JOHNSON C. SMITH UNIVERSITY JOINS Arabic Distance Learning Project
HE Arabic Distance Learn- developed at the T ing Project supported by UW. the University of Washington and Fayrouz Attia Montana State University, Boze- is JCSU’s first man, welcomes a new subscribing Arabic TA. Ms. partner institution this year— Attia, who is Johnson C. Smith University Egyptian, was (JCSU), Charlotte, North Caro- born in Moscow lina. With the addition of this and has traveled new partner, Arabic instruction widely, including originating at the University of Iraq and Ger- Washington now reaches the many. She has East Coast as well as continuing lived in the United Fayrouz M.F. Attia, Arabic TA at Johnson C. Smith to serve smaller institutions in the States for ten University, Charlotte, North Carolina Northwest and Upper Midwest. years and is now a Johnson C. Smith University, senior at the University of North her interests in technology and which has a strong Russian lan- Carolina with a major in com- language learning. The Arabic guage program, will now be able puter engineering and a minor in distance learning project will pro- to offer Arabic instruction for the Spanish. She loves sharing her vide her with an exciting new first time through the technology knowledge of languages, and arena in which to explore her in- and distance-teaching techniques hopes in the future to combine terests and talents.
GLOBAL TEACH: A Seminar on the Middle East for K-12 Educators Scheduled for November 1, 2000
N cooperation with the World cal importance to their countries will share their perspectives on I Affairs Council of Seattle and and cultures. issues facing their countries today. the Foundation for International The title of the November 1 Curriculum materials will also be Understanding through Students, seminar will be “Explaining the distributed to registrants. the Middle East Center is offering Middle East: A Cultural Ap- a seminar for K-12 educators on proach to Interpreting Media TO REGISTER the Middle East, November 1, Events and Stories.” Dr. Paula Please call Nancy Bacon or 4:15-7:00 p.m. on the UW cam- Holmes-Eber, an affiliate of the Brenna Langabeer at the World pus. This seminar is part of an Middle East Center and a cultural Affairs Council 206-441-5910 on-going series titled Global anthropologist specializing in the or email: nbacon@world-affairs. Teach, which features conversa- Middle East will be the featured org. Registration deadline is tions with scholars and interna- speaker. A panel of students from October 27, 2000. tional students on issues of criti- Egypt, Israel, Iran, and Lebanon
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES 2001 REGISTRATION FORM INSIDE
MIDDLE EAST CENTER 1 JERE L. BACHARACH Steps Down after Five Years as the Director of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
ERE L. Bacharach, director of used to underwrite activities of J the Jackson School of Interna- the Middle East Center. tional Studies since 1995, com- Bacharach, is currently tak- pleted his five-year term this past ing a sabbatical year in Egypt summer and has returned to the where he is traveling widely and Dept. of History. He was hon- has made visits to the ancient ored at a surprise reception by the sites of Pelusium in the Sinai faculty and staff of the Jackson and Tannis in the Delta. He School for his years of dedicated reports that he was most taken service. with the excavations at Tannis, In addition to the varied con- which have uncovered a massive tributions he has made to the court complex dating to the 4th Jackson School as a whole, Profes- century B.C.E. where ancient sor Bacharach has also been ex- Egyptians constructed edifices tremely generous in his support of from earlier Pharaonic building Middle East studies. He recently materials. established an endowment fund While on leave, Bacharach is Jere Bacharach displays his new PalmPilot V, in the amount of $10,000, the editing a volume on medieval a gift from the Jackson School faculty and interest income of which is to be archaeological artifacts from his- JSIS Joint Outreach ARABIC TRAINING WORKSHOP Held for Instructors in the Brochure Now Available Distance Learning Program
The Jackson School The Middle East Center teaching. The TA’s of International Stud- hosted an intensive were videotaped by the ies has just published training workshop July Center for Instructional a brochure listing all 21-27, 2000 for all the Development and Re- the programs and TA’s affiliated with the search to refine teaching centers that offer out- Arabic Distance Learn- techniques; and they reach programming ing Program. Principal viewed intensive Arabic on- and off-campus. coordinators of the language classes being Information on how workshop were Profes- taught at the University to contact all out- sor Terri DeYoung, and reach coordinators at Lecturer, Ahmed the School is included Souaiaia of the Depart- in the brochure. ment of Near Eastern If you would like a Languages & Civiliza- copy of the brochure, tion. call Participants were 206-543-4227 or introduced to the fun- email damentals of oral and fhecker@u. cultural proficiency washington.edu.
