Students Homepage

In this section, you will find materials from each chapter, including summaries; links to online multimedia, including photographs and occasionally music or films referenced in the text; discussion questions; online references for further reading; and quizzes. Pay especially close attention to the online references, as they are continually updated as we scan for new, promising resources and remove obsolete ones.

Chapter 1: Bringing Society Back In

Author: Sean Yom

This chapter argues for the importance of studying social life and societies within the MENA. Tracing the historical development and political institutions of the region, it shows that while governments and elites are important in understanding the behavior of modern states at the systemic level, we still need to know more about how social routines, cultural dynamics, and organized interactions occur below the level of regimes – within the realm of ordinary people and communities that populate these societies. It reviews the problems of the MENA’s representation in popular media, among them the hyperbolic emphasis on politics and the ugly shadow of Orientalism, before discussing why three master categories of analysis should guide research onto social life: societal structures, societal vulnerabilities, and societal forces. In essence, these tell us the constraints that prevent change, the human dangers of ignoring them, and individual actors and groups that can spearhead progress. By attending to these factors, we can gain a stronger grasp about the future trajectory of communities across the region.

Chapter 2: Social Life, From Rural to Urban

Authors: Rachel Bahn, Tariq Tell, and Rami Zurayk

This chapter explores the social routines of MENA residents from farm to town, village to city. Emphasizing the rural origins of most societies, including tribal and agrarian communities that are too often ignored in conventional analysis, the authors highlight the cultural and economic shifts made through urbanization and industrialization. The unprecedented growth of new urban centers like metropolitan cities has been transformative, but it has also greatly impacted patterns of rural productivity, food security, and migration (both voluntary and forced, as in refugees) in ways that have changed entire societies. The refugee picture is the symbolic, if tragic, encapsulation of the argument: the movement of peoples through perceived boundaries, whether from rural to urban areas or across national borders fleeing gruesome violence, reflects how fast-moving exigencies have outstripped the economic and social underpinnings of their communities.

Chapter 3: Social Mobilization and Civil Society

Author: Vincent Durac

This chapter studies social mobilization and civil society. It reviews how citizens in the MENA have struggled to alter the rules and constraints governing their societies through resistance, participation, and organization. It shows the traditions of collective action and even revolutionary power that harken back to the eras of Ottoman and Western imperialism, and then traces the rise of civil society – meaning the associational life between governments, economies, and homes and which comprise all the unique organizations, clubs, and movements that characterize what people often do when not studying, working, eating, and sleeping. From the post-colonial period to the current epoch, and through various impediments such as political repression and ideological competition, the analysis underscores the capacity of everyday people to become meaningful actors in voicing their interests and fighting for change.

Chapter 4: Identity, Its Power and Pull

Author: P.R. Kumaraswamy

This chapter unpacks the concept of identity to ascertain how individuals and groups perceive themselves in the first place within different arenas of societal contestation. It problematizes the definition of identity, including what identity as a variable is supposed to explain. It further highlights how different identities, each carrying historical and emotional baggage, are not always expressed uniformly, and in fact can be malleable and sometimes instrumentalized. Given the sheer number of different identity categories – tribalism, religion, ethnonationalism, refugees, expatriates, youth, and women – the analysis explores how claims made on basis of identity, such as assertions of authority or demands for resources, can produce divergent results; sometimes clashes and conflicts erupt, whereas in other contexts identity contestation fades into the background. In sum, the region contains a multiplicity of collective affiliations that orients how individuals and groups locate themselves versus others.

