Escape from Saddam

I really enjoyed, Escape from Saddam. I couldn't believe how graphic this novel was, just even in the very beginning when Lewis' Uncle Saad was telling him about having to join Saddam's army.
"You haven't got any choice. You've been called up, and if you don't go they will consider you to be a deserter. When they catch up with you--which they will if you are still in the country . . ." He made a deft flicking sign by his right ear to indicate its removal--the standard punishment for anyone who went awol. "I've seen people selling these ears on the black market so that deserters can have them sewn back on. Trust me, they are not a pretty sight" (6).
In the United States, with the exception of the draft, if someone does not want to be in the military, they don't have to. I thought the passage immediately after showed how the uncle was truly trying to talk his nephew out of his desire to escape the army.
"Saad looked around nervously, checking that no passersby--no matter how innocent they looked--could overhear our conversation. Idle talk had a tendency to find its way back to military intelligence, and the consequences could be severe. "I don't know, Sarmed. The stakes are higher now. Not attending university is one thing, but running away from the army is quite another. If any of my colleagues were caught deserting during the Iran-Iraq war, they were shot in front of their relatives and the families had to pay for the ammunition" (6).
I can't believe the last line, the family had to watch the execution. How terrifying and horrible would that be. It is such a different world, a different culture, one to me that's nearly unimaginable. His journey itself was incredibly heroic.

Waltz with Bashir

I thought this film was incredible. I was such a drastic change to what we had been watching all semester and even though it was animated, I think it was more powerful than had it not been. Most documentaries are somewhat flat, even Michael Moore the instigator, has his limits to his films. I think the fact this one was animated gave it such a different and more dynamic feel. The film definitely had some surrealism in it, but I think this was the best thing for the movie because it is difficult to portray dreams and emotions with tangible objects of typical film. By animating it, we could see how the characters' dreams were influencing how they responded to such a terrible tragedy. At the end, the director showed actual footage from the massacre and I found extremely difficult to watch emotionally. I think if the entire film had been done that way, I would not have lasted very long before getting too emotionally overwhelmed. Showing actual footage solidified the reality of this terrible event. I think it portrayed both sides very well. Of course we respond more toward the Lebanese because of what they suffered through, but the filmmaker (unlike most others) shows there are always two sides and there may not be a clear line defining them. There is so pity shown for the Israelis as well, not nearly as much, but they were still horribly effected by it also. I think this film shows another way of how to bring a non-traditional text or media into the classroom to help more people benefit by it. One knows when they are in the presence of a great, cerebral film because those few minutes of silence afterward are the class trying to process the amount and type of information that was presented and more importantly, they are giving it time to resonate within themselves.

Beheading the Cat, The Metallic Crocadile, Does This Make My Head Look Big and Guest

Part of this group's reading were two short stories, a novel and today we had a guest speaker. The first short story was called the Beheading of the Cat and I actually liked this story a lot. It was about a man who sees the ghost of his aunt Badriyya who is trying to match him up with a young girl of fourteen. The girl is portrayed by the aunt to be the ultimate wife, a slave in fact. He is already seeing a woman named Nadine, a free-spirited student. Nadine scares him, she is so wild and he is infatuated with her, but she makes him uncomfortable. I really liked Nadine's character, she knows what she wants and knows how to get it. If Abdul can't handle her, then it is his loss. She doesn't need a man to define who she is as a person. Abdul struggles with the traditional arranged marriage and values his aunt lays out for him, and wanting someone like Nadine to have a connection with, but at the same time also tame. I thought it was interesting that Nadine referred to him as her Lebanese Hamlet focusing on the key line "To Be or Not To Be" as a allusion to his wishy-washyness. Overall, I think this was a good story for their group because I think it showed the struggle between traditional Lebanese values (the aunt) and modern Lebanese values (Nadine). The second story was a little more difficult for me to understand. I was confused with the structure of the story, what the underlying meaning of the story was. We also read Does This Make My Head Look Big In This, which is a book about a 16 year old girl, Amal who decides after four days of serious consideration that she wants to wear the hijab to honor her faith. I found it interesting that she deliberated for only four days. To me it seemed like a short period of time. A girl's appearance is very important in high school and the fact that she is bullied for it at school, makes me wonder why she made the decision she did. But at the same time, despite the fact she is bullied she was courageous enough to stick to her beliefs. Finally, the guest speaker, Monica Eraqi I thought was fantastic. She was really so close in age, I could tell the class was very comfortable asking her questions about her life and really wanted to know more. It was great to hear what her experience with arranged marriages was like. The way she described it as being like eHarmony.com made it seem not so foreign. To me, it almost seemed more realistic. I'd rather have my family who knows me at my best and at my worst find me a husband than some computer program. I also thought it was so interesting to find out about her upbringing and how two very different cultures have influenced her life. Overall, I think the culmination of the film, readings and guest speaker gave us a good idea of what life is like for people of Middle Eastern decent living in Western culture.

