Debunking the Myths and Stereotypes in Middle-Eastern History

36 Pages·2009·0.9 MB·English

NCSS
Yasemin Alptekin, Ph.D.
November 13, 2009
Atlanta, GA
“It is what we think we know
already that often prevents us
from learning.”
Claude Bernard
(1813-1878)
French Physiologist
Fertile Crescent and Crusades
www2.lhric.org/.../ms/teachers/stabile/maps.htm
Fertile Crescent and Ottoman Empire
Middle-Eastern Countries
• Bahrain
• Egypt
• Iran
• Iraq
• Israel
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Oman
• Palestine
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Syria
• Turkey
• United Arab Emirates
• Yemen
Geography vs History
Present
Past
Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World
Through Islamic Eyes
“Islam is a vast narrative moving thorough time,
anchored by the birth of that community in Mecca and
Medina fourteen centuries ago. The story includes
many characters who are not Muslim and many events
that are not religious. Jews and Christians and Hindus
are part of this story. Industrialization is an element of
the plot and so is the steam engine and discovery of
oil. When you look at it this way, Islam is a vast
complex of communal purposes moving through time,
driven by its own internally coherent assumptions.
And so is the west.” by Tamim Ansary (2009)
Significance of the ME
Region
Religions
Resources
Geography History and News Hour
• Turkey
• Egypt
• Iran
• Iraq
• Israel
• Jordan
• Lebanon
• Syria
• Palestine
• Kuwait
• Bahrein
• Oman
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• United Arab Emirates
• Yemen
Question:
In that diverse geography, with
multiple civilizations ,
cultures, climates, with its
people barrowing, moving in
and out of the region, and
with its longer than 1600 years
of history….