Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Summer Wine]

http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/010540.html

An interesting read.

[bucheon bum]

Pipes has created his own think tank 100% devoted to bashing Middle Eastern studies professors. The guy is a bit of a nut when it comes to the subject.

That being said, his stance on militant Islam has some merit and he is a nice balance to your average M.East Studies instructor. If only he stuck to that type of scholarship and research instead of devoting a lot of his energy to bashing his peers.

[Summer Wine]

What do you think avbout doing a masters in middle east studies. I feel it might be an interesting subject to study, maybe even learn arabic. You seem to have a basic grasp of that area, what do you think, its not a political science masters, but I feel I could probably handle it.

[bucheon bum]

I'm applying to grad school programs in Intl. Relations for next Fall. I first considered M.Eastern studies, but a MA in Intl. Relations seems more common and more useful. The Middle East would likely be my focus.

[Gopher]

[Tiger Beer]

Last year in Spain, my MA was 'peace & development'.. which is kind of the more left version of 'International Relations'.

Essentially 'peace and development' was the study of international conflict and international development (1st world/3rd world type things) as well as the study of war. The many wars in Africa were by far the most interesting.

We also had 3 Palestians in our program (only about 40 students per semester).. but essentially we had a mix of Americans, Europeans, Muslims, Latinos, Africans, and Asians. Believe me, the Palestine stuff came up all the time - good stuff though.

Needless to say.. there was always a lot of initial distrust of the Americans until they were spoken to.. and then suddenly everyone wants to be your friend the moment they find you aren't a walking emodiment of thought coming from the american government.

Before being accepted into that program, I was trying for UCSD (University of California - San Diego)'s program of International Relations and Pacific Asia Studies.. which would have been ideal. Didn't get that one however.

[Bulsajo]

My area of study for my Poli Sci BA was comparative politics of the Middle East, but that was 15 years ago. Living it up in the Caribbean for a couple of years immediately after seems to have had a drastic effect on scholastic retention.

[Summer Wine]

[endo]

Hey bucheon bum, where is that place in your avatar?

[bucheon bum]

the capital of Yemen, Sanaa. Its old city is an UNESCO site. Best "medina" ie old city in the Arab world IMO simply because it is the least touristy and most "authentic."

[endo]

Is Yemen safe to travel in?

I've read and seen pictures of multi-level mud-brick buildings over there and they looked amazing. I've always wanted to do the Dubai-Muscrat and in between for a few weeks, but Yemen would be something else.