Externally vs. Internally

In today’s blog post, I will be discussing how the portrayal of reel Arabs in movies affects the image of Arabs and Muslims in Westerner’s minds. Also I will discuss how these portrayals create fear and false expectations in Westerners who visit the Middle East.

Reel Arabs in movies are portrayed in four ways:

1. 1.     Villains and terrorists
2. 2.     Maidens
3. 3.     Sheikhs
4. 4.     Cameos

For example, in Sex and the City we saw Maidens and Sheikhs. In most post 9/11 movies we usually witness the  “villains and terrorists” of reel Arabs. For people who have never been to the Middle East or have no constant interactions with Arabs or Muslims will get the wrong picture painted in their heads of Middle Easterners.

In the final game of the football league, Carnegie Mellon Qatar was playing against the Community College of Qatar. After the game, the players and the fans socialized over a small reception following the awards ceremony. As I was socializing with the fans, I happened to meet 1196 Carnegie Mellon University graduate who was visiting Qatar on business. He graduated from the main campus in Pittsburgh, and this was his first trip to the Middle East. I decided to engage in the conversation he was having with some of the other students. They asked him what he thought of Doha and if it met his expectations. He responded by saying that he was quite astonished with how developed Qatar was and how back home in the states, people planning on visiting the Middle East had completely different expectations, in the negative sense. He said that back home, people expect the Middle East to be dangerous, filed with bombers. Also, they expect that women do not, under any circumstances socialize with a male Westerner. We all laughed as he said, “man was I surprised.” I looked around to see if people were genuinely laughing, and to my surprise they were –because I wasn’t. I was in fact slightly offended.  However, it was nice to see that no one takes such matters too personally because if they did then there would be so much resentment towards Westerners.

After my encounter with this man, I couldn’t help but wonder, are the Arabs and Westerners that different? We speak different languages, we dress differently, our traditions are different, our cultures are different, and our appearances are different. On a different note, we are also the same. We want to be happy, we want to be safe, we want to obtain a good education, and we want good health for our loved ones and ourselves. Just because externally we are different, it doesn’t mean on the inside we can’t be the same ordinary people, living our day-to-day ordinary lives.

Language in Thailand

People don’t realize how valuable something is until it is taken away from them. I never thought of language as being that prominent in my life because every country I’ve lived in or visited know how to speak either one or both of my preferred languages, Arabic and English. Language is best defined as a symbol system involving the use of sounds, gestures, and /or characters to convey meaning.

This eid Al-adha break my dad decided to take us to Phuket in Thailand, where we could learn about a completely different culture. As soon as we landed the hotel driver, who only knew a few words of English, greeted us. On the way to the resort I saw many shops and landmarks that I was intrigued about but when I tried asking the driver about the English translation of each of the place I could not understand the sounds or gestures he was making. It was then and there I knew language was going to be a large barrier in Thailand.

Another incident related to language, was when we went elephant trekking, the people guiding the elephant barely spoke any English. The man then started humming a Lady Gaga song so I gestured to him with my hand if he knew who sang the song; he screamed out “Lady Gaga” and started making crazy hand gestures to indicate how “different” she is. Even when I’m miles away music pop culture still haunts me, I guess there really is no escaping Lady Gaga.

When we were out shopping in the outdoor markets, the people in the shops would start yelling out "hello mate" in an australian accent because they are aware the largest percentage of tourists in Thailand are Australian so they assume it would attract many people's attention. They do try to put in the effort to learn a different language and identify with tourists, but their language plays a large role in their society and they consider it to be sacred so they choose to communicate in their native language, even the younger children barely spoke any english. I found this to be really interesting because in a lot of arab countries the younger generation speak more in english than their first language.

Another very evident trait I noticed about Thailand is that people either live in extreme wealth, with large villas by the sea and their own speedboats, or they live in absolute poverty, where they can barely afford a roof over their head and own a motorcycle as their source of transportation.

Regardless of their social class and status everyone was very polite and welcoming, I suppose it is the norm in Thailand to be hospitable and helpful with guests. The one language everyone understood was money and food, wherever you are in the world those two necessities’ are always going to be known worldwide. Because Thailand has such a large population of tourists, I assumed its residents would know how to speak more English or at least understand more of it. It was only when language was taken away from me that I fully understood the importance of it and how large its function is in our lives.

