Culture of Yemen

       The prehistoric nation of Yemen lies at the top of the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen has one of the oldest civilization in the world to date, with ties to the Semitic lands to its north, and to the cultures of the Horn of Africa, just crosswise the Red Sea. According to legend, the Biblical Queen of Sheba, companion of King Solomon, was Yemeni. Other Arabs, Ethiopians, Persians, Ottoman Turks, and most recently, the British have colonized at Yemen a range of times. Through 1989, North and South Yemen were disconnect nations. However. Today they are united into the Republic of Yemen - Arabia's only democratic republic. Yemen is the only republic on the Arabian Peninsula; its neighbors are kingdoms or emirates. The Yemeni decision-making branch consists of a president, a prime minister and a cabinet. The president is openly elected; he appoints the prime minister, with legislative approval. Yemen has a two-part legislature, with a 301-seat lower house, the House of Representatives, and a 111-seat upper house, called the Shura Council. Prior to 1990, North and South Yemen had separate legal codes. The highest court is the Supreme Court in Sanaa. The current President (since 1990) is Ali Abdullah Saleh. Ali Muhammad Mujawar is Prime Minister.

Geography of Yemen:

       Yemen has an area of 527,970 square kilometers, or 203,796 square miles, at the top of the Arabian Peninsula. It is next to Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the east, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Eastern, central and northern Yemen are desert areas, part of the Arabian Desert and Rub al Khali (Empty Quarter). Western Yemen is rough and mountainous. The coast is fringed with sandy lowlands. Yemen also possesses a number of islands, many of which are actively volcanic. The highest point is the Jabal al Nabi Shu'ayb, at 3,760 m, or 12,336 feet. The lowest point is sea level.

Population of Yemen: 

       Yemen is habitat to 22,230,531 people (U.S. State Dept., 2007 estimate). The great majority are ethnic Arabs, but 35% have some African blood as well. There are small minorities of Somalis, Ethiopians, Roma (Gypsies) and Europeans, as well as South Asians. Yemen has the uppermost birthrate in Arabia, at about 6.2 children per woman. This is probably attributable to early marriages (the marriageable age for girls under Yemeni law is 9), and lack of education for women. The literacy rate among women is only 30%, while 70% of men can read and write. Infant mortality is almost 60 per 1,000 live births.

Languages of Yemen:

       Yemen's national language is average Arabic, but there are several different regional dialects in common use. Southern variants of Arabic spoken in Yemen include Mehri, with about 70,000 speakers; Soqotri, spoken by 43,000 island residents; and Bathari, which has only about 200 surviving speakers in Yemen. In addition to the Arabic languages, some Yemeni tribes still speak other primeval Semitic languages closely related to the Ethiopian Amharic and Tigrinya languages. These languages are remains of the Sabean Empire (9th century B.C. to 1st century B.C.) and the Axumite territory (4th century B.C. to 1st century A.D.).

Religion in Yemen:

       The foundation of Yemen states that Islam is the official state religion of the country, but it also guarantees freedom of religion. The majority by far of Yemenis are Muslim, with some 42-45% Zaydi Shias, and about 52-55% Shafi Sunnis. A tiny minority, some 3,000 people, are Ismaili Muslims. Yemen is also home to an original population of Jews, now numbering only about 500. In the mid-20th century, thousands of Yemenite Jews moved to the new state of Israel. A handful each of Christians and Hindus also live in Yemen, although most are foreign ex-patriots or refugees.

Yemen's Economy:

       Yemen is the poorest nation in Arabia. As of 2003, 45% of the population was living below the poverty line. In part, this poverty stems from gender inequality; 30% of teenage girls between 15 and 19 are married with children, and most are uneducated. Another key is unemployment, which stands at 35%. The per capita GDP is only about $600 (2006 World Bank estimate). Yemen imports food, livestock and machinery. It exports crude oil, qat, coffee, and seafood. The current spike in oil prices may help alleviate Yemen's economic distress. The exchange is the Yemeni rial. The exchange rate is $1 US = 199.3 rials (July 2008).

Outsourced movie

       I watched Outsourced film and like it so much because there are a lot of lessons to learn. It is about American supervisor in the area of business; his name’s Todd Anderson. He was sent to India by the manager of its work to improve them in marketing. After a few days of work when he talks about the cow, which happens to be sacred to Indian, that what made him to learn more about the Indian culture. Also he learns to drinking and eating by his right hand.

       Todd rewarded Aisha by promoting her to delegate instead of him, which is a good step to encourage the rest of the staff to work hard. Todd always said "Aisha can do anything ", because she is able to assist him in the management and fixed all of the problems. Aisha is a competitive person and she doesn't give up easily and is confident of her -self. Todd has a good friends they helped him to achieve success in all problems particularly Puro and Aisha.

stereo type

The film displays many instances of stereotypical images. The first instance is of a Pakistani man who is already xenophobic Sikh and Pakistanis are mutually antagonistic. The second example showed another stereotypical image, between Germans and Japanese people, who compete with each other to determine who is the better and more efficient in various aspects.

Discrimination

Hedley's showed a short film how a person distinguishes depending on the color of skin or other means of discrimination.When started by Ms. Jane Elliott the student is asked how they feel when they see a black person in the street and how to deal with him on the basis of skin color. I was shocked and frightened a little of what was planted in those eyes of children. The class was divided into groups to withdraw group and blue eyes, on the first day said that the children to have blue eyes that they are smarter and better than the brown eyes, making children to feel depression. The next day they overturned it, she said that brown eyes are smarter and better, making blue eyes unfortunately feel bad. On the third day she got them together to discuss their feelings.

reflecttion

What is cultural diversity?

Cultural diversity is the integration of another culture, which means that it is a kind of communication between the various cultures, races and many different countries. The exchange of ideas, experiences and interests and benefits all located under the term cultural diversity.

What do I expect to learn on this course?

In fact, I expect that from this session. In my view it is a good opportunity to open all over the world. I expect to gain some new experiences and some good new ideas about other cultures and countries, including its history.

What have I already learnt?

Already learned how to create a blog in the Internet, which is a good idea to communicate with other teachers and colleagues believe their work to this session. Another benefit learned some new historical events during the talks that a teacher it is important to know that we understand how to change the world over the past years.

What do I knew about Hedley?

I know that Mr. Hedley he visited many countries throughout the world, it seems that wise man.