Perhaps the only thing as alarming as the violence currently taking place in and around the Middle East is that such violence has largely been accepted by Americans, including college students, as the new normal.
To the unaware, the region can seem like a smoldering quagmire, constantly engulfed in chaos and violence without rhyme or reason.
However, the current crises and problems plaguing the region did not arise out of nowhere — they are intimately linked to the Middle East’s complex history.
It is particularly important that students at UNC who want to understand the Middle East’s complexities take advantage of the resources at their disposal.
The very nature of academia serves as a prime opportunity to learn from and question scholars on the Middle East about the region’s history and current affairs.
Furthermore, most undergraduate students currently at UNC likely grew up in the shadow of violent struggles in the Middle East, such as the war in Afghanistan and the Gulf War.
However, the history of the Middle East goes well beyond just the purview of American intervention, and beliefs held about the region simply due to one’s apparent knowledge about those violent struggles may not be entirely informed.
Thus, considering the importance of Middle Eastern events to politics and current affairs, students at UNC should think about taking some of the several courses on the region’s history offered by the University in order to have a deeper understanding of the region.
History 276 provides a comprehensive overview of the modern history of the whole Middle East, from the Ottoman Empire to the recent War on Terror.
