The term ‘Arab Spring’ has been examined and scrutinised countless times following the 2011 uprisings in Tunisia that triggered a wave of unrest throughout the region. For over 70 Georgetown students, which included students of the Global History of Revolution class, the question of the Arab Spring took centre stage at a special seminar featuring a panel of GU-Q faculty recently.
Taking part in the lively discussion were Professors Amira Sonbol, Mark Farha, Mohamed Zayani, and Mehran Kamrava, the Director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at GU-Q. Students posed a variety of questions to the panel of experts in history and contemporary affairs, and drew parallels to the conflicts and underlying reasons for these conflicts, in the history of global movements.
Course teacher and panel organiser Professor Edward Kolla commented on the enthusiasm of the students’ participation, saying: “I was impressed by the sophistication of the students’ questions to the faculty panel. It showed they had really reflected on the nature of political violence and political change and were applying what they’d learned to the world around them. This is precisely what we aim for as teachers: not necessarily for students to remember particular facts or dates, but instead,for them to use the tools of critical analysis and inquiry that they learn in the class, in their everyday lives.”The Peninsula
