Professor Philosophy Department - PDF document

1 A n O ffice of O ne’s O wn at A
A n O ffice of O ne’s O wn at AUC E rnest W olf - G azo , Professor, Philosophy Department Virginia Woolf published a little book A Room of One’s Own in 1928. In due course this published lecture advanced to the status of a manifesto of the emancipat ion of modern w omen in Europe. We find a straightforward message in the beginning of the lecture, “… a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” Likewise, a modern professional person needs an office in order to function and do the respec tive duties expected. Especially the modern academic teacher needs a place to feel secure and comfortable grading papers, writing articles, conducting office hours and, at times, for brain - storming sessions. Not too mention preparing committee meetings, class schedules, and storing the personal library. Despite the e - mail and internet the academic teacher needs an office to call his or her own for the well - being of professional existence. What the office is to the modern professional academic is the kit chen to the modern cook. Nomads and part - time teachers usually don’t have offices of their own and are not always happy with their situation. They seek sedentary existence and try to realize what Woolf’s metaphor suggests, a place of work they can call t heir own. To have one’s office means that you have achieved a certain academic status, somewhat independent from administrators, students, and academic - street - people. Of course, the status of the academic, senior or junior, administrator, low or high, reveals the hierarchy of the university. Offices tend to be larger and more comfortable the higher the place in the hierarchy. But there are plenty of people without their own office and must share office space, cubbyholes, or make - shift tables to simple grade freshman exams and papers. More important than anything else, a place to think in privacy and freedom is the most important value of one’s office. For thinking and place are in a subtle way connected. Let us take the example of the most celebrated philosopher of the 20 th century, Martin Heidegger. Heidegger and his famous cabin (that he called hut) are synonymous for thinking. It was in his hut, deep in the Black Forest region of southern Germany, that the philosopher and let thinking and writing do its work. It was also the place Germans call Heimat (there is no equivalent in English except “feeling at home”). Likewise, perhaps not every academic has a hut to spend to do thinking, but he or she must have a place, usually the office, in which th e person feels “at home” in the university. I suspect the reason why Heidegger’s hut has become world famous among global academics is that all yearn, deep inside their soul, to take refuge in a hut and call it their home of thinking and freedom. The myt hological hut in the psyche of every academic person functions as a sort of womb that nourishes and shelters the body and soul from the daily academic grind ing and people who have forgotten what it means to think. Their business activities are spent in wo rkshops, scheduling, appointments, committees, and academic politics. Of course, some of us, since the 1960s, discovered the office as a temporary shelte r as a homeless ex - husband. T he modern Xanthippe and her kids are not interested in truth, jails and the like, but villas and four - wheel - drives. The first time I really became aware of the status of the office in the academic hierarchy setting was at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. This venerable institution of graduate studies, introduced the P h.D. (imported from the German Humboldt system) to the Unites States in 1871 for the first time, lodged its philosophy as well as classical language department in the basement of its historic 19 th building, that looked more like a dungeon than offices for college teachers. Later, in Georgetown University , I noticed that the philosophy department offices were located (better squeezed ) underneath its campus library. I wonder was this a sign of the status and value of philosophy in general in the worl d of American academic life? I could not imagine the economics, business, not to mention law departments being housed in such manner. Computer science department didn’t exist yet in the 1970s. In Europe, especially Bonn University , where I experienced my firs t office the interior design and place was stately: High ceilings, massive walls, a nd a philosophy library reminding me of those old 18 th century paintings depicting Renaissance libra

2 ries of learning. No wonder, the philo
ries of learning. No wonder, the philosophy institute is housed in the former palace of the archbishop and elector of Cologne of the powerful Wittelsbach family . This was enlightenment environment, rococo style, and 19 th century humanistic scholarship. I started my academic life 1991 at AUC in Room 240 of the English and Comparative Literature Department housed in the beautiful 19 th century building belonging to the former Khedive of Egypt. I felt at home immediately since it reminded my of old Europe and the Bonn palace. The room is located just at the entrance of the ECL department adjacent to the old lift on the second floor and exhibits, in details, 19 th century technology. The elevator (to use American English instead lift) reminded me of Art Deco and historic Paris. It is as one book title has it Paris in Cairo. Aside the old world feeling there was the convenient walk to my nearby flat (American English Apartment) in Garden City, another old European womb to escape the signs of time – East or West. At one point I turned Room 240 into a mini Kindergarten. Due t o some unforeseen medical circumstance I had to take over completely the daily care of my infant son Sinan, born in Ankara, whom I brought with my own hands, six months of age to AUC. In Ankara I had an office in the mathematics department, old style: bla ck board, chalk and ruler. Sinan, named after Mimar Sinan by me, in honor of the greatest of Osmanli architects. I gladly recall the late AUC