The teacher’s role in war times

First, going back to the origins helps understanding the professors’ life trajectory. Of course, their own background played a crucial role in leading them towards Middle Eastern studies.

–I started from the place I was born, Beirut, my city. The experience of growing up in Lebanon during the civil war made me ask questions about what happened, explains Toufoul Abou-Hodeib, historian of the modern Middle East at University of Oslo (UiO). 

This was the same reason for K. Soraya Batmanghelichi, professor of modern Iranian studies at UiO.

–I am Iranian, it is my heritage, and I also come from a political family, so it seemed a natural pathway. In the years I have been teaching this course on Iran. I, too, experienced a series of major crises taking place in Iran, whereby I’ve had to modify not just myself, but also how I engaged with the course. These historic moments personally affect my family and me. I simply can't ignore the headlines.

Balancing emotions

When tragic crises happen, the balance between personal feelings and academic obligations is disrupted, according to the teachers. The last few years have been particularly turbulent, with the genocide in Gaza or the war in Iran.

–Several students in the class are directly affected by what’s happening in the region, so it’s impossible not to take the outside world into account. As a teacher, I see it as my responsibility to give them tools to analyze and discuss the situation, while still ensuring they complete the coursework they need for their degree, explains Teresa Pepe, professor of Arabic Literature and Cultural Studies in the Middle East. 

The main concern remains providing context and sociohistorical background in order to help students understand what is at stake. 

–Students must have perspective from a cross section of Iranians, because in Norway the information on Iran is not sufficient, the main part of the course will be heavily focused on history, politics, culture and society, says Batmanghelichi. 

For instance, an emerging debate in the news can lead to specific focus, helping students to go beyond what we can see or hear in traditional media, as Abou-Hodeib describes. 

–I had a session on settler colonialism, something that was discussed a lot on social and other media, so I used a newspaper article and academic readings to make students approach it more historically. Sometimes I think having some background about a topic in the news is an interesting starting point.

Objectivity 

As Abou-Hodeibstates : «Part of their training as academics is to learn how to balance different points of views and navigate between them». That is to say mobilizing sources with opposite arguments, to create discussion among listeners, describes Pepe. 

–When I design a reading list, I include works I’m passionate about, but I also add texts that encourage a critical perspective. For example, in a course on Futurism I assigned a text by a British colonial official who argued that Egypt’s landscape should be transformed to make it more profitable. Of course I do not agree with the premises, but I want students to read it closely with me and develop their own informed critiques.

The unpredictability of the social and political contexts can discourage or, on the contrary, motivate. Thus, conducting research about such countries as Egypt or Lebanon can be very hard to plan, as Pepe says.

–We always have a plan B. I was supposed to go to Egypt next month, and I’ve decided to cancel. There is nothing officially preventing the trip, but it doesn’t feel like the right moment. Teaching and researching in such an unpredictable context is something you have to plan around, and it also forces you to be creative and find alternative ways to do your work.

The academic’s place in question

However, in extreme situations, what position can scholars take? It raises the question of the researcher's role in all of this, as Abou-Hodeiband Pepe agree. 

–It’s easy for me to feel like what I do is pointless. What does it matter what research I do, when in the end there are much more powerful factors that define history, says Abou-Hodeib.

–Sometimes it feels almost meaningless to stand in front of a class as a ‘Middle East expert’ while people in the region are living through war in real time and the political circumstances seem so absurd and unpredictable, reports Pepe.

Despite conflict and violence, they tend to show the positive sides of the region.

–My philosophy as a teacher is to show students that the region is full of life, creativity, and culture, and that this life continues even in the midst of conflict and crisis, relates Pepe.