Chapter 5: Economic Development—Bread, Jobs, and Beyond

Authors: Bessma Momani and Morgan MacInnes

This chapter discusses the arc of economic development in the region, a topic that links policymaking at the level of government with long-term social and human impacts felt across entire populations.  Starting from the post-World War Two years, the authors discuss the predominant state-led model of industrialization and modernization, which for a brief period of time generated rapid growth and prosperity for many countries. Yet the exhaustion of this costly model, including even the wealthy oil exporters, injected relative deprivation and shocks to many populations. The consequence has been dire, though diffuse across the region. While governments enacted neoliberal reforms and market-oriented adjustments to their official economic policies, societies were forced to adjust to new privations; in the Arab world, and to a lesser degree Turkey and Iran, this has meant stubborn unemployment and rising living costs. Such struggles by the average citizen to put bread on tables and money in pockets makes the 2011–2012 Arab Spring all the more understandable.

Chapter 6: Social and Cultural Legacies of Rentierism

Author: Hae Won Jeong

This chapter traces the social and cultural effects of rentierism. The MENA possesses the world’s largest reserves of oil and natural gas, and their exploitation since the early twentieth century has not only transformed financial and political institutions but also influenced the social fabric of entire populations as well. Oil wealth generated a complex, interdependent web of social changes that go beyond instant riches. Oil and gas exporters in the Arabian Gulf kingdoms attracted millions of foreign workers who now surpass the citizenry in demographic terms. MENA societies that sent their labor to work in those economies received back their financial remittances; others reaped foreign aid and support. Yet hydrocarbon dependence also distorted notions of citizenship, pushed hyperbolic urban growth, and wasted human capital: in essence, natural resources were not just a harbinger of riches but also a commodifier of social relations. Though likely irreversible, recognizing these effects across multiple generations may enable us to extract positive externalities as well.

Chapter 7: Environmental Change and Human Conflict

Author: Mohamed Behnassi

This chapter uncovers societal vulnerability through the lenses of environmental change and human conflict. By seeing human security as freedom not just from violence – although that itself is elusive, given the prevalence of wars in the MENA – but also fear, hunger, and other forms of deprivation, we can appreciate why climate change and ecological degradation is so relevant to entire societies. The region’s aridity means that most populations suffer water scarcity; potential environmental impacts of rising temperatures, increased drought, and lower rainfall puts extreme stress on the food supply and public health. Climate change, hence, represents an existential threat to human security in the Middle East, not least because it also raises the propensity for conflict. In the end, unless regional communities adapt to systemic worsening of land, air, and water resources, future prosperity (and perhaps even survival) will be an assumption needing qualification.

Chapter 8: Religion and Faith

Author: Ramazan Kılınç

This chapter surveys the panorama of religious communities in the MENA, a Muslim-majority region but with Jewish-majority Israel and smaller Christian and non-Abrahamic minorities dispersed throughout. It weighs how religiosity prefigures public attitudes and preferences on social and political issues. It also highlights the mobilizational capacity of Islam, manifest in both efforts to suppress religious movements in the past and the contemporary rise of Islamist movements that range from peaceful service providers to extremist organizations whose violence escapes convenient explanation. Case studies of Egypt, Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia reveal that different Muslim-majority populations have settled upon divergent frameworks of expressing and protecting their creeds and institutions; such diversity is integral to understanding the texture of social life.

Chapter 9: Women and Gender

Author: Lindsay J. Benstead

This chapter scrutinizes the changing roles of women and gender roles in the MENA, and particularly in the Arab world. It sketches not only how gender relations have been inflected by religion, politics, and colonialism since the early twentieth century, but also the multitude of ways that women in different societies have articulated their autonomy in spheres of work, education, and home life. More assertive expressions of women’s rights have increased over the past two decades through mechanisms such as civil society activism, legislative representation, changing legal codes, and uprisings like the Arab Spring, but indigenous women’s rights movements have existed since colonial times. The chapter also examines state feminism, which has been mobilized for both authoritarian and democratic ends, as well as Islamic feminism, which seeks to advance women’s rights by drawing on understandings of egalitarian practices in early Islam. The discussion finally touches on sexual orientation, in particular how new voices are questioning the historical treatment of queerness while also interrogating the changing nature of sexuality for cultural discourse.

