Theocratic Governments

• Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Algeria

You tell me the story of Women’s rights in the Middle East.

Russian Vs Taliban Rule

Which one is grandmother?

Kabul StadiumPublic Execution: Adulteress

Gender Roles

• Saudi Arabia- pertaining to women– Women need a male relative to escort to

supermarket– No allowed to enter parliament– NO media attention

• Iran– Chador- covering for women

The Story of Men

Shiite celebration of Ashura self-flagellation. Ashura is a ten day mourning of the martyrdom of Mohammed’s grandson Hussein.

Male sports- can identify religion? Ethnicity, language?

Mesopotamia

The “land between the rivers” Home to

Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, and Chaldea Empires

Fertile soil = easy crops

Rivers = easy trade

Abraham was born here!

Kurds- Kurdistan- a stateless nation

Who are the Kurds?

Ethnic group that has occupied “Kurdistan” for 1000s of years

Kurdistan = Iran, Iraq, Turkey

Stateless Nation – people without a land to legally occupy

Kurds resist control of countries they inhabit

Oasis

Dates- Date Palm Tree

How could a city in the middle of a desert support a large population?

Bedouins- use the pics to tell me about them.

That’s a woman

Bedouins

Traditional culture

Nomadic

Fighters/Warriors

Strong Family Ties

Spread Islam

Mix of Traditional and Modern way of life

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

Goals:

- coordinate policies on selling petroleum products

- help member countries control worldwide oil prices

Members:

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, Iran, UAE

(our personal neighbor Mexico and Venezuela)

OPEC

Why is Oil so important to Middle East?

Money from this export is being used to build a more diverse economy

Modernizing Infrastructure

– Roads,desalinization, irrigation, airports, malls, IT

Developing Other Resources

– Agriculture (arid region)- building dams/wells

– Developing water sources

– Minerals

Human Resources (skills and talents of people)

– education/technology training

Suez Canaloasis, irrigation, man-made

modification, adaptation

What does the Suez Canal connect?

Drip Irrigation-

This is a sugar beet farm in Turkey

Desalinization Plants

The removal of salt from ocean water

- expensive

-can't produce enough water to meet needs

How has desalinization capacity changed since 1960?

Pirates –

Which picture above shows a Somalian pirate who plague the Arabian Sea?

-Funded by terrorist groups-Somalia is poor – Taliban can infiltrate (extension of terrorism)-High jacking oil tankers

Languages of the Middle East

Who speaks Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew, and Farsi?

What do you call the Islamic fundamentalist group in

Afghanistan?

Moors- remember them? They were a mix of Berber and N. Africa Muslim people who invaded Spain

around 700?and ruled till 1492. Extra credit: show the cultural

diffusion evidence of this time in today’s world. Gotta look… you’re

on your own.