Lack of Geographical knowledge
Feb 20, 2017 18:59:35 GMT
Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 18:59:35 GMT
This is not (I repeat not) a rant about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.....
I have a Muslim member of staff. Really nice guy who admits he is not very observant although from conversations, his wife is more 'religious' and clearly it has some meaning for him. However he about 35, is pretty westernised and understands all the TV and other media references if they are used in conversation. He would also pass the Tebbitt cricket test. If England are playing Pakistan he supports England (which makes him more patriotic than me but that's another story... Ask me about the Radio 4 programme about the Ukrainians in the UK someday.).
We were chatting today and he was asking me about something connected to the above mentioned conflict and I thought "here we go, the conversation I don't want to have, but I'm having to have it". Anyway, I started with some ancient history and then he stops me when I start talking about the places that are now known as Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi, The Palestinian Territories and the Gaza Strip. It is clear that other than a general rough idea that these places are at the far end of the Med he has no idea at all how they fit together. So we went online and started looking at maps. Wow. This guy is seriously lacking in geographical knowledge of the middle east.
I admit that maps fascinate me and I can spend hours on Google Earth swooping over the world, but I was very much taken aback. Given all the news programmes about the conflict, the conflict in Syria, Iraq, problems in Turkey, Iran etc etc, there is a good deal of basic information out there. The first map he found was a map which shows all the Muslim countries coloured green and Israel shaded red. The green bits are about 1,000 times the area of the red bit. He then found a more detailed map showing Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. What surprised him the most was the location of the Gaza Strip - he assumed it was a finger of land between Israel and the West Bank and it didn't make sense to him. The map put the whole conflict into a different perspective. It got me thinking.
There are huge numbers of people, especially young people, who are dragged along behind a bandwagon of disapproval, boycott, hate or worse, who have no idea of the real story behind the 'argument'. But they don't care they don't know. At least this member of staff is old enough to know he should care and ask questions. By communicating, one can break down barriers and by showing some maps a difficult conversation turned very easy and with each side respecting each other's feelings.
I'm just upset that Geography is nowadays too much about social geography and not enough about "what is the capital of xxx?", because doing it that way you encourage people to feel well disposed to those they might otherwise learn to hate.
I have a Muslim member of staff. Really nice guy who admits he is not very observant although from conversations, his wife is more 'religious' and clearly it has some meaning for him. However he about 35, is pretty westernised and understands all the TV and other media references if they are used in conversation. He would also pass the Tebbitt cricket test. If England are playing Pakistan he supports England (which makes him more patriotic than me but that's another story... Ask me about the Radio 4 programme about the Ukrainians in the UK someday.).
We were chatting today and he was asking me about something connected to the above mentioned conflict and I thought "here we go, the conversation I don't want to have, but I'm having to have it". Anyway, I started with some ancient history and then he stops me when I start talking about the places that are now known as Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi, The Palestinian Territories and the Gaza Strip. It is clear that other than a general rough idea that these places are at the far end of the Med he has no idea at all how they fit together. So we went online and started looking at maps. Wow. This guy is seriously lacking in geographical knowledge of the middle east.
I admit that maps fascinate me and I can spend hours on Google Earth swooping over the world, but I was very much taken aback. Given all the news programmes about the conflict, the conflict in Syria, Iraq, problems in Turkey, Iran etc etc, there is a good deal of basic information out there. The first map he found was a map which shows all the Muslim countries coloured green and Israel shaded red. The green bits are about 1,000 times the area of the red bit. He then found a more detailed map showing Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. What surprised him the most was the location of the Gaza Strip - he assumed it was a finger of land between Israel and the West Bank and it didn't make sense to him. The map put the whole conflict into a different perspective. It got me thinking.
There are huge numbers of people, especially young people, who are dragged along behind a bandwagon of disapproval, boycott, hate or worse, who have no idea of the real story behind the 'argument'. But they don't care they don't know. At least this member of staff is old enough to know he should care and ask questions. By communicating, one can break down barriers and by showing some maps a difficult conversation turned very easy and with each side respecting each other's feelings.
I'm just upset that Geography is nowadays too much about social geography and not enough about "what is the capital of xxx?", because doing it that way you encourage people to feel well disposed to those they might otherwise learn to hate.
)
