Here's a link to Nabil Matar's homepage at the University of Minnesota, as well as a link to some of In the Lands of the Christians at Google Book. Be sure to read this book review of In the Lands.
Here's a brief bio that relates some of Matar's interesting life experiences. To get a sense of the totality of Matar's work, here's a link to an on-line resume, or what scholars call a curriculum vitae.
In your opinion, how have Matar's life experiences shaped the subject and significance of his academic work?
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
This class blog offers a place to provide resources for learning, enhance discussion, and promote critical reflection.
- College Board: AP Euro
- Conversations with History
- Euro Docs
- European Union
- Harden's Artchive
- Internet History Sourcebook
- Maps That Teach
- Metropolitan Museum
- Primary Document Analysis Form
- ProCon.org
- Rethinking Schools
- SBS
- SBS Library Catalog
- Spielvogel Web Companion Site
- This Day in History
- Thomson Learning: Western Civilization
- Using Primary Sources on the Web
- Western Civilization Documents
- World Music
Newsworthy & Noteworthy
- Al Jazeera
- Arts & Letters Daily
- Authors @ Google
- BBC
- Common Dreams
- Cornel West 1.0
- Cornel West 2.0
- Democracy Now
- Drudge Report
- Eboo Patel
- Houston Independent Media
- Independent Media
- Maps of War
- National Public Radio
- Noam Chomsky
- Political Affairs.Net
- Progressive Forum Houston
- Robert Fiske
- Speaking of Faith
- The Economist
- Voice of America
- World Press
- ZNet
Blog Archive
-
▼
2007
(31)
-
▼
October
(13)
- Phorum with (soon to be) Dr. Phil, 1.0
- Phorum with (soon to be) Dr. Phil
- Spicing Up History: Finding Your Inner Majordomo
- Making Waves: The Proletarian Visits Second Baptis...
- All Ears
- (Re)Framing the Story: Africa and the Age of Explo...
- A Digital Citizen: Hank and History in High School
- From Here to There: Traveling with Fr. Illyas and ...
- Move the Discussion Forward: Talking About Traveling
- Nabil Matar
- What You See is What You Get?: Cultural Representa...
- (Pre)Destined to Choose: Presidential Election 2008
- Analyzing Analyses of the Past
-
▼
October
(13)
Posts
FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed
8 comments:
Xeris
Mr. Matar's life experiences have greatly shaped the way in which he writes and what he writes. he has studied from different viewpoints in different countries and so is qualified to make assessments of his own compiling all his studies from foreign countries into one history. He is considered an authority on history between Europe and the world of Islam. He offers new insights into the world of Islam and their thought processes during the 16th and 17th centuries. He is able to speak from experience about captivity because he himself was captive for six months by mercenary kidnappers. He was born and raised in Lebanon and so has had experience living in two extreme and opposite worlds and cultures.
In the Age of Discovery and Barbary and Britain, Matar writes on the experiences of captives. It is fitting that he should focus on captivity, because he was captured and held for six months by mercenary kidnappers. In his writing, he includes the struggle of London women to free their men. Matar's wife campaigned for Matar's release in the mid- 1980's.
Nabil Matar's focus on the history of captivity between Islam and Europe. This is quite fitting seeing as how he himself was held captive for six months by mercenary kidnappers in Beirut in the 1980's. In fact, he is able to write movingly on the campaigns of wives in London because of his own wife's struggle to release him from these kidnappers. The way he is able to synthesize the opposing viewpoints of Europe and the Islamic world stems primarily from the fact that he was born and raised in Lebanon and therefore has a vast amount of knowledge pertaining to the Islamic world in the 16th and 17th centuries. He is also able to offer his own, and very original, thoughts and insights into the problem of Islamophobia, creating a link between Elizabethan stage writers and the people running today's tabloid press.
Nabil Matar's having been born and raised in Lebanon obviously shapes his cultural perspective and allows him to authoritatively compare and contrast European history with Islamic history, specifically of the 16th and 17th centuries. Also, as stated in previous posts, his time spent in captivity also allows him to emerge as a credible source concerning his writings on captivity as well as shape his personal bias regarding that particular subject.
Matar's life experiences in captivity after being kidnapped for 6 months, as stated, greatly shape the subject of his work because he focuses on the captives between the Islam and European worlds. This experience would make the subject of captivity much more understandable for him and provide him with an emotional relevance to attach to his scholarly angle. And as also noted, his life in Lebanon would give him insight into both the Islamic and European worlds and how they relate and interact, and this period of time would possibly make him more interested in analyzing the history in these relationships that he does study.
Matar’s work has been shaped in many ways by his personal life experiences. Having been born in Lebanon, he understands the life and culture of the Islamic world. He was educated in England as well as in Beirut; thus, he has contrasting insights that allow him to fully understand the different views of his subject. The extensive books he has written gave him the opportunity to research many primary documents, many which he discovered himself. In addition, his writings on captives are discussed from a personal view point because he was captured in Beirut for six months in 1980.
Matar’s life experiences have shaped the subjects of his academic works. Matar was born in Lebanon and went to college in Beirut, Lebanon and Cambridge, England. He has taught at numerous universities some being in the United States. Matar has been exposed to many different cultures allowing him to make better assessments of his subjects. Since he was born in Lebanon he knows and understands the world of Islam; he also understands England because he lived and worked there for a period time. Therefore, he is capable of writing on these subjects. Matar also talks about captivity, a subject that is very personal. Matar himself was kidnapped in Beirut. Matar is also able to talk about how the women of London had to free their men because his wife struggled to get him released. Matar writes on subjects that he knows personally; accordingly, he is able to make his own original assessments on the topics. –Meagan Smith
Matar's various geographical homes alone have shaped his intellectual opinion. He has lived not only in several major areas of the world, but different cities within those areas. When one is exposed to this much difference in culture in everyday life, they become qualified for several different pov's. Very interesting stuff...
Post a Comment