Teaching Islamic studies – post-9/11

[AlonzoMourning23]

BRONXVILLE, N.Y. - We are living in a world of nearly instantaneous communication. Visual and oral media reports are crossing linguistic and cultural boundaries with a speed and impact that written texts cannot. Our public and political conversations increasingly use a variety of abbreviated and formulaic means of communication that only hint at complex social, economic, and political issues worldwide.

As we veer from one crisis to another with the Muslim world, there are a number of topics one needs familiarity with in order to make sense of events.

To mention just a few, there is the history of the creation of the state of Israel and the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Then there is the history of the rest of the modern Middle East. There is the history of the economic, military, and political agreements between the United States and Saudi Arabia. The list goes on.

How many of us are wellread on European history and the current situation of its immigrant communities? How about the timeline and details of European and American military interventions in the Muslim world? How many of us understand global economics? How many non-Muslims are familiar with the basic texts, practices, and interpretations of Islam and the histories of Muslim cultures?

Faced with the daunting challenge of comprehending the many historical and contemporary factors leading up to current events, it is hardly any wonder that we all gravitate toward the simplicity of images, symbols, and slogans that encapsulate what might otherwise seem too exhausting to even contemplate.

The uproar that followed the published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad is a case in point that reflects the failure of our common political conversations. In an increasingly interdependent world, we are all faced with the necessity of making sense of complicated situations that demand extremely difficult and painful decisions that are heavy with unintended consequences.

What is needed in this avalanche of images and soundbites is a greater emphasis on low-tech, unglamorous, and labor-intensive education. Teaching Islamic studies post-9/11, as I have, is much more challenging than in previous years. Although my non-Muslim students freely acknowledge their ignorance of Islam and the Muslim world at the beginning of my classes, they carry with them the baggage of years of media images portraying the "veils and violence" of Islam.

It takes time and patience to avoid apologetics, to avoid Islam bashing, and to demonstrate instead, example by example, the richness and variety of Muslim cultures and peoples, past and present. It takes time to learn foreign languages. It takes time to encourage critical thinking, not only of written texts, but also of visual and multimedia products. It takes time to address the complexities of the relationships between religious, ethnic, and political communities. But it is time wellspent.

Creating an environment conducive to dialogue, debate, and deliberate action requires patience and persistence. It may not be as spectacular as the controversies that periodically grab our attention, but it works, one student at a time.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060630/cm_csm/ysandsx;_ylt=ApAbg06_6u.JzJSJEte9NCys0NUE;_ylu=X3o DMTA3YWFzYnA2BHNlYwM3NDI-

[Nathan Brazil]

BRONXVILLE, N.Y. - We are living in a world of nearly instantaneous communication. Visual and oral media reports are crossing linguistic and cultural boundaries with a speed and impact that written texts cannot. Our public and political conversations increasingly use a variety of abbreviated and formulaic means of communication that only hint at complex social, economic, and political issues worldwide.

As we veer from one crisis to another with the Muslim world, there are a number of topics one needs familiarity with in order to make sense of events.

To mention just a few, there is the history of the creation of the state ofÂ*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Israel and the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Then there is the history of the rest of the modern Middle East. There is the history of the economic, military, and political agreements between the United States and Saudi Arabia. The list goes on.

How many of us are wellread on European history and the current situation of its immigrant communities? How about the timeline and details of European and American military interventions in the Muslim world? How many of us understand global economics? How many non-Muslims are familiar with the basic texts, practices, and interpretations of Islam and the histories of Muslim cultures?

Faced with the daunting challenge of comprehending the many historical and contemporary factors leading up to current events, it is hardly any wonder that we all gravitate toward the simplicity of images, symbols, and slogans that encapsulate what might otherwise seem too exhausting to even contemplate.

The uproar that followed the published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad is a case in point that reflects the failure of our common political conversations. In an increasingly interdependent world, we are all faced with the necessity of making sense of complicated situations that demand extremely difficult and painful decisions that are heavy with unintended consequences.

What is needed in this avalanche of images and soundbites is a greater emphasis on low-tech, unglamorous, and labor-intensive education. Teaching Islamic studies post-9/11, as I have, is much more challenging than in previous years. Although my non-Muslim students freely acknowledge their ignorance of Islam and the Muslim world at the beginning of my classes, they carry with them the baggage of years of media images portraying the "veils and violence" of Islam.

It takes time and patience to avoid apologetics, to avoid Islam bashing, and to demonstrate instead, example by example, the richness and variety of Muslim cultures and peoples, past and present. It takes time to learn foreign languages. It takes time to encourage critical thinking, not only of written texts, but also of visual and multimedia products. It takes time to address the complexities of the relationships between religious, ethnic, and political communities. But it is time wellspent.

Creating an environment conducive to dialogue, debate, and deliberate action requires patience and persistence. It may not be as spectacular as the controversies that periodically grab our attention, but it works, one student at a time.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060630/cm_csm/ysandsx;_ylt=ApAbg06_6u.JzJSJEte9NCys0NUE;_ylu=X3o DMTA3YWFzYnA2BHNlYwM3NDI-



Ah, crap.Â*Â*Those cartoons were printed in a Western country with a tradition of freedom of the press.Â*Â*If the muslims don't like living in a place where people are free, what the fuck are they doing in the Netherlands? Forget this BS about not only understanding our enemies but controlling our actions so they'll feel more at home.Â*Â*That's nonsense. Tell'em they get used to our ways, or they find the highway.Â*Â*



Precisely becuase it was a political conversation, the outrage and the demands for censorship by the Muslims was totally inappropriate and unacceptable. Flatly, a nation cannot have freedom of political speech...and religious censorship. It's absolutely impossible. Since political and economic freedom is dependent on the freedom of political speach, religious censorship is absolute intolerable.

Period.

Europe and it's current situation with the ghettos it's been creating? That's just the natural confluence of the racism inherent in your typical European and his love of socialism.Â*Â*Why can't those rioting and looting muslim thugs outside Paris find jobs?Â*Â*Because the French employers are racist...and because since it's impossible for a French employer to fire an employee...they don't hire no one no how.

I get the feeling that these unique insights into the history of Europe and it's immigrants isn't what the author of the article wants to see.Â*Â*He apparently wants the West to assume the Nick Berg Position.