21st century skills: Tutors in the Wild, Arnout van Ree
In these articles we highlight tutors’ international and intercultural experiences. Leiden University strives to enable students to develop so called "21st century skills" which are defined as "the ability to work in teams, international and intercultural skills, entrepreneurship, leadership qualities and digital competences".
More information about these skills can be found at the career website. Most of the tutors have acquired these skills during their fieldwork for their masters or PhD and are happy to share their impressions and experiences.
For this issue we talked to Arnout van Ree, he teaches Area Studies and Global History. Arnout did field research on performances of gender- and sexual mobility through the writing of online blogs in Iranian cyberspace.
The (im)possibilities of fieldwork in Iran
To begin with, I did not do “traditional” fieldwork during my research master Middle Eastern Studies as my area of focus was the Islamic Republic of Iran. My research dealt with performances of gender- and sexual mobility through the writing of weblogs in Iranian cyberspace. The uses of cyberspace are very interesting in the context of the Islamic Republic as the regime perceived the internet as a potential cultural threat to the state’s identity, but the regime also sees the internet as a very useful tool for articulating or reinforcing this same identity. I had hoped to do fieldwork inside Iran but international politics at the time, 2012, as well as the topic of my research made this very difficult if not impossible. Thus, my fieldwork consisted of online research which provided its own set of problems. For example, the sheer potential size of my research could have been daunting. Therefore, I needed to be very strict in my time-management as well as regarding the basis for selecting my sources.
I also needed to be creative in my approach to the topic as well as how I dealt with possible primary sources. For example, many of my sources were anonymous, it was very difficult to check their identity or if they were even residing inside Iran. They anonymized their identity in order to prevent themselves from being traced by the Iranian cyber-police. This also meant bloggers were hesitant to talk to me as they were worried I was an Iranian police officer pretending to be someone else in order to entrap them.
Learning Persian: experiences in Jordan, jumping the gun
Luckily, I did manage to go abroad during my research master. Initially I had planned to go to Tajikistan for language training. However, at the last minute I had to arrange something else which led me to go to Jordan for a language course in Persian for three months. To be honest, this is not something I have ever regretted. Jordan was amazing and I stayed in the ground floor apartment with several other students of a wonderful host family who lived on the first and second floor in Amman. I spent a great deal of time with two of their sons, Yazan and Fadi, when I was not in class.
A weird, funny and rather scary experience I had with them was the first time I shot a gun in my life. I arrived late at night on my first day. Yazan, Fadi and some friends were hanging out in the garden. I introduced myself and we got to talking about my background. I answered the usual questions about The Netherlands: whether it is true that weed is legal and so on. Then they suddenly asked me if I had ever shot a gun. When I answered “no”, they decided I had to go to a shooting range with them the next day for clay pigeon shooting which meant that within twelve hours of my arrival in Jordan I was shooting a gun for the first time in my life…. I could not hit the broad side of a barn by the way. I later found out that they do this with all the new students to check out what kind of people they are and if they are fun to be around. Apparently, my willingness to do this was something they liked as they really took me in. I was meeting new relatives of them every day, as a lot of family came over. This was very eye-opening for me and made me reflect on my own background. My family is quite small. We also do not just visit for a cup of tea; a visit has to be a ‘special occasion’. The family culture I encountered in Jordan was very different.
Is Obama Muslim? A different perspective
I had a moment of realization on my own preconceptions or ‘stereotypes’ during a talk with my host-mother. She used to work for the United Nations in Jordan and was now retired. We got on the topic of the Arab Uprisings and Obama during which she said that Obama is Muslim. I politely disagreed with her but she was adamant, telling me she thought I was a very nice, smart young man, but that I was completely wrong about this.
Her argument was the support Obama had given to the protesters during the Arab Spring. As I was thinking about this conversation later, I realized why the mother said this. My host family was Christian. The mother was very worried about the outcomes of the Arab Uprisings: The Muslim Brotherhood coming to power in Egypt, the escalating conflict in Syria and protests against the Jordanian king by the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood. She saw this as a possible threat to the safety of her family: the coming to power of Islamists could give rise to the persecution of religious minorities as Christianity. Therefore, Obama’s support meant that he was indirectly threatening the family and must therefore be Muslim. This was a moment of realization. My perspective was different. I had seen the election of Obama as a very positive development, just as the events of Arab Uprisings.
Invaluable skills for life
The skills I learned as a student and during my ‘fieldwork’ are skills that not only benefit me as a tutor but will continue to benefit me during my further career. I learned how to be creative in solving problems and approaching topics. I, furthermore, combined different disciplines in my research, which led to very interesting insights into my topic. This is very useful for me as a tutor at International Studies as this program combines different disciplines in its courses. I try as much as possible to incorporate the skills obtained (such as creativity and critical thinking) in my tutorial sessions. My experiences abroad have also helped me to develop useful social and cultural skills. It taught me to be open-minded about my own preconceptions as well as those of ‘the other’. This is very useful in the classrooms of International Studies as there are many different backgrounds, much more than when I was a student. I think this adds to the learning experiences and the open-mindedness of students.
Arnout’s advice to students going abroad
My advice to students when going abroad is to be critical and challenge your own preconceptions about ‘your’ host country, the region and your own background. What you should avoid is not accepting that your own background or preconceptions about events can (unconsciously) influence your perspective. Also, and this is a cliché but this does not mean it is not good advice: do not be afraid to say yes to new things as this can lead to amazing and interesting experiences. This is when you will probably learn the most!
