{"70124":{"#nid":"70124","#data":{"type":"news","title":"A Childhood Interest Evolves into Profession","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt all started with a copy of \u201cAli Baba and the Forty Thieves.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI was given a copy of the book when I was a child, and I think that sparked my fascination with the Middle East,\u201d said Laura Bier, an assistant professor in the School of History, Technology and Society. \u201cNot to mention, when I was growing up, something was always happening in the Middle East including events like the oil boycott by OPEC in 1973 or the Iranian revolution.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA year of studying abroad in Egypt only increased her interest in the area. Bier went on to earn both a master\u2019s and PhD in history and Middle East studies, opting to focus on the history of the modern Middle East, with a specialty in modern Egypt and the history of Middle Eastern women. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of her current projects is on a biography of an iconic Egyptian belly dancer and movie star, Tahia Karioka, whose life spans much of the twentieth century.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cShe had amazing life experiences, including being imprisoned several times for political activism and being married 14 times,\u201d Bier said. \u201cI\u2019m interested in what her life has to tell us about modern Egyptian history.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERecently, The Whistle had an opportunity to learn more about Bier and her time at Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow did you end up at Georgia Tech? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ETech is my first teaching gig. I started in 2005, fresh out of graduate school at New York University.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is the greatest challenge you face associated with teaching, and how have you dealt with it?\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003EOne of the challenges is that in any given classroom I have people with widely varying experiences with and levels of knowledge with the Middle East. Some students have almost no experience with this part of the world, and others may be Middle Eastern or have spent time travelling there. I aim to create opportunities for students to learn from each other \u2014 putting those with no experience together with others who have more familiarity and getting them all to understand that dealing with the region as scholars and historians puts everyone on the same page. Everyone can read the same historical sources and formulate an opinion about them.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat do you do to make learning more engaging for students?\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI bring in a lot of Middle Eastern voices, in the form of memoirs and documentaries. I also try and relate the subject material to their lives or put issues in terms they can relate to. Finally, I try and show them that history is a full contact sport \u2014 there are disagreements in interpretations and history is political. So, I encourage them to think of themselves as historians engaged in a process of historical interpretation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat piece of technology could you not live without as an instructor?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EYouTube.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBest place to grab lunch? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMostly, I eat at my desk, but I was thrilled when Zaya came to the Student Center \u2014their falafel is divine. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETell me something unusual about yourself.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI used to play the bagpipes. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EName a few books you are reading.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EFiction is my guilty pleasure. Right now, I\u2019m reading \u201cThe Lacuna\u201d by Barbara Kingsolver. For work, I\u2019m reading a biography of a woman who owned a nightclub in Egypt in the early twentieth century. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIf you weren\u2019t in your current line of work, what would you be doing?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWriting mystery novels or about food.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt all started with a copy of \u201cAli Baba and the Forty Thieves.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"It all started with a copy of \u201cAli Baba and the Forty Thieves.\u201d"}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2011-09-20 14:09:10","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:10:09","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-09-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-09-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"70120":{"id":"70120","type":"image","title":"Laura Bier","body":null,"created":"1449177288","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:14:48","changed":"1475894616","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:36","alt":"Laura Bier","file":{"fid":"192911","name":"laura.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/laura_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/laura_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3457111,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/laura_1.jpg?itok=8JNKY0ss"}}},"media_ids":["70120"],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"14363","name":"Laura Bier"},{"id":"168943","name":"School of History"},{"id":"14364","name":"Technology and Society"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.pavlik@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Pavlik\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-4142\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}