The Dilemma of Being a Female!

     The gender rules in Qatar are very discriminative toward females in so many aspects. Ladies know these aspects and they also know not to cross them. I’ll provide few examples of those rules in this blog and I’m going to analyze it in such a way to reflect what are those rules. The book "Cinematic Sociology" mentioned how the social construction of any society categorizes how people act toward each other based on gender. This provides the people of a guidance of how to interact between each other as a society.

     The first example, is about the workers in Qatar; all of them are males, like the construction workers and the security guardes in Education City. There are only two exceptions, like, the female security guard in Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar and in Northwestern University in Qatar Studio. Even the workers outside of the studio building are males. The logic behind this is the idea of "building" and "protection" is often associated with males.

     Another example is when I went to the desert with Northwestern Evanston exchange students. There was no Qatari females who practiced falconry, which is a sport exclusive to men.

     However, a Germen lady arrived and I was very impressed by her. She had embraced the Qatari culture by covering her hair with a Qatari scarf that is initially designed to be worn by men. Its not just that she works in a field that dominated by men, but she also embraced the aspect of how men dress. Her ability to redefine the social construction was, again, very impressive.

     In the year that I have driven a car , I never seen a woman in a car wash or drop her car off by the garage, which is the third aspect of how females are discriminated against by the social construction that society created. This is due to the mentality that this is a "man’s job" to drive.  So I decided for the sake of experiment, to go there one more time and see how it is like.

     What I had anticipated was correct. There was no women there. It is worthy to mention that ladies can break the cultural rule sometimes and go there for a car wash, if they are willing to endure the awkwardness of workers and other drivers staring at them with one question at their minds: "What the hell are you doing here?!"

“No. This is the WOMAN of the house!”

People are social creatures. It means we depend on others to tell us what to do, what is right and what is wrong. As much as we deny it, we like rules. We create them to follow them and let others follow them so we can have a sense of security and stability. Rules can be made in the form of law or just “common sense.” What is socially acceptable or what society thinks is normal plays an important role in our lives as it shapes our behavior and attitude towards things.

Media plays a big role in conveying these ideals and making us believe that they are the norm. These things can range from stereotypes about certain races, messed up standards of beauty and representations of family dynamics.

Here in the Middle East, everything is about family. We live with our families and only leave when we create a new family of our own (and sometimes we don’t leave then). We go on vacations with family, eat with family, work in family businesses, achieve things to make our family proud and most importantly, the end goal of every single one of us (the bachelors) is to have a family someday. We are slaves to our families to put it simply. It is not really as scary as it sounds, but it would be really weird if we all have the same end goal.

I guess the reason why things go down this way is because of the culture and dominant religion. People must not have relationships outside of marriage (not that this stopped anybody). Once people get married, they should start thinking about their legacy and stuff, so yeah, kids are a yes yes if you can have them. And then of course, there is nothing really else for you to do than work to please your family for the rest of your life.

However, we all know that things in real life aren’t that boring. We all really have different lifestyles and a lot of us youngsters are not even thinking about having a family. Yes, we are one selfish generation. But the truth is, we just tasted freedom now. With the rising levels of education, people, especially women, are becoming more and more independent. Right now, all we’re thinking about is how we want to finish our education, get a good job and spend money on spoiling ourselves. Nobody said anything about finding a hubby or raising babies.

The point is, there is a possibility that the breadwinner system is going to change. The breadwinner system is a tradition where the husband works and earns income to support the entire nuclear family. Women are getting good education now. There are greater chances for better jobs and more income. They will be soon providing for the family and they will have more power. Of course, I’m talking right now like I’m from the 50s and this does not already happen. But we all know it does and it is becoming the norm. People used to get married at the age of 13 a while ago. Can you believe that?! Now, there are a lot of people in their 30s who are enjoying the single life. I was interested in what other people my age think about the breadwinner system and if they believe it will always be that way. So I asked them:

I was also interested in knowing what they think about the media’s representations of family in this region. You see, once you turn on the TV and watch an Arabic soap opera all you see is love affairs, family, kids, families, divorce, love affairs… you get the point. Arab people love drama but they always have the same old story. Daddy and mommy have kids. One of the kids wants to get married to this person that daddy and mommy don’t approve of because they already hooked them up in an arranged marriage. Kid elopes with lover. Daddy kills kid. Daddy also secretly loves his secretary or something. Parents get a divorce. Kid’s lover dies in some freak accident. Seriously, it’s like they use this template for every single show!