Chapter 10: The Youth Generation – Education and Transition

Author: Sean Yom

This chapter investigates the social, economic, and cultural implications of what we call the demographic youth bulge. Most MENA societies are extremely young in terms of age distribution. The current youth generation is the most well educated in regional history, and among the most mobilized; the Arab Spring is but a recent example. Yet while young citizens in the Arab world plus Israel, Turkey, and Iran are agents of change, they also are overcoming bottlenecks that stifle their capacity to transform their societies. Among them are failing educational systems, chronic youth joblessness, and political marginalization. In sum, there is dire mismatch between what teenagers and young adults want (dignity, voice, participation) versus what is made available by older authorities in their communities and governments. However, youths also share a collective generational experience defined by disconnect from the past, technological interconnectivity, and cultural synergy through art and music. Their movement through public space challenges societal constraints and will continue to define the regional dynamic.

Chapter 1

Song: Tunisian singer Emel Mathouthi’s “Kelmti Horra” (2011) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ79iEfus8E)

Bonaparte before the Sphinx (1868), by Jean-Léon Gérôme

Source: Public domain

(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jean-L%C3%A9on_G%C3%A9r%C3%B4me_003.jpg)

Discussion Questions

  • What are the most notable problems in how the MENA region seems to be portrayed to foreign audiences through the news media, entertain industry, and other venues of representation?
  • What is Orientalism, and why is it so pervasive despite being identified as a problematic legacy?
  • What are the three sub-regions of the MENA, and what basic traits and features would each cluster of countries be expected to share in common?
  • What is the relative distribution of democracy versus authoritarianism in the region today, and what might be reasons for this?
  • What were the major imperial actors and forces that shaped the evolution of states and societies prior to the mid-twentieth century?
  • After World War Two, how did independence come to the region?
  • All things being equal, what is the payoff of scrutinizing social life and societal dynamics as opposed to topics like politics, diplomacy, and foreign policy?
  • Can tracing the historical origins and development of national societies help explain or predict their future trajectories in the Middle East? How might we test this projection?

Online Resources

For updated reference information, including basic data on populations, economics, and politics, see the CIA World Factbook (www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook).

The best regional sources for in-depth news coverage include the following. Each does incubate some bias, like all media; so the best strategy is to triangulate the analysis and information received about a particular event or story across all sources, and see where the middle ground lays.

Western journalistic outlets with regional bureaus also excel but should be treated with the same degree of caution:

Beyond the news cycle, the best in-depth coverage of social affairs, cultural issues, and popular debates in the region are found in a small but reliable group of dedicated research portals. These include:

Chapter 2

Camels and desert in Wadi Rum, Jordan, 2016

Source: Public domain

(https://pixabay.com/en/camel-wadi-rum-desert-travel-1120371/)

Bedouin herding small sheep flock, 2010

Source: Public domain

(https://pixabay.com/en/desert-bedouin-goat-mammal-249143/)

Small farm in Aswan, Egypt, 2012

Source: iStock

(www.istockphoto.com/photo/villages-near-aswan-in-egypt-gm564573992-99005299)

Cairo slum, high view, 2014

Source: iStock

(www.istockphoto.com/photo/cairo-dirt-and-garbage-gm492599825-40231544)

Discussion Questions

  • How have geography and environmental factors shaped the nature of agriculture as both a lifestyle and economic livelihood as a productive activity in the Middle East?
  • How have political and economic forces, including conflict, changed the agriculture sector as a mode of production across the MENA over the past half-century?
  • How do rural and urban areas diverge in terms of living conditions, population movement, employment trends, and social life? Could anything reverse the demographic shift from rural to urban communities?
  • What does the Mashriq, as a particular sub-region of the MENA, tell us about how external factors can influence the rise and fall of rural communities?
  • What variables shape the attainment of food security in the modern world?
  • How have urbanization and food insecurity gone hand-in-hand for many MENA societies?
  • What, if anything, can governments do to reverse food insecurity and make access to nutritious diets more sustainable for their people?
  • What major events and trends have determined the MENA’s experience with international migration, including voluntary and involuntary forms?

