Syllabus and Readings

CHID 477: ARAB AND AMERICAN IDENTITIES

IN TENSION AND COOPERATION

Exploration Seminar in Tochni, Cyprus, Summer 2008

Instructor: Professor Arzoo Osanloo (aosanloo@u.washington.edu)

This course is conducted jointly with students and faculty from the University of Washington (Seattle) and the American University in Cairo. Participants will live and study together in a small Cypriot village for two weeks at the end of the summer. Its theme is the apparent tension that exists between the Arab and American worlds – especially in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001 and the American-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq – and its main concern is the role played by identity, and the construction of identity, in either exacerbating or moderating this tension. After introducing the notion of identity, the course goes on to explore the possible meanings of both Arab and American identity, before considering a number of ways in which these identities might be said to be in tension. While in Cyprus, students will attend lectures, participate in discussion groups, watch films and go on field trips – in addition to sharing common meals and living conditions.

COURSE TEXT

A reader with materials for the course will be made available electronically on the course website at the beginning of the summer. Students are strongly urged to do all the reading before the seminar begins, so that they can take full advantage of the interactive experience of the seminar while it is in session.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Journal: 25%

Reading Response Essays: 25%

Attendance and Participation: 25%

Reflection Paper: 25%

i) i) Journal: While in Cyprus, all students will be required to keep a daily journal – with an entry for each afternoon following our morning session (9 entries in total). Each entry should be about 1 – 2 pages in length (hand-written) and should take as its theme some topic that has arisen since the last journal entry. Sources for topics can include the nightly lectures, the morning discussion sessions, the conflict resolution exercises, the films, the field trip or even conversations and events that have taken place outside of the formal confines of the course. Ideally, you should focus on some contentious issue, take a position on the issue and argue for your position. Alternately, the entry could be devoted to some significant insight or observation pertinent to our theme. I will be asking to see your journals every couple of days to make sure that you are keeping up with your obligations and I will collect all of the completed journals on the plane on the way back to Cairo.

ii) ii) Reading Response Essays: Students will be responsible for writing short responses ( about 250 words, or one double-spaced page) on the assigned readings for 6 of the 9 sessions. Each reading response should consider the theme or topic of the reading(s) by 1) stating the main argument or theme 2)discussing the author's analysis 3) raising one or two questions for discussion. The essays may be completed before or during the program (we recommend that you complete at least first drafts of the essays at the time you do the readings, i.e. before the program begins) but they will be collected during the morning discussion sessions. Students should bring the essays to discussion groups for the purpose of enhancing discussion. Please Note: Reading responses are due before discussion. Not after. No reading response essays will be accepted after we have discussed the particular readings.

iii) Attendance and Participation: Attendance at all events associated with the course is mandatory. This includes not only the lectures, discussion groups, films, conflict resolution exercises and the field trip – but also the meal that we will share nightly following the lecture. Failing to attend or arriving late to a course event will have a significant effect on your grade for the course. Attendance and Participation is more important for this course than for many other courses you may have taken in Seattle. Participation, therefore, makes up a significant component of your grade. There will be ample opportunity for your to participate in the course – most importantly, i) the question/discussion session that will follow each lecture; ii) the morning discussion groups; and, iii) group activities or exercises. At the end of the course, the faculty members from the participating institutions will jointly decide on a participation grade for each student.

iv) Reflection Paper: Students will be responsible for writing a reflection paper (7-8 pages) to be submitted after returning to Seattle, preferably by the end of September. This paper should take as its topic some important theme or issue that has arisen during the two weeks of the course. It may – but does not have to – begin with a point already raised in a journal entry – that you would like to treat in greater depth. This is not a research paper per se; its central focus should be on thought and argument. The point is to think your way through a significant and relevant issue. The issue that you choose should be contentious and you should take a side on the issue, making whatever argument you feel necessary to support your position. In most cases, some research will be necessary to provide supporting evidence for your argument.

NOTE ON AUC POLICY ON ALCOHOL: AUC policy prohibits the consumption of alcohol by the students and faculty of AUC at any AUC event. This means that students and faculty must refrain from drinking alcoholic beverages at any event that constitutes a component of the course, including the field trip to North Cyprus and the nightly common meal. We ask that the UW students conform to this policy.

OUTLINE Please note: plans change quickly during study abroad programs, so some of these dates and times may be altered.

Part I Identity

Session 1

Mon. Aug. 18 6:00 – 8:00 pm Lecture Identity and Difference

Texts: Amin Maalouf, "Introduction" and "My Identity, My Allegiances" in On Identity, (Harvill Press, 1996).

