Education systems and textbooks in selected countries of the Middle East are increasingly the subject of debate. This volume presents and analyzes the major trends as well as the scope and the limits of education reform initiatives undertaken in recent years. In curricula and teaching materials, representations of the “Self” and the “Other” offer insights into the contemporary dynamics of identity politics. By building on a network of scholars working in various countries in the Middle East itself, this book aims to contribute to the evolution of a field of comparative education studies in this region.

Samira Alayan is Lecturer at the David Yellin College of Education, Jerusalem. Since 2006 she has been a Research Fellow at the Georg-Eckert-Institute for International Textbook Research, Germany. Her research focuses on education in conflict zones, especially in Israel/Palestine, including East Jerusalem, and on education reforms in the Arab Middle East.

Achim Rohde coordinates the research network 'Re-Configurations. History, Memory and Transformative Processes in the Middle East and North Africa' at the Philipps University Marburg. He is the author of State-Society Relations in Ba’thist Iraq. Facing Dictatorship (Routledge, 2010) and co-editor of Iraq Between Occupations: Perspectives from 1920 to the Present (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).

Sarhan Dhouib was a Research Fellow at the Georg-Eckert-Institute for International Textbook Research, Germany in 2008-09, and is currently Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy of Kassel University, Germany. He co-edited Al-Islah at-Tarbawi fi-sh-Sharq al-Awsat (with Samira Alayan and Achim Rohde, Dar al-Shurouq, 2010). He was editor of Volume 59 of Concordia about current Arabic-Islamic philosophy and laureate of the Goethe-Institut´s Newcomer Award for Philosophy in 2011.

“The essays are very high quality, written by well-qualified researchers, and address a subject of high interest to those concerned with development/political issues related to the Middle East. They…make a significant contribution to the field of educational reform and development, identity construction and nation building.”  ·  Eleanor Doumato, Watson Institute, Brown University

“This volume will prove a valuable contribution for scholars and policymakers interested in educational policy, curricular reform, historiography, and Arab World identities.”  ·  Nabil Al-Tikriti, University of Mary Washington