The Doha Experiment

UB OF CALIFORNIA’S MIDDLE EAST FORUM PRESENTS

FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 8 • NOON

THE DOHA EXPERIMENT
GARY WASSERMAN
Ph.D., Columbia University

Gary Wasserman’s decision to head to Qatar to teach at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service sounds questionable, at best. “In the beginning,” he writes, “this sounds like a politically incorrect joke. A Jewish guy walks into a fundamentalist Arab country to teach Ameri- can politics at a Catholic college.” But he quickly discovers that he has entered a world that gives him a unique per- spective on the Middle East and on Muslim youth; that teaches him about Arab women and what an education will do for them, both good and bad; shows him the occa-

sionally amusing and often deadly serious consequences his students face simply by living in the Middle East; and finds surprising similarities between his culture and the culture of his students.

Most important, after eight years of teaching in Qatar he realizes he has become part of a significant, little-un- derstood movement to introduce liberal, Western values into traditional societies. He offers a unique perspective on where the region is going and why Americans need to understand this clash of civilizations.

Arab Kingdom, Catholic College, Jewish Teacher

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