Longer Reflection

My assumption walking into this class was that I would be more knowledgeable on the topic than I found myself to be. As arrogant as it admittedly sounds, I believed that I couldn’t possibly learn all that much about a topic I had already done some of my own research on due to my interest in it. From the very first class, however, I was proven wrong. Looking back on it, I cannot remember exactly what prompted that level of self-confidence, but I am very grateful that this class proved me extremely wrong.

Through our shared time during class hours, we were most engaged in stimulating discussions. Whether it was likemindedness or disagreement, I continuously found new perspectives and new ways of examining texts that I couldn’t have on my own. I remember some of our earlier discussions revolved around the position of women in The Arabian Nights by Haddawy. In particular, we debated Shahrazad’s existence as a strong female character vs. just another female character serving the purpose of furthering the plot for men. While my take was the latter, I could see why some others believe the former. That was the first discussion that truly felt to me like all of us were becoming more comfortable with expressing our dissenting opinions.

A reading that also surprised me was Scope of Orientalism by Said. As I mentioned earlier, I considered myself fairly knowledgeable about Orientalism and Islamophobia. However, this reading truly put into context for me the birth of Orientalism and the many ways it has been and could be used to exploit various peoples. Said’s reflections and analysis about the speeches given by men who actively colonized Egypt really made all the concepts we were talking about click in my head.

Another assumption I had about the class was that my learnings would only apply to the class alone and not all that much outside of it. I quickly found that I was, once again, very wrong.I have also been applying my learning of writing a paper, with the methods of analysis and writing from this class to other classes. This feels like the first time I have truly been able to learn beyond just academics, especially with our discussions about current events. It has been super cool to see it bleed into real discussions with friends outside of just this class.

Overall, I feel like the assumptions I walked into class with have been very quickly proven wrong and I am glad that happened.
.