Anyways, what I cannot find is representations of another type of family. A family where mommy is dealing with midlife crisis and working her way through the second shift. The second shift are the jobs that working wives do to run the household after they finish the workday. Why can’t they be single mothers raising their children? That’s drama right there. Why can’t it be that the father doesn't have a job and the mother has to raise him too since he won’t do anything around the house? But what if he does help around the house? What if he likes to cook and clean? What if there is no mother? What if they were two dads instead? Too many questions and only one answer: Because it is weird, it is wrong and it is not normal.

I personally think that things will change around here. Maybe not soon, but, eventually. Student films are already being made representing different kinds of families and tackling these sensitive topics. So perhaps one day we can turn on the TV and watch Youssef take care of the twins while his wife, Sara, cures her patients.

"Modern Abaya"

The culture and traditions of the Middle East are wildly different than they are in the west. Due to the majority of the Middle East being Muslim, the differences of cultural behaviors and social norms are drastic. Women in the Middle East are held under certain expectations that they’re anticipated to follow. The cultural “norm” of how a Middle Eastern woman dresses and acts is considered to be very conservative. We’re expected to be “covering” ourselves from head to toe when we’re out in public or are around men; that however is partly due to religion. Nevertheless in the Gulf, that is considered part of their tradition, and not just for religious purposes. In the Gulf women are expected to wear the Abaya. The Abaya is a loose black robe that covers the women from their neck down to their toes. The original purpose of the Abaya is to cover up the woman, and be loose enough in order to hide the shape of her body, and not attract attention to her.

In the media, Muslim Arab women are often portrayed as very conservative, veiled, and regularly, if they’re from the Gulf, wearing Abaya’s. However, what are also portrayed in the media are ideas of urbanization and modernization. In the recent years, due to the globalization and modernization theories, traditions and cultures in the Middle East are being thrown out the window. For the purposes of being “modern” and transitioning into urbanization, cultures and traditions that we once followed for essential reasons are being forgotten or drastically changed. The Abaya that was once supposed to serve the purpose of covering a woman up and concealing the shape of her body is now turned into a fashion statement. That may be due to the fact that the women here feel alienated from themselves. Marx’s theory of alienation helps us understand that. It basically states that due to the social structure and social class stratification enforced on us by society, we eventually begin to feel detached from our work, from our life activities, from ourselves, and from the people around us. We can use this theory and apply it to the situation here. Because the women are forced to wear the Abaya and look like every other woman around them, they’re beginning to feel invisible. They can’t express their personalities through fashion; they can’t stand out. This makes them feel alienated from themselves and from society, and I believe that this may be one of the reasons for the invention of the “modern Abaya”.

A variety of designers have turned the Abaya into beautifully designed dresses. I cannot deny that the art and thought put into designing those items of clothing is spectacular, but they’re not Abaya’s. Many new designers have come up with “modern Abaya” collections, a few Arab’s and a few westerners. The students of VCU in Qatar have come up with a project called the “Abaya Project” where they all contribute their beautiful designs of modern Abaya’s.

Here are some examples to demonstrate my explanations of today's modern Abaya.

The following video highlights a Modern Abaya Exhibition held in Katara’s Art Center here in Doha, displaying their beautiful designs.



I do agree that these new designs are very inventive, and can allow a woman to highlight her beauty whilst still being conservative. It allows them to express themselves and present their personalities through fashion. But going back to our original values, cultures and traditions, this is defying the purpose of the Abaya and hence defying our cultures and traditions.

Subculture Project: Women's Cricket Team

This video is about the Qatar National Women's Cricket team. For the project, we studied the interactions, the performance practices and the cultural resistance of this small group of female Cricket players in Doha. The video was shot at the Qatar Cricket Association's (QCA) Cricket ground, that is located in the Industrial Area in Qatar. We attended a practice session and a championship game to collect our material for this particular video. We focus on the various different performance practices such as the dressing, the language and styles etc and we also look closely at the means of cultural resistance. i.e. form, medium, interpretation and the activity. It's interesting to see how the styles and actions of the team in some ways really unique to themselves and the interactions that they have despite their varied backgrounds are really interesting to watch. Also note the relationships that exist within the team and the interaction between the coaches and players in the video. Hope you enjoy it!

