First Interview

Country report : Somalia.

Somalia, situated in the Horn of Africa, lies along the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. It is bounded by Djibouti in the northwest, Ethiopia in the west, and Kenya in the southwest. In area it is slightly smaller than Texas. Generally arid and barren, Somalia has two chief rivers, the Shebelle and the Juba.

How did I meet my interviewer?

He was my roommate and we lived together for 6 months. He is a really good friend and he was more than happy to help. 

 

Where and when did the interview happen?

            At Atwood on Oct. 21st, for some reasons I couldn't finish all questions the interview was finished on Oct. 25th. Everything went well I really had fun interviewing him. It wasn't hard to speak with him because I know him for a long time. 

 

Who is my interviewer?

            Farah, Mohammed

He moved to the states when he was 5 years old. His family moved to Minnesota when he was 12 and he has been in st cloud for 2 years now. He is majoring Information System. 

A: Abdullah (me)

B: Mohammed (interviewer)

1 How do you communicate with each other in your home country?

The official language in my country is Somali. But also due to the colonial powers that colonized my country we speak Italian in the south and English in the North. In addition a big number do speak Arabic which is as an influence of the Islam which is main religion in Somalia 

2 What is the clothing style for men and women? 

Clothing style range from modern to traditional styles 

Traditional ones are the macwiis, Go’ and khamiis. 

3 How are women and men treated differently? 

Men and women are treated equally.   

4 How has your experience here helped you interpret and respect cultural differences? 

Yes it has helped me a lot I also lived in some other countries and I found the values in our culture is the same as other cultures 

5 Do you enjoy speaking with other exchange students? 

Yes I do. Learning new culture is interesting 

6. How long have you been in the United States? 

I moved here when I was Five years old.

7.Have you been able to visit any other parts of the United States? 

Yes I have visited and lived in other states before.  

8.What are your home country’s major religions? 

Islam 

9.What influenced you to come to the United States? Especially, Saint Cloud State? 

This good school and large Somali community in Minnesota 

10. Do you have any questions for me? I have asked so many of you! 

No, I wish you the best Abdull. 

The top three people are..

1-Mattson, Valerie

2-Alamer, Mohammed

3-Sainju, Jasmin

Here

Abdullah Ramadan

Mohammed Alamer

Almoutasem Aljahdli

There are some of similarities and differences between thesecountries. Such as religion, culture, education, and traditions. People whointerview others who came from another country is a benefit because you get tolearn about his/her culture and traditions. In addition, there are more thattwo benefits you can discover from interviewing international students, forsome of them are suffering hard time from homesickness and that’s why they needsomeone to talk to and feel free to get along with them. As human we have toknow how other countries are.

Thechallenges of interviewing international students in the United States are ifsome got offended about your questions, or if you chose the wrong person andsometimes you might choose the wrong time for the interview. However, thechallenges doesn’t to have in a bad way maybe you face a challenge aboutlearning a new tradition such as if you want to try new food that you neverhad, or having a conversation about something new. Challenges and interviewingpeople makes you learn a lot of things especially if you are interviewingforeign people.

In sum,many benefits since interviewers will be able to achive knowledge about anothercultures as well as their own culture, interviewing an international studentmake people face some challenges finding and approaching interviewees at firstbut obviously the process would bring many challenges.

interview

My goals for this interview know more about other people, writing a report about the interview, prepare good questions to ask, giving myself the confidence to go and talk with them, try to limit the questions to not go personal, giving them the space to talk without interrupting, learn about other people thinking, learn about religions, see how racism in their country, see different cultures, probably making new friends, and the most important goal is passing the class.

 

The questions I would ask…

1.      What is your name?

2.      Where are you from?

3.      How long have you been in the states?

4.      What are you majoring?

5.      What is your religion?

6.      How many siblings do you have?

7.      What kind of job would u like? Why?

8.      Can you tell me about your country?

9.      What are the differences between your country and the United States?

10.  How many languages do you speak?

Middle East Capitalism

 

The Middle East economy is a unique one and it defies many economic models and prediction. In particular, the economy is not responsive to ideal forces of economic growth such as availability of recourses and GDP. Consequently, the problem requires a concrete understanding of other related disciplines. Presence of large oil deposits and political influence has hindered Middle East economies from flourishing. In particular, these economies are dominated by extractive industry and lack innovations. These ideas are captured by several authors and in different resources. In this particular, I will summarize page 15 of _ and connect it to other related resources.

