Middle East related topic for high school assignment?
February 18, 2019 8:27 AM Subscribe
Asking for my teenager: Can you help my daughter come up with a subject for a large (>80 h) high school assignment? She's an ambitious and smart kid, and her special area of interest is the Middle East.
We live in Holland, and high school juniors spend a large chunk of their spring semester working on an assignment, the subject of which they get to choose quite freely.
My daughter's interests include:
- politics (she's in youth politics and has a large network which includes some actual, well-known Dutch politicians)
- Middle East (she's been taking extracurricular pre-university classes in Middle Eastern studies and would love to apply that for this assignment)
- human rights
- gender equality
- radicalization
She's having trouble coming up with a specific topic which she could formulate into a clearly defined research question, and the deadline is looming.
She recently visited a museum of Middle Eastern clothing and was fascinated by eg. how patterns and colours were used in women's clothing to signal support for the first intifada. She is hoping to think of a similar topic - something very specific but with a larger political context to explore.
She's comfortable with the idea of conducting interviews, if the topic so requires. Her access to academic literature is severely limited by paywalls. She doesn't speak any Middle Eastern languages, but she's fluent in English.
Her final product can be a written research report or paper, which are academically her strong suit, but she's also considering the option of making a short documentary in stead. (The output part is really free-form: depending on the subject matter, in previous years students have turned in physical products, built pop-up galleries, made apps and one even wrote a political manifesto, but my kid's way more old school.)
I have no expertise whatsoever in this area, so I'm turning to you. The company I work for does have a branch office in Tehran, but I can't think of a way to make use of that connection.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
We live in Holland, and high school juniors spend a large chunk of their spring semester working on an assignment, the subject of which they get to choose quite freely.
My daughter's interests include:
- politics (she's in youth politics and has a large network which includes some actual, well-known Dutch politicians)
- Middle East (she's been taking extracurricular pre-university classes in Middle Eastern studies and would love to apply that for this assignment)
- human rights
- gender equality
- radicalization
She's having trouble coming up with a specific topic which she could formulate into a clearly defined research question, and the deadline is looming.
She recently visited a museum of Middle Eastern clothing and was fascinated by eg. how patterns and colours were used in women's clothing to signal support for the first intifada. She is hoping to think of a similar topic - something very specific but with a larger political context to explore.
She's comfortable with the idea of conducting interviews, if the topic so requires. Her access to academic literature is severely limited by paywalls. She doesn't speak any Middle Eastern languages, but she's fluent in English.
Her final product can be a written research report or paper, which are academically her strong suit, but she's also considering the option of making a short documentary in stead. (The output part is really free-form: depending on the subject matter, in previous years students have turned in physical products, built pop-up galleries, made apps and one even wrote a political manifesto, but my kid's way more old school.)
I have no expertise whatsoever in this area, so I'm turning to you. The company I work for does have a branch office in Tehran, but I can't think of a way to make use of that connection.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
With that list of interests, it seems like she would enjoy focusing on the Kurdish guerrilla women of the YPJ in Rojava.
posted by contraption at 8:49 AM on February 18, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by contraption at 8:49 AM on February 18, 2019 [8 favorites]
I'm a professor. She should ask her unviersity faculty for that extra curricular class.
posted by k8t at 9:04 AM on February 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by k8t at 9:04 AM on February 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
Hmmm. Maybe she could connect with a nonprofit or NGO in Holland working with refugees from the Middle East (does she have a certain country/part of the ME she's especially interested in?) as a good starting point for ideas? They may have research projects going on and she could spin something small off of that. Or she could create her own survey etc of a certain subgroup of ppl served by that NGO (maybe teenage girls? women?) to explore her research question.
Also, if she does reach out to an NGO and conducts interviews, I would strongly recommend she find a mentor to work with. She needs a strong foundation of understanding the trauma many of the refugees have faced before she interviews (if she went that route). Her interests in the region are admirable, but very sensitive and sometimes inflammatory topics for ppl
posted by namemeansgazelle at 10:00 AM on February 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
Also, if she does reach out to an NGO and conducts interviews, I would strongly recommend she find a mentor to work with. She needs a strong foundation of understanding the trauma many of the refugees have faced before she interviews (if she went that route). Her interests in the region are admirable, but very sensitive and sometimes inflammatory topics for ppl
posted by namemeansgazelle at 10:00 AM on February 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
She recently visited a museum of Middle Eastern clothing and was fascinated by eg. how patterns and colours were used in women's clothing to signal support for the first intifada. She is hoping to think of a similar topic - something very specific but with a larger political context to explore.
If this is something that intrigues her, what about something to do with the creation and preservation of national/cultural identity through clothing? Wearing specific clothing is a pretty explicit way of expressing identity and political solidarity. That's especially important when people are creating a new/shared cultural or national identity, and it's also also especially important when their national/cultural identity faces an existential threat, as in diaspora.