2 MIDDLE EAST CENTER MIDDLE EAST TRANSPORTATION SYMPOSIUM Held with Cooperation of Global Trade, Transportation, & Logistics Studies
symposium on Middle East The lunch speaker was Mark A transportation was held in Kane Knudsen, Director of the Cargo Hall on July 27, 2000 as a joint Terminals Group, Port of venture of the Middle East Center and Seattle. Lunch was followed by a the Global Trade, Transportation, and Q&A session moderated by Logistics Studies (GTTL) program. Marc Hershman, Director of the Jess Browning, recently retired director School of Marine Affairs. of GTTL, and Ellis Goldberg, director For a copy of the of the Middle East Center, gave proceedings, a bibliography of opening remarks. The morning session literature on Middle East trade was devoted to presentations by and transportation, and a packet Yehuda Hayuth, President of the of materials presented by the University of Haifa on the role the featured speakers, please contact: Middle East plays as a bridge between GTTL Eastern and Western trading blocs. Zvi Box 353585 Raanan of the World Bank gave an University of Washington overview and historical background on Yehuda Hayuth, President of Seattle, 98195-3585 surface transportation in the Middle Haifa University, lectures at Email: [email protected] transportation symposium. East. Tel: 206-616-5778
Middle East Center Hosts NSEP Case Studies Initiative on New Technology and Language Acquisition
HE Middle East Center hosted the first Case Institutional participants in the workshop were, T Studies Initiative Workshop on new in addition to the University of Washington: technology and language learning sponsored by the Indiana University’s Inner Asian and Uralic National Security Education Program (NSEP) on National Resource Center, the American Council September 27, 2000. The workshop brought of Teachers of Russian, Satellite Communications together institutional recipients of NSEP grants for Learning, the National Foreign Language directed at developing technology to assist in the Center, Johnson C. Smith University, the acquisition of foreign languages, especially the less University of Arizona, the National Association of commonly taught languages. The goal of the Self-Instructional Language Programs, Montana workshop was to develop a series of case studies State University-Bozeman, Northern Illinois representing a diverse set of languages, which used University, Ohio State University, University of different technological approaches on campuses Hawaii-Manoa, and Five College Inc. (Amherst reflecting the overall diversity of higher education. College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke Since 1995, NSEP has funded a number of College, Smith College and the University of institutions that are developing technology with an Massachusetts, Amherst). aim toward increasing opportunities for student Languages represented by grantees are: Thai, enrollment in foreign language and culture courses. Indonesia, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, With this first workshop, grantees were able to Tagalog, Korean, Hindi, Arabic, Azeri, Kazakh, exchange ideas, present their own projects, and Turkish, Turkmen, Hungarian, Czech, Russian, plan strategies for further research. Bulgarian, and Brazilian Portuguese.
MIDDLE EAST CENTER 3 Film Workshop SUMMER SEMINAR 2000 for Teachers of on the Family Draws Diverse Audience Grades 7-12 HE sixth T annual Sum- HE Jackson School Out- mer Seminar for T reach Team will coordinate Teachers spon- a workshop for teachers on the sored by the Out- use of film in the classroom, Sat- reach Team of the urday, February 3, 2001. This Jackson School workshop is scheduled to coin- drew a diverse au- cide with a week-long film festi- dience of teachers, val at the University Washing- social services pro- ton, which will highlight award- viders, and health winning documentaries from the care professionals Summer Seminar 2001 registrants listen to Stevan Harrell’s annual American Anthropologi- this year. The keynote lecture at the Family across Time and Culture Semi- cal Association meeting. Carol theme of the semi- Hermer, Department of Anthro- nar was “The Family across Time SE Asia, Middle East, Central pology, and Mary Barber, a spe- and Cultures.” In an intensive Asia, and Europe. cialist on the use of film in the two-day session, participants were The annual JSIS summer classroom, will be the principal introduced to contrasting and seminars offer Washington State speakers at the workshop. evolving aspects of family units clock hours to participants. The workshop aims to help in cultures from E. Asia, S. Asia, Watch this publication for an- teachers make the most of the festival and to introduce regis- trants to the extensive video col- Envisioning the Ottoman Empire lections of the centers and pro- grams at the Jackson School. Autumn Lecture Series Participants will learn how to judge a film for ethnographic quality, bias and hidden mes- sages, and then how to use it to OCTOBER 18, 2000 its best advantage. Russian-Ottoman Warfare on the Danube in the 18th Century, The registration fee for the 1:30-3:30, Thomson, 317, Virginia Aksan, McMaster University workshop is $40, which includes box lunch and eight clock hours NOVEMBER 1, 2000 upon request. The workshop Millets and Minorities: Non-Muslims in the Ottoman Empire, will run from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 1:30-3:30, Parrington, Commons, Aron Rodrigue, Stanford p.m. Participants will receive information about location upon NOVEMBER 8, 2000 registration. To register for the Alternative Routes to State Transformation: A Relational Approach to film workshop, call Nadine Politics, Culture, and Society in the Ottoman Empire, 1:30-3:30, Fabbi-shushan at 206-543-6269 Thomson 317, Karen Barkey, Columbia University or email can- ada@u. wash- ington. Sponsored by the Middle East Center, the International Studies edu. Center, Jackson School of International Studies; and the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities. All lectures are free and open to the public.
