In this course, we will explore the configuration of ...



MAAS-611: Knowledge, Power & Politics:

Education in the Middle East & North Africa

Fall 2017

Tuesdays 12:30-3:00 in ICC 212

Prof. Fida Adely

fja25@georgetown.edu 143 ICC

Office Hours: Wednesdays 2:00-4:00

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course explores the interplay of knowledge and power in the constitution of educational institutions and policies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), as well as in defining appropriate and desirable forms of knowing, teaching and learning. We will examine a number of key questions related to education in MENA, namely: 

-How are educational institutions and “legitimate” forms of knowledge shaped by religious, economic, cultural and political forces? 

-How did colonization and other Western interventions shape education in MENA and what are its enduring effects? 

-How has the expansion of state-funded public schooling contributed to the processes of state formation and power consolidation in the region? What have been the unintended effects of these processes? 

-What are the primary debates, tensions and challenges related to educational developments in the region today? 

-How have global educational policies, assessments and measures come to shape educational policy in the region? 

The course begins with an examination of some of the historical forms of teaching and learning and then maps their development to the more contemporary forms of schooling that we find beginning in the 20th century and on a broader scale from the mid 20th century forward. Then it moves to contemporary challenges and conflicts faced by a range of actors engaged in the process of trying to define and redefine “legitimate” knowledge and “quality” education.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. In class participation 10%

2. Weekly Posts 25%

3. Country Case Study 35%

Paper (25%), Presentation (5%), Blog version of paper (5%)

4. Final Paper Proposal 5%

5. Final Paper 25%

Attendance & Participation (10%) – This course is a seminar. Your grade and the quality of our class time rely upon the regular and substantive engagement of all students. Each student is expected to attend class, having read all the week’s readings and prepared to fully participate in class discussion. Your grade will be dependent on your preparedness for class and the quality of your participation. *Students are allowed to miss one class. Each subsequent absence will result in the lowering of the overall grade. Note, if you miss class you must still hand in your weekly post. If you know that you will miss a class ahead of time (e.g., for major religious holiday, family emergency, etc.) please let me know when that is possible.

Weekly Posts (25%) – Each week, students are required to post a 300-350 word reflection on an issue or theme raised in that week’s reading, as well as a well-thought out discussion question related to the week’s reading via Blackboard by midnight on Monday night. These comments and question(s) should reflect your careful reading of the current week’s assigned readings. They will be graded on a scale of 0-2 [0 = nothing posted or insufficient post; 1=satisfactory post; 2 = a strong post which reflects careful reading and analysis]. Students should come to class ready to discuss their posts.

Country Case Study (35%): Students will be asked to pick a country in the region and develop a country knowledge/education profile. There will be three assignments related to this case study:

1) 10-15 page paper (20%)

(double-space, 12 point font, one-inch margins, endnotes)

2) 10 Minute presentation (5%)

3) Converting your paper into a blog post for the class website (5%)

We will discuss the contents of these profiles and the shorter assignments further in class. Preliminarily, however, these profiles will include:

1. A brief history of development of educational institutions in said country. Include a discussion of historical debates and/or controversies surrounding appropriate knowledge, pedagogical authority, and/or educational reforms.

2. Contemporary (last 20-30 years) demographic profile of educational institutions, access to those institutions, any data on educational outcomes, inequalities, etc.

3. Discuss at least one informal or unofficial knowledge transmission/production initiative underway. How should we think about these efforts in relation to formal education, development, etc.?

4. Conclude with questions and/or a research agenda to which your research points.

*Due Friday November 3rd @ noon.

Final Paper (25%) & Proposal (5%): Final papers should address a related to the class. Final papers should be 15-20 pages (double-space, 12 point font, one-inch margins, endnotes). The proposal should 500-600 words outlining the research, primary research questions and approach to the research topic. The proposal should also include a preliminary bibliography that includes at least 10 sources. While sources may include official documents and/or literature from educational development agencies, they should also include peer-reviewed academic sources. The proposal should reflect a clear research topic/question and should demonstrate that you have conducted preliminary research for this paper. Although the final bibliography may differ somewhat, this initial bibliography should be indicative of the types of sources you plan to draw on for your paper. Developing this initial bibliography should help you to better clarify your research topic and to ascertain how feasible the research question(s) is.

