In January, I had the privilege of spending two weeks in the Persian Gulf (although they call it the Arabian Gulf), touring Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). The trip was thanks to a Kuwaiti woman I met initially in 2008 when she was a Fulbright Scholar at Whittier College, where I was teaching at the time. I worked with another faculty colleague to apply for the Fulbright scholar as part of a new program created after 9/11 called “Outreach to the Islamic World.” The goal of the program was to foster better understanding between the United States and scholars in the Islamic world, broadly defined. We specifically requested a woman who could teach about Islam with a special focus on women and Islam. It turned out Alanoud Alsharekh was the perfect fit. Alanoud spent a semester on campus and then returned as a Visiting Scholar in 2017 under the auspices of the Center for Engagement with Communities at the College when I was the Director. Alanoud had often invited me to visit Kuwait, but the time was never right. This year, in January 2025, the stars aligned.
Tag: Middle East
After a (much too) long 15-hour flight and an eight-hour layover, I was finally on the last leg of my journey to Erbil from Washington, D.C. Among the handful of Americans onboard, I sat next to a young Kurdish man raised in the UK. His curiosity about my visit revealed how rare it is for people to travel to Kurdistan purely for tourism. Given Iraq’s turbulent history with war and, more recently, the brutality of ISIS, this was understandable. Iraqi Kurdistan remains largely unknown to most Americans and absent from many mainstream discussions. But I was excited to begin my trip, knowing that Iraqi Kurdistan would offer much more than just a narrative of violence or conflict.
Upon landing, entering the country was surprisingly seamless, with a quick passport stamp, a warm smile, and a “Welcome” from the customs officer. My journey would take me through Erbil, Duhok, Rawanduz, Choman, and Akre, where I experienced the food, people, history, politics, and peacebuilding community that shape Kurdistan today.
When the mullahs took control of Iran, they banned dancing, music and much of the social contact between the sexes, among a slew of other activities that are generally considered normal behaviour in the rest of the world.
Since then the situation has somewhat improved, though the country remains very much under the control of the theocracy, which, though somewhat more lenient, continues to frown on anything even remotely resembling what they refer to as “Western decadence.”