Evaluations

1.Class Discussion/ Facilitation/ Conversation

I think this was an essential part of the class. Although it took a little bit of time for all of us to get comfortable with sharing our thoughts, I think as the quarter went on, the discussions became much more constructive. The readings definitely helped facilitate these conversations. I don’t think there is a way to speed up the process of getting more comfortable in a discussion setting. I think it just depends on the group’s familiarity with the subject matter and comfort level with such a volatile subject and the other students in the class.

2. Video Conferencing

I really enjoyed this aspect of the class. Although I wish we could have done so more often, the three times we did video conference definitely added depth to my understanding and learning experience that can’t really be paralleled. Especially since I am not one of the students going to Jerusalem, the video conferencing gave me an opportunity to get a very real (for lack of better term) look into Jerusalem. It would have been really interesting to meet with more university students, but I think just the fact that we were not able to, and the reasons behind why we couldn’t serve as learning points.

3. Readings and the topics

I found the readings to be very helpful. Although I had some basic knowledge about the region before I took this class, the readings made me realize how much I didn’t know. I really appreciated the diversity of the topics. I think too often in talking about the region, people focus on one thing and forget to consider the many aspects that affect that one thing. Our readings, ranging from architecture to short stories, gave me a much more holistic perspective of life in Jerusalem. In addition, the readings in this class really made me appreciate the power of history.

4. Lecturers and Speakers

I thought each of the lecturers/speakers was very interesting. Kasa’s talk gave me perspective that I had never considered before. Although I do not agree with all her views, I now have a better understanding of how passionate a person can be about a place based on one element of their life that in essence becomes the defining feature of their life. I though the three professors on the religion panel were also very interesting, not necessarily for the subject matter of what they said, but more so for the interaction between them. Professor Herrmann was definitely my favorite speaker. He provided a very comprehensive and accessible presentation on the political situation that I think is so hard to grasp with all the biased media coverage. I think having the guest speakers also facilitated easier class discussions.

5. Blogging

This aspect of the class has probably been the most challenging part for me. For some reason, posting things online makes me more nervous than writing papers that get turned in. This is probably because of the permanent status the post takes on “out there” once I hit the “submit” button. Blogging has definitely forced me to loosen my writing style (in a good way). It took me awhile to get used to it, but now that I have used it on a regular basis, it seems to me that it is a very efficient tool for both the writer and the readers. It was a great way to get to know what everyone else in the class was thinking, even if I was only able to browse through the posts without reading each word in all of them. Writing posts on others’ blogs is an activity that I thought was very beneficial, not only because of the interaction, but because it forced me to think more critically about the posts than just read them on a surface level. The class blog was very helpful in keeping track of what was going on in class and communicating with the class as a whole. I especially liked that the comments from various people we met were posted on there.

6. Syallabus and its clarity

I thought it was great as it was.

7. Final Project

I really appreciated that open ended nature of the final project. I think it really reflects the essence of this class. It gave me a chance to explore music, something that wasn’t specifically covered in class but was indirectly hinted at. The music group Sabreen caught my attention the first time I heard them in class. Therefore, being able to learn more about them and their ties to Palestine through the final project was really interesting to me. And sharing what I learned through a multi-media project was a completely new experience for me. Having never made a “movie,” the final project was two dimensional in subject matter and presentation. Also, given the open ended nature of the projects, it was really interesting to see what everyone else came up with. It diversity of living Jerusalem was clearly represented in the diversity of subjects and modes of presentation, from the painting to interviews.

8. Personal Reflection

This class has by far been one of the best classes I have taken at OSU. Unlike any of the other classes I have taken, this class incorporates aspects such as video conferencing and blogging that make the class engage in direct interaction with the “real world.” As such, the class also incorporates diversity in many forms: the topics, people, and methods of information gathering. This diverse approach not only offered a much more holistic information base of “living Jerusalem”, but also gave me a new perspective into how various forms of technology can be utilized to facilitate dialogue. Although I won't be able to go on the trip, the class itself has been a tremendous learning experience for me. I have a much better understanding of what is going on in the region and how people live within such circumstances. Although much of history and the conflicts we have covered in class serve to shed a depressing light on the current situation, the common bond of humanity and the persistence for dialogue gives me hope.

