Please answer any two of the following questions.
Each answer should be a minimum 4 pages, double-spaced with 1-inch margins. Each answer should demonstrate that youve read the assigned readings in depth AND participated in and took sufficient notes in class to bring the readings and the class lectures and discussions into conversation.
Answer one of these Questions only use attached reading fully utilize those reading into converation. in depth explaination. dont Quote
Q1 Urban planning and conflict in the Middle East: Jerusalem and Beirut.
Using the readings and class discussions led by Prof. Bollens, explore some of the key issues affecting urban development in the MENA region, in particular what factors contribute to inter-communal conflict in urban settings (architecture, cultural factors, population density, etc.). Discuss how the political, military and social construction of borders affect conflict and divide communities, how international borders like the Green Line between Israel and the Occupied Territories are both physical/geographical and political, and how the intersection of religion, nationalism and religion in cities like Beirut and Jerusalem play into larger conflicts.
Q2 Climate Change and Drought
Based on the readings provided by Dr. Alborzi and our discussion in class, discuss the meaning of anthropogenic drought, its relationship to climate change, to (mis)management of water and other resources, and how STEM/science studies fields more broadly can be used to help us understand political, cultural and economic processes on the ground.
Q3 Circuits of Culture in the Global M
E
Based on the readings as well as class discussions for this week explain how we can use the evolution of musical styles over time between places as diverse as West Africa and the United States, or Africa and the Middle East, or the Middle East and the US, to map out broader social, economic and indeed global histories. What is a musical circuit in this regard? And how can we say a seemingly foreign style of music like heavy metal would become so popular among young people across the MENA and larger Muslim world. Pick one song that you like, either current or classic, or an artist or even larger genre, and show how their music reflects these histories and why their very hybrid nature enables them to function as tools for resistance as much as merely music. Please use some of the songs we discussed in class, and/or bring your own examples from the Muslim world into the discussion.
Q4 Protest & Activism
What were some of the primary economic, political and cultural causes and dynamics of the uprisings across the Middle East and broader Muslim world the last two decades. How did poverty, neoliberalism, religious sentiments and authoritarianism interact to produce both the explosion of protests and the counter-revolutions with the people as both victims and supporters that occurred in the first three years of the revolutionary era (2010-2013). Why was the erasure of Sykes-Picot borders so important to the Islamic State, and in considering this, think about how the role of culture for ISIS can be compared and contextualized vis-a-vis the role of culture more broadly by revolutionary forces.