Cultural Relatedness Between The Middle East And North Africa
North Africa and the Middle East are not divided naturally. This political division includes Arab countries which are located geographically in a certain region
The strange case is Egypt, which belongs to the North African geographical region but is part of what we know now as the Middle East.
Religion And Language
The two main things that keep the MENA (this is how the sum of the regions is usually called) together are religion and language. On one hand, the Arab is what most people speak, and to defeat a common myth, Arabic is not a religion, but a language and a bloodline that can be inherited.
The true strongest religion among them is Islam, although, the region was created politically and it would be unfair not to recognize the huge amount of minorities that live there. As an example of this, the territory that was given to the Jewish people after WWII known as Israel today bears a huge amount of very orthodox and enthusiastic people who don´t practice Islam, but their own religion.
The World’s Reserve
According to a recent study by the Oil & Gas Journal, more than half of the world´s oil and gas reserves is found in this region. The importance of this economic fact is that the flourishing society in these countries has a strong impact on both, cultural and social growth. It´s estimated that the investments being made in education, arts and culture will make the region even more powerful bringing most ethnical differences to an end. An example of this effort is the action being carried on by the information network On the Move who are financing entrepreneurs to develop cultural actions within the MENA territory and Europe with the aim of fostering collaborative actions in the field of cultural management. Another aim of the program called EUNIC is to develop skills through coaching that might be necessary for participants to reach a new understanding on several areas like mapping out and professionalizing the cultural and creative sectors as well as managing cultural projects.
Conclusion
Political stability and economic wealth will turn directly into a new cultural paradigm for the entire region. Both Middle East and North Africa are composed of countries that have a lot in common as well as a great future ahead of them through collaboration.