Tues. Aug. 19 9:00 – 10:30 am Discussion Groups

10:45 – 11:45 am Film: Tales of Arab Detroit

Session 2

Tues. Aug. 19 6:00 – 8:00 pm Lecture Arab Identity

Texts: Text: Halim Barakat, "Arab Identity; E pluribus unum", in The Arab World; Society, Culture and State, (University of California Press, 1993)

Wed. Aug. 20 9:00 – 10:15 am Discussion Groups

10:30 – 11:30 am Film: Four Women on Egypt

Session 3

Wed. Aug. 20 6:00 – 8:00 pm Lecture American Identity

Texts: David Hollinger, "The Ethnos, the Nation, the World" (Chapter 6), "Epilogue", in Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism, (Basic Books, 2000).

(We recommend also selections from Melani McAlister, Epic Encounters (pp. 250-265) for this section, and in preparation for the showing of The Siege on August 22. (This reading can be found on the course website).

Thurs. Aug. 21 9:00 – 10:15 am Discussion Groups

10:30 – Noon Film: Medley of American Sitcoms

Session 4

Thurs. Aug. 21 6:00 – 8:00 pm Lecture Identity and Orientalism

Texts: Edward Said, "Introduction" from Orientalism, (Penguin, 1995); Timothy Mitchell, "Orientalism and the Exhibitionary Order", in The Visual Culture Reader, ed. Nicholas Mirzoeff(Routledge, 1998); Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit, "Occidentalism", The New York Review of Books, January 17, 2002.

Fri. Aug. 22 9:00 – 10:15 am Discussion Groups

10:30 – Noon Film: Aladdin (selections)

The Siege

[WEEKEND Fri. Aug. 22, noon until Sun. Aug. 24, 6:00 pm]

Part II Identity and Imperialism

Session 1

Sun. Aug. 24 6:00 – 8:00 pm Lecture Postcolonial Identities & the West

Texts: Ali Shariati, "World Vision" and "Extraction and Refinement of Cultural Resources" in Man and Islam, (Free Islamic Lit. Inc., 1981).

Mon. Aug. 25 9:00 – 10:15 am Discussion Groups

10:30 – Noon Film: The Battle of Algiers

Session 2

Mon. Aug. 25 6:00 – 8:00 pm Lecture Israel Lobby, U.S. the Mideast

Texts: Mearsheimer and Walt, "The Israel Lobby," The London Review of Books, March 2006.

Tues. Aug. 26 9:00 – 10:15 am Discussion Groups

10:30 – Noon Film: Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land

Session 3

Tues. Aug. 26 6:00 – 8:00 pm Lecture Cypriot Identities

Texts: Joseph S. Joseph, "Background of the Domestic Ethnic Conflict", "The Impact of Cross-Boundary Ethnic Ties", and "The European Union and the Cyprus Problem" in Cyprus: Ethnic Conflict and International Politics, (St. Martin's Press, 1997).

BBC News, "Cyprus ‘spurns historic chance'", 25 April, 2004, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3656753.stm); See also, Greek Cypriot – Turkish Cypriot Internet Forum, (http://pub18.ezboard.com/fbalkansfrm13.showNextMessage?topicID=101.topic)

Wed. Aug. 27 Full Day Field Trip to North Cyprus (Kyrenia, Bellapais and Nicosia)

Thurs. Aug 28 9:00 – 10:45 am Film: Attila 74

11:00 – Noon Preparation for Group Presentations

Session 4

Thurs. Aug 28 6:00 – 8:00 pm Lecture Women's Rights & Identity

Texts: Lila Abu-Lughod, "Do Muslim Women really need saving?" American Anthropologist 104(3) 2002. Pps. 783-790; Leila Ahmed, "Women and the Rise of Islam," in Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (Yale 1992). Pps. 41- 63.

Fri. Aug 29 9:00 – 10:15 am Discussion Group

10:30 – 11:30 Films: Islamic Conversations: Women and Islam (with Leila Ahmed); The Fifth Pound or Nazrah: A Muslim Woman's Perspective

Session 5

Fri. Aug 29 6:00 – 8:00 pm Lecture US Diplomacy & Political Islam

Texts: Cameron Hume, Mission to Algiers: Diplomacy by Engagement, Lexington Books (2006), pps. ix and x & 91-134 (on course website only).

Sat. Aug. 30 9:00 – 10:15 am Discussion Groups

10:30 – Noon Group Presentations + Closing Thoughts