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The Image of the "other" in the school books in Europe and in the Arab World
Dr.Fawzia
AL ASHMAWI*
Nowadays,
people around the world remain divided based on religious differences that are
passed from generation to generation and written into history textbooks,
perpetuated in discussions between teachers and their students and between
parents and their children. These differences of belief have contributed to
violence, armed conflicts and wars throughout the centuries. Nevertheless, real
potential for change exists and we have to promote a culture of peace that leads
the way toward the development of curricula for promoting principles of
tolerance among young people and adults. Despite the fact that we have different
faiths, we share common values and common target which focus on peace. Peaceful
co-existence as well as the desire for a comprehensive peace and justice in the
world makes it incumbent upon us to review history textbooks. It is obvious that
one of the keys to creating peaceful societies is the development of curricula
that teach young pupils to respect differences between people and to appreciate
common values which can help them to overcome prejudices.
-
Ten years ago, we conducted, under the auspices of the UNESCO, a comparative
study about the image of the "other" in history textbooks in some
Mediterranean countries. We aimed at outline the image of the "other"
as presented in elementary schools. We have observed that most history textbooks
in Europe depict Europe as the epicenter of important historical events. A blind
eye is turned completely against the important historical events that are
regarded as landmarks in the history of the Arabs and Islamic nations. This
indifference towards the history of "the other" in fact reflects a
conscious rejection of the "other" and a myopic view of the history.
-The
European Curricula tend to depict Islam and its founder, Mohammad, within
Jewish-Christian perspective including negative connotations and containing
information which to say the least, is injurious to the feelings of Muslims.
-Almost
all these textbooks begin with the presentation of Islam's fast expansion and
the fast conquests realized by its founder and successors showed in a
stereotyped way as Arab conquerors, as savage and invincible invaders.
-An
important chapter of the European books is the one on the Crusades, where it is
claimed that the fundamental objectives of the Crusades was to liberate
Jerusalem from the infidels (the Muslims).
-The
European books maintain complete silence or deliberately ignore the extensive
sense of tolerance shown by the Muslims following the recapture of Jerusalem in
the year 1187 when the Muslim commander, Salahuddin, declared a general amnesty
for all the inhabitants of the holy city. Needless to say that the motive behind
such deliberate omission of historical facts is to distort the image of Muslims
in the minds of school children by falsifying the past.
-An
example of the phenomena of deliberate disregard by European authors can be seen
in the failure of the European textbooks to recognize the contribution made by
Arab-Muslim philosophers and scientists to the European Renaissance in the 15th
century.
-After
11 September 2001, the European curricula of secondary schools are mainly
concerned with contemporary Islam, they point out the widespread religious trend
with elaborate commentary on "fundamentalism, fanaticism and the danger of
intolerance". The term "Jihad" is commonly translated by holy war
and not by a spiritual or nonviolent physical struggle over evil, the term of
"martyrdom" is associated with terrorism and suicide bombers, both are
used frequently to imply Islamic approach in rejecting European modernity and
peaceful co-existence. Some authors seek information on those concepts in the
wake of the Sept.l 1 terrorist attacks'on The U.S. by Muslim extremists.
-As
for the Arabo-Islamic presentation of Europe's Christian and Jewish culture, it
corresponds to Islam's view of Christianity and Jewish faith as displayed in the
Koran: Moses and his miracles, the Virgin Mary, Jesus, his miracles and his
Ascension are presented according to Islam's dogma; this presentation is
sometimes even ascertained by Koranic verses in history textbooks.
-The
Muslim presentation of Europeans contains more critical views of Western
culture: sexual liberty, broking-up families, marriage of homosexuals.. etc.
-In
the Egyptian history textbooks, despite the Camp David Agreement between Egypt
and Israel 25 years ago, there arcs no mention of the name of Israel in the text
neither in the maps of the Middle-East region. They use the term of "the
Jewish state", the name of Palestine is maintained (according to a study by
the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, in March 2004).
-While
European authors use omission and neglect as weapons in order to mask historical
truth, Muslim authors make use of an emphatic terminology and overvalue
historical facts in order to stress the Muslim's past glory.
-These
methods of omission and emphatic presentation of facts aim on the one hand at
distorting young Christians' image of Muslims and on the other hand at
encouraging the young Muslims' religious and patriotic sense, to make them proud
of their glorious past and to generate the hope that they will some day recover
the former glory and pay the West back.
Suggestions:
-Revise
all textbooks in view to remove from all the established stereotypes and the
preconceived ideas that reflect a negative view of the "other".
-
Promote the spirit of impartiality, objectivity and rationality among the
authors of the curricula.
-Put
forward proposals for rewriting the curricula with a view to rectifying the
reconceived ideas and the traditional misconceptions so as to achieve a better
understanding of the "other".
-
Promote the study of the sacred texts in search of shared values that students
could
adopt in everyday life.
-Promote
inter-religious education which encourages respect for other faiths and prepares
students to cast aside barries of prejudice and intolerance and to recognize the
"other" as an equal and not as an opponent.
-
Foster a culture of peace, which prevents violence, promotes conflict-resolution
and peace- building in the curricula.
-Strive
for improvement of the international education system by fostering the
cultivation of knowledge, critical thinking and global awareness among the young
students.
-Increase
the degree of cooperation between the international institutions serving in the
field of education and culture for peace.
-
Organize more symposia and conferences on the importance of education and
curricula as tools for peace.
*
Dr. Fawzia AL ASHMAWI, Egyptian and Swiss, is since 1979 working as lecturer of
Arabic language and Islamic civilization at The University of Geneva in
Switzerland. She holds PHD in Arabic Literature and Islamic Studies from The
University of Geneva in 1983. She is an Egyptian novelist: she has since 1990
published several novels and short stories in Arabic and has also contributed
several articles to journals of repute in Egypt, France and Switzerland. She
worked as Senior Researcher for European Commission and ISESCO. Her research
interests are mainly in the fields of the image of the other and of religions in
textbooks, the status of Muslim Women, human Rights m Islam and inter-religious
dialogue. She is the founder of the "European Forum for Muslim Women"
which arms to promote human rights for Muslim women in European countries.
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