{"id":18184,"date":"2019-10-09T06:05:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T06:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=18184"},"modified":"2020-12-08T04:20:32","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T04:20:32","slug":"cultural-studies-key-to-national-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/cultural-studies-key-to-national-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultural studies key to national security"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nicholas Tampio<\/a>, Fordham University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a commission formed to figure out why the attacks occurred. One of the culprits, according to the commission\u2019s 9\/11 report<\/a>, was \u201clack of imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n

With few exceptions, the report stated, government officials could not imagine that Osama bin Laden and his affiliates, hidden in a remote part of Afghanistan, could strike at the heart of America\u2019s financial, military and political power.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo us, Afghanistan seemed very far away,\u201d the report stated. \u201cTo members of al Qaeda, America seemed very close. In a sense, they were more globalized than we were.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to 9\/11, according to the report, few colleges or universities offered courses in Middle Eastern languages or Islamic studies. The commission maintained that this made it difficult to recruit officers qualified for counterterrorism. Even though the U.S. has funded programs<\/a> in foreign languages and area studies since the Cold War, the 9\/11 attacks exposed our comparative ignorance of the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies<\/a> would seem to represent the answer to the 9\/11 report\u2019s call for a broader educational approach to national security. Founded in 2005<\/a>, the consortium has a substantial number<\/a> of students studying foreign languages. The program has 300 students studying Arabic, 44 studying Persian, and 91 students studying Urdu, the highest enrollment in Urdu language courses in the United States. Lack of Arabic linguists has been cited as one of the reasons the United States missed critical messages<\/a> sent by al\u2013Qaiida about the 9\/11 attacks a day before they occurred.<\/p>\n

The Duke-UNC\u2019s program teaches on topics<\/a> such as cybersecurity and countering violent extremism. Students may also take courses on music and movies in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

But to the Trump administration, the Duke-UNC consortium isn\u2019t doing what it\u2019s supposed to do<\/a> when it teaches students about Middle Eastern culture through movies, music and concerts.<\/p>\n

A \u2018fundamental misalignment\u2019<\/h2>\n

In August, assistant secretary for postsecondary education Robert King told<\/a> the Duke-UNC consortium they were using federal funds the wrong way. In a letter published in the \u201cFederal Register,\u201d King informed the consortium that they are spending Title VI funds on unauthorized activities. Title VI<\/a> of the Higher Education Act funds, among other things, strengthening undergraduate education, research on different areas of the world, and improvement of foreign language training.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough Iranian art and film may be of subjects of deep intellectual interest,\u201d King explained, such offerings represent \u201ca fundamental misalignment\u201d between the course offerings and Title VI\u2019s requirement<\/a> that the programming
\nadvance the \u201csecurity, stability, and economic vitality of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his letter<\/a>, King criticizes the consortium for using federal money to support the writing of a paper titled \u201cRadical Love: Teachings from Islamic Mystical Tradition.\u201d<\/a> He also had a problem with the program sponsoring a concert series<\/a> that included a performance by hip hop artist Marco Pav\u00e9, also known as the \u201cmillennial Muslim from Memphis.\u201d<\/p>\n

In my view as a political scientist who has written extensively about Islamic political thought<\/a>, I maintain that these kinds of cultural programming can support America\u2019s national security interests widely construed.<\/p>\n

Movies teach a society what other peoples think and feel. They also offer insights into what their legitimate grievances are, such as American support for the Shah before the Iranian Revolution, and what attracts other people to America, such as freedom and music. Films such as \u201cPersepolis<\/a>\u201d \u2013 about an Iranian girl who grows up during the Islamic Revolution \u2013 help to humanize Iranians and shed light on the complex relationship they have with Islamic fundamentalism.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The film \u2018Persepolis\u2019 showed the Iranian Revolution in a unique light.<\/span>
\nSony Pictures<\/a>, CC BY-NC<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Resources for security<\/h2>\n

