Life, Slowed, Down

 

Ferris Wheel #1

 

As some of you know, I have been pretty sick for the last week. Rather than think of this as a freak occurrence, I would like to think of this last week as a down payment on my academic sanity.

Why, do you ask? In a school environment, there seems to be this itch. This slight discomfort under the skin, the kind you can pick at but not quite reach, a nagging point of ennui. Rather than be perfectly content with the freedom and the support to pursue the study of a particular issue, the choices available and the amount of intellectual production witnessed floors me from time to time. What is my reaction, and that of many of my colleagues? Ratchet up the output, work that much harder, and rack the brain, the library, and any tangential event happening for an idea that is both original and authentic.

Originality is all about living under the idea that this concept, this product starts with me, or you, or George Ferris. This drive for the first-of-a-kind is a positive attribute to a point, but it can drive you up a wall every time you discover another has expressed your idea or developed your concept.

Authenticity is even trickier. How do we produce that which helps us express the truest sense of who we are? Where is the place of our shifting identities (how we are slightly to completely different people with our family, with different friends, with our significant others)? Without certain answers, there’s a shared buy-in at working for authenticity in our lives. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote that “no man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true.”

Which brings me to my short-term changed pace of life and its insights. These two goals (originality, authenticity) can’t be rushed. We can’t hope to force that next breakthrough in Islamic historiography or literary theory by brute force. Music, arts and sciences need muses, dreams and interactions that can’t be planned—they just happen in the course of living with an open mind. I’m once again reminded of my course meandering its own way over yet another cup of tea, staring into a quiet night.

Independent Education in Pakistan

by amir taj

At the Kennedy School yesterday, I had to hear Ahsan Saleem, board member from Pakistani education NGO The Citizens Foundation. He spoke to the group about implementations and challenges of the independent schools which the foundation runs.

Funded entirely by private donations (the vast majority from Pakistanis in-country and the diaspora), the schools are built and operated in areas where government schools are not present or have been rendered totally ineffective. They follow the government’s standard curriculum, preparing students to be able to enter the mainstream education system at post-primary levels.

Some of the issues brought up at the presentation were: why bundling clinics with the schools is difficult given local politics, sustainability and evaluation metrics, and how financial contributions on the part of each family are determined.

Given the sorry state of public education in Pakistan, earnest efforts like these are really heartening to hear about. I would speculate that a further influx of donations and physical resources could help this effort scale up even further, and as Mr. Saleem mentioned, help strengthen civil society in Pakistan.

Masculinity and the Muslim Experience

by DMahendra

As many of you know, I am currently trying to explore the dimensions of Muslim masculinity. I thought I would share a series of open-ended questions, and responses I came up with recently when trying to dig deeper into these issues.

1) What makes Muslim men uniquely who they are?

• Economic background: poverty/wealth, blue/white collar work, old/new/no money
• Family dynamics: nuclear/extended, provincial/transnational, fathering/mothering
• Sex/Sexuality: homo/hetero/queer spectrums, sexual history, sex education
• Education: (non)patriarchal academics, level of education, textbooks
• Networks: Religious/secular friends and colleagues, provincial/transnational
• Geographies: urban/rural, homo/heterogeneous, (im)possible “dual life,” access to different spaces, mid-ethnic/transitional, migration, agriculture, male-female ratio
• Politics: manhood (un)tied to franchise/representation, masculinity and political expediency
• Environment:  Gender & food/nutrition, architecture

2) Which life events might be crucial?

• Loss: parent(s)/family members, job, significant other, virility (impotence), political/social rights, natural disasters
• Psychological/Physical traumas: military/law enforcement brutality, abuse by family/friends/intimates, displacement/refugees, witness male role models commit violence/neglect, starvation, paralysis/mental impairment, developmental issues (physical/cognitive),
• Foundations of hegemonic masculinity: peer reinforcement, success through patriarchal action/oppression, media of hegemonic masculinity, religious/political authority granted over women, microagressions from men/women regarding masculinity

3) What types of interventions might result in more gender egalitarian thinking?

• Middle school/high school men’s awareness building
• public advocacy (PSAs in Muslim publications, mosque advocacy)
• better sex education
• addressing all-male peer groups (basketball teams, clubs, men’s religious organizations)
• encouraging religious scholarly discourse on masculinity
• including women’s scholarship more prominently in the Muslim community
• media (music, movies)
• Arts and Culture (books, visual art exhibits, dance, public art, museum partnerships)
• Internet  (online campaigns)

Just some thoughts…but how to narrow it down?