforts as well. He spoke about certain pivotal historic events in the region, such as the oil embargo of 1973-74 and the Iranian revolution of 1979, which greatly affected U.S. policy in the Gulf, and talked about how perceptions of the United States in the region have changed in the wake of the recent Dubai ports deal.
Tarik Yousef (Assistant Professor of Economics and Al-Sabah Chair in Arab Studies, CCAS) addressed “Development, Globalization, and Economic Reform in the Middle East.” He affirmed the importance history in order to understand development and globalization, saying that the region was a “late comer” to the rapid modernization and industrialization that other world regions experienced beginning in the 19th century. He traced the Middle East’s political/economic history until the present, with explanations of the agricultural, commercial, industrial, military, financial, and societal trends in the region. Dr. Yousef also discussed the role of the state, oil production, external aid and remittances, and the effects of several wars in the development of the region, and said that Islamic movements have served to contest the status quo throughout history.
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