Course organiser:Denise Burrow
Presenter:John Scott
28 Jun:
'No Longer Eden or Saudi’s Sordid Little Island.'Bahrain is thought to be the fabled Garden of Eden. Its history dates back almost 6000 years and is among the oldest of civilisations. We take an overview of Bahrain and where it, with the Dilmun Empire, fits into Middle Eastern history.
5 Jul:
'Extremes: Life as an Ex-patriate in the Middle East.'The Middle Eastern economies have become expressions of extremes in wealth with the discovery of oil in the 1930’s. Lavish lifestyles, ego buildings, and unrealistic expectations have been built on the backs of ex-patriates many of whom are little more than modern slaves. What is life like there for the locals and expatriates – the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’?
12 Jul:
'It’s All About the Power: Religion and Politics.'Attitudes towards Islam and Moslems have tended to be polarised in the western civilisation partly due to the lack of understanding of the Islamic religion and the basis of the rift between Sunni and Shia.
However, the tension and extremism has more to do with power and political differences.
19 Jul:
'The Arab Spring.'What for the media became the Arab Spring became for many the Arab Winter as disorder, extremist action groups, and crackdowns were imposed. What started as a great reform programme in Bahrain has set back the country thirty years. Innovative educational reforms planned and introduced to Bahrain were dismantled following the Arab Spring.
26 Jul:
'The Arab Spring.'Continued from 19 July.