4 MIDDLE EAST CENTER GOOD KURDS, BAD KURDS: A Film by Kevin McKiernan Reviewed by Nicole Watts
HE story of the Kurds is, even as histories go, cultural and political rights in Turkey, and the T complicated, and it is fair to say that Kurds Turkish state’s human rights abuses. Ironically, it is have not one “story” but many. This is especially here, in his attempt to re-paint the “bad Kurds” of true for the Kurds of Turkey, whose recent struggles Turkey in a more equitable light and to bring their are the subject of filmmaker Kevin McKiernan’s often-tragic history to the attention of the Ameri- new documentary, “Good Kurds, Bad Kurds.” Ap- can public, that McKiernan runs aground. Put propriately, then, McKiernan’s film contains at least bluntly, his discussion of Kurdish politics in Tur- four stories that effectively and often movingly key lacks balance and context, relying overmuch on highlight different aspects of Kurdish lives and a romanticized portrayal of the militant Kurdistan events in the 1990s. Unfortunately, McKiernan’s Workers Party (PKK), which has battled Turkish ability to capture the complexity of Kurdish politi- forces for more than 15 years. There is no mention cal affairs is not as adept, and his film of PKK attacks on Turkish and Kurd- ultimately succeeds less in telling the ish civilians until more than halfway “real story” of what he calls the through the film, and particularly “other war against Kurds” in Turkey egregiously, no recognition of the mil- than in putting a human face on a lions of Kurds in Turkey and abroad specific political agenda. who do not support the PKK or its On its most intimate level, traditional vision of an independent “Good Kurds, Bad Kurds” chronicles Kurdish state. There was also appar- the saga of a Kurdish family from ently little effort made to find Turkish eastern Turkey that has emigrated to sources (and there are plenty of them) Santa Barbara, California and today who could discuss Turkey’s treatment runs a washer/dryer repair service. of Kurds more sensitively than the Here McKiernan is on his home turf, men McKiernan brings before his and the film offers fascinating camera. Viewers unfamiliar with glimpses into the everyday lives of Kurdish politics would thus leave this Kurdish immigrants as well as their film believing that the PKK is, as it has experiences with the American legal system. At the indeed sought to be, the genuine and only “voice” national level, the film takes a sweeping yet punish- of Turkey’s Kurds, and with little sense of the strug- ing look at the cynical game generations of U.S. of- gle for Kurdish cultural and political rights that has ficials have played with hopeful Kurdish leaders. taken place within legal, non-violent circles in Tur- McKiernan persistently pursues a variety of high- key over the last decade. level U.S. officials in Washington, forcing many All this said, McKiernan does have a remarkable into the awkward position of trying to justify how gift for humanizing large-scale conflicts, and his the United States could sell billions of dollars worth portraits of Kurdish activists, immigrants and guer- of military equipment to Turkey —equipment then rilla fighters are revealing and often poignant. Espe- used in Turkish attacks on Kurdish populations in cially valuable is his interview with Abdullah Öca- the southeastern part of the country—at the same lan, the PKK’s now-imprisoned leader. Although time as the Clinton administration has while simul- Öcalan was interviewed by a number of western taneously criticized Turkey’s human rights viola- and Turkish journalists before his capture by the tions and protected Kurds in northern Iraq. (This Turks in 1999, he has rarely been depicted so viv- latter group, as McKiernan rightly points out, are idly on film. Especially given the paucity of films on the administration’s “good Kurds;” Turkey’s Kurds, Turkey’s Kurds, then, McKiernan’s film would pro- he argues, have been treated as “bad Kurds”). vide a useful starting point for classroom discussion. But McKiernan’s real objective in “Good Kurds, Bad Kurds” is to tackle two other stories he believes have been neglected: namely, the Kurdish quest for This film is available in VHS format for $89.95
MIDDLE EAST CENTER 5
Greater Pacific Northwest REGIONAL MIDDLE EAST SEMINAR April 21, 2001, Portland State University
FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS
The Sixteenth Annual Regional Middle East Seminar sponsored by the Middle East Center, Jackson School of International Studies, and the Middle East Studies Center, Portland State University invites proposals for the 2001 seminar to be held in Portland.