Class Discussion

During our class discussion on Tuesday with the East meets West group, we watched a great short film on an Iraqi living in America and allowing everyday people to ask him questions called Talk to an Iraqi-This American Life. I thought this was a great way for Americans to get first hand knowledge from someone living the life, but what I realized is that people do not take advantage of this. Often, the Americans would tell the Iraqi what his life is like rather than letting him tell his own story. Even the soldiers serving in Iraq seem to have a tainted view of what life is like. What upset me was the one solider who was excited to go to Iraq. It bothered me because he was excited to go to war and it doesn't seem like anyone should be excited to go to war. I thought it was funny and interesting the man who asked if there were any fat people in Iraq. In someways it seems like it shows how little people really know about life outside America. But I also think it shows the man trying to make a personal connection with something foreign that he can relate to in a personal way. I was very impressed with the eleven year old girl, who wanted to apologize for our (America's) actions toward Iraq. I felt she was wise way beyond her years and the maturity she showed to understand the reasoning of adults and to see that it possibly can be flawed. I think this was a great idea, but I wish people would actually listen to him and allow him to speak his story because only then could they really learn something.

Arranged

I really enjoyed this film, Arranged, probably the most so far. I think it was a great way to start off this group about East meeting West. I liked how the two women allowed themselves to have the best of both cultures. The modern, American culture where Muslims and Jews both get along and can be good friends. And their traditional religious cultures by upholding modesty as well as their families' standards of arranging marriage. They were not pushed over by anyone, not the children, nor the principal, nor their families. I liked how the matches for each girl were what one would think of in the stereotype of a tradition arranged marriage; obnoxious, overweight, ugly, and old. But both stood their ground and held faith that the right man would come along. I loved Rochel's exercise on acceptance through the unity circle. I think this was a fantastic example of how to teach children about ignorance and that they all have choices on who they are friends with through a kinestetic activity. I would adjust this for high schoolers so that I could do something similar when I become a teacher. I thought it was great that the movie emphasized how both women's parents wanted the best for their daughters. I think there is a misconception that the women in arranged marriages have no choice, but my showing this it breaks down the stereotype to show these women do have choices. Overall, I think this was a great film to kick off this group and I really enjoyed it as well. I hope we have some time next week to discuss it!

Final Presentation Day and Class Discussion

Yesterday was the last day of our group's presentation. We wanted to hold a discussion about what we had done in the past week. First we started discussing the speakers we brought in. We actually got the second speaker from Egypt to come back for the last hour of class and talk with us again. I found it interesting what she said about in Egyptian families, women are the queens of the household and make the majority of the decisions. I also found it interesting that she said Islam is very sex-positive for women and if a woman is not sexually satisfied, that is grounds for divorce because to not allow it may push the woman to commit adultery. We also discussed the first speaker, Gulnar, and how she talked about the day her daughter started wearing the hijab. Gulnar said she would have told her daughter to wait to wear it, but instead did not say anything. We were trying to determine her reasoning behind saying that. Some people said they felt she wanted her daughter to fit in into American culture and that would make her daughter seem like more of an outsider. I found this confusing because it seemed like Gulnar would want her daughter to embrace the different aspects of their culture, including wearing the hijab. I liked though how she allowed her daughter to make her own decisions and did not force her to do anything she didn't want to do. We also discussed the film and the role the men play in the film. John said he noticed that all the men seemed to be portrayed as irrational and controlling. We thought that Fereshteh's husband was the most controlling because he bought her freedom, he had the ultimate control over her family for her entire life. Overall, I think everyone agreed that there will always be disagreements on how to follow customs and laws because everyone has their own interpretation of the laws.

