COR 330 Comparison

4. An observation or commentary that links ideas and questions from our course with learning that you are carrying out in your other COR 330 course this semester. Consider this blog posting reflective.

My other COR 330 course is Gender Issues in the Muslim World. We are currently learning about important women leaders in Middle Eastern society. We also have read the book The Muslim Next Door by Sumbul Ali-Karamali, which particularly relates to our COR 330 – Make Films Not War course. It highlights the differences in the Middle East between culture and religion. It also evokes an understanding of the vast misconceptions about Islam and how many people in the West view it as a “backwards” religion, when that could not be farther from the truth. Many of the questions in our course raise issues of Western misconceptions and that is the parallel that I draw from my two COR courses. Most specifically the Western idea that all women are oppressed in the Middle East: This is very untrue. Oppression of women usually derives from culture and each Middle Eastern culture is vastly different from the next. Not all women in the Middle East sit at home and are locked within the confines of their home. Women in the Middle East are lawyers, hold positions in government, help build infrastructure, develop non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and even win Nobel Peace prizes. Both courses have helped me acquire a greater understanding of the Middle East, Islam and women’s rights issues. I am confident that I would be able to have a comprehensive conversation with someone about the Middle East now that I have taken these courses, something I could not have said before this semester.