Professor Discusses International Education and Identity in Gulf

The Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar held its Monthly Dialogue Series on October 4, 2010 featuring a lecture by Dr. Mary Ann Tétreault titled “Who Am I? International Education and Identity in the Gulf.”

Tétreault, who is also the CIRS visiting scholar for 2010-2011, began by explaining that her research focused primarily on the American University in Kuwait (AUK). While at AUK, Tétreault spent time teaching classes and conducting interviews with parents and students. “I’m looking at what is the contribution of these American Universities to education in the Gulf,” said Tétreault.

Tétreault observed that while AUK displayed many features in common with US universities, such as their emphasis on liberal arts education and student development, the school still differs in important ways because of the country’s gender segregation requirements and censorship laws.

Tétreault is the Una Chapman Cox Distinguished Professor of International Affairs at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Her publications include books and articles about democratization, social movements, gender, oil markets, war crimes, international political economy, world politics, and American foreign policy. Tétreault’s regional focus is the Gulf, with an emphasis on Kuwait about which she has written many articles and two books, The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and the Economics of the New World Orderand Stories of Democracy: Politics and Society in Contemporary Kuwait. Her forthcoming co-edited book, Political Change in the Arab Gulf States: Stuck in Transition, is scheduled to be published in December.