* Proposals DUE 11/10 @ noon.

*Final Paper DUE 12/18 @ noon.

***Any and All Papers must be submitted by the deadline electronically AND in a hard copy. If you cannot get to the office to submit a hard copy into my mailbox then it is your responsibility to recruit a classmate to do so on your behalf. Papers that are more than 24 hours late will be marked down a full grade.

USE OF COMPUTERS IN CLASS: For the past few years I have observed that computers are increasingly becoming a distraction in the classroom – not just to the student surfing the web, emailing, etc. but also to those seated around this student as well as the professor (me). For that reason I do not allow the use of computers or phones in the classroom. Extensive note taking should happen while you are reading and preparing for class. In class, students should be fully engaged in listening, thinking and discussion. I encourage you all to consider the 2.5 hours we have in class as a luxury – time away from our screens and time to engage with each other.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: Please refer to the Graduate School of Arts and Science’s Information on Academic Integrity: . You are expected to abide by all of these guidelines for all work submitted for this class.

COURSE READINGS

Required Books: The following book is required reading and will be made available on course reserves and through the bookstore:

• Farquhar, M. (2016). Circuits of Faith: Migration, Education, and the Wahhabi Mission. Stanford University Press.

All other readings will be available on CANVAS or through the GU library unless otherwise noted.

SCHEDULE

Session 1 (9/5) Knowledge, Power and Education

* Overview of the purpose, goals and objectives of the course. Review of syllabus.

* Overview of course requirements, expectations and grading

• Fägerlind and Saha, “Education and Development: the Emerging Confidence in Formal Schooling as an Agent of Change,” pp. 32-64 

• Starrett, Gregory (2006). The American Interest in Islamic Schooling: A Misplaced Emphasis? Middle East Policy XIII (I): 120-131.

• The Role of Education in the Arab World Revolutions By Anda Adams and Rebecca Winthrop (6/10/11). 

• Orr, David (1991). What Is Education For?: Six myths about the foundations of modern education and six new principles to replace them.

Session 2 (9/12) Educational Philosophies

• Gunther, Sebastian (2006). Be Masters in that You Teach and Continue to Learn: Medieval Muslim Thinkers on Educational Theory. Comparative Education Review 50 (3): 367-88.

• Freire, Paulo (2000/1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Continuum International Publishing. Read: Introduction (pp. 1-27), Chapter 2 (71-86)

• Dewey, J. (2007). Experience and education. Simon and Schuster. Read Forward, Chapters 1 & 2

Recommended

• Ibn Khaldun (1967). The Muqaddimah. Princeton University Press. [Translated by Franz Rosenthal; Edited and Abridged by N. J. Dawood]: Chapter 6 “The Methods of Instruction Dewey, J. (1934). Individual psychology and education. The Philosopher, Volume. XII

• Büyükdüvencİ, S. (1994). John Dewey's impact on Turkish education. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 13(3-4), 393-400.

The Spread of Educational Ideas:

Colonialism, Nationalism & State-Building

Session 3 (9/19) Educational “Encounters” and the Global Spread of Educational Ideas

• Fortna, Benjamin. (2002). Imperial Classroom: Islam, the State, and Education in the Late Ottoman Empire. Chapters 1-3: pp. 1-99 & 127-29.

• Yousef, H. A. (2012). Seeking the Educational Cure: Egypt and European Education, 1805-1920s. European Education, 44(4), 51-66.

Recommended

• Livingston, John. (1996). Western Science and Educational Reform in the Thought of Shaykh Rifaa al-Tahtawi. International Journal of Middle East Studies 28 (4): 543-564.

