Semester in Egypt

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The following entries will be from my semester in Egypt. To give some perspective, I have copied some info from the program's website.

The Middle East Studies Program (MESP) seeks to prepare students to live the Christian life in a world that is religiously and culturally pluralistic, whether that's in the Middle East, North America or other parts of the world. Students experience intense encounters with different worldviews while the MESP community offers a supportive environment.

As a program sponsored by the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, the Middle East Studies Program is academically grounded in a Christian liberal arts context. Efforts are made to fully integrate the Christian faith with the curriculum and community life. In light of this, the objectives of the Middle East Studies Program are as follows:

• To create in students an awareness of the variety of peoples and cultures in Middle Eastern countries and to acquaint them with the historical interweaving of religion, culture, politics and economics in this region of the world;

• To educate students concerning the global dimensions of the Islamic faith and to acquaint them with the challenges faced by Muslims as they seek to relate to contemporary political, economic, religious and social structures;

• To help students understand the complex issues surrounding current regional conflicts and ongoing efforts toward achieving a lasting peace in the Middle East;

• To educate students concerning the history of Christian, Muslim and Jewish relations in the Middle East and to facilitate an evaluation of the intellectual and theological presuppositions and rhetoric of the activist proponents of these religions;

• To help students with the basic process of learning from people of another culture by involving them in the study of a foreign language and by exposing them to Middle Eastern social contexts in ways that go beyond textbook and classroom learning; and

• To engage students in social interaction and field service opportunities with Middle Eastern peoples.

For more, see Middle East Studies Program

Courses

The MESP integrates the study of culture, history, religion, politics, and language. Three seminar courses and an Arabic course continue throughout the semester.

Introduction to Arabic Language (4 credits)
This course, taught by Egyptian instructors affiliated with the American University in Cairo, aims to help students acquire basic skills in Egyptian Arabic, a dialect widely understood in the Arab world. The course emphasizes the practical use of the language, encouraging interaction with the locals through the use of "language lab Cairo" assignments or during visits to service projects. Small classes four days a week offer a solid introduction to the colloquial grammar and a substantial vocabulary as students take more than 50 hours of instruction. Once completed, the course should bring students to the intermediate level of Egyptian colloquial Arabic.


Islamic Thought and Practice (4 credits)
This course examines many dimensions of Islamic faith-historical, legal, doctrinal, popular, and behavioral-from early times to the present. While emphasis is on the early period and its influence on latter events and people, it also attempts to relate these early developments to contemporary issues in the Middle East like the impact of colonialism, gender equality, modernization, development, and democracy. Students are encouraged to begin thinking about relevant similarities and differences between themselves and Muslim peoples around the world. The course also makes use of the "Cairo Lab" in order to showcase some of the most historically influential institutions and architecture in the Arab world. Occasionally, students encounter important personalities associated with institutions like Al Azhar, Cairo University, the Egyptian Government, or the Arab League. Dr. Holt may teach all or some of this course as well as the seminars that follow, but he frequently makes use of local scholars affiliated with American University in Cairo and Cairo University, and guest lecturers with particular expertise of relevance to the subject at hand.


Conflict and Change in the Middle East (4 credits)
This course examines the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or what many scholars now call "the 100 years war." Beginning with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the course traces the origin of the conflict from the early encounters between Arab and Jew in Palestine to the contemporary struggle to achieve a final status agreement between Israelis and Palestinians today. Students learn about the complexity and difficulty of reaching peace in an otherwise tiny space shared by two peoples with competing civilizational visions. While current conflict between the two peoples may prohibit travel to Israel/Palestine, the course usually includes a ten day on-site component in Israel/Palestine in order to give students first-hand experience seeing and hearing the important people and places that make this conflict so difficult. This component is subject to change based on safety considerations. Finally, another important part of the course includes an intense negotiation simulation in Cairo, where students take on role characters, Israeli and Palestinian respectively, and actively engage their counterparts across the table in final status talks related to Jerusalem, borders and security, refugees, water, and settlements.


Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East (4 credits)
With an emphasis on anthropological approaches to the region, this course examines the variety of peoples and cultures in the Middle East in societies like Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Turkey, or perhaps other countries as well. MESP for example, has recently added Tunisia and Morocco for the first time to its possible travel options. While the selection of travel locations will depend upon safety conditions and budgetary constraints prevailing at the time of travel, the course nonetheless seeks to introduce students to patterns of thought and behavior which characterize the region generally without losing sight of important differences across countries. The Middle East is a multiethnic, multi-confessional region, and student travel allows them to observe and study a great variety of social, religious, and political groups. In addition, students learn about pressing issues, from gender to war to economic development, that currently animate the many religious and political communities they visit.

As part of our culture component of the program, we arrange weeklong home-stays with mainly Muslim families. Each family has a contact person who is the same gender and is an English speaker so students have a way to communicate their needs, ideas, and feelings. It is a positive as well as necessary experience in order for students to appreciate the genuine nature of life in Egypt. While most students stay individually with a family, some MESP students may do their home-stays together with another MESP student.

Service Projects

Students participate in service projects every Tuesday, except when traveling. Opportunities include working with orphan babies, Sudanese refugees, disadvantaged children of Garbage City, the elderly, and other possibilities. Some may be subject to change based on factors related to both students and locations.

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Photos

Guard Hut
The hut is situated right outside the gate to the MESP Villa. On this day, the guard was absent, only the abandoned loaded AK-47 was there.

Karema, The Cook
2x meals a day, five days a week.

David Holt, Ph.D Director
'Uncle Dave' taking one of the hundreds of pictures that he would later burn on a CD for us. (I don't have a better picture)

Dr. Diaa Nashed M.D. Assistant Director
Dr. Diaa, the local know how that keeps the program running smothly, and logistical mastermind that allows the travel components to function without drama.