Teaching the Enlightened Student Political Polarization and the Ongoing Quest for Critical Thinking

Teaching the Middle East in Europe cannot ignore its politicised nature: Where we typically acknowledge the power-knowledge nexus in research, all too often similar dynamics in teaching are left unexplored. In this chapter I give a personal account of how my teaching ‘the Middle East’ in Europe has developed in a direct and inevitable interaction with the political context: local events have shaped the Dutch political and by extension academic context so much that they influence almost every aspect of ‘doing the Middle East’ in the Netherlands today. On the one hand, I show how, in this politicised context, public naming and shaming of perceived ‘left’ or ‘anti-Semitic’ university professors, as well as fierce accusations of bias, via lawfare or otherwise, can lead to self-censorship and a sense of isolation in teaching, especially for early career scholars. On the other hand, I show how students in a classroom environment changed as well and argue that, in our teaching, we need to apply that critical, ethical and ongoing reflexivity that we normally reserve for our research activities and create the in-depth learning experience that does not deny but embraces the political contestation that is academic knowledge and the transfer thereof.