"Rediscovering Central Asia" by S. Frederick Starr

     In "Rediscovering Central Asia", S. Frederick Starr, chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at Johns Hopkins University, seeks to inform readers. He writes to an audience with at least a basic knowledge of Central Asian geography, which is likely high school or above. Starr's purpose is to teach readers some of the history of Central Asia, which he believes is understood by far too few people. Throughout the essay he focuses on South Asia's golden age, and specifically the region's rise to it and fall from it.
Starr presents readers with the common view of Central Asia to establish the problem. He states that most people "[dismiss Central Asia] as an inconvenient territory to be crossed while getting somewhere else." By stating the majority's opinion, Starr gives readers the chance to connect to what he writes. He then presents readers with facts from Central Asia's past (around 1000 AD): "it was Central Asians who first accepted irrational numbers ... invented trigonometry ... estimated the earth's diameter to a degree of precision unmatched until recent centuries ... In chemistry ... first to reverse reactions." He lists many more of these facts to show readers the stark difference between what they think they know about Central Asia (that it is unimportant) and what they need to know (that Central Asia was in fact a great hub of scientific and mathematical discovery). In this way, Starr appeals to both pathos and logos.
By contrasting the common perception of Central Asia with the truth, Starr shocks his audience, and through this pathetic appeal they realize how little they know about the region. He then lists a significant number of facts about the development of science and math in Central Asia, and through this logical appeal, he successfully teaches readers the importance of Central Asia. At the end of the essay, Starr combines his logical and pathetic appeals to teach readers a message: the public needs to learn about Central Asia's past in order to respect the region today and promote this kind of scientific growth again.

Important Central Asian Scholars/Scientists/Mathematicians:

Left: Abu Nasr al-Farabi (c. 872-961), from what is now Kazakhstan, analyzed the ethics of Aristotle and, according to Starr, these analyses "surpassed all those of Western thinkers except Thomas Aquinas".

Center: Abu al-Rayhan al-Biruni (973-1048), who lived near the Aral Sea, "[distinguished] himself in geography, mathematics, trigonometry, comparative religion, astronomy, physics, geology, psychology, mineralogy, and pharmacology."

Right: Abu Ali Sina (c. 980-1037), from Bukhara in now-Uzbekistan, focused on medicine, philosophy, physics, chemistry, astronomy, theology, clinical pharmacology, physiology, ethics, and music.

(Source: http://muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=1058)