Exam 2: Southwest Asia & North Africa

Question 1

What does it mean to say that the term “Middle East” is Eurocentric?

Question 2

What is a culture hearth?

Answer 2

source area for a particular culture from which innovations and ideas spread

Question 2

What’s sectarian violence?

Answer 2

violence between different
sects of a particular ideology or religion

Question 3

What areas do the Maghreb and the Levant include, respectively?

Answer 3

• Maghreb region includes Mediterranean coastal
  areas of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and
  sometimes Egypt
• Levant area includes countries bordering the
  eastern Mediterranean; mountains are very close to
  the sea

Question 4

What is salinization?

Answer 4

buildup of toxic salts in soil

Question 5

Does the entire region consist of deserts?

Question 6

What was a major cause of deforestation in the region? What has this resulted in?

Answer 6

• mostly due to human activity
• resulted in serious erosion problems

Question 7

What are some anticipated impacts of climate change in the region?

Question 8

Why is the Fertile Crescent so important?

Question 9

What is physiological density?

Answer 9

a measurement of population that shows the number of people per unit of arable land in a region

Question 10

What’s nomadic pastoralism?

Answer 10

camels, sheep, and goats are moved seasonally to
take advantage of suitable conditions

Question 11

What kinds of ag. are typically found at oases?

Answer 11

support tree and cereal crops

Question 12

By what point had urbanization in Mesopotamia begun?

Answer 12

Urbanization in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) began by 3500 BCE

Question 13

Why are rates of natural increase so high?

Answer 13

high fertility rates

Question 13

How has the number of migrants changed over time? Why have so many foreign workers moved to the
Gulf?

Answer 13

grew from ~25 million to ~54 million!

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Question 14

What is the general structure of traditional Islamic cities?

Answer 14

a mosque in the center, surrounded by the market place and then the residential areas

Question 15

Where and when did Islam originate?

Answer 15

Mecca, 610

Question 16

What is the difference between Shiite and Sunni Muslims?

Answer 16

their contradicting beliefs on succession after the Prophet Muhammad died. Sunni leaders, called Caliphs, are elected through voting while Shiite leaders, or Imams, are direct descendants of Muhammad.

Question 17

What is the majority religion in all countries in the region besides Israel?

Answer 17

Muslim

Question 18

Why is Jerusalem significant for several religious groups?

Answer 18

• Jews pray at the old Western Wall
• Christians honor the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (burial site of Jesus)
• Muslims hold sacred rites in the eastern quarter
  (where Muhammad reputedly ascended to heaven)

Question 19

What was the Arab Spring? What was the major precipitating event? What were some underlying
sources of discontent? What role did social media play?

Answer 19

The Arab Spring was a series of pro-democracy
uprisings in countries such as Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, Libya, Egypt, & Bahrain

• Major precipitating event: self-immolation of a Tunisian street vendor
• Large youth populations were dissatisfied with
  governments due to human rights violations,
  corruption, economic decline, unemployment,
  & various other structural factors

Question 20

Did the Arab Spring ultimately change the region for better or for worse?

Answer 20

worse

Question 21

What are some major elements of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Answer 21

• In 1947 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution to partition Palestine into
  “independent Arab & Jewish states”
• Arabs immediately rejected this but in 1948 the modern state of Israel was founded
• Conflicts continue over who the land really belongs to as well as conditions for
  Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank & the Israeli construction of a security barrier

Question 22

What event has been creating instability in Syria for the past decade?

Answer 22

• In March 2011 pro-democracy protests were violently quashed by the
  Syrian government
• President Bashar al-Assad has bombed, gassed, and starved Syrians

Question 23

When did the Islamic State gain global prominence? What are their goals? How have they used social
media?

Answer 23

-2014
- Members consider themselves the only true believers of Islam & want to establish themselves as a caliphate
- used social media & apps like Telegram to recruit fighters from Western countries

Question 24

How does women’s role in society in many countries in this region differ from what we might be used to
in the West?

Answer 24

Women’s participation in the workforce is among the lowest in the world and
women tend to lead more private lives than men