Old and New

Old:
I realize this is a bit delayed, but I wanted to post a response to our meeting with PYALRA and for some reason never got around to it till now. There were two things in particular that I remember from our conversation with the members of PYALARA. The first thing that struck me was when they talked about the concept of "normalization," and viewed it as a form of betrayal. It was particularly interesting that they mentioned this in light of the conversation we had with the students and professor from the Israeli University where they made it a point to illustrate that life was in fact normal in many aspects and that the conflict was not the defining factor of everyday life. I think these two very different views in and of themselves illustrate the importance of talking to different groups of people to gain a more holistic perspective of any given situation. The second bit of conversation that particularly struck me was when the members of PYALARA were talking about the international community's view of Palestine and the surrounding Arab/Muslim countries in relation to Israel. In regards to Israel being located in the midst of predominantly Arab/Muslim countries, they said that Israel plays the victim card and the international community believes them. In particular, they said that it is absurd that Israel says that Arabs/Muslims want to get rid of them (want them to fall into the sea) and the world actually believes them. This comment just struck me as particularly interesting, especially given the previous conversation we had just had with Professor Hermmann. In talking about the region and the conflict, I think we often neglect to see the international community's views and actions from the perspective of those actually involved in the conflict.

New:
On a completely different note, I realized that I also never posted what specifically my final project is about. Although you will see it in a couple days, here is a brief description. It is about the Palestinian musical group Sabreen. My interest in the group was sparked with the very first video we watched in class. I'm not sure if any of you remember the video we watched towards the beginning of the quarter depicting life in East and West Jerusalem, but the music in the intro was a piece by Sabreen. Although I didn't know it at the time, I really liked the music and decided to just follow up and see if I could find some other songs. And since I was looking them up anyway, I decided it would be a good topic for my project. It turns out that Dr. Horowitz actually has a lot of material on Sabreen and in fact did a radio program about them a while ago. So for my project, I am using her production of the program as a framework and am also using some interviews of members of the group along with some other footage and pictures. I've never done a multi-media project before, so this is going to be an experiment. I have bits of audio and a lot of text I'm incorporating into this, so this may be an unusual viewer experience as well. I hope it turns out ok.

Week 8 Reading Responses

I think there is a really interesting connection between the "Old and New Walls in Jerusalem" (Menachem Klein) article and the PYALARA articles, especially the "Overview of the Political Context and Developments" one. It seems like the very first sentence of Klein's article: "The concept of Jerusalem as an open city negates the existence of any deep division in Jerusalem" can in fact have effectively served as the opening sentence of the PYALARA article as well. Both articles clearly illustrate the divisions that exist within the city, and region at large, albeit from two different perspectives that counteract the title of an "open city." Klein's article almost serves as a precursor for the PYALARA article in that it lays out the different types of "walls" that exist and the PYALARA articles add the human component of the lives of those who are separated by those "walls." Given this background, I think our conversations tomorrow will be extremely interesting. I'm really excited to meet the Palestinian youth behind the PYALARA articles and hear their perspectives first hand. It is also really interesting to note the focus on the political history and current politics that was specifically diverted in our last video conference meeting. Pending our session tomorrow, I think these differences will definitely be an interesting subject to further discuss.

Responses

Tuesday:
It still amazes me that we were able to video conference with a university professor and students in Jerusalem on Tuesday. It was extremely interesting to hear their perspectives on a topic that we have been studying about and they are literally experiencing on a daily basis. It is only through 21st century technology that we can literally talk with people face-to-face while being thousands of miles away. I was particularly struck by our conversation's constant shift of focus from the "conflict" to the day-to-day interactions of the inhabitants of the city. Perhaps by focusing on 'living Jerusalem' we are in fact missing out on 'living in Jerusalem.' I wonder how much of a difference there is between the conflict affecting day-to-day life versus day-to-day life affecting the conflict?