While I analyzed the topic “middle east economic trends,” I have decided to dig deeper into the idea by exploring additional resources. In my quest for deeper understanding on the topic, I found the following book helpful; The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations by Michael L. Ross. The book deals with economic problems associated with oil- based economy. Ideally, the book explains why Middle East countries are far from achieving economic breakthroughs despite having massive oil deposits. Furthermore, I found The Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War By Mehran Kamrava. The book analyzes the political mystery that has hindered economic recovery of Middle East countries.

The three books tackle an interesting topic that spans across various academic disciplines. The economy of the Middle East defies most economic predictions and theories. This is because most countries in the region still lag behind despite having massive oil wealth. The cure for the Middle East economy is a complex issue that requires multidisciplinary intervention (Kamrava 67). The three resources handle the issue from multiple perspectives and therefore giving a concise response. “The next problem concerns the snail-like shift in the structure of the economics of most middle eastern nations.” Economic shift is an essential aspect of economic sustainability. Indeed, economic shifts enable an economy to fit into immediate markets and demands. In particular, economic shifts enable an economy to avoid economic lapses (Ross 56). In the current situation, the Middle East economy is over dependent on oil export leaving the country vulnerable to exploitation by other well-off economies. In addition the countries have not developed their manufacturing capacity thereby they have remained dependent on the developed world for the manufactured goods including machineries (Ross 56). This has exposed the oil wealth to hungry economies from Europe and America. This can be attributed to conflicts that are currently targeted on western countries. Nonetheless, these conflicts affect only the Middle East economies. Countries such as Yemen and Saudi Arabia are excellent examples for this analysis. Materials covered in this analysis approach the topic from various perspectives. Some authors views the Middle East problem as a purely economic one while others treat the problem as a political one. Nonetheless, the Middle East problem is far from over and it requires a multidimensional approach.

In conclusion, the Middle East economy can be analyzed from various approaches. The usual economic approach does not give the issue the required weight. Readings covered in this chapter reveals the depth of the problem and the need to review the problem from an optimistic approach.

Works Cited

Kamrava, Mehran. The Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War. California: University of California Press, 2011. Print.

Ross, Michael. The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations. London: Princeton University Press, 2012. Print.

 

Classmates Review

Mahmoud aboaljadaiel's book sounds really interesting which is the wealth of the nation the author is Jack Revell and the editors are Graham Hockley and John Moyle. the book was published in 1967.

Abdulhameed aljahdali's book talks about middle Eastern cities the book doesn't have an author but it has an editor Ira M. Lapidus and it was published in LA, 1969.

Almoutasem aljahdali's book is one of the best topics i saw for me because it explains more about my religion which is Islam the book title is Islamic Theology and Philosophy by Michael E. Marmura and it was published in State of University of New York Press, Albany 1984 State University of New York.

MaryJean's book is a really good book to read it was Printed at Polity Press Malden, MA and Polity Press Cambridge, UK in 2013 .

Mohammed Alamer's book talks about Africa today and what happen in Africa its good to know about other countries and cultures the book was Edited by Nancy L. Hoeple. and printed in the United States Of America, 1971.

Middle East Capitalism

i chose the book because i thought its easy to choose a topic about the middle east where i was born and raised. the book has two authors the first one is David H. Finnie and the second one is A.J.Meyer. the title of the book is Middle East Capitalism. the book was printed by Harvard College, and distributed in Great Britain by Oxford University Press, London. the book was published in the United States of America in 1959 and it is the first edition.

the book discuss information about the economics, historical, experiment moderation in turkish, and oil companies. a word about the title capitalism seems still, in 1959 a reasonably accurate description of the middle east economy. although governmental expenditures are rising each year. According to the book "investments ratios change, the portions of area-wide national incomes spent by the governments still average out at about the rate current in the U.S.

(Meyer, Albert Julius. Middle Eastern Capitalism, Nine Essays. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1959. Print).