The federal government has given the Duke-UNC consortium an annual $235,000 Title VI grant as a National Resource Center to provide a \u201cfull understanding\u201d of the Middle East<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Duke-UNC consortium\u2019s grant has been continued<\/a> for the 2019-2020 academic year. However, by questioning the consortium\u2019s course offerings, the Trump administration is signaling that it has little regard for academic freedom<\/a> and that it has a narrow view of what\u2019s important to national security.<\/p>\n

When America\u2019s college students \u2013 who are America\u2019s future policymakers, security analysts, government and military leaders \u2013 watch foreign movies, go to concerts and learn about other religions, it better prepares them for the work that they have to do to keep America safe. This includes recognizing threats as well as establishing peaceful relations with people around the globe. As Terry Magnuson, UNC\u2019s Chancellor for Research, stated in his reply<\/a> to King\u2019s letter: \u201cCultural and historical programs provide essential preparation for work in areas of national need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diverse perspectives<\/h2>\n

To better understand the Duke-UNC consortium controversy, it pays to look at the broader context. Since at least 2014<\/a>, pro-Israel groups have pushed for the federal government to tighten the leash on how Middle Eastern centers use Title VI funds.<\/p>\n

This spring, the Duke-UNC consortium hosted a conference on the conflict over Gaza<\/a>. U.S. Rep. George Holding, R-NC, asked<\/a> Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to investigate. DeVos promised<\/a> to look into whether the consortium was supporting activities that \u201creflect diverse perspectives.\u201d Then, King took up the baton with his letter to the Duke-UNC consortium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In his letter, King argued that the consortium appears \u201cto lack balance.\u201d He complained that the consortium emphasizes the \u201cpositive aspects of Islam\u201d but not the discrimination faced by religious minorities in the Middle East, including of Christians and Jews.<\/p>\n

A campaign against academic freedom<\/h2>\n

Scholars have stated that the Trump administration\u2019s action represents an \u201cunprecedented<\/a>\u201d intervention into academic matters.<\/p>\n

Christopher S. Rose, a former Title VI officer, remarked<\/a> that he has never seen a department of education official \u201cridiculing courses based on their title.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jay Smith, a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, argues that<\/a> the Trump administration\u2019s action constitutes \u201cpolitical meddling.\u201d He also said it poses a \u201cclear threat to academic freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cliff Smith, Washington project director for the Middle East Forum, defends the Trump\u2019s administration scrutiny<\/a> of programming that receives education funds dedicated to national security. He offers this thought experiment: \u201cIf you were a professor in charge of a class on geopolitical strategy focusing on Iran, and a student wrote a paper analyzing gender roles in Iranian films, would you give the student a passing grade? Would it even matter if his film analysis happened to be good?\u201d<\/p>\n

It is fine for academics to debate among themselves how to balance course offerings in the humanities and social sciences in a National Resource Center. For many academics, though, it sends a chill down our spine<\/a> when a federal agency threatens to defund academic programming whose value it does not see.<\/p>\n

One of the recommendations<\/a> of the 9\/11 report was to \u201cinstitutionalize imagination.\u201d The Duke-UNC program helps further this goal. Courses about Iranian movies, hip hop music and Islam\u2019s mystical tradition are not just of \u201cintellectual interest.\u201d Art and culture<\/a>, I believe, can help the country envision new threats as well as how to establish good relations across the globe.\"The<\/p>\n

Nicholas Tampio<\/a>, Professor of Political Science, Fordham University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nicholas Tampio, Fordham University After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a commission formed to figure out why the attacks occurred. One of the culprits, according to the commission\u2019s 9\/11 report, was \u201clack of imagination.\u201d With few exceptions, the report stated, government officials could not imagine that Osama bin Laden and his affiliates, hidden in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":18183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[292,817],"tags":[1660,2561,2370,178,1553,7058,1749,1602],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18184"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18184"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23275,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18184\/revisions\/23275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}