Online Resources

All the data cited in this chapter can be found online, and comprise a useful foundation for further research.  Consider, for example, these sources for annual social and economic indicators about everything from agriculture, unemployment, and migration to poverty, populational trends, and living standards.

Chapter 3

Street march against Egyptian government, 2012

Source: Photo by elhamalawy is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

(www.flickr.com/photos/elhamalawy/8244384675)

Human Rights Watch holding press conference, Egypt, 2008

Source: Photo by elhamalawy is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

(www.flickr.com/photos/elhamalawy/3025162116)

Handicraft workshop for Egyptian youth, 2011

Source: Photo by maltman23is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

(www.flickr.com/photos/maltman23/6223965879)

Discussion Questions

  • What were the primary goals of social mobilization during the Ottoman and European periods of imperialism?
  • How did workers and wage-earners manage to find success in demanding economic rights early on, given their very weak material and financial position?
  • What specific obstacles have women’s rights groups faced in advocating for gender equality over time?
  • Why did so many authoritarian rulers see this legacy of social mobilization, and the potentiality of civil society, as threats during the 1950s and 1960s?
  • How were social forces and civic actors co-opted, absorbed, and otherwise neutralized by nervous governments during the Cold War?
  • In the post-Cold War years, what types of civil society organizations emerged during political liberalization in the Arab world?
  • Is international support, including foreign funding, a viable mechanism to empower citizens to resist authority or fight for their interests?
  • What might the future of civil society in the Middle East look like, as the Arab Spring fades into the historical background?

Online Resources

Online research on social mobilization and civil society in the MENA vary in quality. While there are many essays and articles about these topics, truly digging deep to learn more about these entities from the inside is often difficult since not all popular movements, grass-roots campaigns, and civic organizations have made their homes online. Often, a simple Google search or random forays into social media like Facebook or Twitter in a country can reveal the kinds of new activism or societal congregations forming around the latest issues. 

Still, there are useful indices and global guides that will inform the overall landscape of civic mobilization and what groups are willing to maintain an online presence, such as:

 

Also, for more specific information about civil society organizations and social movements in the MENA region, consider these handy references

Chapter 4

Kurdish flag as used in Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Source: iStock

Online: www.istockphoto.com/photo/kurdish-flag-gm116380692-5199914

Discussion Questions

  • How should we define identity?
  • From where does identity originate, and how do different identities form over time?
  • What is the homogenizing tendency we witness historically, and how has it been challenged by diversity and pluralism latent in MENA societies?
  • How can multiple and overlapping identities exist – must individuals and groups always prioritize a single enduring self-conception?
  • In the modern MENA region today, what are the primary categories and sources of identity for individuals and groups?
  • What types of relationships, institutions, and policies might allow mutually exclusive identities to coexist with one another peacefully?
  • Why have so many MENA states been reluctant to accept, admit, and accommodate minorities that desire cultural or linguistic recognition?
  • When does identity cause conflict? Are there predictors and signs worth remembering?

Online Resources

The nature of identity makes online research somewhat difficult: many thick articles and scholarly essays can be found through databases such as JSTOR, but in terms of concrete data, the pickings are slim because a great deal of this research is qualitative – requiring careful historical understanding, field-based immersion through personal interactions, and patient observation over time.

However, there are still a few places online where one can glean understanding about the ways that residents in the MENA ascertain their different identities.  Consider these polls and surveys, for instance:

Furthermore, a dizzyingly exhaustive reference online for all types of identity-oriented scholarship is SAGE’s Encyclopedia of Identity. A quantitative source of data can be located in the Ethnic Power Relations Dataset, which provides several statistical and geospatial models of measuring ethnic groups (as an identity category) across the world, including the MENA.

