Since the time I was little, I have always had a voracious hunger for language, part of which stemmed from my love of reading. Even though I didn’t acquire a second language until I was in seventh grade, I always wanted to be fluent in at least two or three languages.
As a middle schooler, I was required to take Spanish in seventh and eighth grade. My school, being the small public school it was, with a maximum of 35 students per graduating class, only offered Spanish. I couldn’t have asked for better nor kinder teachers than Señora Becker and Señora Marvin. I truly credit both of them for my love of learning Spanish and my continuation of the language into college. I wouldn’t be who I am today without the two of them, and I hope they know what their educational leadership has done for me.
As I entered college, I was a Communications, Social Justice, and Advocacy major. I was placed in Spanish 301, the first course in the continuation of the higher levels of Spanish. As I continued through the course, I realized how deeply I wanted to continue my studies in Spanish, which led me to add a Spanish minor to my course plan. Only a year later, this minor developed into a full major, complete with a study abroad plan.
I have been truly grateful to know the faculty of the school of Arts and Sciences, many of which have guided me in furthering my ability to ask real and meaningful questions in the classroom.
I want to give a special thank you to Dr. Seher Rowther, a true gem of a person and a wealth of knowledge as a professor. I had the great privilege of being a part of her interview process and I felt truly connected with her from that moment on.
This fall semester was the first time I’ve been able to take a class with her, and I will not lie, it is no easy A, at least in the realm of participation. I have learned more about Islam and the culture of Spanish Muslims during the 1400s through this class than I had ever learned in a history class.
The course focuses on the text Granada by Radwa Ashour, an Egyptian author. I feel truly gifted to learn from Dr. Rowther about Islam in this way and deeply engage with a text that is frequently challenging the notions of faith that I was raised in.
Not only does the book recognize the deep discrimination Muslims experienced in areas such as Granada, Spain, during the 1400s, but it asks its readers to consider how young community members would have felt witnessing cultural exploitation around them, like that of Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the “New World”.
This course welcomes me to ask questions about the lives of Muslim people I once was too afraid to be wrong about to understand. This fear of “being wrong” or asking the “wrong questions” still resides in me, but my desire to learn beats stronger than the fear. I would rather deeply know a group of people and look ill-equipped for a conversation briefly, than miss out on an entire history involving great resistance against oppression and erasure.
It’s more important to me to learn and get to love a person simply by knowing of their existence, than pretending like their history is unimportant enough for me to miss out on them.
This Hispanic Heritage Month, allow yourself to ask questions, learn for yourself, and get to know where you may seek understanding in a world full of judgment. Reach out and welcome in your passions and get to know the stories that you’ve never opened yourself up to. Be the one who sits and listens with compassion and curiosity—you never know what you might discover!