Seminar description
This course has two goals. It aims to familiarize students with current challenges and dynamics within Arab societies. It seeks to help students develop a critical perspective on prevalent analytical frameworks such as culturalist, orientalist analyses applied to the region. To achieve this, we will use a controversy, conflict, or current event as an entry point to illuminate one or more dimensions of the society we are studying. The countries studied will vary from session to session to reflect the socio-economic, cultural, religious, and political diversity of the region, as well as the common challenges facing these countries.
Get to know your professor
Moutaa Amine El Waer
You can call me…
Professor
I just can't live without…
Olive oil
I just can't live without…
Olive oil
My hometown is…
Beni Khedache, Tunisia
For my undergraduate degree…
I studied accountancy at Manouba University in Tunisia.
I am surprisingly good at…
Quickly adapting to new contexts
Fun fact:
I have a kind of “obsession” with mentally mapping out my surroundings as I walk through different areas.
If I wasn't teaching, I would be a…
Plumber
What I'm working on now is…
Student movement transformations in Tunisia.
Lately, something that has been exciting me about my research/scholarship is…
The remarkable transformations the movement has experienced in just a few years.
A fun fact about my field of study is…
Studying social movements provides a valuable opportunity to analyze social changes as they occur.
I was inspired to get into this field because…
I had participated in this movement for a long time, and yet, several years after leaving it, I had many unanswered questions about it.
My first-year seminar in five words:
- critical thinking
- revolution
- migration
- corruption
- terrorism
In a sentence, what you’ll learn in my course:
How to think critically about the Arab-majority countries.
One of my favourite things about teaching first-year students is…
Meeting enthusiastic people full of curiosity.
My best advice for those starting their first year…
Every experience and bit of knowledge you accumulate throughout your life is valuable because it shapes your unique and personal perspective; always remember that.
NAME: Chelsea Rochman.