Final Response

Overall, I feel like I've taken away a good bit of knowledge from this class. I've improved my understanding of the MENA region and how social movements can occur. This class has also reaffirmed my plans to one day work in the Middle East as a human rights actor. I had honestly never heard of civil society before this class, so that's one topic of which I definitely amassed a lot of information. I found our discussions interesting, but often felt less informed that some others in the class. I came into the course with very little knowledge of the area, including names of groups and political leaders, so I was often confused in the beginning of the course. I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary we just watched about the steps a country can take to bring down a dictatorship- I felt like it was a culmination of everything we've learned in class. Some of the main things I've learned from this course are about how small groups can amass into an effective grassroots organizations, how Orientalist discourses can skew Middle Eastern-US perceptions, and quite a lot about Saudi Arabia. I thought the country brief projects were useful, particularly when working on the final presentation, and helped apply the concepts we were learning in class. I'm glad I took this class, and I hope to continue learning about the MENA region with my newly crafted lens of which to view it.

Final Reflection

Although I did think the material for this class was a bit confusing at the beginning of the semester, I have found by the end that I do have a better understanding of non-violent social movements in the MENA region. You never really stop and think about the mechanics and planning behind the revolutions in Tunisia, Iran, Serbia, and Egypt. The media does a good job of portraying these types of movements as sudden, yet successful ones, when careful planning is actually used and carried out for months. I found it extremely interesting to see how similar ways in which to stage a non-violent social movement can be found throughout the world, and how much more successful it can be than using violence. Overall, this class was very interesting, and I enjoyed it greatly.