Session 4 (9/26) Colonial & Missionary Education

• Segalla, S. D. (2009). Moroccan Soul: French Education, Colonial Ethnology, and Muslim Resistance, 1912-1956. U of Nebraska Press. Chapter 1 (1-31) & Chapter 4 (89-113)

• A. L. Tibawi (1980). English and American Education for Arabs 1900-1931. Arab Studies Quarterly, 2 (3): 203-212

• Fleischmann, E. (2002). The Impact of American Protestant Missions in Lebanon on the Construction of Female Identity, c. 1860-1950. Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 13(4): pp. 412-426.

• Starrett, Gregory (1998) Putting Islam to Work: Education, Politics and the religious transformation in Egypt. University of California Press. Chapter 2 (23-61)

• Ment, D. M. (2011). The American role in education in the Middle East: Ideology and experiment, 1920–1940. Paedagogica Historica, 47(1-2), 173-189.

Recommended

• Shakry, Omnia. (1998). Schooled Mothers and Structured Play. In Abu-Lughod, L. (Ed.) Remaking Women. Princeton: Princeton University: pp. 126-170

• Davis, R. (2003). Commemorating Education: Recollections of the Arab College in Jerusalem, 1918-1948. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 23(1), 190-204.



Session 5 (10/3) Educational Ideas and Nationalism

• Hussein, T. (1954). The Future of Culture in Egypt, trans. S. Glazer. Washington: American Council of Learned Societies. Pages 158-64; 22-29; 39-42.

• Starrett, Gregory (1998) Putting Islam to Work: Education, Politics and the religious transformation in Egypt. University of California Press. Chapter 3 (62-86).

• A. L. Tibawi (1955). Educational Policy and Arab Nationalism in Mandatory Palestine. Die Welt des Islams, New Series, 4 (1): 15-29.

• Pursley, S. (2013). The Stage of Adolescence: Anticolonial Time, Youth Insurgency, and the Marriage Crisis in Hashimite Iraq. History of the Present, 3(2), 160-197.

Recommended

• Gesink, Indira Falk. (2006). Islamic Reformation: A History of Madrassa Reform and Legal Change in Egypt. Comparative Education Review 50 (3): 325-345

• al-Ḥuṣrī, Ṣāṭiʻ, Aḥādīth fī al-tarbīyah waha-al-ijtīmaʻ

Session 6 (10/10) Education and Nation-Building

• Al-Rasheed, M. (2013). A Most Masculine State: Gender, politics and religion in Saudi Arabia (Vol. 43). Cambridge University Press. Chapter 2 (77-107).

• Ayse Gül Altinay (2005). The Myth of the Military Nation: Militarism, Gender, and Education in Turkey. Palgrave Macmillan. Chapter 6 (141-57)

• Adely, Fida (2010). Performing Patriotism. Rituals and Moral Authority in a Jordanian High School. In André E. Mazawi and Ronald G. Sultana (Eds.) Education and the Arab “World”: Political Projects, Struggles, and Geometries of Power (Routledge): 132-144.

• Frayha, N. (2009). Pressure groups, education policy and curriculum development in Lebanon: A policy maker’s retrospective and introspective standpoint. In André E. Mazawi and Ronald G. Sultana (Eds.) Education in the Arab World: Local/Global Resonances and Dynamics. World Yearbook of Education 2010. Routledge: 93-113

• Douglas Susan (2017). TEACHING THE WORLD IN THREE MASS EDUCATION SYSTEMS: BRITAIN, EGYPT, AND INDIA, 1950-1970. PhD, George Mason University.

*Dr. Susan Douglas, director of outreach for CCAS] will come speak about her research on state building in Britain, Egypt, and India and History Curriculum.

Recommended

- Anderson, B. (2005). Nationalist Voices in Jordan: The Street and the State. Austin: University of Texas Press. Chapter 4 (61-83) & Chapter 5 (84-116)

- Ayse Gül Altinay (2005). The Myth of the Military Nation: Militarism, Gender, and Education in Turkey. Palgrave Macmillan. Chapter 5 (119-40)

Session 7 (10/17) – Islam, the State, and Education

• Zeghal, Malika (2010) Public Institutions of religious education in Egypt and Tunisia: Contrasting the post-colonial reforms of al-Azhar and Zaytuna. In Trajectories of Education in the Arab World: Legacies and Challenges, ed. O. Abi-Mershed, London: Routledge: 111-124

• Starrett, G., & Doumato, E. A. (2007). Textbook Islam, nation building, and the question of violence. In Doumato, E. & Starrett, G. (Eds.) Teaching Islam:  Textbooks and Religion in the Middle East. Boulder, CO:  Lynne Rienner Publishers: pp. 1-25

• Eickelman, D. (1992) “Mass Higher Education and the Religious Imagination in Contemporary Arab Societies.” American Ethnologist 19, no. 4 (November 1992), 643-655.