Chapter 5

Bread carrier in downtown Cairo, 2007

Source: Photo by paulk is licensed under CC BY 2.0

(www.flickr.com/photos/paulk/3167762218)

Discussion Questions

  • What was the statist model of economic development, and how did in manifest in the MENA region starting in the 1950s?
  • What caused the exhaustion of statist development, and how did both governments and societies react to economic crisis from the mid-1980s onwards?
  • At the same time, why did certain other developing countries in the world, such as the Asian Tigers, begin to outperform the MENA and achieve industrialized success?
  • Why is non-inclusive economic growth so devastating to populations with large youth generations?
  • How does a large informal sector help or hurt an overall economy?
  • Why would relative deprivation related to economic underachievement have political consequences?
  • What are various categories of economic outcomes we see in the MENA region today, and what makes each distinctive?
  • Would it be advisable for the region’s economies (and thus social groups as well) to pursue outside advice given by global actors, such as the IMF and World Bank?

Online Resources

There is a colossal trove of economic information on the MENA online.  The best quantitative sources on virtually any indicator – GDP, per capita incomes, living standards, budgetary expenditures, cost of living, unemployment rates, national debt, and so forth – can be found among these three data portals:

                                                                                                                     

Beyond quantitative data, there are excellent periodicals and analytical series that track regional economic developments.  Many feature rich and readable articles highlighting the latest trends or covering important crises.  Among them are:

Chapter 6

Dubai skyline, 2016

Source: iStock

(www.istockphoto.com/photo/spectacular-skyline-of-dubai-uae-futuristic-modern-architecture-of-a-big-city-at-gm669045142–122234777)

Gulf traditional male garb in Kuwait, 2010

Source: Photo by @N04 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

(www.flickr.com/photos/92278137@N04/9783079684)

Gulf traditional female garb in UAE, 2015

Source: Photo by @ frosch50 is licensed under CC BY 2.0

(www.flickr.com/photos/frosch50/23811041572)

South Asian construction workers in Dubai, 2010

Source: Photo by @ rufuskahler is licensed under CC BY 2.0

(www.flickr.com/photos/rufuskahler/4266165065)

Discussion Questions

  • What are the basic tenets of rentier state theory (RST), and to what extent have these assumptions been challenged over time?
  • How does the rentier social contract differ from the traditional relationship between democratic representatives and national societies?
  • How are strategic rents different from energy rents?
  • What are the negative externalities of urbanization, particularly those seen in rentier societies?
  • At the cultural level, how has rentierism affected the construction of citizenship and the meaning of national belonging outside the Arabian Gulf?
  • Within the Arabian Gulf kingdoms, why is citizenship often exclusionary and protected in relation to foreign workers?
  • Are strategies to improve human capital and educational quality in the core rentier states of the Arabian Gulf effective?
  • Is there any escape from rentier legacies, or do these countries simply wait until the oil and gas run out?

Online Resources

Online portals, many maintained by multilateral institutions and intergovernmental organizations, provide crucial data and insights into the issues discussed here.  For web-based research, it is recommended you start with these excellent periodicals that focus mainly on energy trends (including oil and gas prices and consumption), as well as news and events from the Arabian Gulf rentier kingdoms:

 

In addition, the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies presents a wealth of studies and findings regarding the social and political implications of rentier dependence in the MENA today. The World Bank’s MENA Development Reports – nearly two dozen of them – also cover many of these issues. The United Nations Development Programme also maintains an exhaustive battery of quantitative indices on human development, gender development, and inequality on its data portal.  which can be useful in charting out the impact of rents on societal well-being. Within the Gulf, the Gulf Research Center’s Gulf Labour Markets, Migration, and Population (GLMMP) Programme provides good snapshots of key migration and demographic trends for each GCC state. Finally, a global entryway onto research into migrant and remittance flows is the Migration Data Portal.