                           
                                    

Qatari Weddings

For this active blog, I chose to write about a traditional Qatari wedding I attended this weekend. The wedding was especially interesting because it had elements of tradition, but also introduced new concepts and broke through some cultural barriers.

Usually, Qatari weddings are segregated events. The males celebrate with the groom and his family in a “Majlis,” where they enjoy a variety of traditional dishes, desserts and endless supplies of tea and coffee. The males also preform a traditional dance with the swords, known as “Al 3ardah” to mark the marital celebration.

On the other hand, the females celebrate in a fancy hotel ballroom where they enjoy showing off their soiree dresses, taste in jewelry and beauty skills. Usually, the girls arrive wearing the traditional “abaya”, but once they are past the security check point and their smart phones are confiscated, they head to the nearest washroom to touch-up themselves and put away the abaya to reveal what’s underneath.

In the ballroom, one can expect to see catwalk of all the latest designer dresses and trends. Young girls, dolled up, gather with their girlfriends and strut their stuff. Meanwhile, older women are seated with their friends to enjoy some time together. This is every girl’s time to shine! Many mothers take this opportunity to scan the available bachelorettes for their sons, and the girls know it!

An array of beautiful, carefully selected flowers line the dance floor stage and
“Kosha” where the bride and groom will later be seated.

Another common trend seen in weddings is the presence of a male singer, who performs live, but is located in different room in the hotel. He sings traditional and new wedding songs that are simultaneously broadcasted into the ballroom. The girls take to the dance floor and perform.

One can argue, that weddings are the perfect opportunity for girls to demonstrate resistance through performance. They utilize this an opportunity to show their love for fashion and beauty. This is what one of the young girls attending the wedding had to say, “Weddings have become a fashion statement. Literally, girls will go all out and splurge so much to look good on this one night because they know everyone is watching and judging.” This is a perfect example of a situation where the performance takes place behind closed doors.

The wedding last weekend was different because the bride and groom entered the ballroom together and the groom stayed in the female-populated room for more than an hour. Although women are warned that a man is about to enter and do cover up, it was shocking that the groom stayed for that long. Also, a male band entered the ballroom and sang “Zafeh” songs to the bride. Some older women took to the stage and danced with them, while others showered them with 1 Qatari Riyal bills to request songs.

This scenario is not common in Qatari weddings, but with globalization and the modernization of the state, more and more girls are stepping out of their shell and trying to deviate from the parent culture.

Since the study of subcultures is usually dominated by men, making it difficult to find analysis on female interaction. This can be portrayed in the example of the wedding because all action takes place behind closed doors. Women tend to be more cautious in public, whereas they feel comfortable showing off their styles and dance moves in private spaces. Also, Ken Gelder argues that females are usually on the consumer end of the spectrum, and that can be seen in how they have created their own subcultures by adopting those that are more common and mainstream in the rest of the world, but not in theirs.


For obvious reasons, I couldn't take my phone or camera in to take pictures and therefore do not have any original photos to share.

L.O.T local Arab rap artists – Hip Hop in Doha a Musical Subculture

Subculture is defined as a smaller group that is distinct from the larger culture in values, beliefs, symbols, and or the activities. In other word it’s a world within a world. I decided for this blog post to interview uprising rap artists here in Doha. They are composed of four rappers, Yousif Amr Khalil and Ammar Abouelghar from Egypt and El Mahi Hajo and Tayeb Hajo from Sudan. Together they call themselves L.O.T.

The questions I asked L.O.T ranged from; when did you start rapping and listening to rap? To what does L.O.T stand for and what exactly are you aspiring to fulfill through your artistry?

These local artists started rapping during their teenage years, starting from the age of 14 to 18 years old.  They first listened to rappers such as, Eminem, 50 Cent, Biggie, Immortal Technique and many more.

Picture taken during a recording session by them.

Rap in the Middle East first started as a form of frustration reliever, in other words the first rappers started rapping about important topics related to politics or their own personal life situation (ex: DAM Palestinian rappers). It was interesting to find out that some of the L.O.T group members first started rapping for the fun of it; they would typically write whatever could sound good and “sick.” Whereas other members started writing rap in order to relief their frustration about the depression in Sudan. Eventually as time passed by, and as their writing and rapping skills improved, today they can write both serious related verses and verses that are simply for entertainment, they even use it as a form of “storytelling.”

