This course focused on the history of the Middle East around starting around the time of the British Partition up to present day. During the course, we covered current and historical evens including the US occupation of Afghanistan and World War 2, and learned about basic economics concepts, governmental structures, and the basics of Hinduism and Islam. For the entire semester we read the novel Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie which analyzes world politics centered around the US involvement in India and Pakistan and the fight over Kashmir. We wrote an analytical essay surrounding thematic ideas that were discussed in the novel. The semester culminated in a student run seminar discussing the themes of the book and commentary Rushdie is making about world politics. The seminar was centered around these central questions:
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Essay on Terrorism |
Seminar Handout Paper |
Prompt: React to an idea or theme that was discussed in the novel and provide real world context/examples.
I chose to research and write about terrorism and extremism, a theme discussed in the book and shown through the character Shalimar. |
In preparation for our discussion, we collaborated to create a handout for our community members to look at in order to get a sense of the book. We created the questions, chose key passages from the book to discuss, and wrote descriptions of all the main characters including their background in the book and what world powers the represent.
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