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What do we know?

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  Hey hey! Get ready for my last blog post!!  The question today is (summarized): what is the most important for outsiders to understand about the international politics of MENA?    To start my response to this question, I want to go back to the first few class sessions that we had. I remember the first or second day of class, my professor had us discuss what ideas we, as a class, had about the Middle East. Before instructing any sort of factual lesson, we spent time discussing the stereotypes and implicit bias we had about the MENA region. He had us question what the popular media coverage was like and what information we had been fed by the media and our own cultures in general. The professor literally started at the beginning, the course name: International Politics of the Middle East. What do we mean by ‘international politics’? What sorts of preconceived ideas might come with IR labels? What does the ‘Middle East’ even mean? Where does that name come from?  One variation of a map
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2003 US-led Invasion of Iraq: The What, The Why, and the After

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  One of the United States’ favorite pastimes is getting involved. In the simplest– and most colloquial wording possible- it makes everyone else’s problems its own. Often, non-consensually.  In order to dive into the effects on regional politics of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, we must first glaze over the relevant history.  The Build-Up In August 1990 Iraq invaded its neighboring country Kuwait, in a quest for more oil-producing land and therefore more power. At this time Iraq was a regional power, which is arguably attributed to its highly-motivated dictator, Saddam Hussein. Hussein came into power in 1979, shortly before the Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988, in which neither side truly won.  The global response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait was unprecedented. The UN Security Council declared Iraq’s invasion a violation of international law, and global powers– even Iraq’s allies– came together to oppose its control of Kuwait.  From the tragedy of the terrorist attacks on Septemb
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Water Diary

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 Water is a fundamental need of humans. But not everyone has access to safe and clean water for consumption. People use water through direct intake, but also through a variety of ways of consumption that might not immediately come to mind. This could include the water for personal hygiene, maintaining an outdoor space, and water that is put into growing food or other agricultural purposes. Though people use varying amounts of water in their daily life, many with a high consumption- including myself- have the privilege of not being aware of how great their water footprint truly is.  What is my water footprint?  A few days ago I spent the day tracking my water consumption by noting my food intake, water intake, water for washing, transportation, etc. I was not surprised by just documenting these consumptions. In general, I try to be pretty aware of the effect that my consumption has on the environment. (I also grew up very aware of how long my showers were, as my family has a very small
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The 'others' in our communities

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As I discussed last week, I grew up in the Southside of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minneapolis is a diverse city, but as is often the case, people with shared identities live in certain areas with their community. This is both an effect of self-selection, as well as property expenses dividing socioeconomic groups- and the legacy of redlining in the city.   I grew up on the border of the Powderhorn and Phillips neighborhoods in Minneapolis. My neighborhood is made up of primarily middle and working-class households. There are a large number of immigrants and first and second generation immigrants from South and Central America, as well as Eastern Africa, specifically Somali. Minneapolis actually has one of the highest populations of people of Somali descent outside of Eastern Africa, and the highest population of Somali-Americans in the US is in the Southside of Minneapolis.   Often when people immigrate to a new country they face the issue of ‘othering’, and they are treated as outsiders
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Where I live; where they live

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 Welcome to my blog!  What is home to me?  I was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minnesota is called "The Land of Ten Thousand Lakes", but there are actually more like 15,000 lakes in the state! There are several lakes in the city of Minneapolis as well, so for me home feels like a mix of city and nature.  Bde Maka Ska (formerly Lake Calhoun) translates to "White Earth Lake", which is the original Dakota name for the lake The Mississippi River also starts in northern Minnesota and runs right through downtown Minneapolis.  Downtown Minneapolis and the Mississippi The Mingle  As part of our virtual exchange with university students in Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, I got to know a few people well! I was in a group discussion with a student in Sharjah, as well as another student in the US. When we discussed our homes, my exchange partner said that although he goes to school in Sharjah, he grew up in Dubai. I have very briefly been to Dubai, so we ta
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