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[tuxedo_cat]

Wow.  Clearly I now how enough for a whole course unit. 

traductio, it's interesting that those are Canadian productions.  A couple other documentaries (older) I located were also produced by Canadian filmmakers.   And lenny, that looks like a terrifically interesting site and show.

Thanks again for all the suggestions -- and more are welcome.  I will enjoy investigating these even if I will only be able to use one or two this time around.  Or perhaps I could distribute these for small groups of students to watch and report back to the class about. But this provides additional motivation for persuading my chair to offer this course again next spring (I usually teach it only every 2 or 3 years).

I wonder if anyone is doing a blog about teaching such materials, hmmm. . . . At the very least I will share these items with my colleagues in Women's Studies, since nearly all of us teach one of those crazy world civ classes.

[tuxedo_cat]

Axis of Evil comedy tour

I highly recommend watching this video right now for any reason at all, but especially if you need 10 min. to giggle a lot.

[westcoastgirl]

Many Muslims do, in fact, object to the fact that American Muslim purports to normalize their religion. It has been quite problematic in the community.

As an aside (since it's been brought up), while many Muslims point to choice feminism in an attempt to validate their decision to wear hijab, it seems like a trick of sorts, particularly if you look at the medieval prescriptions for hijab, all of which are rooted in a unequivocally patriarchal/misogynistic discourse. The texts, almost unanimously, command women to self-regulate in terms of behavior and comportment, less they disrupt the stability of society by tempting men. Most texts stipulate that women should be fully covered. Three of the four Sunni juridical schools ask females to cover their faces (niqaab). The old adage comes to mind: "If I can't control myself, i control you." While the gamut of sartorial hijab observed today demonstrates that the medieval prescriptions aren't alive and well, I'm wondering if, by analogy, why other regulations can't be dumped or moderated (pork, alcohol, etc.).

[tuxedo_cat]

Ah, I was going to pull up this thread to post an update about people's various recommendations.

But first, about the hijab:  wcg, sure, I agree that it is important to recognize the historical purpose of such practices for women.  But I've watched a few documentaries about feminist Muslims who choose to wear the hijab, and it's clear that we can't ignore their own immediate cultural context in making that choice, which is one that they understand is likely to *draw* concern or even overt discrimination from non-Muslims in their community.  And that seems to be an additional motivation (not the only one, or the most important one) for wearing the headscarf:  to show that they are proud of their religious identity and willing to face that kind of potentially hostile communal reaction.  I don't think we can disentangle gender from cultural identity for contemporary Muslims in the US.

I have a friend who, with great reluctance, had to stop wearing the hijab in our local community after 9/11 because people's reactions were much too disruptive to her daily life -- sometimes simple curiosity, but also some hostility.  And this is a woman who is single-handedly supporting a family of five (including her husband), working a full-time job, and also working on her college degree.  As a feminist I am saddened that she feels constrained not by her faith but by the local community so that she cannot wear the headscarf as a public sign of her religious beliefs.  That's one person, with a complicated situation, and I imagine there are thousands of other stories of Muslim women that are equally complicated.

So I watched the film "Arranged," -- recommended upthread by yemaya -- which is a terrifically engaging film.  The two actors who play the leads are really marvelous.  Yes, as some critics have commented, it is full of cliches, it is unabashedly a "feel-good" film, it inevitably flattens some cultural issues, but I'm going to make some room for it in the syllabus so my class can watch it. 

Thanks for the suggestion, yemaya!

[westcoastgirl]

I understand the different valences of hijab. I'm just trying, for the sake of argument (or really, just ruminating) to make eating pork/drinking alcohol commensurable. Most women who don the hijab believe they are abiding by Islamic prescriptions for veiling. However, in the medieval texts, the average veiled women today is in clear violation of what is stipulated (in most texts, the exceptions to the qur'anic pericope on what is excepted include one ring, an ankle bracelet, etc.). Skinny jeans, booby tops, etc. are certainly not among licit dress. Full makeup, side swept bangs stylishly sweeping the forehead are forbidden.

If modern Muslim women choose to re-appropriate the symbolism of veiling, why can't this be done with other Islamic dictates--polygamy and rules of divorce come to mind. In most Muslim countries, women cannot initiate a divorce.

The other thing I wanted to add is that while there are vague qur'anic pericopes suggesting modest dress for men, their behavior, in this realm, is not regulated. Women are assumed to have an active, corrupting sexuality. Men,on the other hand, are not advised not to tempt women, to stay in their homes, stay out of the mosque, etc.

