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Women in Islam

Teaching Module
Susan Walsh

Assistant Professor of Education

Salem International University

September 29, 2003

 

Narrative Description

In their book Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives JA Banks and CAM Banks describe four approaches to teaching multiculturalism. At the first level, the contributions approach, students are presented with information about other cultures, such as holidays or famous people. There is little or no impact on the traditional ethnocentric orientation of the curriculum because students have little or no insight into the meanings or ways other cultures differ. The second level, the additive approach, maintains the same structures of the curriculum but adds contents, concepts, themes, and perspectives of other cultures. However, students may still not have an understanding to appreciate these differences. The third level is the transformational approach. At this level, the curricular structure is changed to enable students to appreciate the concepts, themes, etc. from the perspective of members of the other culture. The fourth and most ambitious level, the social action approach, challenges students to take action on important social issues based on understandings of other cultures that they have learned from the curriculum.

I view the fourth level of instruction as a goal which, while worthwhile, may not be attainable in the short amount of time I have with my students in a freshman survey course. Therefore, the approach I favor in teaching ICO 100 is the third level, the transformational approach. The challenge of the transformational approach to introduce changes in the basic goals and structures of the curriculum is the philosophical foundation of my revisions to my ICO 100 syllabus. I hope to change my students from people who observe other cultures and say to themselves, “Oh, how odd.” or “That’s different and interesting” to students who will wonder “Why do they do that?” and “Could their way be as good as-or better than- mine?”

In order to accomplish this objective of transforming students’ thinking, I have incorporated several themes in my syllabus. Specifically they are

These are highlighted on the attached syllabus to indicate where they occur in my curriculum.

Before I develop these four themes, I need to describe the textbook I am using and the approach of its author. James W. Neuliep writes that his book, Intercultural Communication: A Contextual Approach “. . . is designed for college level students taking their first course in interculturalism.” He further states that the overall organizational scheme of the book is based on a contextual model which is summed up in the following diagram. <image missing>

According to this model, intercultural communication occurs within a variety of contexts, including 1) cultural, 2) microcultural, 3) environmental, 4) perceptual, and 5) sociorelational contexts (page 22). In addition, each person who communicates resides within his own perceptual context. Using this model, the author introduces students to “. . . some fundamental topics, theories, concepts, and themes that are the center of the study of intercultural communication.” (Page xiii)

As a broad overview, then, I want my students to understand the factors that impact on their perceptual contexts as they interact with a person or idea from another culture and do it in a way that will transform how they view the person or idea. The study I did for the Women in Islam seminar supplied the “Other” with whom my students will interact. Islam presents a very different context from what the majority of my students know and feel comfortable with.

The first area in which I want to challenge my students is a basic understanding of the Moslem microculture in the US. Who are these American Moslems? How many of them exist? Where do they live? What do they believe? How are their lives different from the macroculture of the US? Basic factual knowledge is needed before my students can consider deeper cultural differences. This addresses the first cognitive domain in Bloom’s taxonomy and is essential before higher levels of critical thinking can be engaged. Direct instruction may be the most economical way of presenting this material. In addition, there are several websites to which the students can be referred for individual research about basic facts of Islam.

The second topic, the issue of veiling, is one that presents itself naturally because it is an obvious difference that some Moslem women demonstrate. It is also an issue that generates a lot of curiosity and interest because of its exotic associations. For most Americans, their religious preference is personal, private, perhaps hidden. A Moslem woman who choose to be veiled proclaims her religious identity in a very overt fashion. As seen from the popular press, this has created some strong feelings and often, misunderstandings. The question arises, then, why should a woman choose to do something that may make her vulnerable to misunderstanding?

I hope that discussion of the issue of religious identity leads to the comprehension domain of Bloom’s taxonomy, as students are pushed to translate this knowledge into new concepts and ways of interpreting facts. It will also draw on the application and analysis domains of Bloom as the students are asked to compare and contrast familiar concepts of modesty and Islamic values of privacy.

Finally, the third topic- gender issues- opens up the whole scope of information I have gained from the Women in Islam seminars. By this point in my class, I hope that students will have learned to look at their own perceptual contexts as developing and open to change. Gender issues touch on prime areas of identity and power. My goal is to require students to examine their own assumptions about gender, marriage, and relationships to see if these assumptions stand the test of critical inquiry. This represents the evaluative domain of cognition, as described in Bloom’s taxonomy. As such it is considered the highest level of critical thinking.

