When I signed up for a Middle Eastern History course the summer before my freshman year, I was completely outside of my comfort zone. It was my first college level history course, and it was also the first time I had ever taken a history class that focused on countries that weren’t in the West. There was definitely an initial roadblock: in middle school and high school curriculums there is little to no focus on MENA’s history.
Once I got to Ohio State, I signed up for History of U.S.-Africa Relations. Once again, there were large initial challenges to taking in the material, as I had little to no background on any of the countries we were discussing. It meant that the course had to move more slowly than the professor would have liked, and that lots of details about the international politics and developments went over my head.
Experiencing history at the college level has definitely increased my awareness of these huge gaps in essential background information in the U.S.’s education system – this has become one of my main policy interests over the last couple of years. The history curriculum in elementary and high schools in the U.S. is definitely lacking in breadth, and looking back it would have been more helpful to have an introduction to the colonization of Africa or the 1948 Arab-Israeli war than to examine the War of 1812 on repeat.
In the end, taking the college courses that I have has definitely been worth it. It’s rewarding to leave a course feeling that I have a more comprehensive understanding of the way the world works, and also that I have so much more to learn. But I can’t help but wonder about the people that don’t take those courses at the college level (because let’s face it, most people don’t go to college and major in History). Because education, especially during elementary school, does so much to shape one’s world view, I would love to potentially find some outlet to get involved in education policy in the future. Being better informed about history outside of the West early on certainly can’t hurt, and it could make all the difference.
I have attached my final papers for my History of the Middle East and History of U.S.-Africa Relations courses below. My U.S.-Africa Relations paper wound up focusing on the connections between media, U.S. public opinion, ad humanitarian aid during the Biafran War. The shorter paper for the Middle Eastern History course was about the role of women in the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
The Role of Women in the Iranian Revolution – History of the Middle East
War of Words – History of U.S.-Africa Relations