[mended_drum]

Another vote for Little Mosque on the Prairie, which has enough episodes to deal with many of the issues raised here.  It's a comedy, kind of, and I've found most seasons on amazon.com.

[spork]

I understand the different valences of hijab. I'm just trying, for the sake of argument (or really, just ruminating) to make eating pork/drinking alcohol commensurable. Most women who don the hijab believe they are abiding by Islamic prescriptions for veiling. However, in the medieval texts, the average veiled women today is in clear violation of what is stipulated (in most texts, the exceptions to the qur'anic pericope on what is excepted include one ring, an ankle bracelet, etc.). Skinny jeans, booby tops, etc. are certainly not among licit dress. Full makeup, side swept bangs stylishly sweeping the forehead are forbidden.

If modern Muslim women choose to re-appropriate the symbolism of veiling, why can't this be done with other Islamic dictates--polygamy and rules of divorce come to mind. In most Muslim countries, women cannot initiate a divorce.

The other thing I wanted to add is that while there are vague qur'anic pericopes suggesting modest dress for men, their behavior, in this realm, is not regulated. Women are assumed to have an active, corrupting sexuality. Men,on the other hand, are not advised not to tempt women, to stay in their homes, stay out of the mosque, etc.

I'll also toss in the example of a Muslim woman who came to the USA, or any other nation-state where Muslims are in the minority, after being raised in a place where the hijab was not universally worn by women, then traveling back to that place to find that hijab-wearing is now the predominant practice. Problems wherever you go.

[redmackereltabby]

I have also used Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days as a Muslim. The man that is sent to live with the Muslims is from the capital city of the incredibly homogeneous state (WV) I teach in, so the students could really relate to him. It chronicles his struggle to overcome his own prejudices and accept that not all Muslims are terrorists, etc. The students really get engrossed in the episode. It is, however, very simplistic not at all any kind of critical analysis.

My biggest caution: I had one student who enrolled in my class within two weeks after doing three back to back tours in Iraq and losing most members of his platoon (or unit?). At the very beginning of the show, it flashes some images of insurgent type desert training and those images bothered the student so much, he had to leave the room. So if you have a large number of recent veterans in your classes, you might want to take that into consideration.

[aandsdean]

For the literature component, I highly recommend Zeitoun by Dave Eggers.

Absolutely yes.  It's a terrific book, though it's a little longer than it probably could be.

[yemaya]

I understand the different valences of hijab. I'm just trying, for the sake of argument (or really, just ruminating) to make eating pork/drinking alcohol commensurable. Most women who don the hijab believe they are abiding by Islamic prescriptions for veiling. However, in the medieval texts, the average veiled women today is in clear violation of what is stipulated (in most texts, the exceptions to the qur'anic pericope on what is excepted include one ring, an ankle bracelet, etc.). Skinny jeans, booby tops, etc. are certainly not among licit dress. Full makeup, side swept bangs stylishly sweeping the forehead are forbidden.

If modern Muslim women choose to re-appropriate the symbolism of veiling, why can't this be done with other Islamic dictates--polygamy and rules of divorce come to mind. In most Muslim countries, women cannot initiate a divorce.

The other thing I wanted to add is that while there are vague qur'anic pericopes suggesting modest dress for men, their behavior, in this realm, is not regulated. Women are assumed to have an active, corrupting sexuality. Men,on the other hand, are not advised not to tempt women, to stay in their homes, stay out of the mosque, etc.

I'll also toss in the example of a Muslim woman who came to the USA, or any other nation-state where Muslims are in the minority, after being raised in a place where the hijab was not universally worn by women, then traveling back to that place to find that hijab-wearing is now the predominant practice. Problems wherever you go.

There is an interesting new book on this debate by Marnia Lareq called "Questioning the Veil: Open Letters to Muslim Women."  Lareq is an Algerian-born (I believe US-trained) sociologist.  I've not yet read it, but I'm intrigued.

[yemaya]

I have also used Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days as a Muslim. The man that is sent to live with the Muslims is from the capital city of the incredibly homogeneous state (WV) I teach in, so the students could really relate to him. It chronicles his struggle to overcome his own prejudices and accept that not all Muslims are terrorists, etc. The students really get engrossed in the episode. It is, however, very simplistic not at all any kind of critical analysis.

