Islamic Manuscripts at Michigan

The University of Michigan has put together an incredible catalog dedicated to Islamic Manuscripts. Check out their website!

Translation Project complete

I have finished the translation project I was working on this past week. When I first began this project, I intended to select some poems and translate into Arabic. I found the Arabic to be a bit daunting (I have only taken 1 year of the language and that was 2005-6), so I switched to a language that I am more familiar with: français! So, I chose the poems - 9 to be exact - and spent most of last weekend translating them from English into French. I asked my best friend, and native of France, to edit my translations, which she happily did. I received her edit back on Wednesday evening and was a bit surprised at how many mistakes I made. After careful review of my errors, some of which were just plain stupid mistakes, I set about to try my hand at calligraphy. I have a little practice in this writing craft, but decided for the sake of time and continuity that I would print (I know, I know, a bit too modern, but it works) the poems out onto the card stock I planned to use for the inside of the book. Here is a picture of the pages:

The font is Old English Text MT. The poem in the picture above has been published by the International Library of Poetry in the anthology "Clouds Across the Stars".

I prepared the covers using a faux leather material, the same card stock, and some spray-on adhesive. This adhesive worked out really well all the way around, although it was a bit sticky! Here is a picture of the covers before the design element was applied:

And here is the cover after the design:

I chose a traditional, simple Islamic design for the cover. I used a blue cotton fabric and overlayed that with green (almost an olive green) faux suede-like fabric.

The binding itself is a “shoelace” style binding using the faux leather material to tie the pieces together.

This was a fun project and quite simple to put together once all of the pieces were collected. I really have to thank my best friend, Christine, for her editing and my father for punching the holes into the covers for me.

Experiential Learning

Part of my Master's program requires some experiential learning. This semester, I am planning to translate 10 of my own poems into Arabic and creating a chapbook in the medieval Islamic style. I have chosen the fabric I plan on using. Here is a pic:

The top fabric is a suede-like fabric and the color is kind of a dark olive green. The bottom fabric is leather-like and black. I will be using the dark color as the main binding fabric and the green as accent color. I am planning to use typical geometric and floral patterns throughout.

I am now in the process of choosing the poems. They will be rather short, no more than 10 lines. Each translation will be accompanied by the original English version. The pages will be embellished with geometric and floral patterns (either through stamps or my attempt to be artistic - I am not much for sketching, but as this style can be abstract it may look alright).

ASMEA Conference Update

I really enjoyed attending my first professional conference and learned a lot from the panels I sat in on. There was a good variety of information being presented, as well as an impressive book display (with books based primarily on the topics of the papers presented). I would have to say my favorite part of the conference was meeting the Drs. Bernard Lewis and Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr. What a wonderful wealth of information! It was also nice to see the military/DoD play an active role in the conference. This is quite an unusual thing to get academics and DoD on the same page! Kudos to those who presented!! Here is a pic of some of the handouts and a new book by Dr. Lewis (which he graciously signed):


During my time in the DC area, I did manage to visit Arlington National Cemetery and the opening day of the Falnama exhibit at the Sackler Gallery. I enjoyed my trek through the cemetery, although I do recommend tennis shoes! HA!! The Gallery was not allowing photography in the exhibit, so I don't have any of my own to share. I did purchase the lovely $40.00 book that contains pictures of everything in the exhibit. Maybe the book is their way of getting us to buy something?! Anyway, here are a few pics from Arlington:

Women in Military Service Memorial and Arlington House


The Eternal Flame and Opposite the flame looking toward DC


Bobby Kennedy and Ted Kennedy

Since my return, I have been steadily working on some papers I need to turn in - soon. I am almost finished reading the Lyons book and will begin on the next book immediately following. Look for an update on the Lyons Book Review in the next day or so.

Freer Gallery, Washington DC

I spent today walking around the National Mall and visiting a few specifically planned places. One of those places was the Freer Gallery so I could admire the Islamic Art section. I am so thankful that this exhibit is there. I found it to be more impressive than the Arab-American Museum, but I think that's because it was focused more on the artwork itself and less on the immigration into America. That being said, my favorite display by far is the Abbasid display. Here are a few pictures:

I have always been impressed with the detail that goes into Islamic artwork. One of the aspects that's common to all Islamic art is the calligraphy. This is typically a Qur'anic verse. Here are some examples:

Notice around the edge of the bowl the calligraphy. I am not sure what it translates as in English, but that is one form of Arabic writing that is ornate.

This is a portion of some kind of stone slab (I think it's marble - probably should have taken better notes - will edit this when I know for sure). What's neat about this piece is how the calligraphy is woven into the rest of the styling.


