Resource Guides

The Kurds are an indigenous population from Mesopotamia or modern-day south-eastern Türkiye, north-eastern Syria, northern Iraq, north-western Iran, and south-western Armenia. In the early 20th century, Kurds sought self-determination and the establishment of a homeland named Kurdistan, which translates to “Land of the Kurds.” Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, […]

On June 23, 2023, the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company, staged a rebellion against the Russian government. As tensions between Wagner’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and the Russian Ministry of Defense intensified, residents of Rostov-on-Don confronted new warlord masters on the morning of June 24. Prigozhin named himself the new head of Russia’s southern […]

History of Sanctions in the Middle East and North Africa For decades, the United States utilized sanctions as an economic tool against hostile state actors. It sought to threaten global regimes deemed antithetical to US values and interests. Sanctions maintain a notoriously consistent presence in countries across the Middle East and North Africa, intimidating the […]

In 2017, Arab Americans began a national initiative to coordinate and advocate for an Arab American Heritage Month. Governmental agencies throughout the United States responded and several cities and states have issued proclamations in recognition of their Arab American communities. TeachMideast curated this collection of resources to introduce students and educators to the history, culture, […]

The novel Coronavirus which causes the disease known as COVID-19 has pushed the world into a global pandemic. As nations around the world scramble to control the spread of the disease, the Middle East region has been particularly hampered by poor health infrastructure and lack of government funding for immediate social services. Coupled with slowing […]

Teaching the Revolutions The Arab Spring — the popular uprisings across the Arab World that began in early 2011 — was the defining moment for a generation of Arabs, and was the seed of some of the most devastating, ongoing conflicts in the world today. However, it also produced some surprising and inspiring democratic successes. […]

The topic of oil in the Middle East can be (pardon the pun) sticky. Many discuss Middle Eastern oil as if it is an inherently corrupt and destructive force that gives autocrats a money-fueled mandate to oppress their people, but this is not a fair assessment. It is important to be aware of the bias many Western […]

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is among the most intricate and divisive issues on the global stage today, and teaching about it can be immensely difficult – but also immensely important. We’ve done our best to aggregate moderate and balanced resources with perspectives from both sides, but you know your classrooms best, so we encourage you to […]

Iran is an incredibly complex country that cannot be covered in just one unit. This resource guide is centered around helping teachers and students understand the complex relationship between Iran and the United States. The following tools provide context about the history of the relationship, what went wrong, and why tensions still exist today. Major moments in […]

A lot of difficult questions and topics linger on the subject of Islam and often times it isn’t easy to find resources capable of addressing these difficult topics fairly. Muslims and non-Muslims both have biases towards Islam, especially when it comes to women’s rights, sharia law and liberalism. Below is a short list of supplemental […]