At this point, I should explain some of the constraints and opportunities peculiar to teaching at Salem International University. My students, a class of 19 males and females, is mostly freshmen. As such, it is fairly representative of other survey classes at other institutions. What is different at SIU is the modular structure of the curriculum. Instead of typical semester classes, running 50-60 minutes, three times a week for 15 weeks, SIU has 60-hour modules which occur over 18 days. Students are in class three to four hours a day with the same professor. At the end of the 18 days, they move on to another subject. This allows the professors to do classroom projects and activities that take longer than an ordinary class. It also means that students do not have a lot of time to absorb material or do research. Under these circumstances, the faculty has found that traditional, direct instruction (i.e. lecturing) is not an effective way to teach; students become bored and unable to assimilate material after an hour or so of lectures. Therefore, it has become necessary to find other ways to present the material. Cooperative methodologies, hands-on lessons, role playing, and other activities which engage the students have been most successful in my classes. Thus you will find in my teaching module that there is an emphasis on getting students to DO something with the concepts I am trying to teach.

Another facet of this experience that I would like to explain is my previous lack of knowledge about the material. Before the year-long NEH grant in Women in Islam, my knowledge of the religion and culture of Islam was very limited. I knew of the Five Pillars and could compare the monotheism of Islam with Christianity and Judaism, but that was about the extent of my expertise. One of the best rewards of the grant has been the opportunity and challenge of learning more myself. In this instance, my experiences perhaps parallel my students’: I learn more by experiencing the religion than by studying from a book. Thus, the most rewarding exercises have been the opportunities to meet Moslem women and to hear their life stories, to visit the mosque in Washington, DC, and to experiment with wearing the hijab myself. I was astounded to discover how profound my ignorance had been and I was delighted to learn new ideas and to confront and challenge some of my own assumptions. An outstanding example of this happened when we went to Washington and I wore a hijab all day in the city. I was surprised to discover that it had an impact on the way I felt about myself; I was more careful to try to maintain a modest demeanor, out of respect for the garment. This was reinforced by the deference I felt from others. One young man saluted me politely on the subway elevator; a young girl moved over on a crowded subway and offered to share her seat I was in a group of other professionals who were peers in terms of dress -other than the hijab- and status, gender, race, age, etc. I attributed the politeness to a recognition of, and respect for, my veil. This was by no means scientific research, but it had an impact on my impressions about the reasons women choose to wear a veil.

Since this seminar has caused me to think more profoundly about my values in the areas of gender, privacy, and religious definitions, I want my students to have a similar opportunity. If my students demonstrate transformation in their ability to examine their own cultural assumptions, (with reference to Bloom’s taxonomy and Banks’ levels of multicultural understanding) my teaching -and the NEH grant-will have been a success.

Following are attached:

Revised syllabus for ICO 100: Intercultural Orientation

Lesson plans for lessons for three days(comparable in to three weeks in a traditional semester)

Bibliography and website references

ICO 100: Intercultural Orientation (4 credits)

 

 


Introduction: The classroom is divided and students are instructed to sit on sides of the room based on their gender. When seated, they cannot see members of the other gender but they can hear the discussions. Women have been asked to bring a scarf to class. They are shown the correct way to wear a hijab and given an opportunity to put their scarves on.


Procedure: The professor will lecture about the rational for veiling from the Koran. She will also read from Sister to Scheherazade to introduce some reactions to the veil. During this instruction, students will be separated and will do the activities in single-gender groups. They will look through magazines and chart how many human figures appear in the magazine. The chart will indicate whether the figures are used to illustrate an article or for advertising purposes; they will also indicate whether the figure is clothed or partially unclothed. The students will create a presentation of their data. They will be asked:

           1. What is the ratio of male to female figures shown in your magazine?

           2. What is the ratio of unclothed males to clothed males? Of unclothed females to clothed females?

            3. What is the ratio of figures used for illustrative versus advertising purposes?

           4. What conclusions can you draw about the way the media uses human figures in its magazines?

Additionally, the women will be asked to wear a scarf to cover their hair during class and for the remainder of the day. (See http://mitglied.lycos.de/korsett_freundin/HijabWorld/fashion.en.html for an expanation of the correct way to wear the hijab). The men will be asked to avoid looking at women (except for their faces and hands) for the remainder of the day. They will write about their reactions to this activity in their journals. Also, their homework assignment will be to find at least two sources on the Internet that describe arguments for and against wearing the veil. The next day they will meet and discuss their reactions to a) wearing a veil or b) behaving in a proscribed fashion for the sake of modesty.