GHS208-05 Fall 2019 China and the Islamic Middle East

Something that I find myself guilty of is seeing that there is a revolution in the Middle East and passing by the news as if it is nothing new. I dislike the fact that I have become immune to news of uprisings in the Middle East and I think this stems from a lack of understanding of what each group is fighting for. I decided to look up/create a timeline of the uprisings in Egypt after reading about the history of the uprisings in “No god but God”

I found this article that helped me understand the timeline of the 2011 events: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/01/201112515334871490.html

Furthermore, after Hosni Mubarak was removed from office, the military gained control of the country and was succeeded by Mohammed Morsi who created an extreme division in the country leading to his eventual removal from office. Ever since the Spring of 2011, Egypt has had a very tumultuous government with many changes. The instability of the Egyptian government plays a big role in the stability of the rest of the country. Tourism and revenue severely declined in 2011 and 2015-2017 due to the revolutions and uprisings in the country.

In the last reading from “No God but God” I found the information about the changes in Islam to be the most interesting. In the book, Reza Aslan mentions that the Muslim population is actually very young. “…nearly three-quarters of them (Muslims) are under the age of thirty-five. In some parts of the world, most recently in Iran, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, this ‘Muslim youth bulge” has created restive populations who are fed up with their lack of political and economic opportunities and who are willing to rise up against their governments to demand their rights and privileges” (pg. 289). One of the most debated topics in the world is the hijab. I decided to research what the younger population of Muslims thinks about the hijab and found that it is actually seen as a symbol of feminism.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/03/15/hijab-becomes-symbol-resistance-feminism-age-trump/98475212/

 

In this article, many young women share their opinions on the hijab and how it is seen as empowering especially in a society that forces the opinion that the hijab is oppressive and that all women have been forced to wear a hijab against their will. I think that this article brings up an interesting point that viewing the hijab as solely being forced on women by men is extremely sexist and outdated.

Here is one video that I really wanted to include in our website, but I didn’t because it did not fit in my blog post theme. I am also trying to figure out how to embed a link, so if this isn’t correct I’m sorry in advance Dr. McGrath! Just incase I put the link up above to make sure you can still have access to it! I hope it works!

the video for the recipe for orange chicken!

update: after numerous attempts, still haven’t gotten it

For an extra 2 hours I was able to write a reflection of my experience working with the IACA, this is what I submitted so I thought I would share it on here:

My name is Madeline Hooks and I are currently a junior at Butler University, I had the opportunity to work with the IACA this past semester for one of my history courses at Butler. I have never participated with a group off campus before because I’m from California, so I’m not very familiar with the area. With that being the case, when we were told who we were going to be working with, I had no idea what to expect! The only thing I knew was that people were going to tell us about the Asian American culture and how that has had an effect on them. What I didn’t expect was how many amazing people I was going to meet!

The first and time my classmates and I met Benny was when he took us to the Newfields museum to show us around and tell us about the Asian exhibits! It was like having a personal tour of the museum, Benny knew so much about all of the different art pieces. Other than learning about the art, we all got to learn a little about Benny and his life! I always enjoy learning about other people’s lives and the things that they have gone through, he was full of wisdom and advice! Although the museum was very fun, my absolute favorite aspect of working with the IACA was the International Festival!
When we were all told about the International Festival, none of us really had an idea what it was going to be! I for sure did not know what to expect, but when we all got there we were pleasantly surprised and shocked to see how many booths were there and all of the people there! In preparation for the International Festival we had the privilege of learning how to perform the lion dance! Benny has two lion costumes, so he brought them to campus to teach us so we could perform at the International Festival! When we were at the festival we were able to walk around in the parade with all of the other people from the booths! It was such a fun experience to go to the Cultural Festival and meet a bunch of new people! Working with the IACA also helped me and my classmates bond more! We would all spend time together at events and it was very fun to experience those new experiences together!

Overall I have been very happy with my experience working with the IACA! They are a great group of people that are very passionate about what they do, and they are very good at getting others involved and sharing their knowledge.

 

This should help you remember to stay healthy at exam time!

 

As this semester is rapidly coming to an end, and exam week just around the corner, I began to wonder what it would be like to go to school in a different country, and if they have exam weeks like we do here in America. I wanted to connect this thought to class so I researched education systems in the Middle East. I found that schools and universities are producing graduates, but there is still a high unemployment rate in the Middle East and Northern African (MENA) region. I found this website that compares unemployment rates in countries around the world if you want to check that out. 

The idea that the education system in the Middle East is behind is a common idea, but it has progressively gotten better, but other factors have contributed to the growing unemployment rates. Some other factors include bad management and bad economy. Education is not the only thing needed in the job market, people also need to gain professional training. According to a study done by a poll in February of 2015, Education and Innovation in the Middle East found that 73% of those polled felt that their country’s school system was stifling their creativity while 42% thought that the education system needs to adapt through innovation with the changing times. A study conducted in February of 2014, Millennials in the Middle East, found that Millennials believe that unemployment is a major issue and that only 38% said that their education has prepared them for the workplace completely. These statistics surprised me as I would not have thought as many people’s education backgrounds would not apply to their jobs. After reading all this, it made me realize that although all these final exams and projects may suck now, I will probably be able to find a job after college and that is the main goal. 

