Frontstage vs. Backstage

Today I decided to go to a casual café, one that is considered a place where middle-class people go. I wanted to analyze it using the dramaturgy theory. This theory states that organizations can be examined like plays or movies. They have a setting, actors, roles, an audience, forestage and backstage behaviors. I went to a café called Bayt Al-Shami.

I observed peoples’ behaviors, the customers, and the waiters. I listened in on their conversations and I observed their behaviors.

In Grazian’s chapter about interaction theory, he talks about the fact that culture is determined by the social contexts in which we interact with others.

In a cultural context such as the one I was in today, there are certain norms and behaviors I expected to see, and others I didn’t expect to see. For example I expected to see middle-class people, behave moderately classy, yet not as classy as what I would expect someone to behave in a hotel. The norm would be for them to, not yell in the middle of the restaurant, yet not whisper in order for them to be classy.

The setting was a very regular setting, casual middle-eastern seating, low Arabic music playing in the background, and mixed gendered groups of people sitting together, whether they were friends or family.



The front stage behavior, which is the behavior that takes place where it is visible to the audience, i.e. the customers in the restaurant, was also very predictable. People are socialized to act a certain way based on the setting they are in, and for a place like this, it was normal to see children running around, and people occasionally getting loud.



As for the waiters, they’re expected to occasionally hover, to be polite, however, they’re not expected to be as professional as classy as waiters are in a hotel restaurant, and not as trashy as they are in a cheap “guy sheesha” places. Which is also what I observed in the front stage.



The back stage behavior was particularly interesting. I got close to the kitchen area and snapped a few pictures hoping one of them would be slightly clear, and I hovered a little to listen in on their conversations.



Some were yelling, some were laughing really loudly, and one of them was sing Baby for Justin Bieber, as his friends were huddled around him.

The drastic change between front stage and back stage definitely proved that the setting really does determine peoples’ behaviors.

Gender Socialization Conflicts in Doha

Food culture in Doha is one of the most important traditions that people uphold in Qatar. For example: if someone is visiting Doha for the first time, one of the things the citizens of Doha insist on offering the visitor is the food. Although the food recipes doesn’t necessarily originate in Doha, but people in Qatar perceive food as great social icebreakers.  

 Interestingly enough, when I observed the food culture in Doha I realized that the gender socialization notions and its applications in the Arab culture is conflicted. First, let me explain what I mean by the gender socialization. Gender socialization is the female and male genders’ learning process to the socially acceptable behaviors and attitudes to each gender’s role. 

In Doha’s culture, the culinary experience is one of the factors that gender is stratified by. Knowing how to cook in the Arab world is strongly affiliated with being a woman. Men are encouraged to know how to cook, however women are supposed and should know how to cook. They should also know how to serve the food for their fathers, husbands, and guests. From observation, I realized that this ideology conflicts with what’s taking place in the Arab restaurants of Doha. 

When I went to Bait El-sham, a Syrian restaurant,

 most of the waiters were males. I checked with the manager and he mentioned that the chef was a male too. Another Arabic restaurant that I went to is the Orient Pearl, which had very few female waitresses, much like Al Saha restaurant, Tajin, Damasca, and Morjan, which had mostly male waiters. Thus, the gender socialization that both genders were exposed to in their upbringing is conflicted with what’s applied in these Arabic restaurants. 

To further understand the conflict that’s taking place, I analyzed more Arab ideologies and gender socialization patterns that can be connected with this conflict. In Doha and the Arab world, there’s a huge distinction between the private, in the house, and public, outside of the house, sphere. The public sphere is more restrictive towards females. In Doha, part of the gender socialization that both genders are brought up with is that women can’t go out late, and can’t go out all the time, where as men are allowed to. 

