As students at a small, private Midwestern college, it can be easy to lose sight of the world beyond DuPage County. However, North Central College’s mission is to broaden the horizons of the students on its campus.
With the new Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Studies minor, North Central students can do just that. Focusing on foreign language, religious and cultural studies, the MENA minor shifts a spotlight onto an oft-forgotten but increasingly relevant global culture.
“We’ve always known that there’s been a rather large gap in our curriculum that we sort of ignored; that whole region of the Middle East and North Africa,” said Professor Jack Shindler, International Program Director and English professor. “If we don’t get a handle on the Middle East, I don’t think we have a very good chance of making things any better. So I think part of our problem is just lack of understanding.”
Shindler, along with several other programs and departments on campus, has been a proponent for the MENA minor since its proposition in spring of 2014. Shindler, who has entrenched himself in the campus’ international culture, has worked diligently to outline the minor as one that would be beneficial to the student body.
“Leaving a college like this, you will be well-served if you have this kind of knowledge for any potential employer,” said Shindler. In the proposal to the Acadmic Policies and Programs Committee, Shindler states that the new area of study would reinforce “the college’s commitment to diversity with new investments in hiring, training, student recruitment and academic programming.”
The Office of International Programs saw the minor as an opportunity not only to help students become familiar with an important region of the world, but to flex their international humanitarian muscle in light of recent events.
“For me there’s two problems to solve,” said Shindler. “What can we do from here as a small school, and what is the Middle East?… The other scary part about all this is that this is where ISIS is, and the more we know about the context that (they’re) coming out of, the more chances we have of figuring out ways to help the world get through this.”
The federal government responded to the MENA proposal by supplying North Central with a $150,000 grant, ensuring that the program has enough resources to fulfill its role in the 2015-2016 curriculum.
The MENA minor courses offered are a combination of existing cultural and religious studies courses and newly-introduced courses such as Elementary Arabic. “We’re hoping that freshman and other people that want a second language will sign up for Arabic and get that started,” said Shindler, “and at the same time if those same students will be interested in getting the minor.”
In addition to Elementary Arabic, the MENA minor offers such courses as Modern Middle East, Comparative Politics, Ethnomusicology, and Leadership and Culture, among others. Shindler added that the minor is always growing with the needs and desires of the student body; “We’re looking to add things like art, more political science, LEVs, looking at a conflict resolution course (regarding) Israel and Palestine.”
A similar program has been launched at Northwestern University, where Shindler and the International Program saw inspiration for the MENA minor. “We decided we would see if we could put together a set of courses,” said Shindler, “many of which are already here but rarely taught…amend some courses, add some courses, and then hire someone who can teach Arabic and at least a course or two in that cultural area.”
Shindler also noted that a similar area of study on campus proved to enhance the scope of the new minor. “We’re hoping the minor might turn into a major,” commented Shindler. “The best model is East Asian studies… we believe that the combination of the language and the culture is what makes the experience richer and more legitimate.”
The minor takes special care to focus on the cultural connectivity not only between the Middle East and North Africa, but cultures and religions around the globe. Shindler and the departments involved in the creation and implementation of this minor are glad to have the cultural spot filled where before there was nothing.
“To me, we’ve done Asia, we’ve done Europe, but we’ve kind of just skipped this area and glanced over this whole region,” said Shindler. “Sub-Saharan Africa is a whole other issue, but since we’ve already had these footholds in the North and in Middle Eastern cultures we figured we’d at least build on what we’ve got.”
