On Tuesday, the Turath House and the Muslim Student Association (MSA) hosted a teach-in about the controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, originally published in a Danish newspaper and reprinted in papers throughout Europe. Professor of History Bruce Masters and Associate Professor of Religion Peter Gottschalk joined Muslim Chaplain Mahan Mirza to discuss the history, politics, and meaning behind the caricatures.

The cartoons were projected upon a screen as the crowd entered the room. Masters spoke first, pointing out that the power imbalance between Muslims and the greater European community is what makes the cartoon particularly powerful.

“For most of these [Muslim groups], their anger is coming out of a general sense of disempowerment,” Masters said. “There’s really an escalation of this as we speak…what we want to know is where is all of this going; you don’t create anger out of nothing.”

According to Masters, groups that hold political dominance cannot criticize those with less power.

“Telling WASP jokes is ok because they have all the power, but think of a WASP telling a black joke or an Asian joke: it’s not so funny anymore, is it?” he asked.

Masters also said that he believed the U.S. press has covered the issue better than the Europeans.

“I think the U.S. has become more used to the idea of being a multicultural nation,” he said. “Europeans have a notion of uniqueness…Muslim culture is so alien to [them] so it’s going to be much harder for them.”

Concerning the argument made by many of the papers concerning freedom of speech, Masters noted the fact that many of those same papers had refused to print other religiously controversial cartoons. He cited the French paper “Le Monde” and their refusal to print a series of comics on Jesus.

“If you’re talking about freedom of press, how come it’s ok to attack Muslims but not attack Jews, for instance?” Masters said.

Gottschalk talked about the limits of the freedom of speech and what he referred to as issues of “normativity.”

“All freedoms have some sort of balance,” Gottschalk said. “One has to balance freedom of expression with respect to communities.”

He talked about two conventions used in political cartoons: symbols and caricatures.

“What [a caricature] does is systematically exaggerate the features of a person to satirize them and make them recognizable,” he said.

According to Gottschalk, people take on symbols for themselves as marks of pride around which to rally.

“The problem comes when a cartoonist devises a caricature of a group and turns it into a symbol for that group,” Gottschalk said. “We call that a stereotype.”

Gottschalk displayed a series of American and European cartoons displaying common traits of Muslim stereotypes, such as beards, hawk-like noses, and all-male representation.

“We find there is a common stereotype of Muslims…and of Arabs in general,” he said. “In America there is [also] a collapse of ideas of Muslims and Middle Easterners.”

After both presentations, the professors responded to a range of student questions.

“We want to be as open as possible about this process,” said Joel Bhuiyan ’06, a member of the MSA. “We don’t want [this] to be censored…so feel free to be open.”

In response to one question regarding the hostile response to the cartoon within Muslim communities, Gottschalk said it was important to note that the violence only included a small fraction of the 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide.

“It’s important not to generalize,” he said. “I think it somehow imagines the response is [planned out]. A very small fraction of Muslims are being violent.”

When students asked about the future of European/Middle Eastern relations in Europe, Masters and Gottschalk were cautionary, but ultimately optimistic.

“The correct [boundary] is hard for the majority to recognize, so it really has to be a self-education […] to help them realize how the norm is oppressive,” Gottschalk said.

“I think Europe should use this as an opportunity to enter into dialogue with the Muslim communities,” Masters said. “It’s up to European Christian societies to come to terms with Muslim Societies. I think Europeans are eventually going to work out a solution […] but it’s going to be much harder for them.”

Masters received his degree in Arab Studies at Georgetown after spending his junior year in East Jerusalem. He then went on to live three years in Cairo. He obtained his Ph.D. from University of Chicago, and he also lived the first eight years of his life in Germany, which gave him some familiarity with the social climate.

Gottschalk, who also received his Ph.D. at University of Chicago, is currently putting together a book called “Islamophobia,” dealing with European views of Muslims in political cartoons.