Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I shall grant Undercover Dragon's request (vaguely) by saying that I have moved back to the U.S. for now. I am living on the West Coast, but have traveled across country a few times in the past months. I'll be working in the States for a while, but I'm already looking at potential plans to Oman, or at least the region in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, it looks like I may be taking a business trip to the other side of Asia before long, but unfortunately I don't think I'm going to be able to get out of the U.S. for an adventure around Christmas time as I'd hoped.
Of note, while running today, I was listening to an al-Jazeera podcast of the Itijah al-Muakas show from July 29th about the Gulf Arab identity. I'll try to get some notes blogged about it before long, but it was a very interesting back and forth between two Arab intellectuals about whether the Gulf Arab identity is dying, or whether it is simply progressing in a world of globalization. If you understand Arabic and are interested in the Gulf, I recommend you take a listen. Some of the commentary was very interesting and the one gentleman's counterpoint to the "Gulf identity is dying" argument was excellent. He pointed out that, if you go to almost any major city in the world today, people are wearing the same kind of clothes, eating at the same restaurants, ila akheerihi (etc.). It isn't that the Gulf identity is dying (well, I guess it is in a way, but in this it is no different than any other identity), but it is that the Gulf identity lives on, subsumed into a more globalized milieu. If you look at it this way, I guess you could say that, far from being a dying culture, the Gulf is holding on to core cultural markers more tightly than most. The problem is, people in other regions seem to be more comfortable with the direction their culture is taking. In the Gulf, identity and culture is a constant topic of acrimonious debate.
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When men's minds seem narrow to you, tell yourself that the land of God is broad; broad His hands; and broad His heart. Never hesitate to go far away, beyond all seas, all frontiers, all countries, all beliefs. --Leo Africanus (as imagined by Amin Maalouf)
About Me
- Leo Americanus
- A City, United States
- An American traveler of sorts, currently in the U.S. and looking forward to the next adventure.
Interesting Posts from Other Blogs
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- A Moveable Feast by Hemingway
- The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
- Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
- Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer
- Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf
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- Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success by Christopher Davidson
- War and Peace
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- The Utility of Force by Rupert Smith
- The End of the Old Order: Napoleon and Europe, 1801-1805, Frederick W. Kagan
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- Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf
- The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq by Hanna Batatu
- Memories of State: Politics, History, and Collective Identity in Iraq by Eric Davis
- The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf
11 comments:
Damn, seems very interesting. I'll look for a video clip of this episode online. Cheers Leo.
Have you ever seen the show 'Awraaq Khaleejiya' on Al-Safwa channel? They discuss Gulf matters: things like the widespread but ill-acknowledged homosexuality, various social issues, etc. The tone is a lot more civilised than the Al-Jazeera show you referenced, but that's probably because the people on Awraq all agree with one another.
-Omani in US
I just watched this. For those who care (is anyone out there? Beuller?), it's at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCzkD6qqES4
sorry, that last comment was from me.
-Omani in US
OIUS-
Thanks for the link. I didn't think to look for a link at YouTube. iTunes has several AJ shows in podcast form. So... what are your comments on the show?
Leo,
Unfortunately I felt that both the panelists were missing the point. It felt like they were discussing two different subjects, when in fact what should have been addressed were the common threads between the two subjects.
The show closed with the Qatari guy asking the question "At some point in the future these foreign workers will start asking for rights/citizenship. What then?" I would have liked for the show to begin with this question, not end with it.
After that, maybe they could have delved into asking questions like 'What is Arabness?' or 'What is Gulf culture'? There were too many assumptions thrown in, describing Arab culture along Muslim/nationalistic lines.
Unique to the Gulf, at the end of the day it was a very simple culture that got thrust into a very complex environment thanks to the sudden riches of oil. This has created problems in that the culture (again, what is Gulf culture nowadays?) has a very weak influence on young people growing up in it, so they turn to other things. Maybe it's due to the very jarring disconnect between past and present. You can't draw parallels with Egypt or other Arab countries, as both panelists did.
Also (and this was pointed out by a friend of mine), they didn't discuss the lack of middle class, and how the systems in the gulf don't exactly encourage the appearance of one.
I don't know. But that is why I would have liked for these questions to be tackled.
-Omani in US
Sorry, that should have said 'the lack of a middle class', not 'the lack of middle class'.
And saying more on that - the revolt might not come from foreigners. Look at Saudi with its huge poverty and unemployment rates (btw Saudi is not the only gulf country with high rates in these areas). Would something happen if the Saudi government didn't find a solution to that in time? I don't know. Maybe or maybe not.
-Omani in US
Sorry, I could talk forever on the subject as I think about it a lot. But I will make one more comment.
One problem we have in the Gulf is that the culture has no 'feedback loop'. What culture are we producing? Music? Literature? No on both (or any other) counts. The only culture we have has been obtained by clinging onto the past. This is in contrast to the west, where the feedback loop is as strong as ever.
(As an aside, I think the Arabs really cocked it right up when it came to figuring out mainstream culture. Instead of something from within, they emulated one of the cheapest forms of western culture - pop tarts in dumb music videos. Again maybe it's no their fault per se, but given the environment, they could not have arrived at another choice. I don't know).
Young people by definition are looking to the future, but there is no feedback from gulf culture when they do. So they look to other sources (i.e. the west).
This is rushed with only cursory thought, but I hope you see the point I'm trying to illustrate.
-Omani in US
OIUS,
Thanks for the comments. I really think you have hit on a number of great points. If I have time in the next week or two, I might post on those comments and stuff I've read or seen about them. I think I posted a while back (or maybe it was a comment somewhere else, I'll have to find it) about the difference between the cultural output I saw in Turkey and that in the Arab world. You have to have cultural output to keep a culture alive. I think that is a key point and provides the very important feedback loop you pointed out.
Leo,
Thanks for the response.
Yes I saw your Turkey blog post at the time. I just want to reiterate though that we can't just say 'Turkey is better' and leave it at that. Turkey (along with most other places) has developed a lot more organically than the Gulf has. Again, I want to underline the sudden, harsh leap into the future caused by oil.
-Omani in US
Yes, you're absolutely right. Very different circumstances. With regard to the AJ discussion and the references to Egypt, have you seen or read al-Imara Yaqoubian, the English title was Yacoubian Building? It is a novel and movie about Egypt's different classes and views. Adel Imam's character in the movie is a perfect example of the influence of foreign cultures in Egypt earlier in the last century, and also why some see that influence as corrupting. I really enjoyed the film and the book in English translation. I picked up the Arabic original novel later on, but haven't started reading it yet.
Unfortunately I only saw part of it (it was showing on cable TV here a few months ago) due to lack of time, and I didn't have the foresight to record it. I'll watch it fully one day; my parents saw it in the cinema in Oman back when it was released and had heaps of praise.
-Omani in US
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