Women Rights in Middle East with Queen Noor

I found this video on YouTube and I thought it would be great to show to our class. Before seeing this, I thought all women in the Middle East were treated unfairly and I only assumed none of them had rights. I know that’s stereo typing, but unforchantly that’s all I know. Although it is true that some women still are not tried fairly in some places, but there are others who have the same rights as we do in the United States. Jordan is one of the countries where women have equal rights under the constitution and have had them since the 1950s. Places like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Afghanistan are the total opposite and women are still fighting for those rights every day.
Check out the video! I hope you like it!

Chapters 1 & 2 of “Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery”

I just started this book and so far I am really enjoying it. There are a few key points I want to go over that caught my eye in the first two chapters, I thought it was really different that everyone who lives in the village is related and how they call one another brother and sister rather than a cousin also how they refer to one as “the son of my mother’s father’s brother”. Another thing that jumped out at me was the way the mother would act towards her daughters. For example when the girls were sent out to deliver cookies to their family, and accidently dropped them in the street, the mother reacted by giving them blows and kicks all the while complaining about the bad luck that had cursed her with the birth of such daughters. Last but not least, I thought it was horrible the way Harbi was treaded; being tied up to a tree and beaten is just brutal. I feel there is so much more I could say but I want to keep it short. Anyways I can’t wait for the next chapter.

Film: Reel bad Arabs

Before seeing this film I was totally oblivious to all the degrading images American films show about Middle Eastern people. Films such as Aladdin, True lies, Father of the Bride 2, and Gladiator make Arabs look as if they are uneducated, mean, terrorist, who should not be looked at as a real human beings. This documenter states that 25% of all American movies contain Arabic slurs. This truly upsets me because, what are these Middle Eastern people suppose to think when watching these films? I hope that everyone who lives in America knows that not all people from the Middle East are bad. Some people are just like us, trying to get through life day by day. In this generation I can only hope that the Middle East is shown fairly in Hollywood. We students need to replace these stereotypes by taking the initiative to learn more about the Middle Eastern culture.

Literature from the Modern Middle East: Making a Living Connection

A few days ago I was asked to read Dr. Webb’s article titled “Literature from the Modern Middle East: Making a Living Connection”, and boy was it an eye opener. In this article Webb points out how deeply involved our country is with the Middle East but how little we American’s know about their culture. I couldn’t agree with him more. All I know about the Middle East is what I see on TV and read in the paper, and that’s only about the war. I have never had a teacher who would go into great detail about the people that live there. Dr. Webb stresses this subject to students so they can replace stereotypes, transform world views, develop personal connect, humanize Islam and Muslim people and learn about Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Persians and Pushtans. If you are a teacher or are going to be, this is a great article to read. Dr. Webb gives examples of different films and texts, you may use to further your knowledge in the subject. Over all… great article, it is one that I believe everyone should read once.

Introduction

Hello

My name is Mary Hitt. This is my first blogging experience EVER! So please bare with me, I’m still trying to get the hang of it. Now where to start…. I guess I should tell you a little about myself. I’m a junior at Western Michigan University, where I am majoring in Early Childhood Education with a minor in History and Language Arts. I am a very active person. This will be my third year on the Western Michigan’s cheerleading team. I am a big fan of Westerns athletics! When I’m not cheering, I’m ether doing homework or working.

I am creating this blog for my English 1100 course, which I am really excited about! In this course my classmates and I will be working side by side with our professor, researching contemporary literature and film from the Middle East. This is unlike any English course I have ever taken at Western and I can’t wait to see what I learn from it.