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.

  

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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.

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.

Al MuQanaa' - Qatar's Man in the Mask!

In the streets of Doha, I came across Ahmed Mohammad Al Jaber. He is also known in Arabic by his alias, Al Muqanna'. As we grew up in Qatar, the sight of his cars and motorbikes always drew our attention outside of our portable video games, and we'd peek from our cars to take a look at this enigma. During my sophomore year, I filmed a short documentary about him, but for this blog I met up with him and found he was exactly as I had last seen him!

Al MuQanaa' posing with one his motorbikes!

Al MuQanaa’ earned his name after participating in a car race, many years ago in Qatar, wearing a “batman” shaped face mask. Since then he has been known as the “man in the mask.” He spends his days in his Majlis, which was granted to him as a gift from the Emir. In a secret parking, he also keeps his treasured cars, each which he uniquely hand-designed and pampers every day. He has three cars and a few motorbikes.

Al Muqanaa' talking about his cars

Al Muqanaa’ is a perfect example of subculture in Qatar. His creativity has encouraged more people to follow in his footsteps and design cars to entertain pedestrians. “I like that there are other people who appreciate the art of cars,” he said about the people who have taken the initiative to decorate their cars like his.
Everyday at sunset, summer or winter, fall or spring, Al MuQanna takes one of his “rides” out and drives along the popular streets of Doha. He blasts his favorite Iraqi tunes on maximum volume, rolls down the windows and embarks on his journey. Al MuQanaa’ is known for his distinct look, long hair and a fu Manchu mustache. According to Ken Gelder, a subculture is composed to two symbolic subsystems, the plastic form, and the infrastructural form. Al MuQuanna’ has a distinct sense of style and he listens to a certain genre of music. These elements constitute the “plastic” subsystems. Moreover, he has developed a ritual of going out at sunset or any special occasion, such as Eid or National Day to celebrate. “The Emir used to let his children ride in my car when they were kids,” he said. Also, clearly, he is resistant to innovation because he has maintained the exact same style and look for decades.
Al MuQanaa’ belongs to a subset of society, that is distinguished by unique aspects of its clothing, style and "performance practice". Most subcultures have a unique practice of performing their “art.” In the case of Al MuQanna, it is taking his cars to the street and driving around. “Nothing makes me happier than to see the children smiling from their cars, and the people look at me in disbelief, but I know they enjoy it.” Although in many cases, the subcultural performances take place behind closed doors, he takes it out into the public! The purpose of his art is to remind everyone about how Qatar is is safe and welcoming and break barriers between foreigners and locals through entertainment!

2 of his cars in the "secret parking"

New car he plans to decorate soon.

He aimed to remind everyone of how safe and welcoming Qatar is through art!