Podcast 6, Reflections on the Role of American Universities in the Middle East 21 February, 2012 Alisa Rubin Peled, Phil Frayne
Podcast 6, Reflections on the Role of American Universities in the Middle East 21 February, 2012 Alisa Rubin Peled, Phil Frayne
Podcast 6, Reflections on the Role of American Universities in the Middle East 21 February, 2012 Alisa Rubin Peled, Phil Frayne
Audio recording from “Shisha Cafes of Egypt”
Audio recording from “Shisha Cafes of Egypt”
Audio recording from “Shisha Cafes of Egypt”
Audio recording from “Shisha Cafes of Egypt”
The Arab Spring: Implications for US Policy and Interests
Environmental Challenges for the Countries of the GCC
More than in any other world region, the Arab Gulf states are experiencing a “higher education boom” in terms of the quantity and quality of institutions and programs now available. Over the past two decades, the Gulf states have imported a Western, largely American, model of higher education to address inefficiencies in labor markets and invest in their economic futures, to meet national reform agendas, and in some cases, to function as profit-making ventures.
Education reform is essential for the continued social and educational development of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).[1] The country has grown considerably over the past decade, and opportunities for business and professional opportunities have expanded. Educational development has been deemed necessary for the citizens of the country to take advantage of such opportunities.
Since the very inception of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1972, education has been viewed as a primary tool for building a knowledge-age economy for this young desert nation.
The Middle East Institute is proud to host MEI scholar Andrea Rugh for a discussion about Middle Eastern culture and her most recent book, Simple Gestures: A Cultural Journey Into the Middle East. Since US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, the importance of culture has become all too clear. Yet, although most scholars agree on its importance, few address culture in ways that provide better understanding to audiences who might benefit, such as policy makers, the media and the American public.
“In some areas of the Gulf, you can’t tell whether you are in an Arab Muslim country or in an Asian district.”
— Majeed al-Alawi, Bahrain Minister of Labor (October 2007)
Over the past decade, migration to the wealthy states of the Arabian Peninsula has emerged as an increasingly central facet of scholarly attention to the region. This attention has resulted in the exponential expansion of our collective knowledge, and the near future promises even more nuanced and microcosmic analyses as recent and current fieldwork in the region bears fruit. Nevertheless, there has been little discussion of the “labor camps” in which many of the unskilled migrants dwell during their sojourn in the Gulf states.