El-Naafidha Student Group for Middle East Studies
1. History of “El-Naafidha”
El-Naafidha was first established when students who took Professor Namsik In’s ‘Middle East and Islam’ class in the fall semester of 2008 at Yonsei University took initiative in the spring of 2009. El-Naafidha means ‘the window’ in Arabic and signifies the window of exchange of civilizations from the perspective of Koreans who seek to satisfy their curiosity about the Middle East through research.
El-Naafidha became a coalition of students from various universities on December 3rd, 2010. El-Naafidha brings together students who are interested in the Middle East regardless of one’s major or university, and makes for a new research paradigm of the Middle East regional studies.
2. Activities of “El-Naafidha”
(1) The main activity of El-Naafidha is the weekly seminar held during the school semester and semester break. Each member of El-Naafidha takes turn to present about issues of personal interest related to the Middle East, after which members hold discussions about the topic. On various topics of relevance, we also invite and welcome Arab youths to join our discussion.
The weekly seminar is currently held on Thursdays from 7 p.m to 9 p.m in the Shinchon area. The seminar hours may change every semester or break when taking into consideration the schedules of the members, but the location has been designated to be within the Shinchon area. If one misses the weekly seminar more than 3 times during a semester, one will not be given any credit for that semester.
(2) As an extension of our activities, small group clubs can also be found. “Bookworms,” a group where book-lovers read books related to Middle East together, “Al-hiwar”, an advanced Arabic study group which seeks to cultivate debate and writing skills, “Al-Beginner”, an Arabic study group for beginners, and “Haydi Haydi Türkçe” a study group for learning Turkish.
(3) Besides seminars and small group activities, the members build friendship by hanging out after the weekly seminars, having retreats and birthday parties, and so on.
(4) Besides the activities mentioned above, El-Naafidha also actively participates in forums and events related to the Middle East such as lectures by ambassadors and Middle East experts, the national foundation anniversary events of various countries like UAE and Saudia Arabia, and so on. El-Naafidha exchanges information and holds joint-seminars with other student groups such as Al-fanar of Seoul National University, Al-miraya of Korea University, Al-fajr of Myungji University, and Al-simsim of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
El-Naafidha also invites experts in different fields related to the Middle East to share their experiences and knowledge with our members. The first Korean journalist of Al-jazeera, Ms. Sang-won Yoon was invited to speak in April 2011 and Mr. Min-kyu Kim who passed the bar exam and finished his training in Qatar was invited to speak in May of the same year. In the spring semester of 2012, Professor Nam-sik In of the Institute of Foreign affairs and National Security and Mr. Seung-ho Choi, the Secretary General of the Korea-Arab Society gave lectures for El-Naafidha, respectively.
(5) With many students who have gone to study abroad in the Middle East as invaluable resources, El-Naafidha helps members planning to study abroad in the Middle East through programs like the weekly seminar or ‘Al-Beginner’, by sharing the first-hand experiences of our members who have studied in the Middle East.
In the future we plan to form small groups on fun themes such as Islamic finance, other Middle Eastern languages, food, other academic topics, and so on to deepen our friendship and love for the Middle East.
3. Composition of “El-Naafidha”
As of August 2012, El-Naafidha consists of a total of 47 members. All members have various backgrounds. Members are from 11 different universities and represent 17 different majors. They have traveled, lived, or studied in 9 different Middle Eastern countries including Kuwait, Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Morocco, Oman, Turkey, and Iran.
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