• Adely, Fida. (2012). “God made beautiful things”: Proper faith and religious authority in a Jordanian high school. American Ethnologist 39(2): 297-312.

• Farquhar, M. (2016). Circuits of Faith: Migration, Education, and the Wahhabi Mission. Stanford University Press. Introduction.

Recommended

• Shively, K. (2008) “Taming Islam: Studying Religion in Secular Turkey.” Anthropological Quarterly 81 (3): 683-711.

• Pak, S. (2004) “Articulating the Boundary between Secularism and Islamism: the Imam-Hatip Schools of Turkey.” Anthropology and Education Quarterly 35, no. 3 (September 2004), 324-344.

Session 8 (10/24) Educational Migrations

• Farquhar, M. (2016). Circuits of Faith: Migration, Education, and the Wahhabi Mission. Stanford University Press.

Session 9 (10/31) Education and Development

Policy Papers

• Steer, L., Ghanem, H., & Jalbout, M. (2014). Arab Youth: Missing Educational Foundations for a Productive Life. Center for Universal Education. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution (20 pp).

• World Bank (2008). The Road Not Traveled: Education Reform in the Middle East and North Africa. (Selections).

General Education and Development

• Chapman, D. & Quijada, J. (2009). An analysis of USAID assistance to basic education in the developing world, 1990–2005. International Journal of Educational Development 29 (3): 268-280.

• Heyneman, S. P. (2003). The history and problems in the making of education policy at the World Bank 1960-2000. International Journal of Educational Development 23(3): 315-337.

Education and Development in the Arab World

• Mazawi, A. (2010). Naming the Imaginary:” Building an Arab Knowledge Society” and the Contested Terrain of educational Reforms for development. In Trajectories of Education in the Arab World: Legacies and Challenges, ed. O. Abi-Mershed, London: Routledge: 201-225

Cases

• Warschauer, M. (2004) “The rhetoric and reality of aid: Promoting educational technology in Egypt”, Globalisation, Societies and Education, 2(3), pp. 377–90.

• Morton, M. H., & Montgomery, P. (2012). Empowerment-based non-formal education for Arab youth: A pilot randomized trial. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(2), 417-425.

** In addition, students are asked to look at the country statistical profiles of three (3) MENA countries on the UNESCO website and come ready to discuss:

Session 10 (11/7) –– Gender, Education and Development

Guest Speaker: Vicki Valosik “Turning your paper into a blog/e-article”

CCAS, Multimedia & Publications Editor

• Ridge, N. (2014). Education and the Reverse Gender Divide in the Gulf States: Embracing the Global, Ignoring the Local. Teachers College Press. Chapter 3 (61-79); Chapter 4 (80-104).

• Adely, F. J. (2009). Educating women for development: the Arab Human Development Report 2005 and the problem with women's choices. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 41(1), 105-122.

• LeVine, R., S. LeVine, and B. Schnell. 2001. “Improve the Woman”: Mass schooling, female literacy, and worldwide social change. Harvard Educational Review 71 (1): 1-50.

Recommended

• Adely, F. (2012). Gendered paradoxes: Educating Jordanian women in nation, faith, and progress. University of Chicago Press.

Session 11 (11/14)– Education and Language Policy

In Class: Country Profile Presentations

• Smail, G. (2017). Politicized pedagogy in Morocco: A comparative case of teachers of English and Arabic. International Journal of Educational Development, 53, 151-162.

• Boutieri, C. (2012). In two speeds (A deux vitesses): Linguistic pluralism and educational anxiety in contemporary Morocco. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 44(3), 443-464.