Not the Middle East, but there is a lot of writing about this regarding India, because a lot of effort was put into making the sari a symbol of Indian national identity. As far as I know, saris are still subsidized in India for that very reason. Here's an example of an academic paper on the topic: Bound from Head to Toe: The Sari as an Expression of Gendered National Identity
posted by rue72 at 10:07 AM on February 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
If this is something that intrigues her, what about something to do with the creation and preservation of national/cultural identity through clothing? Wearing specific clothing is a pretty explicit way of expressing identity and political solidarity. That's especially important when people are creating a new/shared cultural or national identity, and it's also also especially important when their national/cultural identity faces an existential threat, as in diaspora.
Not the Middle East, but there is a lot of writing about this regarding India, because a lot of effort was put into making the sari a symbol of Indian national identity. As far as I know, saris are still subsidized in India for that very reason. Here's an example of an academic paper on the topic: Bound from Head to Toe: The Sari as an Expression of Gendered National Identity
posted by rue72 at 10:07 AM on February 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
I'm an academic librarian and I often suggest that students pick topics that they already know something about and that interest them.
Since she's a high school student how about comparing the opportunities for high school education for girls in various Middle Eastern countries?
Are there immigrants from the Middle East in your part of the world? If so, perhaps she could document their migration stories.
posted by mareli at 11:33 AM on February 18, 2019
Since she's a high school student how about comparing the opportunities for high school education for girls in various Middle Eastern countries?
Are there immigrants from the Middle East in your part of the world? If so, perhaps she could document their migration stories.
posted by mareli at 11:33 AM on February 18, 2019
She recently visited a museum of Middle Eastern clothing and was fascinated by eg. how patterns and colours were used in women's clothing to signal support for the first intifada. She is hoping to think of a similar topic - something very specific but with a larger political context to explore.
If this is something that intrigues her, what about something to do with the creation and preservation of national/cultural identity through clothing? Wearing specific clothing is a pretty explicit way of expressing identity and political solidarity. That's especially important when people are creating a new/shared cultural or national identity, and it's also also especially important when their national/cultural identity faces an existential threat, as in diaspora.
Related topically: Veiled Meanings: Fashioning Jewish Dress, from the Collection of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. I think the intersection of fashion with politics/culture/identity could be a great angle to work on.
posted by carrioncomfort at 11:34 AM on February 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
If this is something that intrigues her, what about something to do with the creation and preservation of national/cultural identity through clothing? Wearing specific clothing is a pretty explicit way of expressing identity and political solidarity. That's especially important when people are creating a new/shared cultural or national identity, and it's also also especially important when their national/cultural identity faces an existential threat, as in diaspora.
Related topically: Veiled Meanings: Fashioning Jewish Dress, from the Collection of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. I think the intersection of fashion with politics/culture/identity could be a great angle to work on.
posted by carrioncomfort at 11:34 AM on February 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
A couple of years ago I took part in a really interesting series of workshops on Palestinian embroidery run by the excellent Glasgow Women's Library. It was a fascinating topic and covered a whole range of things - women's co-ops and economic empowerment, tourism, textile heritage, national identity, language, migration. They made a really cool project blog which goes into more detail about all the workshops and also has links to further resources. It might be worth a look to see how they started with this very specific topic of the traditional embroidery and then contextualised it in lots of different ways.
posted by Lluvia at 12:08 PM on February 18, 2019
posted by Lluvia at 12:08 PM on February 18, 2019
I wrote a research paper on the Kurds when I was in high school, and of basically everything I learned in school, it's the one thing that basically comes up the most often as context for understanding world news (there's this little Calvin Trillin poem from just before the Iraq War that sums it all up). It ties in with politics, the Middle East, human rights, gender equality, and radicalization. Once she explores the outlines of the topic somewhat, she could either choose to write something general or focus more specifically on a subtopic of interest (gender equality, the conflict with Turkey, the war with ISIS, etc...). There are a lot of English-language articles, interviews, and films to use as sources.
posted by zachlipton at 12:32 PM on February 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by zachlipton at 12:32 PM on February 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
How about a survey of Arabic calligraphy as an art? It's a fascinating topic with an ancient history and all sorts of varying artistic styles such as geometric Kufic.
Whatever topic she chooses, if she goes with the short documentary as a format a good source of English-language content about many parts of the Middle East is Al Jazeera English, which is backed by the government of Qatar. Israel's i24 News has a good variety of English content too, though fewer long-form journalism pieces. Many large European media networks have great Middle-East-related content as well such as Deutsche Welle English and France 24 English.