Chapter 7

Power and desalination station in UAE, 2012

Source: iStock

(www.istockphoto.com/photo/power-and-desalination-station-gm144348087-4211245)

Qatar Climate Change March at UN Conference, 2012

Source: Photo by Adopt A Negotiator is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

(www.flickr.com/photos/adoptanegotiator/8234818066)

Desertified and abandoned cultivation in Morocco, 2014

Source: Public domain

(https://pixabay.com/en/donkey-desert-morocco-animal-272070/)

Discussion Questions

  • What is human security, and how is environmental security an intricate component of this concept?
  • How does human security differ from past conceptions of “hard” security?
  • What is the record of militarized conflicts in the MENA region?
  • How does climate change increase the risk of human conflict, in terms of causing more political unrest and social violence?
  • How have geography and geology affected the availability of freshwater for most MENA countries?
  • What are the projected impacts of climate change, in social and economic terms, for different types of human communities?
  • Will we see more variants of environmental activism in the future from MENA civil societies, or does this represent a contemporary trend that will not last?
  • Why has collective action needed for regional adaptation to climate change proven so elusive for most MENA countries?

Online Resources

Sizable research materials can be found online for the study of MENA environmentalism, climate change, and adaptation. To start, consider these websites and databases, which provide statistical or spatial data regarding the key indicators discussed in this chapter, such as water resources and temperature changes over time.

In addition, on the side of policy and action, Climate Action Tracker has country-specific information regarding the compliance of different states to global climate accords, such as the 2015 Paris Agreement.

There are also a number of regional blogs and websites dedicated to mobilizing more attention around environmental adaptation and conservation strategies. Examples include EcoMENA and Green Prophet, the latter of which provides news on all aspects of lifestyles – design, technology, food, architecture, and more – that are environmentally sustainable.

Chapter 8

Ka‘ba within sacred mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, 2014

Source: Public domain

(https://pixabay.com/en/kaaba-islam-the-pilgrim-s-guide-3635723/)

Beirut – St. Georges Maronite Cathedral next to Muhammad Al-Amin Mosque, 2009

Source: Photo by ordel is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

(www.flickr.com/photos/ordel/3642739700)

Inside Al-Azhar University of Cairo, Egypt, 2014

Source: Public domain

(https://pixabay.com/en/egypt-country-university-al-azhar-3574221/)

Discussion Questions

  • What are the core beliefs of Islam, and what are its primary internal divisions in terms of doctrines and sects?
  • How have non-Muslim minorities fared across the region in historical perspective?
  • Why do nation-states that draw upon religion for their political discourse, from Israel to Saudi Arabia, often struggle dealing with religious pluralism and diversity within their societies?
  • Why would the provision of social services make any religious movement more popular or relevant to society? What kinds of services matter to public audiences?
  • How is Islamism different from Islam? Why is this distinction important in social and political analyses?
  • What accounts for the rise of radical Islamist groups that employ violence in pursuit of their goals?
  • Juxtapose Turkey with its secular heritage with Iran and its post-revolutionary theocratic trajectory. Why does the former feature Islamists aiming to recapture public spaces from secularism, while the latter is the inverse – state-mandated religious spaces losing the commitments of disenchanted citizens?
  • Now, compare Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Both are Sunni Muslim-majority countries, and yet both have very different doctrines of Islamic orientation in their cultural and social life. What accounts for this divergence?

Online Resources

The online world of research has been slow to accommodate the study of religion and religiosity.  Unlike other aspects of MENA populations and countries, such as economic development, this aspect of social life is not easily quantified or indexed.  However, the following provides a basic foundation for more reading.

There are many Oxford Research Encyclopedia volumes on various religions, including those invoked here (Islam, Christianity, Judaism, among others).  The US Department of State’s annual International Religious Freedom Reports provide rich data on state policies toward religions around the world, including the MENA.  The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life provides excellent overviews about religions worldwide, including the MENA.  The Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project likewise offers systematic information on religious demography and projections in the region.