My biggest caution: I had one student who enrolled in my class within two weeks after doing three back to back tours in Iraq and losing most members of his platoon (or unit?). At the very beginning of the show, it flashes some images of insurgent type desert training and those images bothered the student so much, he had to leave the room. So if you have a large number of recent veterans in your classes, you might want to take that into consideration.

I saw this episode.  It's a great suggestion.  It is simplistic, as you say, and it still has the inherent problems of using just a few Muslims as representative of a global community (though of course, it's easy enough to point out that 4 Muslims does not a full representation make).  But, for students from a sheltered world who've had few (if any) interactions with Muslims beyond the news headlines, this could be a really good way of getting these types of students to re-examine their assumptions about Islam.

[hayduke]

I teach a similar course and I have used the Morgan Spurlocks TV show 30 Days as well.  You can view significant portions of these episodes on youtube. (the full episodes are available on DVD)     In addition to the Muslem episode, other useful episodes are where an atheist from Kansas spends 30 days with an evangelical Christian family in Texas, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGo8NYxuaJs   another has a young straight Christian  man from the rural upper midwest spends 30 days with a gay man in SanFrancisco's Castro District, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jgszlHCrkA&feature=related    and then there is the member of the Minutemen (volunteers guarding our border from Mexico)  who spends 30 days with a family of "illegals" in Los Angelas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD2K7EZz71c  Yes these are all a bit contrived: but they do a very good job of provoking questions and good conversations. ( I don't like to use much class time to just watch videos:  I put the video on reserve in the library and encourage the students to watch  it together on their own time.)   Enjoy.

[spork]

I teach a similar course and I have used the Morgan Spurlocks TV show 30 Days as well.  You can view significant portions of these episodes on youtube. (the full episodes are available on DVD)     

[. . .]

I have not watched all the segments of the Spurlock show, but as others have indicated, students need to be told that these kinds of materials usually depict a few individuals as indicative of an extremely large and diverse population. As far as I know, this episode never points out that the garb the guy wears is not typical for most Muslims (though the scene at the airport is quite illustrative of discrimination), that the family he stays with is of South Asian descent (different from Arab, Southeast Asian, West African, etc.), that one of the imams he meets with is (apparently) Shia while other "teachers" are Sunni, etc.

[westcoastgirl]

I teach a similar course and I have used the Morgan Spurlocks TV show 30 Days as well.  You can view significant portions of these episodes on youtube. (the full episodes are available on DVD)     

[. . .]

I have not watched all the segments of the Spurlock show, but as others have indicated, students need to be told that these kinds of materials usually depict a few individuals as indicative of an extremely large and diverse population. As far as I know, this episode never points out that the garb the guy wears is not typical for most Muslims (though the scene at the airport is quite illustrative of discrimination), that the family he stays with is of South Asian descent (different from Arab, Southeast Asian, West African, etc.), that one of the imams he meets with is (apparently) Shia while other "teachers" are Sunni, etc.

This is on my "as soon as I'm done, I'm going to read a million things list." Well, at least it was until I realized I need to put all my efforts into publishing stuff.

[yemaya]

I teach a similar course and I have used the Morgan Spurlocks TV show 30 Days as well.  You can view significant portions of these episodes on youtube. (the full episodes are available on DVD)     

[. . .]

I have not watched all the segments of the Spurlock show, but as others have indicated, students need to be told that these kinds of materials usually depict a few individuals as indicative of an extremely large and diverse population. As far as I know, this episode never points out that the garb the guy wears is not typical for most Muslims (though the scene at the airport is quite illustrative of discrimination), that the family he stays with is of South Asian descent (different from Arab, Southeast Asian, West African, etc.), that one of the imams he meets with is (apparently) Shia while other "teachers" are Sunni, etc.

These are definite problems - not only the variants in Islam, but also the impact of culture - Indonesian Islam isn't West African Islam, which isn't Saudi Islam, which isn't Bangladeshi Islam and so on...and even to talk about something as broad as "West African Islam" is still a gross oversimplification.  Because of the inherent religious and culture complexities, I doubt very much that there will ever be a movie or documentary or series that addresses these problems.  All TC can really do is to make sure to explain (the general idea anyway) things like the difference between Sunni and Shi'a, and what is sharia law - things that her students are likely to run into later.  It drives me nuts when ignorami shoot their mouths off about sharia law taking over this country without having the foggiest notion of what it is and that no, unless you're talking about an Islamic theocracy, it doesn't influence or supersede civil code.   You can't really do it all in one course, but giving the students the basic building blocks so that they can talk about Islam without sounding like some moron from Fox and Friends is a big start.