This last piece is an iron jar. Notice the detail of not only design, but color as well. One thing I have found in my studies is that Islamic artwork is not just ornate, but colorful as well. Artists are/were especially fond of cobalt blue for reasons I have yet to figure out.

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This last picture shows an illuminated manuscript. One of the most valued pieces of artwork Medieval Middle Easterners could have in their possession was an illuminated book. These were found mainly among the learned or higher class persons.


This particular folio is from the Haft manzar (Seven visages) by Hatifi (d. 1521) and is opened to the following poem:

"There is no friend in the world better than a book.
In the abode of grief that is this world, there is no
consoler [better than the book].
In a corner of loneliness, every moment,
it provides a hundred comforts, and there is never any vexation."*

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*Information obtained from the card in front of the folio at the Freer Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC.

Arab Cultural Immersion

Talk about a day filled with Arab culture, I began my day heading for the Arab-American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. My mom and niece went with me. We had a good time and saw quite a few interesting displays. I think my niece was more thrilled about the interactive displays like the memory game using words in different languages, the short movie on Milton R. who is a photographer from New York (Buffalo, I believe) and takes pictures primarily of laborers, and trying to learn how to use the astrolabe. My mom is a licensed nurse and really enjoyed viewing the medical displays.

I took over one hundred pictures while there. All-in-all, I think it was more than worth the long, hot (no a/c in car) drive to Dearborn (1 1/2 hours). The best part is Sunday is FREE admission.

Ariel playing memory

Mom enjoying the medical stuff

Before leaving Dearborn, we drove by the mosque. It is on a road called Altar Road. It's interesting because there are 5 churches in a row on this road and nothing else. I took pics of a couple of them. The first picture is the mosque. It is an interesting building - as they all are, to me anyway. While there, I explained to my mom and niece the purpose of the minarets - the tower-like structures on either side of the dome. This is where the call to prayer is sung.

Islamic Center of America

Armenian Apostolic Church

About an hour after returning home, my best friend (who happens to be from France) and I (my niece also) went to Grand Blanc - another hour drive with no a/c - to visit our friend Sua'ad and her husband Abdul-Atiif (or AJ as most call him) and their children. We wound up eating supper with them (some kind of a spiced liver and rice - not something I would normally eat, but it's rude to not partake when offered) and speaking a little Arabic language. For me, it was a little bit of relearning since it's not often I am able to use the language. We also sat around discussing names and how names are chosen for newborns - they are expecting their 4th child and can't decide between 2 names so I suggested they use both - and a little bit of the history of the early caliphs. I always feel like I learn a lot from them whenever we speak or visit.

Change of Field of Study or No?

...No.

Today, I went to my family reunion and had a lot of fun. We had a history lesson on how our ancestors came to live in Florida and man what an interesting lesson that was! It made me rethink my Field of Study. It made me wonder why I am concentrating on the Middle East and not on something more local, like Sumter County, Florida (which is where my family primarily settled upon coming to Florida). I know it's a little late to change my focus now, but it was a nice sidetrack from the Middle East and hopefully I will find some renewed energy in my studies.

Been a Busy Bee!

I have been working on two short papers over the past few days (leading up to Mother's Day weekend) and since Sunday (May 10th). One paper is on Ethics in my chosen field of history and the other is on Theories of Experiential Education and Adult Learning. I am hoping to have them finished sometime in the next week. Other than that, I am planning to visit a few museums in June to look at Islamic Art - one in Dearborn, MI and the other two in Washington, DC. I will share some pics with you, my readers, upon my return.

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And more brainstorming on my Final Document: another potential topic could be how Islamic arts have influenced the Middle East and the World. But it is a little vague in concept and would probably be ruled out in the end. So, back to the drawing board!

Thus far...

As you can see, I have been mainly concentrating on some preliminary readings that pertain more to the courses I am taking at this time. I am hoping to get more into blogging about my topic later in the summer after I have visited the museums in Dearborn , MI and Washington DC.

Course Syllabus

One of the documents I am working on for my Applications I class is a syllabus for a class I may want to teach. Since I am really interested in the history of Iraq, and I have noticed that it is not a topic currently taught on it's own, I thought it would be fun to come up with a syllabus for that. I found a book that would be a great required text - Iraq: People, History, Politics by Gareth R. V. Stansfield (2007). I actually went online to www.bn.com and purchased it for my own personal library as it sounds like a good read. I initially found the book on Google Books and added it to my library there, but it is only a limited preview. That's one thing I don't like about Google Books, but I guess I will survive. lol

So far, I have outlined what the course activities would be, the outcomes, and some detail on the description. Some of the activities I would have in this class are: required readings (not limited to the text), reading journal, and a term paper - not having to mention the obvious mid-term and final exams. I think this course would be ideal as a Special Topics style course - an overview or examination of the history of Iraq. Something that an undergraduate would take at the junior or senior level after taking one or more classes in World History.