• Daniel, M. C., & Ball, A. (2010). The Moroccan educational context: Evolving multilingualism. International Journal of Educational Development, 30(2), 130-135.

• Benrabah, M. (2007). Language-in-education planning in Algeria: Historical development and current issues. Language policy, 6(2), 225-252.

• Sharkey, H. J. (2008). Arab identity and ideology in Sudan: The politics of language, ethnicity, and race. African Affairs, 107(426), 21-43.

• Zakharia, Z. (2009). Positioning Arabic in Schools. In Critical Approaches to Comparative Education (pp. 215-231). Palgrave Macmillan US.

Recommended

• Aissati, A. E., Karsmakers, S., & Kurvers, J. (2011). ‘We are all beginners’: Amazigh in language policy and educational practice in Morocco. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 41(2), 211-227.

• Zakharia, Z. (2010). Language-in-education policies in contemporary Lebanon: Youth perspectives. In Trajectories of Education in the Arab World: Legacies and Challenges, ed. O. Abi-Mershed, London: Routledge: 157-184

Session 12 (11/21)—Educational Inequality

In Class: Country Profile Presentations

• Salehi-Isfahani, Djavad, with Nadia Belhaj Hassin and Ragui Assaad (2014). Equality of Opportunity in Education in the Middle East and North Africa, The Journal of Economic Inequality, 12(4): 489-515. 

• Lloyd, Cynthia; El Tawila, Sahar; Clark, Wesley; Mensch, Barbara (2003). The Impact of Educational Quality on School Exit in Egypt. Comparative Education Review 47(4) pp. 444-467.

• Bray, M., Mazawi, A. E., & Sultana, R. G. (Eds.). (2013). Private tutoring across the Mediterranean. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. [Intro & Conclusion]

Available as e-book through GU. In this volume also read:

Hartmann, S. (2013). Education ‘home delivery’ in Egypt. In Private tutoring across the Mediterranean (pp. 57-75). Sense Publishers.

• Elgeziri, M. (2010). Wading through Treacle: Female Commercial School Graduates (CSGs) in Egypt's Informal Economy. Feminist Formations, 22(3): 10-50.

Recommended

• Buckner, E. (2013). Access to Higher Education in Egypt: Examining Trends by University Sector. Comparative Education Review, 57(3), 527-552.

• Sobhy, Hania (2012). “The De-Facto Privatization of Secondary Education in Egypt: A Study of Private Tutoring in Technical and General Schools.” Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education 42.1 (2012): 47-67.

Session 13 (11/28) – Education, Conflict and “Emergencies”

In Class: Country Profile Presentations

• Mendenhall, Mary Anne, Susan Garnett Russell, and Elizabeth Bruckner. "Urban Refugee Education: Strengthening Policies and Practices for Access, Quality, and Inclusion." (2017) [64pp.]

• De Santisteban, A. V. (2005). Sanctions, war, occupation and the de-development of education in Iraq. International review of education, 51(1): 59-71.

• Akesson, B. (2015). School as a place of violence and hope: Tensions of education for children and families in post-intifada Palestine. International Journal of Educational Development, 41, 192-199.

• Tfaily, Rania, Hassan Dian, and Andrzej Kulczycki (2013). “Educational Disparities and Conflict: Evidence from Lebanon,” Research in Comparative and International Education 8 (1): 55-73.

• Burde, D., Middleton, J. A., & Wahl, R. (2015). Islamic studies as early childhood education in countries affected by conflict: The role of mosque schools in remote Afghan villages. International Journal of Educational Development, 41, 70-79.



• TBD – Syria Report

Recommended

- Mendenhall, M. A. (2012). Education sustainability in the relief-development transition: Challenges for international organizations working in countries affected by conflict. International Journal of Educational Development 35: 67-77.

- Burde, D., Arnstein, T., Zakharia, Z., & Gonzales, B. (2005). Education in Emergencies and post-conflict situations: problems, responses and possibilities.

Session 14 (12/5) – Presentations & Wrap Up Exercise

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