Throughout the interview, I thought to myself, these guys want to differentiate themselves from the original Hip Hop artist, so why is it that they rap in English and not in Arabic like the Palestinian rappers?

Rap music and Hip Hop first started in New York in English, so these artists learned about rap and therefore, learned to rap in English. In addition these young artists dream to reach an international audience, since English is the International language, they aim to inspire people to want talk about something real, inspire them to want to write rap verses, and of course to show the world that talent does reside in the Middle East, and especially in this thumb formed oasis that is Qatar. They want to be known as Arab/African Rappers that can rap in English. 

Yousif Khalil and Omar Offendum. Notice the hand gesture.

Youth subcultures are often based around style and music. Indeed, in sociology, style includes not only fashion, but also speech and mannerisms, which itself includes body language and gestures. What I basically adopted for this interview is the Chicago School method of the study of subcultures, which includes observing, talking, and hanging out with L.O.T, which enabled me to observe and discover their social patterns. What I find interesting is that they would usually get together almost every night, play some beats they found on the Internet or composed themselves, and then freestyle their way through it, or showcase to each other the different verses they wrote. The Chicago school believes that subcultures are best understood when observed in the context of their economic conditions. Indeed, these young rappers convene in different locations, which range from the Student Center in Education City, to a private Majlis to even the Pearl.  In the film Slingshot Hip Hop I noticed that the Palestinian artists would write their verses not only in Arabic but also on a notepad that contains all their lyrics. In the case of L.O.T I noticed that they write and save their verses on their Blackberry mobile phones, so that it is always on them incase they need it. This is living proof that subcultures truly adapt to their environment and work with what they have. Another thing I noticed when they rap, is the hand gestures. They are definitely gestures people can associate to Hip Hop artists from around the world.

L.O.T in the studio. Notice their hand gestures here as well. 

I also asked these young rappers if they believed that Hip Hop grew on such an International level that it should be considered as a musical culture instead of just a subculture? They all in fact agreed, and believe that Hip Hop became a “hybrid” a “mix of all genres, since artists can rap on almost any beat” ranging from Rock N’ Roll to Soul Jazz beats. El Mahi even stated that Hip Hop is a “perfect balance of Music.” In “Hip Hop – “Doing” Gender and Race in Subcultures” by Ross Haenfler, he writes that “Hip Hop is a culture, not simply a musical form, and an underground subculture has grown steadily alongside hip hop’s mainstream popularity.” I agree with what he says, in the sense that Hip Hop has indeed evolved to a culture, but contains different subcultures that are scattered all around the world, whether it’s in Palestine with the Arab rappers, or it’s in Doha where L.O.T exists. I came to the conlusion that L.O.T is a world within the world of Hip Hop, its is in fact one of Qatar’s Hip Hop subcultures.

I finally asked the rappers what L.O.T stood for, and they have graciously accepted to send me a short paragraph written by El Mahi.

L.O.T Logo.

“No matter what beliefs you follow, we all originated from the garden of Eden. Whether your roots may flow through the Nile, climbed the heights of the Himalayas, or even wonder yonder upon the hidden valleys. With that being said, now you’ll be able to relate to and understand the meaning of L.O.T, which stands for “leaf of trust” and “loyalty, opportunity, talented”. We are a leaf amongst a whole tree, which symbolizes humanity. Our leaf consists of the people who we trust the most and who share the same drive and passion for multimedia. Keeping a closed circle is the foundation of what we stand for but at the same time we branch out music, videos, etc… To connect to society” El Mahi Hajo (Stage name: Mahi Mahi.)

These young artists are willing to spread their artistry and help out other local Middle Eastern talent blossom. They wish to “break the barriers” through the company they are creating called Blue Lime Productions. “We want to voice our stories, as the Middle East is a hot spot."

Check out their website some of their songs play when you open the window. (Warning: their might be some curse words in their songs, so listen if you don't mind them.)

Tune in for the Launch on November 1st 2012.

Check them out everyone, they really are worth keeping an eye on. They sick yo!

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.