Experience & Education ~ John Dewey

One of the suggested readings for my Applications course is Experience & Education by John Dewey*. So far, I have only read two chapters of this 91 page book and am finding it both interesting and dry - very dry.

Some of the highlights from Chapter 1: Traditional vs. Progressive Education:

• Educational Theory - Developed within, Formed without - what does this mean exactly?
• Pattern of organization in a traditional school vs. lack of organization in progressive schools
• Dewey says that the "very situation forbids much active participation by pupils in the development of what is taught" (19) - in experiential education, pupils are largely responsible for this development
• A necessary and intimate relationship between experience and education (20)

Some highlights from Chapter 2: The Need of a Theory of Experience:
Dewey begins this chapter by stating that we need to know the definition of experience in order to understand empiricism, but the chapter doesn't seem to discuss much about empiricism. Here are the definitions I retrieved from the Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary (1984)

• Experience: Apprehension of perception of an object, thought, emotion, or event through the senses or mind
• Empiricism: The view that experience is the single source of knowledge
• Experience in education needs to promote the growth of further experience
• Following the path of least resistance prevents a quality experiential education experience
• Experiences students have in traditional education teach boredom, limited judgemenet/ability, repetition of statistics/facts - those experiences don't necessarily bring about further experience in education
• Quality of experience is most important
• Dewey says that progressive education requires a philosophy of education based on a philosophy of experience (29)

What I got from the reading so far: education needs to engage the student - set the student up to want to experience more education in the future.

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*Dewey, John. Experience & Education - a Kappa Delta Pi Lecture Series book. NY: Touchstone (Simon & Schuster, Inc.), 1938.

Experiential Education

Part of my MA program requires me to experience my field: History and Culture of the Middle East. Therefore, one of the classes I am taking this semester is called "Applications I". This means that I get to do a lot of reading on the background of Experiential Learning/Education in addition to experiencing aspects of my field such as going to museums in Dearborn (MI) and Washington (DC), keeping a research journal (and this blog), and preparing scholarly journal articles/conference proposals and syllabi.

One of the articles I chose to read is called "On Defining Experiential Education" by Laura Joplin. In this article, Joplin describes a Five-Stage Model and Nine Characteristics pertaining to experiential education. Some of my thoughts on her Five-Stage Model and Nine Characteristics follow:

Five-Stage Model:
In order to truly experience learning, the learner must reflect on that experience. One way to do this is to keep a journal/blog on the things experienced.

• Step 1: Focus = Presenting the activity - this can be direct or indirect depending on the activity
• Step 2: Action = Interact with the activity - this does not mean education. It means to do the work to obtain the education. A good example of interaction is the learner deciding what is important to the activity and what is not. A textbook is not a good example as it does not allow the learner to decide. THE LEARNER MUST HOLD THE RESPONSIBILITY.
• Step 3-4: Support/Feedback = Showing an interest in the learner - the "learnee" (teacher) helps when needed and discusses progress with the learner.
• Step 5: Debrief = Reviewing the learners' activity in an organized fashion - this can be done through reflective papers, journals, and group work. REFLECTION is a big part of this step.

Nine Characteristics:
I will not list all of the characteristics here, but simply list my impressions of what they mean.
Experiential Education/Learning is:

• Individual
• Personal
• Self-Evaluated
• Growth

To summarize: Experiential Education/Learning not only allows the learner to learn, but also allows the "learnee" to learn from the learner. The learner and learnee should be engaged in the activity and each other during the learning process.
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*Article taken from Journal of Experiential Education, 1981

Sources, sources, sources

So I have been browsing the library's journals for articles pertaining to my topic(s): Experiential Learning, Ethics (in the history profession), and the Umayyad Caliphate. Let's just say I am having more luck with the first topic and not so much with the other two. However, there is a wealth of books on the Umayyad's so that is a plus. Last semester I managed to get a "Special Borrower's" card from the University of South Florida's library, so I imagine I will be spending a lot of time there over the next few months! That's one good thing about living in a "college town" - even though Zephyrhills is "retirement central", I am within 20 minutes of the University, so it's a quick commute.

I just completed and submitted my first draft of the Learning Agreement for my Applications class and now I have to finish one for my Advanced Research Methods/Final Document Proposal class. I have to say that this has been an interesting experience so far in my education. Where we received a traditional syllabus from the professors at Michigan State University, at Union Institute & University we actually work with the professor to create one. I came into my Master's program with a little bit of independent learning under my belt from MSU, but I had no idea what I was getting into. I know that I will look back on this time at UI&U with much appreciation.