middleeastinterpretations.blogspot.com
Middle East Interpretations: Blood and Oil
http://middleeastinterpretations.blogspot.com/2009/10/blood-and-oil.html
Thursday, October 1, 2009. In George Herbert's science fiction novel, Dune. A character declares, "He who controls the spice controls the universe." Is that a summary of the role of oil in the world today? Are driven by their source of energy, the Roman empire by the need for slaves, the American empire by the need for oil. We have been given many justifications for the War in Iraq. Revenge for 9-11 (But Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9-11; in fact he was the enemy of Osama Bin Laden! Not only do ...
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Middle East Interpretations: Israeli vs Palestinian Film
http://middleeastinterpretations.blogspot.com/2009/10/israeli-vs-palestinian-film.html
Wednesday, October 21, 2009. Israeli vs Palestinian Film. The Palestinian film Paradise Now. 2007) and the Israeli film Time of Favor. 2000) make for an interesting comparison. Paradise Now. Gives us images of life in the West Bank and how that world contrasts with Israel - images rarely seen by Americans. According to Wikipedia. The suicide bombing is motivated by the desperate economic and political conditions of Palestinians, channeled and perhaps used by religious extremists; in Time of Favor. The su...
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Middle East Interpretations: "9 Parts of Desire" WMU Performance
http://middleeastinterpretations.blogspot.com/2009/09/9-parts-of-desire-wmu-performance.html
Saturday, September 26, 2009. 9 Parts of Desire" WMU Performance. Last night I attended WMU's performance of Heather Raffo. I thought the WMU actresses did a remarkable job. Obviously they had made a careful study of the situation of women in Iraq, worked hard on their accents and characterizations, and I found their performances compelling. There will be performances. Next week as well. After each performance there is an opportunity to talk with the actors. Buy your tickets. This play sounds awesome!
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Middle East Interpretations: "Reel Bad Arabs"
http://middleeastinterpretations.blogspot.com/2009/09/reel-bad-arabs.html
Monday, September 14, 2009. The film " Reel Bad Arabs. Is based on Jack Shaheen's extensive book. With the same title - the second edition of the book is over 600 pages long - documenting the representation of Arabs in Hollywood film. Many Americans who view this film are struck by the new perspective it brings to them on movies they have seen many times, including Disney's Aladdin. Raising profound questions about the way the movie represents Arabic people. September 21, 2009 at 2:55 PM.
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Middle East Interpretations: Innocent in Guantanamo
http://middleeastinterpretations.blogspot.com/2009/12/innocent-man-in-guantanamo.html
Monday, December 7, 2009. 19 year old Murat Kurnaz was heading home to Germany from a trip to Pakistan when he was arrested by the Pakistani police and sold, for $3000, to Americans in Afghanistan as a "spy." Held and tortured for five years in Kandahar and Guantanamo, in August of 2006 he was finally released. Investigated the story. The US Army has refused to admit the "mistake.". Kurnaz story is told in his book Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo. Says of his story,. This is extremel...
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Middle East Interpretations: The "New Orientalism"
http://middleeastinterpretations.blogspot.com/2009/11/jas.html
Tuesday, November 17, 2009. Jasmine and Stars: Reading More than Lolita in Tehran. Is a thoughtful and refreshing response to the growing corpus of books popular in America and Europe about the oppression of Muslim women. Fatemeh Keshavarz writes,. The emerging Orientalist narrative. The collection of essays in Jasmine and Stars. To classes of 9th grade girls as well as an elder unlettered farmers who memorizes her work. Keshavarz particularly addresses Reading Lolita in Tehran. Professor of English at W...
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Middle East Interpretations: Gold Dust
http://middleeastinterpretations.blogspot.com/2009/10/gold-dust.html
Sunday, October 18, 2009. Is a Libyan novelist who grew up as a Taureg. And writes especially about these nomadic people of the western Sahara. Al-Koni often addresses the natural landscape, animals and their relations with humans and combines an Islamic mysticism ( Sufism. With an interest in traditional taureg religion. And animism. His novels often have a " magical realist. The novel Gold Dust. Focuses on a close relationship between a Beduin prince and his " piebald. October 19, 2009 at 6:22 PM.
middleeastinterpretations.blogspot.com
Middle East Interpretations: Welcome to Middle East Interpretations
http://middleeastinterpretations.blogspot.com/2009/09/welcome-to-middle-east-interpretations.html
Monday, September 7, 2009. Welcome to Middle East Interpretations. Middle East Interpretations will serve as organizational center for two groups of academic blogs from Literary Interpretations. In the English Department. At Western Michigan University. Our research and writing will be focused around modern literature from and about the Middle East as we collaborate to create on-line resources and a book for teachers from middle school through college. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom).
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Middle East Interpretations: Year of the Elephant & Anti-colonial Struggle
http://middleeastinterpretations.blogspot.com/2009/11/year-of-elephant-anti-colonial-struggle.html
Monday, November 16, 2009. Year of the Elephant and Anti-colonial Struggle. The Year of the Elephant. Is an interesting short novel that treats both the Moroccan independence struggle from French colonial domination (1956) and the aftermath. Since the invasion of Egypt by Napoleon in 1798 the French made repeated efforts to colonize and control North Africa. Morocco was one of the last regions to fall under their authority in the late 19th and early 20th century. Entire film at Dailymotion. Professor of ...
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Middle East Interpretations: Waltz with Bashir
http://middleeastinterpretations.blogspot.com/2009/12/waltz-with-bashir.html
Wednesday, December 2, 2009. Is an award winning animated documentary film made in Israel in 2008. The film is made with a unique style described by Wikipedia. A combination of Adobe Flash cutouts and classic animation. The film explores the troubled memory of an Israeli soldier who was a witness to the famous 1982 Sabra and Shatilla massacre of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians. According to Wikipedia. In 1982 the United Nations General Assembly voted to identify the massacre as a "genocide.". I was ab...