President Gerhardt who lived on the same 10 th floor at 8 Ibrahim Naguib Street as our flat. Sometime we shared the elevator or even, if that didn’t function, walked together all the way 10 floors. On one of our elevator trips he meet Sinan and ask ed his name, immediately his eyes would turn bright up and say “Ah, the great Mimar Sinan of Istanbul”. Dr. Gerhardt w as the one of the very few persons we met, outside Turkey, who immediately recognized the significance of Sinan as the greatest architect of Islamic Civilization. Seeing Istanbul at dawn from a boat is a dream - like experience. The little Sinan Pasha has prospered since at BISC and recognized by old hands and guards at AUC as the AUC baby . The security staff treats him like their own son seeing this child grow into a young man by 2008. Sinan’s mother, Azita, an I ranian transfer student from Tehran, Anka ra, then AUC, has the honor of being the first and only Iranian female student to graduate from AUCs history with highest honors from the Psychology department. Again, the mini kindergarten at Room 240 was set up for Sinan. Of course, I had to think of b aby sitters while I was teaching my classes, from 11 to 2pm, UTR, the notorious core curriculum course Phil 220 and others. I had an idea and worked out very well in the long run: I would appoint two students from my previous class, boy and girl, to baby sit for the time I was teaching. I had a lucky hand, since the students turned out to be bright, a sense for children and responsibility, and very important , a sense of humor. I understand that some baby sitting sessions must have been very successful si nce I heard that some got engaged, while sitting for Sinan. Thus, I owe many thanks not only to my office but also to my AUC students. Some I would meet years later when they happily recalled the baby sitting in Room 240. This was at the time when the c enter of Cairo, Tahrir Square, the Egyptian Museum, and Sheik Rihan Street were rocked by terrorist attacks, not to mention my building in Garden City, at one time. Sinan and I escaped from the first blast at Tahrir by fifteen minutes and the one in Garde n City, five minutes after Iftar, I escaped by ten minutes. That was AUC in the early 1990s. There was not one AUC female student with headgear, difficult to believe in 2008, but true. What happened in the meantime needs serious sociological analysis. How was AUC transformed from a ladies and gentlemen institution of learning to an institution for mass education? Feminism, post - modern ideologies, political correctness, sexual harassment complaints, equal opportunity demands, academic - street - fighter and blue - eyed kids from bored upper - middle - class American society seeking the “Arab experience”, had not yet hit AUC from overseas. The atmosphere was more or less still free - wheeling, gay (in the traditional sense of the word), polite, a nd fun. My office was in the vicinity of Professor John Rodenbeck, a tireless campaigner for the preservation of historic Cairo and Professor Doris E

3 nright Shukri who headed up the departme
nright Shukri who headed up the department for decades successfully. I occupied Room 240 until 1998 when philosophy was gra nted department status after a prolonged struggle with t he administration. I remember being on a committee that had to decide about a new major for accounting: it took ten minutes to decide thumbs up . I wondered, can philosophy really compete with accou nting? The ECL department comprised philosophy, history, art and drama. In due course they went the i r own way and luckily I was to see Dr. Mahmoud El Lozy as one of my office neighbors in the newly constructed Falaki building. Philosophy was housed, tem porarily , in the old Falaki building, a former dormitory build in 1968. Of course, that year evoked many happy memories as an undergraduate student in the US and graduate student in Europe. The philosophy people along with others like Arabic Studies had to swallow sand and fine dust coming from the new construction site what was to be the New Falaki building next door. The temporary offices at the old Falaki were, no doubt, a negative experience of office occupation . But, like old fashioned coal miners, they swallow the black dust to feed their f amilies. I was to occupy Room 2 10 in the old Falaki for several years until we moved to the new Falaki next door in September 2001 , taking Room 627 . Of course, that date recalls dark feelings of doom and a sens e that not all is well in the real world. Ironically, on 9/11 I was attending the international Leibniz - Conference in Berlin and almost at the same time ( USA time ) I delivered a lecture on Leibniz’s concept of universal peace (the timing I found out later ). What an irony? I wondered are we going back to the stone - age, or was the idea of a universal peace of Leibniz and Kant simply illusory? Now, everyone is ready for a big move to the new campus of AUC at New Cairo. I will be occupying my fourth office at the new campus. I still experienced the old Falaki campus as an oasis of green with trees providing shade for students and staff during lunch hour. The two tennis courts would provide a little entertainment. There was the first, but temporary AUC k indergarten installed in the far corner behind o ne of the tennis courts, until it was moved to the Greek campus as the official kindergarten. It was more of a day care in those days in which Sinan and few other kids had their first pre - school experiences. My new office in old Falaki, Room 2 10, was a tiny box - like place. I called it “my box”, with love. My old couch from the main building was transported to the box, a small desk and bookshelves for my private books, and, an electric typewriter. I had no t yet advanced to a computer. But my typewriter skills remained intact ever since I took a typewriting course (with mechanical typewriter) in high - school, being the only boy among twenty - five girls. In the early 1960s girls were still expected to become secretaries. Slowly I graduated to a computer level and still retain the skill of “typing” blind on the computer