1) What did you learn from the “Arab and Other Middle Eastern Americans” article? Be specific and provide examples from the reading.
Arab-speaking immigrants arrived in the United States in three waves: the first, primarily Christian peasants seeking economic opportunity between 1890 and 1920; the second, after World War II and the establishment of Israel; and the third, beginning in 1965, included a significant Muslim population and highly educated individuals, constituting a ‘brain drain’ from various Arab countries. Following the Iranian Revolution, a heterogeneous community of 463,600 to 1 million Iranian immigrants arrived in the United States. Due to historical circumstances, Armenian and Turkish immigrants also arrived. Following significant occurrences and clashes involving Middle Eastern nations, these groups have experienced misconceptions, prejudice, and violence. Discrimination against Arab and Middle Eastern Americans has risen in recent years, exacerbated by the Trump administration, but there has also been an increase in political engagement, as seen by the election of individuals such as Rashida Tlaib to Congress.
2) Discuss something you learned and/ or can relate to from 1-2 of this week’s videos.
I think something I learned is how racist the community and people are to Arabs because of one event and I can relate to this heavily because of the fact that covid happened and every Asian started to receive backlash for “being the cause” of covid-19
3) Discuss the article on “Literacy Reform in the Middle East.” Provide examples from the reading.
The Bush administration has submitted a new draft of its Greater Middle East Initiative, a plan aimed at fostering political, economic, and social changes in the Arab and Muslim worlds, during the last two weeks. The latest document, which is narrower in scope than an earlier one leaked to an Arabic publication, focuses on five primary goals, one of which is to establish a literacy corps. Because of the poor literacy rates in many Arab nations, particularly among women, the necessity for literacy initiatives is underlined. According to the statistics, illiteracy is a big concern in some of the largest and poorest Arab countries, influencing sectors such as health, poverty, and political openness. Literacy improvement can result in a more educated and politically informed populace, improved public health, and enhanced economic production. The emphasis on a literacy corps in the Greater Middle East Initiative represents a substantively beneficial and politically acceptable option for US participation, matched with European programs and Arab government aspirations.
4) Share your source on this topic–let us know what it is, why you selected it, and why it matters.
https://www.dvv-international.de/en/adult-education-and-development/editions/aed-662006/education-for-all-and-literacy/illiteracy-in-the-arab-world
I chose this source because it talks about the development of education and how it affected middle eastern societies in terms of growth rates, and other statistics. The reason it matters is because instead of showing just present and past in terms of just based wording there’s evidence to back it up this time
