POLS 325: Government and Politics of Egypt: The class is perhaps self-explanatory, as it focuses on the political history of Egypt in the last century. It is taught by one Dr. Hendrik Kraetschmaer, who is a very engaging lecturer and a pretty cool guy. I suspect, however, that some of the girls in my class are more engaged by his European sensibilities and good looks than by the material he’s covering; he’s relatively young, and with his glasses, roguish 5 o’clock shadow and mixed German/British accent, he’s exactly the sort my study abroad compatriots are likely to be drawn to.
POLS 302: History of Political Theory: This class is basically the equivalent of Modern Political Theory back at Swarthmore, covering the main patterns of western thought since the enlightenment. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to get political theory credit for it back home (which was the initial motivation for taking it). I think, however, I’ll stay in it because it’s the only class that I am in which is made up predominantly by Egyptian students. I think the perspectives in class will be particularly interesting. The class is taught by Professor Lattanzi, who appears to be at least partially Greek by descent. I say this because between his Athenian features, short curly hair, beard and melodic voice, he makes a particularly striking professor of philosophy – a modern day Socrates. The likeness is compounded by his penchant for the subversive – without seeming to do so, he’s spent most of the time in class subtly undermining the theoretical underpinnings of the Egyptian state. I think its fascinating (and he’s a great lecturer) and I look forward to the rest of the semester. By the end of it, we’ll all be a bunch of flaming liberal western looking democrats (Well, I suppose that most of AUC is, from a relative perspective, already).
POLS 422: Twentieth Century Egypt: This seminar, as the name suggests, covers in detail elements of the 20th Century history of Egypt. Professor Mustapha K. Al-Sayyid is very interesting if somewhat disorganized; forgetting one’s discussion notes for seminar isn’t usually the best way to organize discussion, for example. He clearly knows the subject though (and was readily able to wing it for the entire time) and has taught us a lot about the ongoing reforms in Egypt (apparently, there are a bunch of Constitutional Amendments up for review, some positive and some negative in democratic impact).
POLS 354: Political and Social Thought in the Modern Arab World: This class ties very usefully in with my other “modern Egypt” classes, approaching the same material/era from a thought/philosophical direction. Egypt figures prominently because it developed a civil society and at least marginal independence long before the other states – hopefully those other states will be covered in more detail after we pass the World War II era. The professor is interesting but very long winded; she spends a lot of time talking intelligently but somewhat incoherently and very ramblingly on subjects sometimes only marginally related to the primary subject of the course. I have a feeling that whatever notes I manage will be utterly useless, so I can only hope I absorb her discussions more directly – otherwise, the only thing I’m going to be left with is whatever I read for the class.
ALNG 102: Modern Standard Arabic: My Arabic class is definitely my hardest class this semester. I got into it somewhat marginally, since my semester of Arabic over the summer used a different book and covered far less grammar than I was apparently expected to. I’m having to play a fair bit of catch up, especially on the vocabulary, so as to be at all useful in class. The grammar makes a fair bit of sense so far though, so once I get my ass in gear, I shouldn’t have too much trouble. The professor is very nice and doesn’t give me too hard of a time, which I particularly appreciate (though I feel both stupid and guilty whenever I can’t answer her questions).
POLS 430: Authoritarianism and Blocked Political Development: I’m not actually taking this course, but am instead auditing it because I think it is a terribly interesting subject. Professer Maye Kassem seems a bit self-important and over-bearing (she tends to talk very loud, for example, when explaining things, which comes across like she’s trying to blast things into our very dull heads), but on the whole pretty good. She does a very good job of promoting discussion and letting people talk during that discussion, which I particularly like. She’s also good about simultaneously letting me contribute and keeping me from overindulging (given the opportunity, as most of you well know, I tend to go on at length). I feel like I get the best of both worlds in this class – good discussion, and little to no homework.
So, there you have it. Six classes (Five and a half, if you wish), Sunday through Thursday. My schedule is packed, but pretty decently arranged – no classes before noon, for example. I’ve attached a screen shot of my calendar for your collective enjoyment:
As you can see, i've cutely color coded everything (Mom and Dad, this is all your respective faults). Red is for classes, yellow is for extracirriculars, green is for audited courses, blue is for meetings and other irregular activities, and purple is for assignments. There are a few things yet to be added in here, but for the most part the shape of the schedule is complete. UTR (Sunday Tuesday Thursday) are relatively light (they end earlier, anyway), and MW are much more arduous (I don't get home till after 8 or 9 pm). I'm pretty happy with it. Now, I just need to figure out how to do homework here in a timely fashion, and i'll be set!
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