Language

Symbols in human cultures occur in different formats. Language is one of the most distinguished symbols in a culture it differs from culture to culture. Cultures and societies relay mostly on language for immediate communication. Observing my own culture and surroundings I can say that Arabic is the language in my culture and society, but lately English came along and put down strings of importance that made people want to learn and speak it fluently in order to keep pace with the vast development that is going on. With the development of Qatar English language is becoming even more important than before. Importing a large number of expats, contracts that are made with foreign companies, ..etc. made a need of having a language that is international in order to communicate with others.

Having English as a second language in Qatar made people aware of the importance of learning different languages. But some people took it a step further with exaggerating or overdoing it focusing on learning English. Some think that it enhances the social status of the individual, makes them look smarter, or even more accepted in the society or higher classes. That took their focus away from learning Arabic maybe just relaying on it being the mother language thinking that it is enough. That affected this generation the most having them not knowing their language properly and even not the very basics, some even don’t understand or speak Arabic because of the foreign education. For example the alphabets I went and tested a couple of graduates and students by asking them if they know the Arabic alphabet in order. One of them said yes, so I asked if I could test her and I asked her about two letters what comes before the other and those letters look alike so she answered I don’t know your question is too specific. But all who I asked were people who were educated in English and international schools which focus on English leaving the Arabic as a secondary subject. I continued asking them about if they faced any problems with their Arabic language? Most of them answered yes since we are local graphic designers we are expected to design bilingual graphics and we face a lot of problems when it comes to the Arabic part. Those problems I a face my self and during socializing with my extended family sometimes I add English words not realizing that the older generations such as my grandparents don’t understand English. In my opinion English language is breaking a barrier between our culture and other cultures, as well as creating a barrier within our culture.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCOP44K3_C4

The Karen: Torn Between Two Lands

This summer I had the opportunity to go to Thailand for a community service trip. We went to a small village in northern Thailand situated near the Burmese-Thai border. This village is inhabited mostly by the Karen people, an indigenous Burmese tribe that belonged to the Golden Triangle. The aim of our trip was to help build a small library for the village school. When I first arrived, I didn't know what to expect because I've never really been to a village before. To reach our destination, we had to take a 7 hour flight from Doha to Bangkok and then an hour flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and then a 10 hour drive to the lodge next to the village. The lodge itself was an hour away from the village.





Unlike many of the Mexicans living in the United States as illegal immigrants, although ethnically Burmese, the Karen people of northern Thailand are legal citizens and are issued Thai identities. Similar to the Mexicans who fled their homeland due to economic and personal hardships, the Karen fled Burma to escape conflict occurring between them and the Burmese government, creating a serious internal conflict. Many of these issues are a cause of differences in religious affiliation and political opinion. However, because of these social, economical and political setbacks many of them have formed their own subculture within an already existing Thai culture, yet maintaining their Karen identity.





In the same way the majority of Mexicans in the U.S. belong to the proletariat class, performing all the unwanted jobs that provide no benefits and very little pay, the Karen find themselves in the same situation, working for the bourgeoisie that live mostly in the cities. They also depend heavily on tourism and rely on tourists and visitors purchasing their hand made products. It is undeniable that the presence of Mexicans adds a richness to American culture, history and society. Likewise, this latent function is also visible with the Karen, being a minority in Thailand, they have contributed to enhancing Thai culture and creating social interactions between each other.





From a sociological point of view we see how cultural diffusion exists within the Karen society. I was surprised to find out that they do many of the things that we do despite the difference in environments. For example, there was a proper children's playground in the village that had swings, slides and other games and there was even a football field with a goal post and everything. It may seem that they're so far from civilization but we see how ideas can spread from one society and diffuse quickly into another.




