Gold Dust

First of all, I want to thank everyone for participating in reading this book that our group assigned.  I was very nervous about how everyone would receive it, and I could see that there were some in the class who enjoyed the text and others who were not so keen on it.  That's fine, good even because it benefits discussion in our class.  I appreciate that everyone had an opinion on the novel, and am glad that in this class we are free to express these opinions.

Now for my own opinion on the novel.  At first I was not sure where the story was going.  I had read part of a novel by this same author before this, and was aware that he uses the desert setting in an interpretive way, and often represents human spiritualism through animals.  Because of this prior knowledge, I was looking for religious symbolism in the novel.  I was able to make a connection between the devotion that Ukhyyad felt toward the piebald and the idea of the Seven Deadly Sins, wrath, gluttony, envy, lust, sloth, greed, and pride.  I felt that all of these sins were represented in the relationship between boy and camel, and in the end did just what they could be expected to do; they dismantled an otherwise good and prosperous life.  The relationship that Ukhyyad had with his camel was certainly out of the norm to our audience, but I believe that to the Middle Eastern reader it would have ben steeped in in religious meaning.  

I also came to appreciate that the novel was a desert setting with nomadic people.  It was more difficult to understand the characters because of the less modern society in this novel, but I liked this aspect of the story because it was a side of Middle Eastern culture that I had not experienced before.  I really ended up enjoying this novel more than what I had originally planned, and am glad that we assigned it to the class, even though it was clear that not everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.  

Children's Books

On Thursday we were assigned to read the two children's books, "The Day of Ahmed's Secret" and "Sami and the Time of the Troubles."  The first read through of these stories, I was impressed with them.  I thought the first story, on top of being very cute, was a good example of the way that children of the Middle East celebrate the same self-accomplishments that young children here in the US would feel proud of.  The second story was a bit darker and held a little more weight for me.  The perspective of a young child being caught in the middle of a war was somewhat startling.  However, what really contributed the stories was being able to see the pictures that went with them.  

For "The Day of Ahmed's Secret",  I found the illustrations of everyday life in a Middle Eastern big city to be intriguing.  I thought that in many ways the illustrations were a good mix of modern Middle East and the traditional and more culture focused Middle East.  We held  discussion in class about the stereotypical images that we saw within the drawings, my own opinion is that these images were not that startling.  I think sometimes we confuse what is stereotypical and what is cultural, it's a pretty fine line.  So we need to be aware that sometimes, the things that we see that we deem as stereotypical, a word which is synonymous with "bad", it's possible that we are actually seeing the truth.

"Sami and the Time of the Troubles" had a much darker theme running through it, and after seeing the artwork I thought that it was absolutely beautiful.  It retained the language of a children's story while still telling a tragic tale about a boy whose home and life were being torn apart by a war.  The most striking part to me was the picture of the two boys playing guns, as though they were preparing themselves to fight this war in the future.  The conversation that was brought up by this book was intriguing and made me feel very sad.  Also, I think the entire class was able to agree that this was a better representation of modern life in the Middle East.

Although these two novels were somewhat heavy subject material, I don't believe that they were inappropriate for children because they relate to issues that Middle Eastern children are facing.  Children's books do not have to be light and fluffy to convey a relevant message to their target audience, and their audience does not have to be strictly children.  We have children's books here in America that deal with divorce, death, being an outcast, many topics that would not normally be considered "child friendly."  A good point came up during our class discussion, that children understand more than we think they do, and  just might perceive things more clearly than adults can through their carefully monitored social lenses. 

War in the Land of Egypt

I found the novel that we read for the first group presentations, War in the Land of Egypt, to be extremely informative as well as entertaining.  The book presented a really interesting representation of different classes in Egypt, the corruption that the lower classes face, and the way that respect is gained in the eyes of the Egyptian people.  The different characters in the book were all of different importance to the development of the story, and yet it seemed that they were all an integral part of what was transpiring.  I was able to grow fond of many of the characters simply because of their nature in the tough situation that they were facing, and others I grew an instant dislike for, such as the Umda.  What was really interesting to me though was that I grew a big fondness for Masri, who was the one character that we never got to hear from directly.  His situation, the pain brought to his family because of his death and the corruption coming from the classes above him as well as the government, was striking and I found that I sympathized the most with him.  

Hearing from Dr. Mughazy on Tuesday only deepened my appreciation of Masri.  Just the fact that the name Masri represents Egypt gave me a sense of what the character meant to the author of the book, and the weight of meaning that the struggles of the character would have carried to Egyptian readers of the novel.  I thought a lot of interesting points came up during our discussion, some of which shocked me.  The amount of studying that Egyptian people must do in order to succeed, and then not even having a good chance of getting a decent paying job?  It's incredible, and a little scary to think about.  It also showed up in our novel, where Masri studied all of his life and was very successful but still felt that the only way to propel his family forward was to serve in the army, and even  then he could not be guaranteed enough to support his parents and all of his sisters.

One of the most striking things that was mentioned during our discussion was when Angela asked about the reaction of Dr. Mughazy's family when he left Egypt, whether or not he met with disapproval from his family when he came to America.  His answer was something along the lines of, if you can get out you are encouraged to do so.  This carried a lot of weight for me.  It made me think that, while the people of Egypt do respect their country, they realize the corruption that it's government is bringing upon them and are looking for a way out.  I found this one statement to be the most intriguing one that came up in the discussion.

