Moving Beyond Conflict

Park City, Utah. The conflict in the Middle East has dominated headlines for months; in such circumstances, how do faculty experts reach beyond the classroom to the community and make sense of all that is occurring in our world? Earlier this month, Dr. Chris Low, Director of the Middle East Center at the University of Utah, delivered an intimate, in-depth lecture to some twenty-odd Summit County residents to “dispel some misconceptions about the region, provide some personal reflections on my work in the region, and introduce some major storylines.” In a talk entitled “Moving Beyond Conflict: Unlearning Islamophobia and Discovering Other Middle Easts,” he focused on the multiplicity of on-the-ground experiences of life in the Middle East, juxtaposing those nuanced and dynamic stories with the more static, overarching narratives of conflict and scarcity that are often featured in mainstream news media and our national imaginary. 

Dr. Annie Greene, who is joining the faculty of the History Department this year and is an expert on the social and intellectual history of the late Ottoman Empire and Middle East, reflected, “The Middle East is not apart from the world; it is a part of the world. Finding the differences between peoples is the low-hanging fruit. Finding the commonalities is more difficult, but time better spent.” Dr. Greene’s fall semester class, History of Israel/Palestine, has been waitlisted for weeks and promises to bring the same level-headed, humanist-oriented educational experience to U of U students.   

The hosts of this event, Dyan and Jim Pignatelli, are avid lifelong travelers whose path has for the first time taken them to the Middle East. They explained, “Our trip to Dubai, Qatar, and Oman provided a different experience than we had anticipated, and helped us appreciate the culture with its deep historical roots of the region.” Upon returning from their voyage, Jim and Dyan wanted to share what they had experienced with their Park City community. They sought an expert to provide contextual clarity and facilitate a discussion and connected with Dr. Low, whose extensive work on the Ottoman Empire and the Arabian Peninsula has included lengthy periods of language training and archival research in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

Dr. Low fielded questions about religious histories of the region, geopolitics, travel, and more. With open curiosity, attendees were able to learn about the friction between big geopolitics and the granularity of daily lives, exploring and expanding their understandings and delving deeper through a humanistic approach. Dr. Hollis Robbins, Dean of the College of Humanities in which the Middle East Center is housed, attended the event as well. She says, "In this fragmented and polarized media landscape, it is gratifying to see the value that thoughtful people put on hearing facts and history directly from faculty experts and to be able to ask questions and learn. We are fortunate to have some of the top Middle East experts at the College of Humanities and to be able to provide much needed information about current events."

The College of Humanities faculty look forward to another academic year continuing this tradition of deep, thoughtful discussion both in the classroom and in the community. “We truly appreciated this opportunity to form a partnership between humanities supporters and our expert faculty, and to practice our commitment to engaging in fact-based dialogue beyond the walls of the institution,” says Morgan Stinson, Director of Development with the College of Humanities. The university has just as much to offer to a small gathering assembled in a bright, cheerful room full of assorted chairs and sofas, nametags casually affixed to blouses and button-downs as to students taking notes in a lecture hall or a graduate seminar on campus.

The College of Humanities invites you to join in the public events taking place this year to learn from our faculty and guest lecturers about the rich histories, languages, and current events of the Middle East.