 In trying to balance between the two deeply rooted beliefs that Arab men and women are brought up with, what became socially acceptable is that men should cook in these Arabic restaurants because it’s a male dominant society. Never mind the strong belief that cooking is associated with females, if the issue is one that has to do with gender, females are almost always contained in the private sphere of the home, something that we, females, are starting to break free from nowadays.

 

Tartans Got Talent

No, it is not a TV show; but an event that took place in Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar(CMUQ) in Education City this Thursday. The event showcased the talents of the various students studying in Carnegie Mellon, which included singing; playing instruments; rapping; beat boxing; and comedy. Other than that, the event is nothing like the show; there are no buzzers involved & nobody is judging anything. This event was open for students of all universities and even parents and siblings of students studying in CMUQ.



Since we covered Globalization and Glocalization for the previous class, I was thinking of the event in terms of five major elements of globalization – Multinational corporations; Ideology of capitalism; Governments; Resistance & Consequences. Lets start with the first element- multinational corporations. Now in every event that takes place inside CMUQ comes with free food for students. For this particular event the Shater Abbas restaurant was the sole caterer. Also, I had noticed the university had spent a large budget on special lighting and other effects for the area.



Hence, in this case, the restaurant and the companies providing the lighting and the audio equipment are the multinational companies involved.

Capitalism- The involvement of the multinational companied automatically paves way for capitalism or profits. Here, the restaurants that catered for the event earned a hefty profit. As mentioned earlier, a big budget was spent for lighting and audio equipment. The company responsible earned a big profit; also I have heard that the company increases its price for the effects every year. Moreover, the same event will occur next year as well and the Student Affairs dept. are planning to make it even better than this year.


Government- The forms of government involved here were the Student Affairs Department & the student body government (Student Majlis). All the performances were signed up and approved by the Student Affairs one week prior to the event. Also, Student Affairs and the Student Majlis handled the budgeting together.


Resistance & Consequences- There were a few conservative who were frustrated and disliked when girls were dancing during one of the performances. Moreover, there were a few students who were unable to participate as they came from conservative family backgrounds and their families were against it. All this contributes to resistance aspect of globalization. The consequences are not that many; however there are a few financial fallbacks. Since a large budget was allocated for the quality of this event; the other events that will be organized in CMUQ will be low-budgeted or cancelled (For example, previously there would a be a lot of free food events where every event staged within CMUQ would be provided with few food. However, in the recent years, very few events provide food due to decreased budget).

Every year, the event attracts hundreds of students across Education City from various universities. 

The link between food and culture

Every country has its traditional food. Like any other country, Qatar has certain types of food that represent the culture of the country. However, some of these types of food originated from other countries and then brought up in Doha. There are a several main dishes shared in Doha and amongst the Gulf countries as well which shows the cultural levelling amongst these countries. The main dish that is cooked in Doha is The Thibeeha, which is known to be a symbol for celebrations or occasions. This dish is composed of rice and herbs with meat. The Thibeeha is a very important aspect of our culture and beliefs, since it is to show respect for the guests. Welcoming a guest in the Qatari society is very important.

As a tradition, Arabic coffee must be served with dates. Dates are also part of the Muslim culture, and the production season of dates usually increases during Ramadan, which is the holy month in Islam. This is due to the reason that when its time to break our fast, we have to have at least one date before starting to eat.

There’s a cultural diffusion in Qatar when it comes to food. Food companies have been brought from all over the world to Doha, providing all types of food available. There is a wider selection where one can choose from. For example: Chinese, Lebanese, Moroccan, Indian, American, French and many other types of food. These range of different types of food allows Qatar to have selections and options for tourists to choose when they visit Qatar for the first time.

There are a few norms

when it comes to eating in Qatar. For example in gatherings, the youngsters should always allow the elders to sit first on the dining table and serve them anything they would request. This shows respect for the eldest. There are certain types of food in Doha that are preferably eaten using the hands. Fish and crabs for example are eaten using the hands. However, not everyone follows this rule but this is how most Qatari citizens eat fish and crabs.