This semester, we will explore how films from Hollywood to Tehran shape views of Middle Eastern men and women--revealing truths and distorting reality. My aspiration is that you rethink the way you engage with four broad topics: happiness, gender, religion, and culture.
This course investigates neither how Islam treats women, nor how the Qur’an and Islamic jurisprudence frame women. Instead, it explores how men and women in/from Muslim-majority communities find happiness, meaning in life and after tragedy, and how they themselves understand their embodied experience as male, female, and beyond (that is, how they move through life as male, female, and beyond inside and outside their communities).
We will analyze movies and TV shows from Arab, Persian, Israeli, and Turkish communities, through multiple questions related to happiness, gender, religion, and culture.
Class promise: After the end of this class, you’ll be able to:
1. Analyze and compare how men and women in/from Muslim-majority communities find happiness, meaning in life and after tragedy
2. Construct arguments and use them to participate in discussions about the ethical implications of how men and women in/from Muslim-majority communities understand their embodied experience as male, female, and beyond
3. Construct and defend your own definition of happiness through the lens of intercultural competence
4. Apply your definition and express it creatively in a recorded experience of “gender boundaries disruption” (see below)
5. Give and receive constructive criticism in self-evaluation and peer review to develop key aspects of the discussed concepts
6. Improve public speaking skills through regular participation in class discussions about the cultural significance of film, recorded video podcasts, and vlog of “gender boundaries disruption”
7. Identify personal biases & group privilege with which we started the discussions this semester
Course Materials
Readings are uploaded to Canvas. Movies can be streamed on the Alexander Street GT website, Internet Archive, Netflix, SWANK, YouTube, and other digital streaming services.
Grading: How will you be graded?
Class participation 20%
Debates 20%
Podcast 20%
“Gender boundaries disruption” 20%
Movie making 20%
I do NOT grade on a curve. If you deserve an A, you’ll get it! 🎊
Grading Scale:
A = 100-90 B = 89-80 C = 79-70
D = 69-60 F = below 60
Attendance
Students who are absent because of participation in approved Institute activities (such as field trips, professional conferences, and athletic events) will be permitted to make up the work missed during their absences. Approval of such activities will be granted by the Student Academic and Financial Affairs Committee of the Academic Senate, and statements of the approved absence may be obtained from the Office of the Registrar. For more information, check out http://www.catalog.gatech.edu/rules/4/
Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.
Academic Integrity
Georgia Tech aims to cultivate a community based on trust, academic integrity, and honor. Students are expected to act according to the highest ethical standards. For information on Georgia Tech's Academic Honor Code, please visit http://www.catalog.gatech.edu/policies/honor-code/ or http://www.catalog.gatech.edu/rules/18/.
Any student suspected of cheating or plagiarizing on a quiz, exam, or assignment will be reported to the Office of Student Integrity, who will investigate the incident and identify the appropriate penalty for violations.
Core Impacts:
This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Humanities area. Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help students master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals. This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:
- How do I interpret the human experience through creative, linguistic, and philosophical
works?
Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome:
- Students will effectively analyze and interpret the meaning, cultural significance, and ethical implications of literary/philosophical texts or of works in the visual/performing arts.
Course content, activities, and exercises in this course should help students develop the
following Career-Ready Competencies:
- Ethical Reasoning
- Information Literacy
- Intercultural Competence