Thursday 2/25/2010

Once again, this class is pretty interesting. I find it difficult to render the demise of the Ottoman empire, to be demise or transformation. Either way, the Ottoman Empire still became weaker due to the change. The perspective on women is interesting because some suggest that the demise was due to the women. When future sultans were raised in the herem and stayed there, their mothers became close to them, and often times assumed power and authority over his rule. That didn't happen until the role of the Sultan, duities, and activities became tainted by laziness and so forth. If transformation were to be the correct term, the Ottoman Empire still didn't modernize like the West, and it was criticized because of that. I think that I will stick with demise not transformation.

2/19/2010

I am finding that the Ottomans were great rulers. When reading the books, listening to the lectures, or watching videos, I always draw the same conclusion, that the Ottoman Empire was a great one. I have become increasingly interested in its downfall, however. Since they have ruled for hundreds and hundreds of years, I became fascinated about how such a mighty horse could take a great fall. I am tired of reading and listening to the fall of Constantinople, I now want to know about the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Thats why I cannot wait to dive into the Janissary Tree because it talks about the fall of the Empire in advance of it happening. There must have been some internal problems. Religion may be a problem. Since Islam has certain rules, and muslims have certain perspectives on modernity, maybe civilization was advancing too much for the Ottomans to handle, and their old world ways could no longer hold. I personally do see Islam as an impedement to modernity because there are certain rules against it. The European perspective seems to focus a lot on Islam. At any rate, I cannot wait to learn about how it collapsed, and also if the collapse of the janissaries led to the collapse of the sultan, and eventually the empire.

2/12/2010

I absolutely loved the clips which we watched on the snow day assignment for class on Thursday. I literally felt pampered by all of the senses they evoked in me. I wanted to jump through the computer screen, and taste the isfahani cuisine which one family made, I wanted to look up inside the dome of one of the palaces of the imam square, and become amazed by the geometric patterns of the skilled artist who created it. I want now, to visit Iran. I didn't have any interst in Iran before because of how their president, Ahmedinejad is portrayed as a human rights abuser. However, I didn't know that the language was so different from Syrian arabic, for instance. Their arabic sounds more like urdu to me for some reason. I love the idea of synching my learning by watching video clips, taking notes at class lectures, and reading, because I learn alot from doing that. Also, reading my classmates responses to the video's, and seeing which aspects of the story they tell, or what I omitted, is interesting as well. I am already learning so much in this class, and the Red Apple, not the Red Tree, is a very well written book as well.

2/5/2010

I am finding this course very interesting so far. I think that the combination of the readings, video's, lectures, and taking notes is really starting to help the information disseminate through the confines of my brain. As I stated in my first blog, I really seek to gain a comprehensive knowledge of the middle east, and I believe that looking at the historical aspect of it helps greatly. I like the idea of being an historian, and starting from as early in the history of Islam as possible, then working my way up to the present. I have learned many things about terminology as well. Gaza means holy war against non Muslims for the expansion of Islam, and I synced that with the Gaza strip in the middle east, probably between Israeli territory and Palestinian territory. I also now know what Sunnis and Shi'as are now. Sunni's have Imam's and Shi'as have caliphs. Shi'as believe that Muhammad possessed divine esoteric knowledge that other human beings do not. Overall, I find the history fascinating. On a side note, the Ottoman's astonish me because of their impeccable leadership skills. They kept power for hundreds of years, and mastered the fundamentals of getting people to do what you want; give some, take some.

The film Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land was quite interesting and refreshing to me. Interesting because I long to know and understand the problems in the middle east. Refreshing because during the Bush administration, I followed what was going on enough to gather a small understanding, but not a sufficient one, of the problems in the Mid East. I so look forward to this class because it is about time that I learn about the middle east. I become so overwhelmed when I hear of events that occur in Iraq, or Afghanistan because It normally is information that is apart of a whole series of events that I either don't know about, or that I have a vague understanding of. As to the film itself, I liked and disliked its content. I like the way it argued that Israeli media, when covered in the U.S, only reflects the pro Israel aspect of whatever is being portrayed, but the Arab or Palestinian aspect is always portrayed in a negative light. I like the strong support for that argument, also the way in which it revealed, in a sense, the true Israel which we don't see in the media and the equally devastated palestinians. What I disliked was the one sidedness of the film. I am a person who likes to hear both sides of the story, hence my dislike. My dislike also came about because I admire what the Bush administration did for Iraq, even though the issues surrounding it were and continue to be hotly debated. I like the idea of a palestinian state, and I do believe that it will come forth. The overthrow of Saddam Hussein was imperative to a successful Palestine. I would like to say however, that I fully understand why another person would disagree with my liking of the Bush administration's Iraq policies. In candor, I fully look forward to building up to the utter disorder of the Middle East of today from a historian's perspective, and the film "shook things up" in my mind, and got me to think and wonder about what has been going on.