Teaching the Middle East

Compiled Resource List for Middle East Unit: Primary Sources Documents, Research Processes, and United Nations Model.

Addressing existing stereotypes about the Middle East, Arab Culture and Fundamentalism.  

  • PBS Global Connections – Stereotypes and Realities – LINK
  • “The Image of the United States Portrayed in Arab World Online Journalism” – Qatar University and University of Louisiana – PDF
  • Stereotypes of Muslims and Support for the War on Terror – John Sides at George Washington University – PDF
  • Target clips from the film, “Real Bad Arabs.” Wiki
    • Films with scenes that work well with this portrayal include:  Rules of Engagement (2000) and Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
  • TED Talk – Aman Mojadidi: A sense of humor about Afghanistan?  LINK
  • Using Disney’s Aladdin to look at popular stereotypes PDF
  • “Arab Stereotypes and American Educators” by Marvin Wingfield and Bushra Karaman, March 1995.  LINK
  • After 9/11: ‘You no longer have rights’ – The Guardian UK – LINK
  • “Many Arab-Americans Still Perceived As A ‘Problem” – NPR Radio Program and subsequent article about ‘How Does It Feel To Be A Problem?’ by Moustafa Bayoumi LINK
  • What Arabs Think: Values, Beliefs, and Political Concerns – Council on Foreign Relations – Speech – Survey
  • Arab and Muslim Perceptions of the United States by Andrew Kohut at the Pew Research Institute – LINK
  • PBS Global Connections – Stereotypes and Realities – LINK
  • TeachMideast.com – Stereotype Essays – LINK
    • Useful Quotes and Biases –
    • “If I see someone who comes in that’s got a diaper on his head and a fan belt wrapped around the diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over.” Rep. John Cooksey [R-LA] on a Tennessee Radio Station, September 17, 2001.
    • http://arabface.us

Identifying the players, roles, and documents that support the creation of the Middle East as both an “idea” and a tangible geographic region.

  • “Bringing the United States Back into the Middle East” by Shadi Hamid and Peter Mandaville Center for Strategic & International Studies PDF
  • The Map as History – 19 animated maps to explain the Middle East – LINK
  • The United Church of God: The Middle East in Biblical Prophecy selected excerpts only: LINK
    • “The Creation of the Modern Middle East”
    • “A Rising Tide of Arab Nationalism”
    • “Fundamentalist Islam Resurges”
    • “Anger Mounts Following Gulf War”
  • Middle East Research and Information Project – Primer on Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict – LINK
  • BBC Middle East – “Why border lines drawn with a ruler in WW1 still rock the Middle East” by Tarek Osman LINK MAP S/P AGREEMENT
  • PBS Global Connections – Nation States/Formation (lesson plans) LINK
  • “Civilization and the Mandate System under the League of Nations as Origin of Trusteeship” Nele Matz, Max Planck Institut Germany PDF
  • World.Mic: How the British Screwed Up the Middle East, in 10 Classic Cartoons LINK
  • Promises & Betrayals: Britain and the Struggle for the Holy Land (2002)
    • British double-dealing during WWI ignited the conflict between Arab and Jew in the Middle East. A disturbing picture of a duplicitous wartime government.  53min IMDb YouTube
  • The Cold War’s Arab Spring: How the Soviets Created Today’s Middle East by Claire Berlinski LINK
  • Modern History Sourcebook: Sir Henry McMahon: Letter to Ali ibn Husain, 1915 LINK
  • INSTITUTE FOR HISTORICAL REVIEW: Behind the Balfour Declaration LINK
  • Yale University: Lillian Goldman Law Library – The Avalon Project, “The Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916)” LINK Library Portal LINK
  • Documents Pertinent to Middle East Issues – Mount Holyoke College LINK

Arab League or League of Nations Project and Supplemental Geography

  • What is the Middle East? – TeachMideast LINK
  • “Where is the Middle East?” Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilization – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    • Use for a timeline of maps LINK
  • “INTRODUCTION TO THE GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE MIDDLE EAST” by Asma Afsaruddin at Notre Dame LINK
  • BBC New:  Middle East and Al Jazeera News Network
  • The CIA World Factbook – Middle East LINK
  • “40 maps that explain the Middle East” by Max Fisher LINK
  • “Islamist Militants Aim to Redraw Map of the Middle East” – Wall Street Journal LINK
  • Arab League Nations – Maps of the World LINK