Thursday:
I must start of by saying that I am generally very interested in politics. As such, I found Professor Herrmann's session extremely interesting. I thought that he offered the information in a very balanced and comprehensible manner. Seeing all the maps and hearing about all the peace deals on both sides really helped put things in perspective for me since popular media and my general exposure has primarily focused on only certain bits of information. Although I now have a better understanding of the politics of the situation, I am now even more overwhelmed with the intricacies and complexities of the situation in particular and region at large.

Irony

There is a common thread of irony among all three of the articles: "The Promised Gas Mask," "A Dog's Life," and "Jerusalem: Not the Mother of all Cities." In the first two articles, I was particularly struck by the tragic tone that cuts through the surface layer of humor. I think that Suad Amiry actually conveys the sense of injustice and frustration more through her writing style in which she makes it a point to inject humor and not focus on directly listing grievances. I also think it's very interesting that she chose to use gas masks and dogs symbolically. Although Galit Hasan-Rokem's article also deals with irony, it does so in a much more direct manner. It wasn't until Hasan-Roken pointed out in this article, that I realized that land is in fact very often likened to the female persona. It is interesting to note that in characterizing Jerusalem as a female, people have called the city anything from beloved mother to even prostitute. Thus, Hasan-Roken illustrates that characterizing Jerusalem as such undermines both the female gender as well as the city.

For my final project I want to focus on music in Jerusalem. In particular, I'm interested in finding some way to showcase the immense diversity within that region that has manifested itself in the music. As we saw in the movie, it's not just that there are many different group of people, but also a lot of diversity within each group. I haven't quite figured out exactly how to go about this yet though.

Music and Jerusalem

As I was browsing the Internet looking for anything related to music and Jerusalem, I came across two particularly interesting articles. The first one is an NPR article on a musician named Jordi Savall who performed a history of Jerusalem through music in New York on Monday night. Although it's not a concept I have specifically entertained before, I think it is amazing that history can be conveyed through various means. Just as we have studied the history of Jerusalem through words for the past few weeks, Jordi Savall shows the history of the Holy city through music which incorporates musical traditions from the many different religious and ethnic groups that have made up the city's population. This article is also particularly interesting because it references Karen Armstrong's use of sacred geography and quotes her as looking forward to Jordi Savall's concert. Here is the link to the article: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126390261&ft=1&f=1039
The site also has a link to the music itself.

The second article I found is not as directly connected to the class material. It is actually a poem by William Blake titled "Jerusalem." What I find particularly interesting about this poem is its connection to Britain. After talking to Professor Tamari, we see that Britain has played a prominent role in the region and the ensuing conflict, or at least in fueling the conflict. As such, in this light, the poem is very ironic. Here is a link to the poem and a short analysis of the poem right under it:
http://www.progressiveliving.org/william_blake_poetry_jerusalem.htm
It is also interesting to note that this poem has been set to music. The one piece I found was I believe a hymn, but I think the poem has also been set to other pieces of music.

Tamari Readings

Both the Tamari articles offer us a different perspective on life in Jerusalem than most of the readings we have done thus far. Although the religions clearly play a role in both the articles, their primary focus on other social factors such as music and medicine offer the reader a more holistic and day to day understanding of life in the holy city. By illustrating Jerusalem through the stories of two Jerusalemites, Wasif Jawhariyyeh and Tawfiq Canaan, Tamari adds a personal dimension to the history that has been so structured by dates and events so far, especially in the Armstrong readings. In essence, these two articles portray the "social history" of Jerusalem. One of the things that struck me about both articles was that there seemed to be a heavier emphasis on highlighting the similarities among the various religious and ethnic groups than on pointing out their differences. Although Tamari didn't specifically outline the similarities, the social interaction of the Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Armenian communities through music and the "peasant madness" psychology effectively did so.