Melissa Taylor
About this Interview
Melissa Taylor, a resident of Dallas, Texas traveled to the United Arab Emirates in 2015 and to Qatar and Oman in 2018. In this interview, recorded by AAST 3151/HIST 3672 student, Kelsey Zieger on February 8th, 2022, she discussed her international travels to the Middle East and how these trips altered her career from being a high school history teacher to pursuing a career in international education and relations. Taylor also mentioned the stereotypes that she had of the Middle East and how they were broken throughout the trip.
Development Notes ▼
Photographs
For Further Reading
On Oman
Didero, Maike, Sonja Nebel, and Carmella Pfaffenbach. "Urban Structures and Daily Mobility Patterns in a City of Long distances—the Case of Muscat/Oman." Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 40, no. 3 (2019): 361-386. Link.
On the United Arab Emirates
Alawadi, Khaled, Sahar Khaleel, and Ouafa Benkraouda. "Design and Planning for Accessibility: Lessons from Abu Dhabi and Dubai’s Neighborhoods." Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 36, no. 2 (2020; 2021): 487-520. Link.
Sotoudehnia, Maral, and Reuben Rose‐Redwood. "‘I Am Burj Khalifa’: Entrepreneurial Urbanism, Toponymic Commodification and the Worlding of Dubai." International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 43, no. 6 (2019): 1014-1027. Link.