The Seminar is convened primarily for faculty and instructors in the greater Pacific Northwest who teach about the Middle East or Central Asia at regional two– and four-year colleges and universities. Participants are provided an arena in which they can present new ideas and current research in a collegial atmosphere. The Seminar is not focused on any particular theme. Presentation topics vary widely and discussion of new teaching tools and techniques are encouraged. Submission of both individual and panel presentations are welcomed.
Send or email title of proposed presentation, along with a short abstract (approximately 50 words) by February 15, 2001 to:
Jean Campbell Middle East Studies Center P.O. Box 751 Portland OR 97201 Email: [email protected]
For further details, contact Jean Campbell at the address above, or tel: 503-725-8566, fax: 503-725- 5320.
6 MIDDLE EAST CENTER JACKSON SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL UPDATES SERIES Time to Register for the 2001 Dinner-Lecture Series
T is time to register for the Demographics and the Fate of I annual “International Updates: Schooling in the Former Soviet Trends and Transitions in Your Union,” Stephen T. Kerr, Mail this registration form and check World” dinner-lecture series Professor, Education (payable to the University of organized through the cooperative April 11: SOUTHEAST ASIA Jackson School Outreach Centers efforts of the Jackson School’s “Beyond Rangoon: Political Attn: International Updates outreach personnel. All lectures Instability in Burma,” Mary Box 353650 will be held in the Walker-Ames Callahan, Assistant Professor, University of Washington Room at Kane Hall, UW, Seattle Jackson School of International Seattle, WA 98195-3650 campus beginning at 5:30 p.m. Studies or call 206-543-1675; email Each dinner-lecture is $22 per
MIDDLE EAST CENTER 7
CALENDAR OF SELECTED UP-COMING EVENTS The Middle East Center Newsletter October 17 “European Liberalisms and the Modern Concepts of Liberty in Iran.” 3:30-5:00 p.m., Denny Hall, Rm. 216. M.A. Homayoun Katouzian, Professor, Oxford University. EDITOR
October 18 Felicia J. Hecker “Russian-Ottoman Warfare on the Danube in the Eighteenth Century.” 1:30-3:20 p.m., Thomson Hall, Rm. 317. Virginia Aksan, Professor of History, McMaster University. ADDRESS
November 1 Middle East Center “Millets and Minorities: Non-Muslims in the Ottoman Empire.” 1:30-3:20 p.m., Box 353650 Parrington Hall, Commons. Aron Rodrigue, Lokey Professor of History, Stanford. University of Washington
November 1 Seattle, WA 98195 USA Global Teach, “Explaining the Middle East: A Cultural Approach to Interpreting Media Events and Stories.” 4:15-7:00 p.m. (see front page of this newsletter for details). TELEPHONE
November 3 206-543-4227 “Spatial and Temporal Reconfigurations of Israel in the Wake of the 1967 War: A Comparison of Jerusalem, Hebron, and the Sinai.” 1:30-3:30, Thomson Hall, Rm 317. FAX Gershon Shafir, Professor of Sociology, UC—San Diego. 206-685-0668
November 8 E-MAIL “Alternative Routes to State Transformation: A Relational Approach to Politics, Culture, [email protected] and http://jsis.artsci.washington.edu/ Society in the Ottoman Empire.” 1:30-3:20, Thomson Hall, Rm 317. Karen Barkey, programs/mideast/index.html/ Associate Professor of Sociology, Columbia University.
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