What Is Disturbing about Power? Teaching American Studies in Lebanon and Germany

In a course I taught at the American University of Beirut (AUB) on “US-Arab Encounters, 1945-2005,” the students' diverse national backgrounds—Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, Saudi Arabian, and American—and their different religious backgrounds—Protestant, Maronite, Sunni, Shia, Druze—embodied a very important aspect of the classroom experience. This diversity frequently sparked heated debates but also led to extraordinary moments of breakthrough in perspectives. For example, at the beginning of the course, U.S. students showed more interest in the intricate processes of political decision-making and in various interpretations of influential foreign policy documents. The majority of Arab students, in contrast, focused more on the gap between U.S. ideals and reality, on cases of discriminations, and on U.S. power and its impact on their lives. By the end of the semester, I was thrilled to observe that students, both American and Arab, were equally interested in the complexity of political decision-making and in the various factors that impact it as well as in the direct consequences these decisions have on people's lives. What my class at AUB, and to a lesser degree my several classes at the Technical University of Dresden, have demonstrated, is that the major issue for international students is American power—military, political, economic, and cultural. This leads them to delve into critical concepts such as capitalism, imperialism, and class-based interests and conflicts, and allows them to participate (unknowingly) in a powerful critique of American exceptionalism. Teaching American history and American studies outside the U.S. is inseparable from American power, a global fact which always “dialogues” with students, some of whom are painfully aware of their powerlessness and the irrelevance of their perspectives. These teaching experiences can be indicative of continuing injustices, but can be also used to project and articulate new visions of equality.