China is reported on the verge of banning the use of all foreign software and computers in government offices and public institutions. This could be a move which positions China to hurt US tech companies sales. Occurring at a critical moment in the ongoing US-China trade war.

A report by the Financial Times indicated that Beijing had ordered all hardware and software be removed within three years. This could potentially lead to over 30 million pieces of hardware having to replaced within China. The US and China have been going back and forth on the trade war for two years now. With each nation attempting to supersede the other in becoming and sustaining the crown as global tech champion.

The potential ban would hurt American based tech companies including HP, Dell, and Microsoft. The Financial Times report indicated that the Communist Party’s Central Office’s plan for the hardware replacement would occur in a “3-5-2” plan. Replacing 30% of the hardware in 2020, 50% in 2021, and the final 20% in 2022. While companies like Microsoft would be hurt, Chinese based tech companies such as Lenovo could see a huge boost.

If China follows through with the plan they’d have a difficult time building up a capable software replacement to Microsoft. For instance, this year the US cut off Huawei to all US tech. Meaning that Huawei’s cell phones could no longer run on the global smartphone standard Android. Android is a phone software system developed and owned by Google. Huawei has had a very difficult time developing their own proprietary smartphone software, as a consequence selling far fewer units and doing most of their smartphone business within Chinese borders now. Time will tell if China actually executes the plan but it certainly would certainly be a hindrance to their technological progression and future standing as a global tech champion.

 

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/09/tech/china-us-computers-software/index.html#

I am so thankful that I was placed at Nur-Allah for my Indianapolis Community Requirement. I was a little bit hesitant my first time going to the Mosque for the service. But, I was met with nothing but open-arms and kindness. Also, I am not the best with kids because I have never really been around younger children, but that all went okay too. Week after week I thoroughly enjoyed learning about a different culture, religion, and different people. I basically knew nothing about Islam before starting this volunteering here, but I can say that I have learned so much from the people at the mosque. I learned that Islam is a beautiful religion that is portrayed very wrongly at times. I enjoyed helping out in any way that I could at the Mosque, whether it was cleaning out the fridge, playing with the younger children, or organizing a cabinet. The people at the mosque have a lot to do with not a huge budget, so it was great to help in little ways. I am going to miss serving at the mosque dearly. The sisters and brothers that I met were truly some of the kindest, open-minded, and great people that I have ever met. I can’t wait to visit again next semester and see the kids and the sisters. I can not put into words how impactful this service experience was and I am so thankful that I got to do it.

On Sunday, December 8th, Anna, Lauren, and I volunteered at the Nur-Allah Mosque for the last time. On this day of service, we arrived and then wrote the mosque basically a “Thank You” letter and we talked about everything that we learned and our experience working at the mosque. After that, we all made a fun, educational worksheet for the kids to use in the future that we made so that kids can always be learning from us even though we are not there. After we did this, we sat with the class while they were dissecting some Surahs from the Qur’an. The teacher was helping the students speak in Arabic and translate the Surah into English. After using a Qur’an written in Arabic for a while, they switched over to the English Qur’an in which they just talked about different Surahs. After Islam class, the french teacher came in and they learned the French alphabet. The teacher went over some basic words in the french. I think it is really cool that the students are being taught French, Arabic, and English. the teacher was saying that next year they are going to start learning some Spanish too. After this, we played some games with the younger children and then helped out with making lunch. For lunch, we had some hot dogs with some cake to celebrate our last day. We then received some cards from the lovely people of the Mosque and then read the letters to the class. It was quite sad saying goodbye to the lovely people that we met there, but it was a great day of service.

Before the talk that Dr. McGrath gave about robots and religion I have never ever thought about there being a possibility of having robots as priests. When I think of robots I think of something that is metal, cold, and lifeless. I feel like it would be very hard to replace humans in many different jobs and I feel that religious ceremonies are one of those jobs. When someone goes and talks to a priest they usually want help or prayers for something, I feel like going to a robot makes the advice or prayers a lot less sincere. Having another person think and pray for you means that they are taking time and energy out of their busy day to try and help you, but asking a prayer robot for a prayer seems like it would mean much less, just because that is the job of that robot.
Another thing that could pose an issue with robots in religion could be advice, how are robots going to know what to tell people when they ask for advice if they haven’t experienced what that person is going through. I guess if the robot could have access to google it could give some examples, but if that is the case then people should just google things and cut out the middle man of the robot. Even when a human priest doesn’t know what type of advice to give, they most probably know someone who has gone through the same issue you have and they can put you in contact with someone who can help.
I brought my boyfriend Logan to the talk, because it sounded interesting and for the extra credit! He told me he thought it was a weird idea to have robots in churches and possibly could be seen as insincere. Neither of us have heard of anything like this before and it was an interesting thing to think of! Maybe in the future there will be flying cars and robot priests!