I must admit that at first glimpse, it does not seem that I have very much connection with my chosen topic. I seem about as White Anglo-Saxon Protestant one could get. However, I grew up in a fairly liberal, culturally diverse city, went to a high school where I had the experience of being a minority, and value most respect, tolerance, and learning from others.
This particular interest in Muslim American students (and more broadly the Arab-Israeli conflict, and Middle Eastern culture in general) I think stems from wanting to defy a legacy of miseducation, misinformation, and misunderstanding.
In my academic career, I have been attracted to these issues because of:
1) how underrepresented these topics seemed to be in such a Western-centric education system
2) My interest in religion (as a reaction to questions of my own Southern Baptist upbringing)
3) and certain informative media/cultural artifacts that have caught my attention (such as the Lemon Tree, Khaled Hosseini's works, media exposure about issues such as TSA profiling, and the Arab Spring, and a documentary entitled Promises).
I was brought up in an age where the media constantly disseminated and propagated misleading and just plain wrongful views of Muslims and Arabs post-9/11. The fearfulness and misunderstanding of Islamic and Middle Eastern culture became evident even among people I considered myself closest to, but it all seemed unfounded to me. There was no reason to have such hate and fear toward an entire, rather large, segment of the world's population, because of a few extremists. In a way, I think that all violence is unfounded, because it comes from a place of ignorance and refusal to understand, if not at least respect one another, because in the end, we are all human beings, and this planet belongs to all of us. Human rights is about everyone, regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, class, or culture. Although I, personally, have not been faced with much adversity, I strongly empathize with those who have. This project stems from a love of people, and a yearning for a more tolerant global society.
This particular interest in Muslim American students (and more broadly the Arab-Israeli conflict, and Middle Eastern culture in general) I think stems from wanting to defy a legacy of miseducation, misinformation, and misunderstanding.
In my academic career, I have been attracted to these issues because of:
1) how underrepresented these topics seemed to be in such a Western-centric education system
2) My interest in religion (as a reaction to questions of my own Southern Baptist upbringing)
3) and certain informative media/cultural artifacts that have caught my attention (such as the Lemon Tree, Khaled Hosseini's works, media exposure about issues such as TSA profiling, and the Arab Spring, and a documentary entitled Promises).
I was brought up in an age where the media constantly disseminated and propagated misleading and just plain wrongful views of Muslims and Arabs post-9/11. The fearfulness and misunderstanding of Islamic and Middle Eastern culture became evident even among people I considered myself closest to, but it all seemed unfounded to me. There was no reason to have such hate and fear toward an entire, rather large, segment of the world's population, because of a few extremists. In a way, I think that all violence is unfounded, because it comes from a place of ignorance and refusal to understand, if not at least respect one another, because in the end, we are all human beings, and this planet belongs to all of us. Human rights is about everyone, regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, class, or culture. Although I, personally, have not been faced with much adversity, I strongly empathize with those who have. This project stems from a love of people, and a yearning for a more tolerant global society.
View Mini Creative Project
(inspired by my passion for this topic) |