Hello everyone,
I've been really interested to see the responses to this thread - and appreciate these suggestions.
A source that's been useful in my class this semester is Juan Cole's blog (www.juancole.com). Some of the posts are written for the general reader and they break down the issues in very easy-to-understand ways. He had a post, for example, near the end of January on the causes behind the protests in Egypt that discussed very explicitly the demographic, urban, and economic issues in ways that my students found easy to understand.
In my Middle East class I assign some films that are meant to illustrate 'local' perspectives on larger issues -- The Yacoubian Building is a recent feature film from Egypt that illustrates very well the problems of corruption, the wide gap between urban wealthy and poor people, gender issues, Islamist politics - students seem to like it and it's available from Netflix (and also for purchase). It's a great portrayal of some of the important issues that led to the recent protests, as they are not new issues. We also watch The Inner Tour, a documentary about Palestinians from the West Bank who get a tourist visa to travel in Israel for the first time. It was made in Israel for an Israeli audience and shows in devastating ways the intimate, personal relationships to place, and to the issues of boundaries, restricted mobility and dispossession that are so central to Palestinian experiences. It was intended for Israeli audiences to see Israel through Palestinian eyes. The issues of state corruption, of the US role, and of local political and economic frustration seem to be easier for students to understand when they can see particular people or characters encountering the issues in film.
Amy
Amy Mills
Assistant Professor
University of South Carolina
On Feb 26, 2011, at 1:14 PM, Lisa Bhungalia wrote:
> I've used portions of an Al-Jazeera English series in my Middle East geography course (link below). I've found that it frames current transformations underway in the Middle East in such a way that makes them palatable for students with very basic knowledge of the region. It has prompted interesting discussion in class surrounding the historical relationship between the U.S. and the Middle East, histories of democracy in the region and their rupture and conjecture into the ever-pressing 'what now' question.
>
> The following is a discussion among Rashid Khalidi, Clovis Maksoud and Samer Shehata:
> http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/empire/2011/02/20112774233988142.html
>
> I also second Bob's point about the Middle East Report - by far one of the best resources for critical analysis and coverage of the region.
>
> Lisa
> ------------------
> Lisa Bhungalia
> PhD Candidate
> Department of Geography
> The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
> Syracuse University
> [log in to unmask]
> ________________________________________
> From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ross, Robert [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2011 12:28 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Mapping Crisis in the ?MidEast?: Geopolitics Redux
>
> Bruce (et al),
>
> For starters, perhaps you can show this map to your students: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/2011/02/2011222121213770475.html
>
> This isn't a map, but Mosaic is a 30-minute daily news program, which features a compendium of Arabic-, Farsi-, and English-language tv news stories from around the Middle East. You can stream it here: http://www.linktv.org/mosaic
>
> There is of course no better English-language news source on the Middle East than Al Jazeera English (which can now be streamed 24/7).
>
> Sharif Abdel Kouddous provided outstanding on-the-ground reporting from Cairo for Democracy Now. More so than even Al Jazeera, he featured interviews with ordinary people in and around Tahir Square. Anjali Kamat is now in Libya attempting to do the same kind of reporting for Democracy Now. Their reports can be found here: http://www.democracynow.org/tags/rolling_rebellions
>
> Middle East Report Online has featured academic-quality but plain-language analysis of these uprisings, their implications for the region, and the political-geographic contexts from which they have come: http://www.merip.org/mero/mero.html
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Bob
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: A forum for critical and radical geographers on behalf of Jessica Jacobs
> Sent: Sat 2/26/2011 12:06 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Mapping Crisis in the ?MidEast?: Geopolitics Redux
>
> you could try this map:
>
> http://plixi.com/photos/home/73294801
>
>
>
>
> On 26 Feb 2011, at 16:46, Bruce D'Arcus wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 3:42 AM, Driver, F <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> The crude geopolitical framing which currently dominates media
>>> accounts of
>>> current events demands a better response from both geographers and
>>> historians: it would be interesting to hear of the use of other
>>> forms of
>>> mapping which might offer a different perspective.
>>
>> Indeed.
>>
>> I'm actually planing to reorient the political section of my intro
>> human geography course around these current events. Alas, despite the
>> fact I begin on Monday, I've yet to entirely figure out how I'm going
>> to do this!
>>
>> But I am contemplating figuring out how to get my generally
>> conservative, not very worldly, students to engage in some way with
>> arguments (to the degree they've been translated into English) of
>> people in the streets.
>>
>> And given that I'm certain most of my students don't even know where
>> some of these places are, an interactive map or two will be helpful.
>>
>> Anyone have any good ideas/other resources?
>>
>> Bruce
Amy Mills
Assistant Professor
Department of Geography
University of South Carolina
http://www.cas.sc.edu/geog/people/mills.html
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