The production and dissemination of knowledge on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has always had a particularly complex relationship vis-à-vis research funding, faculty hiring priorities, course scheduling schemas, and course enrollment numbers. In this essay, I hope to share some observations—that I have experienced firsthand and discussed with a number of colleagues—on teaching an introductory survey course on the history of the modern MENA region. Such reflections are rooted in my own experience of teaching at a public university with no current major research or teaching commitments to the MENA region. While these observations are not unique to the context within which I teach, they might be otherwise inflected in different contexts.

中文翻译：

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中东调查课程：挑战与机遇

中东和北非 (MENA) 知识的生产和传播与研究经费、教师聘用优先事项、课程安排模式和课程注册人数之间的关系一直特别复杂。在这篇文章中，我希望分享一些我亲身经历并与许多同事讨论过的关于教授现代中东和北非地区历史的介绍性调查课程的观察。这种反思植根于我自己在公立大学的教学经验，目前没有对中东和北非地区的主要研究或教学承诺。虽然这些观察并不是我教学的背景所独有的，但它们可能会在不同的背景下受到影响。