Men Make Fire.

I went to the beach this weekend with a group of friends to celebrate one of our friends’ birthday. I found that the perfect opportunity to analyze the men and woman’s behaviors in such an environment. The men were particularly interesting to observe. Arab men find going to the beach, a chance to practice their “machismo”, like it was an activity.



The western world is a more free world than the Arab world. I don’t like to generalize but that’s my personal opinion. In the west I guess it has become okay to embrace the different types of men’s behaviors. Like Sutherland discusses in her book, there are many different ways a man can be a man. There’s the heartless tough man figure, referred to in his book as the terminator, after Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie terminator. And there’s the emotional sensitive understanding man figure, referred to in his book as the kindergarten commando. Of course those two are the extremes, there are gray areas in between where other people lie.



In the Arab world, the kindergarten commando is not an accepted way of life, and if a man were anything but a “terminator” they would start to question his sexual orientation. This was reflected in my friends’ behaviors on the beach. I noted “macho” behaviors, or what they considered as expression of their masculinity, like logging heavy rocks and wood around to make a bonfire, cooking the meat (meat is a very manly type of food for Arabs, so cooking it on the beach with the fire they made represents their masculinity), and finally, ordering the girls around to clean, set the place where we’re going to eat and organize the seating area. When the girls offered to help with the fire making or meat cooking however, the men replied with “of course not! What kind of man do you think I am”?



I found it extremely interesting to take theories based on the behaviors in west and apply them to the Middle East. It has proven that what people consider appropriate or acceptable differs drastically between different parts of the world.

Cleethorpes, The Commoner's Beach

During last week's Sociology classes, that discussed social stratification, I remembered my holiday to the U.K that summer. It didn't just cross my mind nonchalantly, it came to mind as I thought of Cleethorpes beach in Grimsby, and how I can actually apply social stratification to my family excursion.

I've been to that beach ever since I was little, always the same kind of people doing the same mundane things that people do on the beach. However, after learning about social classes I realized that the people who go to this particular beach are of a certain social class. The majority of the people to this particular beach have certain life chances. They don't live in a big city, they aren't as exposed to the outer world as those who live in the capital. To them Cleethorpes is a great place to relax or take their children, plus it's free.



The fact that these people are only capable of going to this beach as opposed to, say, the French Riviera shows social inequality. Some people are born into ascribed statuses that allow them to go elsewhere for fun in the sun. The status value of the people who I have observed on the beach is not that of the upper class. In general the people who were at this particular beach were clearly of lower middle class, or even the working class. It is clear from the way that they dress (minus the fact they are in beachwear), the way that the talk, and what they actually do on the beach.



There isn’t a lot of social prestige associated with Cleethorpes, but at the end of the day it is just a beach like any other beach, but it’s the stratification that goes on in society that associates certain places, or activities with certain people. Cleethorpes is a child friendly beach, with the tradition English beach pastime of riding the donkeys still in practice. You wouldn’t necessarily find this on a much more prestigious beach. The only people who actually sunbathe are usually the parents of the children, and opposed to the usual teenage crowd that is associated with beaches this particular beach is family oriented.



Social stratification of the different classes can be found everywhere. Certain people eat at certain restaurants that others don’t, some people drive secondhand cars as opposed to new ones, and some people go to Cleethorpes for their little weekend holiday while others might go to France. It’s a funny world that we live in, where not everyone is born with the same chances of living the lifestyle they dream because of social restrictions, or limitation. It is important to note that just because these people spend their time on this beach, doesn’t mean that they aren’t capable of being socially mobile and striving for a better lifestyle. All it means is one question: do they want to move up the social ladder so desperately that they’d give up the simple things they enjoy in life?

Al Khor: A serene coastal city in Qatar

As Qatar’s capital city, Doha, grows massively in its population and development in the last couple of years, other cities of the country are becoming sort of more “ignored” or simply, left out.

Although it is true that capital cities around the world provide most of the facilities that tourists ─or even citizens and residents─ look for, some people , like I and my family, still like to go on road trips to other neighboring cities in the country every once in a while to have a break from Doha’s vitality and noticeable cultural diffusion. One of the cities we often go to is Al Khor “Alkh-OR” City, up in the northern parts of the country. For this city being only few kilometers away from Doha (around 50 kilometers north), Al Khor City is not like Doha City at all. It is totally different from the capital city in a variety of ways. For instance, it often rains more in Al Khor than here in Doha. The wet season in Al- Khor City keeps it leafy and green throughout the whole year. As a result, people who visit this area often see plants and animals that are not seen elsewhere in Doha or in any other southern part of the country.

Besides its uniquely magnificent weather, the architecture and other material culture in Al Khor City are biased more toward the Qatari heritage and innovation. You will often see a lot of traditional Qatari houses as you drive down the streets of the city. And as you approach the coastal regions of the city, you will notice traditional fishing boats almost everywhere along the shore. The fishermen subculture is highly noticed in the shore regions of the city as well.

One of the other beautiful things in Al Khor City is that you hardly see or get stuck in traffic jams in the morning or during busy hours in general. This is of course; a big advantage of not arriving late to school or work, as well as its major advantage of having road accidents.

Shining the light on Al Khor's non-material culture, the norms and beliefs of the people who live in this city (mostly citizens) does not differ from the ones of people who live in Doha. It’s just that a one may notice that non-material culture more easily in Al Khor than doing so in Doha, since that the sociology of Al Khor City has a little bit less of multiculturalism.