If Kurdish-related topics are of interest, a tie-in to history subjects she may have studied is that Saladin, who faced off against the Crusader States a millenium ago, was a Kurd.
posted by XMLicious at 12:44 PM on February 18, 2019
Whatever topic she chooses, if she goes with the short documentary as a format a good source of English-language content about many parts of the Middle East is Al Jazeera English, which is backed by the government of Qatar. Israel's i24 News has a good variety of English content too, though fewer long-form journalism pieces. Many large European media networks have great Middle-East-related content as well such as Deutsche Welle English and France 24 English.
If Kurdish-related topics are of interest, a tie-in to history subjects she may have studied is that Saladin, who faced off against the Crusader States a millenium ago, was a Kurd.
posted by XMLicious at 12:44 PM on February 18, 2019
A really interesting intersection of politics, religion and gender is hijab wearing and female dress generally in Iran.
There is an entire complex language being used just in how far back on the head the veil is worn, and huge considerations around the context in which "bad hijab" can be gotten away with, just as a starter. It is fascinating.
It's a topic thick with nuance, history and resistance to, or acceptance of, theocracy. I'd be very surprised if she can't find sources to use and I would think there would be Iranian women to talk to in Holland.
posted by deadwax at 1:37 PM on February 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
There is an entire complex language being used just in how far back on the head the veil is worn, and huge considerations around the context in which "bad hijab" can be gotten away with, just as a starter. It is fascinating.
It's a topic thick with nuance, history and resistance to, or acceptance of, theocracy. I'd be very surprised if she can't find sources to use and I would think there would be Iranian women to talk to in Holland.
posted by deadwax at 1:37 PM on February 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
She's comfortable with the idea of conducting interviews
Does she know anyone connected with some Middle Eastern diaspora who'd be willing to share some of their life story, perhaps anonymized? If so, I'd suggest research questions like "how are kinship ties essential to and/or mediated by transnational phenomena--migration, personal economic issues, connections between places, etc.," "how do state-level phenomena impact transnational migrations," or "what memories evoke nostalgia and/or connect to things going on in the diasporic community," all as matters that shape a single life story.
Googling for life history, ethnographic sketch, ethnographic portrait, and especially person-centered ethnography may turn up some methodological suggestions, but the basic idea would be to ask questions like these [PDF] to wind up with something as brief as these portraits (available free online) covering a subject more like this study (which can be checked out for free) to examine theoretical issues like these [PDF]. I've seen plenty of students write ethnographic sketches like this in well under 80 hours, but that's really an ideal amount of time to do a good job of fleshing it out with sources that connect to what her interlocutor said, revising the paper, giving a copy to the person she has talked to for corrections / privacy edits, and so on.
posted by Wobbuffet at 4:32 PM on February 18, 2019
Does she know anyone connected with some Middle Eastern diaspora who'd be willing to share some of their life story, perhaps anonymized? If so, I'd suggest research questions like "how are kinship ties essential to and/or mediated by transnational phenomena--migration, personal economic issues, connections between places, etc.," "how do state-level phenomena impact transnational migrations," or "what memories evoke nostalgia and/or connect to things going on in the diasporic community," all as matters that shape a single life story.
Googling for life history, ethnographic sketch, ethnographic portrait, and especially person-centered ethnography may turn up some methodological suggestions, but the basic idea would be to ask questions like these [PDF] to wind up with something as brief as these portraits (available free online) covering a subject more like this study (which can be checked out for free) to examine theoretical issues like these [PDF]. I've seen plenty of students write ethnographic sketches like this in well under 80 hours, but that's really an ideal amount of time to do a good job of fleshing it out with sources that connect to what her interlocutor said, revising the paper, giving a copy to the person she has talked to for corrections / privacy edits, and so on.
posted by Wobbuffet at 4:32 PM on February 18, 2019
She recently visited a museum of Middle Eastern clothing and was fascinated by eg. how patterns and colours were used in women's clothing to signal support for the first intifada. She is hoping to think of a similar topic - something very specific but with a larger political context to explore.I support this research, too. Textile studies is its own legitimate academic field, so I'm sure there are lenses she can use to analyze the clothes. Another example. It's also great because the topic acknowledges that women in the Middle East have agency and opinions - and steers clear of tropes about women being oppressed by headscarves and refugees fleeing a region "always" at war. I have a feeling there are books about this that she can check out. Why not have her contact someone at the museum to ask for pointers? I'm sure they'd be happy someone was so inspired by their exhibit.
posted by Penguin48 at 11:59 AM on February 19, 2019
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Environmentally (enviro-politics really), she could look into the factors leading to the creation of Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, and it's effectiveness in delivering green tech/becoming zero carbon.
posted by biffa at 8:35 AM on February 18, 2019 [1 favorite]