CAIRO, 25 January 2004 — Arab academics debated yesterday how they can teach their students about the world’s superpower without themselves being identified with policies that are extremely unpopular in the Middle East.
“How can we avoid the political connotation whenever we talk about America to our students?” asked Mohammed Doujani, a Palestinian lecturer at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, at a conference in a Cairo hotel.
The US ambassador to Cairo, David Welch, urged the roughly 70 participants to encourage students to go beyond the negative image. “You have to find ways to tell each other how to look at the American character,” Welch said.
Courses specializing in American studies are rare in Arab universities. In the most populous Arab country, Egypt, for example, there is only one Center for American Studies — at Cairo University. It was established as recently as 2002 and is funded by the US government.
The conference’s keynote speaker, Philippa Strum, who runs the US studies program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, spelled out the need for students to comprehend the way America works.
“At one point in history, where there is one superpower... it is extremely important to understand its government and the rules that guide its government,” Strum said.
The director of Cairo University’s American center, Mohammed Kamal, said that enrollment is growing.
“Last year we had 30 students, and this year we have 50 students. The number of postgraduate students applying for masters and Ph.D degrees in American studies is also growing,” Kamal said.
