The Best Class Ever I didn’t realize that when I had signed up for English 241 in the fall that I would really be signing up for a course that I would value so much. This course has been so much more to me than just reading literature and defining its characteristics. This class has deepened my intellectual thoughts and as well as my own personality. I have viewed the world in a different light even since the beginning of the semester. I find it interesting that I feel my ears have finally opened up and I actually hear what people are saying. I understand now that the stereotypes of the East vs. West are constantly around me and I now find it my responsibility to make sure those prejudices are corrected. I have de-friended people from my facebook, who I thought I liked, but actually couldn’t stand their ignorant political views. It is not that I cannot stand other people with different views than my own, but that I cannot contemplate the ignorance of people. I had no idea going into this English class that I would honestly be walking out with a completely different frame of mind, and for that though, I am so thankful.
One thing that I definitely took from this class was how false some orientalist perspectives of women are. After reading, Who Speaks for Islam? I have an entirely new perspective of Islamic women and what they truly want. Before taking this class I assumed that Islamic women were enslaved and victims to their male oppressors. However, now I know that many of them not only do not feel oppressed but believe that our Western society oppresses women more than they. After taking this course, my views on Islam are completely changed. I now know that jihad does not even mean holy war, and that Islam is a religion of peace and striving to be close to god. Before this course, I never knew how wrong my perceptions truly were.
I think one of the most important things I've learned in this class is how subtle the Orientalist discourse can be, as well as how such sentiments largely come from a complete lack of knowledge. Realizing how little I knew about the Middle-East was also a real eye-opener, to the extent that I've been trying, in the past few weeks, to keep better tabs on what exactly is going on in the "East," since a lot of Americans are otherwise ignorant of this. Learning about Islam, especially, was particularly interesting, because most of what I know comes from biased accounts from various media sources. I think, over all, this class was one of my favorites of the semester, because it really encouraged me to think critically about subjects I'd never considered before in this light.
The Best Class Ever
ReplyDeleteI didn’t realize that when I had signed up for English 241 in the fall that I would really be signing up for a course that I would value so much. This course has been so much more to me than just reading literature and defining its characteristics. This class has deepened my intellectual thoughts and as well as my own personality. I have viewed the world in a different light even since the beginning of the semester. I find it interesting that I feel my ears have finally opened up and I actually hear what people are saying. I understand now that the stereotypes of the East vs. West are constantly around me and I now find it my responsibility to make sure those prejudices are corrected. I have de-friended people from my facebook, who I thought I liked, but actually couldn’t stand their ignorant political views. It is not that I cannot stand other people with different views than my own, but that I cannot contemplate the ignorance of people. I had no idea going into this English class that I would honestly be walking out with a completely different frame of mind, and for that though, I am so thankful.
One thing that I definitely took from this class was how false some orientalist perspectives of women are. After reading, Who Speaks for Islam? I have an entirely new perspective of Islamic women and what they truly want. Before taking this class I assumed that Islamic women were enslaved and victims to their male oppressors. However, now I know that many of them not only do not feel oppressed but believe that our Western society oppresses women more than they. After taking this course, my views on Islam are completely changed. I now know that jihad does not even mean holy war, and that Islam is a religion of peace and striving to be close to god. Before this course, I never knew how wrong my perceptions truly were.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the most important things I've learned in this class is how subtle the Orientalist discourse can be, as well as how such sentiments largely come from a complete lack of knowledge. Realizing how little I knew about the Middle-East was also a real eye-opener, to the extent that I've been trying, in the past few weeks, to keep better tabs on what exactly is going on in the "East," since a lot of Americans are otherwise ignorant of this. Learning about Islam, especially, was particularly interesting, because most of what I know comes from biased accounts from various media sources. I think, over all, this class was one of my favorites of the semester, because it really encouraged me to think critically about subjects I'd never considered before in this light.
ReplyDelete