keyboard. Again, the mobile phone didn’t yet exist at AUC until 1998. The mobile phone, on its tenth anniversary, caused a revolution among AUC students, no doubt. Since the majority of undergraduate students at AUC are female students, who benefitted most from this revolution for obvious reasons, student life has changed ever since. Social bondings are more subtle, more stealth - like, and th e mobile phone turned into a girl’s best friend. With the inauguration of the computer, in the late 1990s, for all faculty and staff the twenty first century had arrived. Yet, instead of less work, the computing machine demands more attention and more wo rk. Subtle psychological needs aroused had been discovered and the younger generation seems to lose the touch for polite and civilized conversation, in the old style. At last the new Falaki Academic Center was inaugurated in 2001. It is an impressive a rchitectural achievement with it subtle combination of up - to - date engineering craft and Egyptian - Islamic features. The third floor cafeteria with it imposing Mamluk - like chandeli ers and enlarged mashrabia windows gives a heighten sense of aesthetic sensib ility. Philosophy advanced to department status and was housed on the sixth floor adjacent to the construction engineering department and parts of the visual arts department, specifically the offices for the drama people. This choice is somewhat unusual, but turned out to be a happy marriage. My room was 627 across from colleagues like Edw

4 ard Smith and Safwan Kedr, whom I still
ard Smith and Safwan Kedr, whom I still remember being on some committee, before the institution of the Senate was finalized. I had considered the pre - senate days much better organized and gave everyone in respective departments the chance to meet, at random, any other faculty member on some committee. This is, unfortunately, no longer the case, unless one is a member of the senate. The philosophy people and construct ion engineering people developed an excellent rapport. I tried to figure out why. It seems that that the engineering people are a very different species from the philosophy people they don’t see each other as direct competitors in the academic arena. Mo reover, the engineers are not ideologically motivated as are most arts people. They go by fact, measurement, and common sense. This serves as a corrective to the sometimes illusory world of big ideas and fantastic philosophic projects. But both, logic a nd imagination are necessary for a creative way of handling the world, as I tell my students many times. I feel somehow sad to part from my engineering colleagues who provided a congenial atmosphere to “live in”, despite some being skeptical about our phi losophic enterprise, being afraid to “messing up “their students. Not too far, next to Ed Smith, I always found my old and new colleague Mahmud El Lozy, a talking encyclopedia with a great sense of humor. I have no doubt, not only the philosophy people, but also the engineering colleagues will miss his diabolic laughter. I enjoyed my years in Room 627 in the new Falaki. As I look about I still see my old couch from the main building that supported me many times in more depressive moods. I see through my mashrabiya - like window and handle the Bauhaus type window frame. I see from right to left the roof tops of, the new Shepherd Hotel, Semi - Ramis Intercontinental, the Mugamma (called by intellectual literature students Kafka’s castle), then the Arab Leag ue Building with its perennial green flag at half - mast, Nile Hilton, and next to it the Egyptian Mus eum. The Nile I see in my mind’s eye like a silver horizon behind the rooftops. In my office I assembled items that have meaning for me only, perhaps, but make me feel at home, in the center of Cairo. There are the posters from Turkey, Istanbul, Cappadocia, the poster from Spain’s old Salamanca University, a map of Europe, a poster of the city and university of Bonn, a photo - poster of the Iran ian city of I sfahan, books lined up on my desk, from Aristotle’s philosophy to Simone de Beauvoir ’s The Second Sex . There is a huge poster from the first international Mullah Sadra Conference held in Tehran in 2000, while the philosophy professor Khatami was still Pre sident of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mullah Sadra, one of the great Persian Islamic thinkers from the golden Savafid period of Persia’s history. And there across the wall is the map of the Roman Empire that gives an idea of what a kind of world we cou ld have today, when Egypt was part of that Empire and provided wheat of the Roman army. I shock my office visitor, using this map, to explain that Egypt would actually qualify best for membership of the EU because it has a shared history and many things m ore. The faces turn enigmatic. And there are some digital photos mounted on the closet doors: I see my Doktorvater the late Herr Professor Wolfgang Kluxen in his office, the old philosophy seminar library that was always my second home as a student in Bo nn, and there is Habermas while a DVP visitor to AUC in 1998. The plants in the office give a touch of jungle to the atmosphere. I imagine Tarzan and Jane and the chimp Chitta from my boyhood cinema days. The front door to my office, aside the typical n ame tag and office hour schedule also has digital photos on the top of the door, my hero Kant, a little lower Max Weber, and a funny photo of my son Sinan and I. Some students have written comments on the photos like “keep going with your enthusiasm”, or “we need more jokes, with intelligence”, I wrote underneath, “a kiss for our enemy”. Some apparently don’t always agree and ripped up some photos, but I pasted them together again. After this last spring semester 2008 these photos will vanish into my pri vate archive. Hopefully I will see my engineering colleagues at the new campus and we shall reminisce about the good old Falaki days, without exaggerating. I would like to thank my construction engineering colleagues for making my life on the sixth floor congenial and providing an atmosphere that inspires collegial well - bei