Tarneeb's Subculture; The old in the new generation

Cards “Shada/Kotshina” is a game most Arab parents teach their kids as means of entertainment. However, in the heart of Qatar, in a certain location in Qatar foundation, card games are played with so much seriousness, one would think it’s a life or death skill. “To me, cards is not just a game, there’re several skills that card games can teach. Observational skills, compatibility with your partner, counting cards, and speaking up. All these skills have to be perfected to have a flawless card game,” said one of the many participants of the card games. In this setting, I found that the game everyone has perfected is a game called Tarneeb.

In the 18th century, Tarneeb became famous in the Fertile Crescent area. After getting to know the players, I realized that most of them are from the Fertile Crescent area, Egyptians, Palestinian, Jordanian, Iraqis. Some players had learned the game from their parents and grandparents. Those players agreed that Tarneeb was taught to them for the seriousness and competitiveness of the game.  “When I play with my grandfather all hell breaks loose if we lose. Although, it’s fun sometimes but I don’t like being yelled at for a game” said a Palestinian, Qatari female participant who is nicknamed Queen of Tarneeb. Others who participate in the games said that they learned it from friends and that the game is a great ‘break the ice’ activity. When I started getting involved in the Tarneeb scene, I realized that there’s a whole subculture to it, where the best is at the top, the good is considered bad, and the bad is not included in the games. When I was looking at it from a sociological perspective I realized that this subcultural fulfills one of the main theories that we recently studied.

Functionalist theory in Tarneeb…
What is Functionalist theory?
Functionalist theory states that the society is an entity that has different parts. In order for the society to function all the parts of the entity must be present and working. Analogy: Society is like a machine; each part in the machine has to do its job in order for the machine to function properly. Thus, solidarity is created within the society itself.

When studying the groups who participate in the card games, I understood that card games are utilized as a tool of communication in this setting. The games are played in order to “have fun and enjoy our time”. Thus, I came across social statuses within the cards subculture:The ruling class which is marked by the best players, the middle class which is marked by the good players and the lower class, marked by the bad players and/or the audience. In these three classes in the subcultural of Tarneeb there’s solidarity and unity that is created in order to fulfill the general goal of playing the game, which is communication between the players and the audience, to induce the feeling of “having fun” and thus, to complete the function of the game.

Study note: I removed names and places from this mini-study with respect to the subjects' requests.