Tag: Middle East

Understanding Misperceptions

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The Middle East
The Middle East

Why should we as individuals care about the Middle East?  It seems so far away and distant and irrelevant to us.  The fact of the matter is that our lack of knowledge has caused us to stereotype Middle Eastern people and this lack of education needs to change. Most students cannot even locate the Middle East on a map and they think that Islam is the answer to everything.  In this video interview, some common misperceptions on the Middle East are clarified by Dr. Teipen.

  • Why do we need to understand Middle Eastern culture?
  • What is the history of our Western misconceptions?
  • How should we shift the focus of U.S. aid to the Middle East?
  • How has our Western culture impacted that of the Middles East?

Hopefully, watching this interview will spark your curiosity to learn more and end false accusations and assumptions about a group of people who have much more in common with both you and I than you once thought. Teipen Interview

Check out some images of Furman’s Religion Department and Dr. Alfons Teipen.

Insight into Women and Education in the Middle East

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Education of young women in the Middle East.
Education of young women in the Middle East.

Ignorance on issues of international significance is the root of many misunderstandings. The plight of women and education in the Middle East is one such topic. After speaking with Dr. Alfons Teipen, a religion professor here at Furman, I gained some knowledge on a previous topic in my blog that focused on women and education in the Middle East, particularly Afghanistan.

Here are some startling statistics regarding women just in Afghanistan:

  • Every 30 minutes, an Afghan woman dies during childbirth
  • 87 percent of Afghan women are illiterate
  • 30 percent of girls have access to education in Afghanistan
  • 1 in every 3 Afghan women experience physical, psychological or sexual violence
  • 44 years is the average life expectancy rate for women in Afghanistan
  • 70 to 80 percent of women face forced marriages in Afghanistan

Obviously education is not the only issue for females in the Middle East.  However, having widespread accessibility to education will slowly impact and improve other aspects of women’s lives.

Before speaking with Dr. Teipen, I was under the assumption that the efforts for women to gain education were minimal and that the root of this was their religion of Islam.  He erased these false thoughts when he informed me that it has more to do with their patriarchal culture and the Taliban’s skewed interpretations of original Islamic texts.

In this brief interview with Dr. Teipen, he explained the history and significance of the plight of women’s education in the Middle East as well as comparing it to our Western ideals.

Let’s hear what he had to say: Dr. Teipen Audio Clip

Terrorism in the Air

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Throughout the course of the semester I would like to examine the evolving nature of international air travel security as it relates to US foreign policy.  After 9/11, heightened security has become one of the most effective measures against terrorism. Implementing these new restrictions on air travel have afftected US relations with countries and their citizens, espcially those of the Middle East.  I will monitor recent restrictions on air travel from the  Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and evolving technologies involved with air security.  I will also use information published by the government, articles concerning instances of terrorism in the air, and interviews from airline employees and passengers regarding the policies enacted in order to ward off terrorism.

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