Arabs: Bombers, Belly Dancers, Billionaires

As the blog posts can be about any aspect of sociology, in this blog I will connect this weeks reading, by Susan Williams & Travis Linnemann, about “Portrayals of Arab Terrorists in American Film”, with the music video of Jad Choueiri in Funky Arabs. Jad Choueiri’s music video is all about representing the Arabs in being a very similar culture and society to the west, and not the usual stereotype portrayed in Hollywood. According to this weeks reading, Arabs have been portrayed negatively in Hollywood, page 193, “Muslim Arabs have been stereotyped racially and religiously as the “cultural other” from the beginning of American cinema”. The lyrics of Jad’s song are trying to fight the negative representation of the Arab World, in fact the first sentence of the song says “ We are not what you see on CNN or BBC take a look at us, we’re not bombers we got the guts” using those words to describe and speak about the Arab image in the media is very interesting, especially by mentioning CNN, and BBC, the largest two news agencies in the world. Arabs always being portrayed by one of the 3 B’s, Belly Dancer, Billionaires or Bombers is the usual image portrayed in Hollywood. Later in the song, it’s said “you’re gonna experience, an Arab touch with a modern sense” the whole song moves on to showcase everything that is done in the west from tattooing to drinking, the video clip of the song showcases to the world that the societies in the Arab world are actually very similar to any other culture. I think this is a new and interesting way of showcasing that Arabs in reality are as similar to Hispanics, Americans, or even Europeans.

http://youtu.be/I4D6hJA846M

Picture: A representation of Arabs in Hollywood

Video: Jad Choueiri , Funky Arabs

Which door can I take?

Earlier this semester, in our Sociology class, our professor, Geoff Harkness, showed us a video of a sociology experiment that was done in the US. Watch below:

I thought if this experiment was done here in Doha, Qatar no one would conform and we would most likely have different results. On the other hand, our professor had a different hypothesis, where he believed people would conform.

So I went out and actually did the experiment as one of my assignments. I placed “ladies only” and “men only” signs on the Carnegie Mellon building doors here in Qatar. Here are my results:

I thought of many different reasons to why people acted in this manner. One of which is that here in the Middle East, specifically in Qatar, there is a stereotype that women are more oppressed and can’t always do what they wish on doing. So when they saw such signs in Education City, a space with six different American universities, they were disappointed and angry. Instead of being able to express themselves in their universities, they had to deal with the cultural restrictions there too.

Whereas for the men, I believe that the men acted out this way as a sign of masculinity. They refused to walk into the “ladies only” door and confidently walked into the “men only” one. We don’t see any of the men acting out on the experiment as being something they disapprove of. However, in minute 2.47, we see how this young man refuses to be pulled in to the ladies only door and forcefully walk into the “right” door, dragging the lady with him.

Our professor pointed out an interesting fact too, women happen to cross gender boundaries more often than men do. An example of that is, imagine a “man’s” sport, like football- that is usually accepted and women won’t get as many negative sanctions as a man, let’s say, doing ballet- now, THAT is out of the ordinary.

I would love to hear what other people think of this, please share any thoughts on why you think people here didn’t conform to this like they did in the US.

Misunderstood Societies

Food is common between all nations, societies and cultures. It is a way in which certain nations stand out. For example, the sensual curries and spices of India, the rice dominated plates of China. The noodle swirls of Japan, The pasta and cheese of Italy and France, Also the diverse colours of the gulf.

There is always food involved but the focus right now is on the sociological aspect of consuming this food. The way people of certain nations consume food is completely different from one another. Yes, many can be having similar meals due to globalization; however, they still maintain traditional dishes and ways of eating.

One sign of this ritual is in the Middle East, more particularly the Gulf. The people use their hands to consume rice when at a gathering, in other nations that is considered offensive or not of classiness and would receive negative sanctions from foreigners. It is completely acceptable, even so encouraged that people use their hands to consume rice in Gulf States. But never forget to use your right hand, or else you would be offending the locals!

Using utensils in The United States is acceptable more so than using your hands when eating lunch or dinner. As a matter of fact, you would receive positive sanctions when using utensils as they are seen to be cleaner and more efficient in consuming food. Especially something that can be as messy as pasta or soup.

Chinese and Japanese cultures use a form of utensils, called chopsticks. They are two so that the food (mostly noodles) can be taken up from the plate and taken to your mouth. There are certain ways in which you have to learn to use chopsticks in order to master the art of using them.

In conclusion, the ways in which people consume food can be different, but it all depends upon globalization. Perhaps one day we can all adapt to all sorts of ways to eat. Most importantly remove all sanctions imposed upon those who don’t follow rituals of eating.