Educational Encounters of the Direct Kind

Iraqi scholars bring valuable skills, perspectives to Dickinson community

March 6, 2007

Iraqi scholars Dr. Lahay Hussein (left) and Walah Williamson are providing a valuable perspective to the Dickinson community.

"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography," Ambrose Bierce famously noted.

To be sure, the current war has taught Americans something about the geography of Iraq. Yet the saturated news coverage of the situation has left them feeling inadequately informed about that country, its culture and how to deal with the escalating crisis there.

As a leader in global education, Dickinson is hosting two Iraqi scholars this year—Dr. Lahay Hussein and Walah Williamson—to help remedy that knowledge deficit.

In the classroom

A Fulbright scholar from the College of the Arts at the University of Baghdad, Hussein is teaching two courses this semester: Sociological Views from the Middle East and Women in the Middle East.

"Dr. Hussein's course provides illuminating insights into the Middle East that would be hard for many of us to get otherwise," says Spencer Bailey '08, a student in her Sociological Views from the Middle East course. "She really brings the material to life, showing us concrete examples of the concepts in action."

Hussein, who received her master's degree and Ph.D. from American universities many years ago and then returned to Iraq as a professor during the rule of Saddam Hussein, also has been learning from her students.

"Dickinson students are friendly, open-minded, disciplined and ask very intelligent questions," she says. "This is very different from the sad state of affairs at the University of Baghdad, where absenteeism is high, there are not enough textbooks and students have increasingly become somewhat divided along sectarian lines."

She also appreciates the ability to speak openly in her classroom, a freedom that she cherishes after many years of trying to teach in the fearful atmosphere maintained by Saddam's "informers."

Unlike Lahay Hussein, Walah Williamson, a graduate research assistant from the University of Basra, is visiting the United States for the first time. One of five Iraqi Fulbright foreign language teaching assistants in the U.S. this academic year, she assists Leon Blosser, professor of Arabic, in teaching two Arabic language courses.

In addition to teaching, Williamson also helps run the Arabic language table and facilitates other opportunities for speaking Arabic and cultural discussion. She finds Dickinson students "eager to learn" and very "interested in Arab culture."

Her great-grandfather was British, which is why her last name is Williamson. During Saddam's rule, her family did not use this surname because of official hostility toward the U.S. and Britain. Recently, they reverted back to their original surname.

Cultural exchange

With the war in Iraq on the minds of most Americans, Hussein and Williamson regularly are sought out by faculty, students and the local community for their observations, particularly for insights that cannot be garnered from everyday media coverage.

"The democracy we have now is a historic opportunity," says Hussein. "There are huge challenges ahead, but we have a foundation to succeed despite the terrorists who are trying to destroy the reality of a democratic Iraq. We cannot return to the past.

"Americans want fast results and may be disappointed" that things have not gone better, Hussein says. "But many of us take the long view and remain optimistic."

While Western media coverage heavily emphasizes the sectarian conflicts that drive much of the violence, Hussein underscores, "We have co-existed for centuries, married and lived together in peace." She does not think that the country ultimately will be partitioned, as some policy analysts have predicted.

When asked to comment on the two biggest misconceptions Americans have about Iraq, Hussein says that the social status of women is much better than is commonly believed here and that Iraqis are not anti-Western. Many Iraqis are well-educated, she also notes.

But the escalating violence has resulted in a patchwork quilt of relatively safe areas alternating with dangerous zones. Many members of the country's professional class have been displaced. This, along with greater freedom to travel, has given many Iraqis the incentive to leave the country.

Like many Iraqis, Williamson's life in Basra, which is relatively safe by Iraqi standards, has been adversely affected by the chaos. "Before the war, it was safe to walk around almost anywhere," she says. "Now militias control our universities, such as Basra, and the situation is dangerous."

She also confirms what television footage from Iraq shows daily. "My country is completely destroyed, and many innocent Iraqis are dying everyday. Things have not been rebuilt, and there are constant power shortages."

But global education seems to work both ways. The Fulbright scholars have been transformed by their experiences at Dickinson. Hussein has been inspired to understand America's founding as a constitutional democracy—how it was organized to deal with political conflict and to balance majority and minority rights.

For Williamson, the experience has been personal and profound. "When I got here I had culture shock: the technology and development are very advanced, and you have so much freedom, mobility and safety here.

"And like many Iraqis who only see America as an occupying force, I had misconceptions," she adds. "Being here has helped me better understand the U.S. and its people."