Orientalism is not my opinion: Decolonial teaching and the problem of credibility in IR courses with a MENA focus
| Published date | 01 November 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/02633957211009068 |
| Author | Marina Díaz Sanz,Lucía Ferreiro Prado |
| Date | 01 November 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Learning and Teaching in Politics and International Studies |
https://doi.org/10.1177/02633957211009068
Politics
2023, Vol. 43(4) 587 –601
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/02633957211009068
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Orientalism is not my opinion:
Decolonial teaching and the
problem of credibility in IR
courses with a MENA focus
Marina Díaz Sanz
University of Deusto, Spain
Lucía Ferreiro Prado
IE University, Spain
Abstract
Teaching about the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in politics or international studies
courses in ‘the West’ is challenging due to the many stereotypes that inform students’ imagination.
A common pedagogical purpose is to help students recognise their biases and work through
them. This often renders the classroom a controversial place and the teacher suspect of lack of
objectivity. The specialised literature points at ‘cognitive dissonance’ as an intervening factor. On
occasions, cognitive dissonance leads to harm on teachers’ credibility. This article evaluates the
question of credibility in two activities developed in International Relations (IR) undergraduate
courses with a MENA focus, where students had to identify the impact of ‘Orientalism’ in the
film Argo and in analyses of the ‘Arab Spring’. The article argues that to fully grasp episodes of
cognitive dissonance and attending problems of teacher credibility, the disciplinary context in
which learners are socialised into needs to be considered – in this case, IR. The article advocates
the articulation of a student-centred decolonial teaching pedagogy that renders subjectivity an
object of learning and, at the same time, prepares students to understand the potentialities and
weaknesses of different IR paradigms.
Keywords
cognitive dissonance, credibility, decolonial teaching, international relations, Orientalism
Received: 17th September 2020; Revised version received: 18th January 2021; Accepted: 15th March 2021
Introduction
Student imagination is ridden with stereotypes and distorted beliefs about the Middle East
and North Africa (MENA) region. This imagination and its effects are the object of
inquiry in a few works that also evaluate strategies to deal with the interference of
Corresponding author:
Marina Díaz Sanz, Department of International Relations, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University of
Deusto, Avda. Universidades 24, 48007, Bilbao, Spain.
Email: marina.diaz@deusto.es
1009068POL0010.1177/02633957211009068PoliticsDíaz Sanz and Ferreiro Prado
research-article2021
Learning and Teaching in Politics
and International Studies
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