Nice White Ladies in NUQ

In Hollywood films, there is a high school film genre, in which films focus on a certain high school as there setting. Usually in these films, the class room is filled with troubled, underachievers, who are saved by one teacher or principal (Sutherland, Jean, and Feltey, P.71). One common theme is the "Outsider as the Teacher-Hero". This theme can be seen in films such as Dangerous Minds and Freedom writers. In these films, the classroom consists of ethnic minorities and the teacher is the "white savior" that saves the day and communicates with the students is a middle class white teacher who is new to teaching and does not belong to the community (Sutherland, Jean, and Feltey, P.71).

  

Even though Arabs and Qataris are not ethnic minorities in Qatar, however, some professors who come here think of themselves as saviors that came to educate these poor little Arabs who live in the middle of the desert. For some reason, these “nice white ladies” do not seem to differentiate between the fact that they came to Qatar for a paid job, and in return, they get so many privileges just for being ‘white’. However, this form of social inequality is not even the problem. The problem is that some ‘nice white ladies’ have crossed the thin line between being an educator and being orientalist. When the ‘nice white ladies’ could not get over their fascination with the Qatari and Arab culture and traditions. Their preconceived stereotypes of Arabs living in deserts and moving around with camels confuses most 'nice white ladies' that come to teach in the Arab world, especially in Qatar. When these 'nice white ladies' see the real lifestyle of Arabs it conflicts with all the preconceived notions they have been socialized to believe in through years and years of reproduced stereotypes through different agents of socialization, but especially movies. When these ideas conflict, the 'nice white ladies' fascination with Abayas and high heels and brands make them disregard the fact that the people who wear such stuff still have brains.

  

vs. 

 

It is important to note that the dynamics in Qatar are different than those found in the films. In the films, the nice white ladies are from a higher social class than the students, while in NUQ, a lot of the students are from a higher class than the professors who usually come from a middle class background. 
Usually, social class can be defined as a group of people who share a similar position in society based on wealth, education, and occupational prestige. However, in Qatar, what matters the most to social class is race. So even if the professors get a lot of privileges when the come to work here, however, they are still in a lower class than the Qataris. 
Unfortunately we have some nice white ladies (and men) in NUQ and Education City, that just because they are white teaching Arabs mainly and other nationalities made them think of themselves as saviors, and just because Qatar chose to bring American Universities made them believe that we –as Arabs- aspire for “Western modernity”, and that they should teach the "spoiled Arabs and Qataris" the value of education and liberty. 




References: 
Sutherland, Jean, and Kathryn Feltey. "Social Class." Cinematic sociology: social life in film. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press, 2010. 75-79. Print.

You and Your Coffee

I hate Coffee. I do not understand why people like it or use it to wake up. It tastes so bad. Perhaps the bitter taste keeps students from drifting off to dream land. All I know is, apparently, you are as cool as the coffee cup you are holding.

In Education City, an awesome and wonderful place full of weird social habits, I noticed an interesting pattern when it comes to students. Every morning, they spend riyals and riyals on different beverages to sooth their dropping eyelids. We do not have a lot of coffee shops and cafeterias, or a lot of food options for that matter, but even so, we managed to make distinctions based on our social class.

Most Qatari people, for example, get their coffee from Starbucks. Although this sounds very general, it is true. Starbucks is fairly expensive, especially in this region, so people from the elite class will tend to buy things from there, even though there is nothing special about it. I mean other than the fact that the cafeteria’s coffee sucks so bad, there might be another reason as to why people buy water from this place even though it is located in a faraway building.

It could be as simple as this. “I am rich and I want other people to know that.” Or, “I am rich and I must buy from this place because that is what other rich people do and I do not want to stand out.” Whatever the answer may be, it is clear that in Qatar, we practice the concept of conspicuous consumption.

Like everywhere else on this planet, everyone in Qatar belongs to a class system. A class system exists when people are ranked according to characteristics such a as income. The richer you are, the higher the rank you are in. Those who have the same rank belong into the same social class. A social class is a group of people who share a similar position in society based on wealth, education, and occupational prestige. For example, rich people with well-paying jobs and a good education belong to the same social class, the loaded class.

In any event, people like to show off their rank in society and do so by buying things that say that about them. Conspicuous consumption is an attempt to display class and status through the purchase or consumption of high culture and luxury goods or services. Starbucks is expensive. We are expensive. Therefore, we must buy Starbucks. 

Now that we think we understand what's going on with the Starbucks people, let's see what kind of coffee do others buy. The second group of people, the “regular people,” tend to buy from the more reasonably priced, Gloria Jeans. They are rational, with a hint of self-love. “I’m gonna spend some money on a Latte because it is delicious. Also, people still think I’m classy.”

Then there are the smart students, those are the ones who think a cup of coffee is neither worth the distance, nor the price for social distinction. They usually buy the ready-made coffee that the cafeteria provides, downstairs, near their classes.

Although this is might sound really general, but when you go to Starbucks most of what you see is black and white (if you know what I mean) and when you go to the other places, most of what you see is expats. There is always a connection between class and race/ethnicity. It is difficult to separate the two even when we try to not be racist and stereotypical about it. It’s just what it is and it happens for so many reasons that are beyond what we can comprehend. All I know is, it’s interesting.   

This morning, I went to three different coffee shops to document the coffee drinking patterns of the EC community. 

Even though this exists everywhere, it is important to note how ridiculous it is if we actually think in that manner before we buy things. We should not try to confine ourselves in those “norms” we are creating because they will eventually suffocate us and limit us. One day we are going wake up and realize it is not about the people. It is about the coffee.

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!