Course of Study

“After learning about the Arab world, the group started an epic road trip that toured around the wonders of Petra and crusader’s castles, the magnificent and peaceful Wadi Rum with its map of constellations...and finally the natural reserve of brave activists for climate conservation and water proliferation."Martin Salvador, 2012

Culture and History: Understanding the Arab World combines classroom instruction with exciting opportunities for experiential, integrated learning. Students connect their classroom lectures, reading, and individual research to the people and sites they experience in Jordan. The program's three highly qualified instructors co-teach, direct research projects, and supervise writing workshop groups, helping students build skills they need in order to succeed in college. Because of the low student-to-instructor ratio and the amount of time spent traveling, eating, and living together, students are able to spend considerable time with their instructors, continuing conversations started in the classroom.

The curriculum aims to give the students a comprehensive understanding of Arab cultures, the Middle East, and the region's relationship with the rest of the world. Students also gain relevant theoretical and historical knowledge so that they are able to put their experiences in context academically and culturally.

Topics of lectures and discussions have included:

• History of the Middle East as a region and a construct
• Orientalism and Western scholarship on the Middle East
• Religious diversity and identity
• Literature, art, music, and pop culture
• Inter-regional and international relations and politics
• The legacy of British colonialism
• Refugees’ impact on the various Arab nations
• Spotlight on Jordan: exception or norm?
• Environmental challenges facing the Middle East: the drying Dead Sea, the Jordan River Valley, unsustainable farming
• Gender politics, real and imagined
• The Arab Spring and the post-2011 Arab World
• Ethnographic, historical, and other relevant methodologies necessary for conducting research and contextualizing what students learn both during class and on site visits
• Methodologies and theories from the fields of anthropology, religious studies, history, political science, museum studies, and literature
• Building writing, research, and critical thinking skills necessary for success in college

Course assignments include short writing assignments and class presentations, an individual research article on a topic of the student’s choice, group topic presentations, and a full-group collaboration on a magazine.

The program has four phases, each lasting around a week: preliminary lectures at Columbia University; coursework and day trips based at King's Academy; travel throughout Jordan with Friends of the Earth Middle East and Bedouin Discovery; and finally research, writing, and presentation of final projects at Columbia. These four phases are detailed below:

Week 1:
At Columbia, students attend three lectures per day. There will also be an evening film screening and discussion. Students are introduced to an overview of Middle Eastern history as well as to key concepts to prepare for their time in Jordan. Students also receive instruction in basic Arabic conversation and will engage in their first ethnographic research project at the airport. Students are broken up into topically-based research groups, within which they will collaborate throughout the course. Students begin entries in a daily journal in which they synthesize their reflections on coursework, experiences, and research.

Week 2:
At King’s Academy, students’ time is divided between classroom instruction and site visits in the surrounding area. Classroom lectures and discussions, some with guest lecturers, prepare students for their visits and expose them to a wide variety of cultural, political, historical and environmental topics. Students continue to complete short writing assignments and give small presentations in class, as well as meet with their topic groups and advising instructor to begin planning final papers and projects. A series of Arabic movies will also be screened in the King’s Academy dormitories.

Week 3:
Students travel in northern and southern Jordan, detailed in the Travel and Field Trips section.

Week 4:
In the last week back at Columbia, students focus on completion of their final group and individual projects. The week begins with research and technology workshops to introduce the students to the resources available at Columbia. Subsequently the students meet individually and in groups with instructors for continuing guidance in their research and writing. The program concludes with the students giving formal, multi-media presentations of their individual and group projects.