Thank you to the group for choosing this book, I really enjoyed reading it.   

Visiting the Mosque

I really enjoyed our trip to the Kalamazoo Islamic Center on Thursday.  I think that religion is one of the most important ways that people find to connect with each other and so it is important to be understanding and open to religions outside of your own.  I had taken a religion class last year that taught me a little bit about Islam, but nothing could compare to being able to hear about the history and meaning behind the religion from the Imam himself, and being able to see the religion in action.  I wish I could have stayed much longer than I did.  

I was very appreciative of  how the Imam was able to explain to us a lot of the  traditions behind Islam and that he took the  time to correct some of the misconceptions that we might have had about the religion.  For example, the ladies' prayer room being separate not because women are separated from men all together but because they want to protect their pride during prayer times.  I was also appreciative that the Imam was able to make so many connections between Christianity and Islam, which helped me in understanding Islam does not reject Christianity,  but rather does not take all of the same views.  All of this conversation was very accommodating and gave me the feeling that all were welcome in the Mosque.  I was happy to see that the Imam, although he is considered a religious leader, is very much just a normal guy, and I thought that the way he conducted himself during our time there was very welcoming, while still giving us the sense that he was serious about his  faith.

I am interested to see more of this faith in action and am very tempted by his invitation to come and join in on prayer one Friday.  

Comparing Homosexuality in the Middle East and America

On Tuesday we viewed a film that took a look at homosexuality in Middle Eastern men.  It was interesting to see the ways that homosexuality is viewed by people of this different culture and how it can be compared to views of homosexuality as perceived here in America.  Through the course of the film I was able to see many similarities between the perceptions of homosexuality from Middle Eastern viewpoints and the view of Americans.  I think that it was interesting to see that the modern day Middle Eastern men we met in the film were very much like men from our own country in the way that they perceive homosexuality.  They view it as something that is kept in the shadows, only revealing their secret after they have come to terms with it for themselves.  The feeling of needing to keep this way of life underground and the hesitancy to come to terms with it are all tendencies that American men might show when "coming out."  The way that the film represented the emotions that these men go through was very artfully done, and I was able to make many cultural connections between the Middle East and America.  The film also pointed out a lot of social patterns that we find here in the US concerning the gay community that is apparently a worldwide standard.  For example, the comment about the more powerful sexual partner being the one who gets the most credit in the relationship while the more passive partner is thought of more as the weak and less credible person in the relationship.  This is a pattern that I have noticed in the perception of the homosexual community in America, where the one who is more open about their sexual orientation is thought to be stringer and more credible as a human.  From my knowledge of Japanese culture I know that these patterns have also been observed there, something they refer to as seme and uke, where the seme is the more competent sexual partner and gains the most respect in the relationship.  It's interesting to realize that these patterns emerge in many cultures and also interesting to think that they designate some sort of important role to what is normally considered a taboo topic.

I enjoyed the fact that this film presented a little evidence of the history of homosexuality in the Middle East.  I came to understand that it was not always considered such an unacceptable topic and in some places was considered a norm for Middle Eastern men.  I liked that the film put this information in there because it helped to clarify that the presence of homosexuality is just as old in the Middle East as it is anywhere else.

Over all I liked the ideas that were presented in the film and felt that it was a real eye-opener to just how human the people of the middle east are, and how they share many of the same concerns as  people here in our own country.  I was very appreciative of this sort of topic being brought to our attention in a class where we might normally not have focused in such delicate subject matter.  It was a bold move and really helped me to visualize the bigger picture of who Middle Eastern people are.

Blood and Oil

After watching the film "Blood and Oil" I'm really having a hard time forming any sort of concrete opinion about the film and what the meaning behind it is.  I learned a lot from this film about our relations with the Middle East and our dependance on Middle Eastern oil.  I was really very surprised to have this dependance brought to my attention.  This is something that I was always subconsciously aware of but never really thought about in depth because, well, it's just not in my interests.  So my realization of this degree of dependance on the Middle East is rather shocking to me and, considering the now shaky relationship we have with the Middle East, it is a rather scary realization.  This film also helped to make me aware of the involvement of the US in the training of Middle Eastern soldiers as a means of keeping good relations with the people who control the oil that we need so much.  Again I had a subconscious awareness of this but never realized our degree of involvement.

I think the film would have made a bigger impact if it had included more than one person's opinions and if the clips had been more organized to fit the film.  I really felt that the fear factor card was being played throughout the whole film, and to be honest this kind of irked me.  I understand the need to invoke fear to get to action, as Andrew mentioned during our class discussion today, but I just kept thinking throughout watching the film that it was deceptive.  Was I watching a documentary, as the film appeared to be when it first started, or was I witnessing a call to action?  It confused me, and I felt a little manipulated.  

Still, the film does contain some great information and definitely was intriguing in that way.  I'm not so sure I agree with everything that was being conveyed, but I'm glad to have it come to my attention all the same.

I have more to say on this, but I'll have to get back to it later on.