I was the chair of one of the panels, so my responsibility was to introduce the speakers, hold them to their time limits, and lead discussion. Typically chairs are prominent people in the field. I was the only high school teacher who chaired a panel, which was a great honor.
Some interesting topics included:
A paper on the role of Singapore as a transit point for SE Asian Muslims making their pilgrimage to Mecca. The professor talked about the web of brokers and dealers who would exchange Hajj travel for forced labor. Two years on a plantation was a typical cost for a pilgrimage for an impoverished Hajji.
A professor from the US Naval Academy discussed the issue of food security in the Middle East and how Arab countries are buying up huge plots of land in SE Asia for their own food needs. This process is resulting in more food scarcity in places like Cambodia.
A professor from Pakistan discussed the similarities between Islam and Buddhism, which is of particular importance for my World History students who wrote an essay on that topic for their semester exam. He, a devout Muslim, suggested that Buddha could have been an early prophet of Allah since his teachings are so similar to those later revealed by Muhammad. Wow.
In my session an architect showed how the capital Phnem Penh has been transformed because of flooding on the Mekong River. She showed changes over time from the early French colonial period and comparisons to New Orleans after Katrina. I might use her work for a lesson in AP World History on recent issues concerning the interaction of humans and the environment.
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