The two surveys mentioned in this chapter are the World Values Survey, which offers information about religious attitudes in MENA states along with other countries, and the Arab Barometer, which presents a plethora of interesting data on religious values and preferences in the region since the mid-2000s. Finally, the Brookings Institution’s various reports on Islamist movements and groups are extremely insightful.

Chapter 9

Arab woman wearing abaya and niqab

Source: Author

Moroccan woman wearing loose scarf, 2016

Source: Photo by pcardo is licensed under CC BY 2.0

(www.flickr.com/photos/pcardo/33197647676)

Kuwaiti teenage girls with varying dress, 2011

Source: Photo by q80_outsider is licensed under CC BY 2.0

(www.flickr.com/photos/q80_outsider/5957374501)

Films

Discussion Questions

  • Why do Arab and Muslim women wear different styles of clothing, and what misunderstandings do people outside the region have about women’s dress, including the hijab?
  • What is the gender gap as it manifests in different areas of social, cultural, and economic life?
  • What is the private sphere as it relates to female autonomy, and how do we measure it?
  • What is the public sphere as it pertains to women’s rights, and is it more or less important than the private sphere?
  • How can we devise a good measurement of gender equality, one that can treat all countries equally and objectively?
  • What is patriarchy? Discuss some examples from the MENA and other regions.
  • What are the main theoretical explanations for the lagging status of women in terms of economic and social opportunity in the MENA region? Which do you find compelling, and why?
  • Do you believe that the MENA region will improve its record on women’s rights? What are the obstacles, whether internal or external to the region, that perpetuate or even widen gender gaps?

Online Resources

Numerous organizations maintain programs and clearinghouses for data related to women’s rights and gender equality, including many mentioned in this chapter.  Consider, as a start, these portals and websites:

And, like several other chapters, plenty of information about popular attitudes and personal preferences regarding women, gender, and sex can be found in the most widely used public surveys in the MENA:

Chapter 10

Youth march to retake Tahrir Square, Egypt, 2011

Source: Photo by elhamalawy is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

(www.flickr.com/photos/elhamalawy/6297245605)

Fans from the Kuwait Rock Army, 2011

Source: Photo by q80_outsider is licensed under CC BY 2.0

(www.flickr.com/photos/q80_outsider/5957948136)

Tunisian singer Emel Mathlouthi, 2014

Source: Photo by mikecogh is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

(www.flickr.com/photos/mikecogh/13281350325)

Songs

Discussion Questions

  • The MENA’s youth bulge includes not just current teenagers and young adults, but today’s children. What will happen when they come of age?
  • Can belonging to the same generation alone, regardless of religious, national, linguistic, or ethnic differences, provide the basis for enduring social and political identity?
  • What concrete policies can help improve the quality of MENA education in ways that will make school graduates more skillful and knowledgeable?
  • How can today’s youths, too often the products of deficient schooling systems, be trained or retaught to better match what their national and regional job markets demand?
  • What steps can be taken to dissuade many youths from treating the public sector, including government work, as the most attractive work option after college?
  • What major cultural trends, historical understandings, and consumptive factors make today’s youths different from their parents and elders?
  • Are there similarities in the artistic, musical, culinary, and other aesthetic tastes we see among young people in the MENA today?
  • If social media and instant connectivity enable young people to mobilize and communicate without constraint, does this mean revolution is inevitable?

Online Resources

The online world is a paradoxical domain for those looking for information about youth views, politics, and emotions in the MENA. Youths are connected more than ever, especially through social media. Yet, there are relatively few aggregators and directories that can fully capture the regional scope of this. On Instagram or Twitter, for instance, simply following a hashtag (e.g., #amman or #jordan for those interested in the Hashemite Kingdom) can uncover a labyrinthian trove of people, images, posts, and activities from young people.

Still, there are some formal online resources, such as the following:

There are also many youth-oriented surveys in the MENA that highlight problems and opportunities for the region’s youth cohorts.  The ones used in this chapter are: