False: Women must wear traditional garments. Men don’t have to.

One thing I realized that we didn’t focus on in our project was the fact that men and women wear similar garments. The men wear the long white ropes and head coverings. The reason I bring this up is because I was made aware of another misperception people have here in the US about the Middle East. It was over dinner and I was discussing with friends what I had learned about Islamic culture while visiting Dubai. My friend says to me that her issue and reason why she has a problem with the women wearing the traditional garments is because the men do not have to do the same. When I realized that this was her impression, I quickly stated that this wasn’t the case. I said that both genders wear similar garments, they just happen to be different colors and it really all depends upon the place and the person. I think this issue is at the core of the idea that all muslim women in the Middle East are oppressed by the men. It seems so obvious now that people might think that the men didn’t have to do the same. Now that I am aware of it, I will be able to make a strong argument against this false impression.

My First Bus Ride Impressions of Dubai

The bus showed up early and to Bernard’s surprise neither he nor the driver had any idea where we were supposed to go. Three mobile phones later, the Mica exchange girls and bearded Bernard were circling the block of the hotel until the Zayed teacher, Nancy arrived at our hotel to guide us through the rapidly urbanizing dust flying city. Tall impersonal modern buildings gave way to shorter adobe structures. Compared to the metallic shine of the skyscrapers these sand colored dwellings seemed to mesh so well with the landscape; almost as if the desert had opened up and popped them out of its brown dry earth. As we got into the residential areas the minarets from local mosques peered over the houses. Intricate mosaics of interwoven lines swirled up the carved towers. In the distance the tallest building in the world to be leered down upon the neighborhood. Its metallic form glowing in the sun. Nancy wondered if the girls would arrive on time or late to Maryam’s grandparent’s house. It was common here to arrive later than expected according to Nancy. Not all that surprising since most of Europe is the same. However we were the ones who arrived late to meet the receiving line of local Emirate abaya clothed women who would be our connection to this different culture. The girls were very welcoming and we were led into a huge room that was lined in couches, called a Majlis. The ceiling had huge crystal chandeliers that lit up carved wooden stars made up from two rotated squares. (continued by hand in my journal)

Bad Jokes and Verbal Garbage

My first week back in America has put my new found understanding of the Middle Eastern world to work. Once I got over my jetlag, I noticed a few large bright red flares of misperception calling my attention. The news and television has seeped back into my life with constant 24/7 blessed internet that comes without extreme temperatures. With this flood I was reminded how often the media continues to spread its toast with fear inspired jam. I guess I was naively hopeful that America might have righted itself out of the muck while I was away. A silly idea it might have been, but it led to my surprise at how quickly the project and experience would come into my daily life. Two things in the media drew my attention. 

First, I saw this Daily Show clip, a show I generally love. Jon Stewart was making a joke about this month’s New Yorker featuring Barack and Michelle Obama depicted as all of the rumors and fear related ideas surrounding their identity and his campaign. Jon Stewart’s joke was Obama shouldn’t be offended or even bothered by a political cartoon – only Muslim terrorists do that.

If I hadn’t had the experience I just had, I might have agreed. However my group had this discussion about that controversial Dutch political cartoon depicting Allah the joke infers. At the time I knew the Muslim world was upset. The news had mentioned the uproar. However I hadn’t seen anything about the massive boycotts on Dutch products that occurred in Dubai. In our talk I learned about how all the local newspapers listed the barcode numbers for types of Dutch cheeses and how the community supported each other in this peaceful protest. Other than the news I had no gauge or way to comprehend how exactly the Muslim world felt. Now just by knowing people who were effected, offended; people who I share friendship, I find myself offended at the insensitivity that originated in the first cartoon and now in the joke. The joke shows a lack of respect for another culture. It shows no recognition to a group of people who were deeply offended. It lumps all the offended into one category: Muslim terrorists. In a backwards way, the joke continues this idea that being a Muslim must mean one is also a terrorist. 

The other thing that drew my eye was this quick Ben Smith blog piece at Politico. The post:

On a campaign conference call with Florida reporters, McCain surrogate, and fellow prisoner of war, Bud Day, seems to have cast McCain’s foreign policy in stark, religious terms:

“The Muslims have said either we kneel or they’re going to kill us. … I don’t intend to kneel and I don’t advocate to anybody that we kneel, and John doesn’t advocate to anybody that we kneel.”

I think that Smith is correct to call attention to this sort of talk. Since he didn’t really take a position other than hint with the word “stark”, I checked out the comments. Some were defending McCain, excusing Bud Day for various reasons like his age. ( which makes me wonder how McCain will hold up in a few years ) Other comments were similar to the way I feel. Even with these, I felt the need to comment, to throw away this verbal garbage and post a link to our video. My comment:

Generalizing Muslims into one category is like saying all Americans share the same beliefs. Not all Muslims are terrorists. It doesn’t matter how old Bud Day is or even who he is- the point is, he is not the only person in America who has this belief. This belief reflects not just a 9/11 fear but a clear lack of understanding of the middle eastern world. Here’s a campaign that is trying to change some of these perceptions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMtxbhopkts

Work Completed

SUN Day 1- Discussion Introduction

MON Day 2- Dual Plans

TUES Day 3- Finalizing Concept

WED Day 4- Write Script in English and Arabic, Create Storyboard (1 min. max.)

THURS Day 5- Create Graphic Design for Poster, Stickers and T-shirt

SUN Day 6- Filming, Editing

MON Day 7- Re-filming, Editing

TUES Day 8- Design Editing and Finalizing

WED Day 9- Printing, Presentation editing

THURS Day 10- Present

Flock 3

Our group faced a few bumps in the road the past few work days. Our filming on Sunday was all for naught because the format would not comply with the editing program so we had to reshoot the following day. Though we lost a day this ended up being a blessing because we were able to film with better equipment (thanks allen!) and the script was pretty well rehearsed because of the day before so our shots came out with alot more confidence. 

Our group has a alot of optimism and a great sense of humor, which has been alot of fun to be around during this process, it allows our energy to remain upbeat when we are getting work done. Although the subject matter of our discussions are fraught with heavy political matter, the atmosphere remains open and accepting of our differences.

Arab Women

Arab women are considered as the support beam of the society. They hold a special position in the Arab world, where their sayings are respected and taken in consideration. Arab women are allowed to be educated, have an opinion,  work, and  choose whether to  marry or not.  So this means that the Arab women are not  forced to do anything or silenced in any way.

Public vs Private

In America, fashion and clothing are used to express one’s unique personality. At MICA this is especially evident among some students, each struggling to out do one another to look like an “artist”. Unfortunately we sometimes (perhaps often) judge one another based upon this surface shallow perception. Americans recognize this fault and many try to swim against this tide of consumerism, but the current is strong and our fight is constant. It wasn’t until I came to the UAE that I realized how public our bodies have become. Over time the amount of clothing considered acceptable for American women has reduced. Today women can wear short shorts and tight shirts or a long shirt and leggings that leave barely anything hidden. A tiny amount of fabric compared to the long dresses and multiple under layers women wore a few decades before. We wear things that our ancestors would never have been able to conceive. I think America could stand to learn from Middle Eastern culture. The large percentage of American people with eating disorders and low self confidence could be directly related to how we see our bodies as public domain. Believing this enables us to make comparisons and judgments about one another and to measure our self worth upon appearances rather than the whole person. 

So Jazarish!

Through our discussions of our logo and concept, language is brought up quite often. Communication is the fundamental way humans interact with each other; the English language dispels the “Babel” story because it is used world wide. For those of us that speak English as a first language, we have a responsibility to show interest in the cultures we interact with by participating in their cultures as well, because other cultures are doing so much to learn about us; this is a way to dispel many of the stereotypes about Americans that depict us a culturally ignorant. 

Our group has come up with it’s own word for cool, Jazar. In Arabic there is no slang but in English slang is the fundamental way we categorize each other. Where Middle Eastern people pay attention to lilts in vowels or emphasis in hard consonants to determine where a person is from, English people pay attention to the flares in word usage to do the same thing.

who i am ,,

i am free,, i am who i am,, i am a Muslim facing the world with my pride,, the thing in me can’t be changed because it grew with me and it’s part of me,, i am who i am,, i need to change the view of the world because we are not the savages they say we are,, we live in peace,, and try to spread peace,, posted is a video shows a lot of things about us,, it shows how we are helping Muslims in other countries and caring about, as our religion tells us to do,, 

(ID)ENTITY

My identity is the only thing that makes me stand out. It is because i am an Arab, i was given a label, a false one i’m afraid. As a practicing Muslim my choice was to follow the teachings of “MY” profit, and protect my beauty and pride by covering up. I choose not to reveal my precious treasures to the eyes of the public because i do not consider myself as a cheap piece of good that is sold in bulks. By covering up i hold on to myself respect. I am not forced to cover up. If other people choose not to understand me then i don’t think that i need to explain myself to them.