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Afghan, Arabic College Courses Gaining Popularity in U.S.
AUSTIN, November 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) -
The Daily Texan, the leading student newspaper of the University of Texas, announced that the geography department would be offering a course on "Cultural Crossroads in Afghanistan and Central Asia," as a result of the September 11 attacks and the subsequent U.S.-led "war on terrorism."
"Before, it [the region] was seen as a rather peripheral area," said William Rowe, an assistant instructor in the University of Texas-Austin said. "It's no longer peripheral, it seems."
Without knowledge of the geography of that region, students would have difficulty understanding its political, religious and cultural issues, Rowe said.
To present a complete depiction of the Afghan region, Rowe added, the class would have to also include information concerning the policies of the United States, Russia, Pakistan and Iran, as well as Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia.
"In 1989, the United States - by providing Afghans with weapons and other equipment throughout the Reagan administration - helped the country's resistance to the Soviet invasion," Rowe told the
Daily Texan. "But immediately after, the United States discontinued financial support, abandoning Afghanistan's need to establish a stable government."
"The geography of that region is such that the U.S. has made some politically dreadful mistakes with Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India," he said. "We've allied ourselves with governments that were not popular, and we left things long before they were stabilized."
Another course related to the September attacks is called "Globalization." Gregory Napp, chairperson of the geography department, said the course is important because of the impact of globalization on the recent attacks.
A year ago, the demand for such a class - which combines Asian, Middle Eastern and Russian Studies - was next to none, said Napp.
"To be frank, if we offered the course about Afghanistan a year ago, we'd be lucky to get four or five students in the class - it would be a hard sell," he said. "We can offer the course but can't require students to take it, so it puts a little responsibility in the students' laps to try to learn more about the world they live in."
Napp said Americans typically express isolationist behavior and have a tendency to be less informed about other nations. On the other hand, residents of other nations are much more informed about the United States.
At a time when international relations become increasingly relevant, many have said unfamiliarity with U.S. foreign policy prevents Americans from understanding the issues behind September 11.
Early in October, U.S. academia said they saw a dramatic jump in interest in Arabic and Islamic studies as a result of the deadly attacks being linked by the United States to groups allegedly in the Middle East.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that at Harvard University, four times more students than usual have registered for a course on Middle Eastern society, according to school officials.
The University of Chicago's introductory Arabic language course drew two to three times the usual number of enrollees after the September 11 attacks, said AFP.
"There's a hunger for information that responds to a sense of dismay and incomprehension," said Carol Bardenstein, assistant professor of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan. "In the most narrow scenario, they [students] want to confirm negative preconceptions about the entire Arab world."
"In a more constructive one," she continued, "they want to understand where they [the alleged terrorists] came from, whether it has to do with factors located in Middle East, or to American foreign policy."
Fred Donner, chairperson of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization at the University of Chicago, said it was "too early" to speak of the impact of the attacks on admissions.
Still, he said, "enrollment in elementary Arabic, which has been increasing steadily over the past decade, shot up significantly this year."
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