Furthermore, despite their efforts to maintain their own identity it is evident that the Karen have undergone socialization and internalization. They are socialized in the sense that they learn skills and attain norms that allow them to function and adapt to their environment. For instance, I was not used to being exposed to so many different insects all at once, however the children there would chase them play with them and even touch them! The boys there learn how to hunt and fish, while the girls learn how to sew. Although ethnically they are not Thai, I found that they speak Thai but with a different dialect and adhere to Buddhism like the majority of Thais. I noticed that even in their homes and schools they have pictures of the Thai King. They have internalized themselves into Thai society.

Culture shock?

If someone would ask you, what makes you different from Person A or Person B, you would probably be able to come up with a list from the top of your head, without even having to think, like nationality, language, religion or even food habits or education.

In other words, the way you have been brought up is what differentiates you from the others. A sociologist defines this as culture. The way of life of people or more specifically, the human created strategies for adjusting to the environment.

For some of us, seeing different culture is the best part about traveling, where as for few other, they have a culture shock coming from place X to Y. Culture shock is the strain that people experience while traveling from one region to the other, and must reorient themselves to the ways of the new culture. And this was exactly what happened in the movie Outsourced, where an American products salesman (Todd) heads to India to because of his replacement, after his entire department is outsourced. Being unaware of the beliefs and values of India, he found himself in a very inconvenient situation. For example, in India, Cows are considered sacred and play an important role in the Hindu religion. Whereas when Todd goes to India, being ignorant, he talks about cows as a food product without realizing how sensitive a topic it was and he goes on doing the same sort of mistake, until he finally finds someone who could teach him about the Indian culture.

People’s behavior and values change from culture to culture, and that is rooted to the shortage and abundance of resources in different regions. For example, the video shows how common begging is in India. However, in Qatar it is hardly seen in public. The economic structure of the country breaks the conservation-oriented behaviors of its people.



According to Sociology, some of the most important types of non-material cultures are beliefs, values, norms, symbols and language. And some of these aspects were clearly noticeable in Culture Shock, an Al Jazeera documentary, on how African migrants find ways to deal with the European culture. These African migrants face instances of racist violence in Germany, where because of their skin color, people assign symbols. People assign offensive names.

Despite being immigrants, some of their habits perfectly match local customs, which is a case of cultural universals, which refers to things found in every culture. But sometimes people hold on to the viewpoint of ethnocentrism, because of which these African migrants are not being accepted by the social norms.

Click here to check out the documentary on Al Jazeera

Culture Shock: What is it like to live in Europe with an African identity?

Westernised Culture

Films, music, news and any source of media usually isn't popular unless it is available in the universal language, english! We all have our guilty pleasures and the one that tops my list, is watching television series online. I wait anxiously every week until Tuesday comes so that I can watch my three favorite television series, gossip girl, one tree hill and 90210. The episodes usually air on mondays in America but they become available online on Tuesdays. American television series are considered to be the popular culture between teenagers all over the world and I recently discovered a lot of the popular shows are dubbed in foreign languages.

One Tree hill has been going strong since 2003, even after two crucial actors left the show, the fans remained loyal to the show and ratings were not as damaged as expected. In the older episode there was always voice overs where the characters would say a famous quote from books and it would somehow relate to the events happening in the episode. That was my favorite part of every episode as it encouraged me to start reading more books and start looking for the source of the quote being said.

90210, the new version of it, features the same drama that was in the old episodes of 90210 beverly hills. The show was not entirely recreated, it was simply altered to fit into the new world we live in. The cliche stories of high school and the most ridiculous stories imaginable is what truly defines television series such as this one.

Younger teenagers, no matter what country they are in, have gullible minds and they live and breathe on the drama they watch on television. Their actions and the way they speak become prone to change because of what they watch and idolize.

Reality television shows are even more popular between the younger and the older age groups, particularly the shows on MTV. People somehow feel like they relate to the characters of the show(more like they imagine they do)

Jersey Shore, the most recent obsession, is a reality television show that aired on MTV quite recently. Now I hear people go around quoting random saying from the show. Things like "T-shirt time" and "GTL" (gym, tanning, laundry) are known in different countries. Each person in the show has their own trademark, such as snookie and her poof (hairstyle) or "the situation" and his arrogance.

Thanks to mass media, we are exposed to the different norms and behaviors that occur in the west. What some people fail to realize is that the actions and language, viewed and used in the show might not be accepted culturally in the country they live in.