Two Women

On Thursday we watched the film for our group called Two Women(1999). I was very interested in the last scene of the film when Fereshteh was finally free, yet she seems so hopeless and so helpless. She asks her friend and the friend's husband, "what am I supposed to do now?" All of her dreams, goals, and ambitions seem lost to her and likens herself to a "free bird without wings." I thought it was interesting that in the husband's death Fereshteh's children would go to a grandfather or uncle, but not to her. It shows how men dominate every aspect of society. What I thought was most interesting was the different types of men portrayed in this film. There were men who look for their lives in a bathroom. Men who stop and stare at women in the middle of the road. Men who are stalkers. Men who stick up and defend women. Men who are traditional father. Men who are controlling husbands. Men who are distracted doctors who won't give women the time of day. Finally, there are quality caring men such as Roya's husband who want the women in their lives to succeed. I think this is an accurate description of the different types of men in Middle Eastern society, primarily male-dominated. So looking at all the different types of men in this movie was really interesting.

Guest Speakers for Women in the Middle East Group

Today we had two guest speakers come into class to discuss what life is like for women in Islam and the Middle East. I think Gular was a great speaker and she definitely knew a lot about how women are affected by the Quran in Islamic countries. I found it interesting how she came to the United States and why she decided to stay. Gulnar came to the United States in January of 1981 to come live in Kalamazoo with her husband who was a graduate student at Western. She said her family started from scratch and that she went to college for four years, but never dreamed of coming to U.S. to earn a higher degree because she couldn't imagine leaving her family. Once she married her husband in 1980, she decided to join him in the U.S. with both of them having every intention of coming back. She had her daughter in 1984 and soon started to settle into American life. When she would go back to Pakistan she began noticing the uncomfortable living conditions. Cold water showers and power outages, she soon became more inclined to stay in Kalamazoo. She realized that Kalamazoo had become her home. I also found it interesting that several of the 99 names for God are female-based. It definitely reinforced the idea that Islam is a pro-women religion. I liked how Gulnar said that she feels that Prophet Muhammed was one of the first feminists. She gave a lot of great information, but for it being my group I was very disappointed with how today went. I felt like it would have been more educational for the class if Gular were allowed the full amount of time to finish her presentation and to take maybe 30-40 minutes to answer questions and further a discussion. I think a lot of great questions would have come up because my peers are very insightful and a great discussion could have ensued. If we had maybe one more day, I would have had the second speaker come in another day then on a third day we could have compared the two different upbringings of these women. There was too much information to digest today much less have an educational class discussion. The discussion was significantly hindered by not allowing the speakers to fully answer questions. There was so much interruption I don't feel that students really got an inside look to what life is like for women living in the Middle East and Islam. I felt these women weren't given the respect or the time they deserved. Hopefully, the rest of our project will go better.

Memed, My Hawk

Yesterday, we finished reading Memed, My Hawk and had a class discussion. It was a coming of age novel about a boy whose family is being starved and punished by a controlling landowner. He runs away at first to escape the constant beating by the Agha, but being away from home for so long he begins to feel guilty for leaving his mother and his responsibilities. He is captured and returned, and tries to solve his problems before his family starves to death. He becomes a brigand and fights for the Agha for his family and village. A brigand is an outlaw and highly romanticized within the novel. The villagers appreciate brigands because they are fighting for their land, rights and lives. I think in some ways we romanticized outlaws in our history. Yes, they were criminals, but if we look back to old Western stories of highway robbers those are romanticized as well. Outlaws like Billy the Kid, Jesse James, and Butch Cassidy have had films made about them or books written on them. I think there are a lot of similarities we can draw between our culture and that within Memed, My Hawk.

Dr. Mirzeler and Turkey Group's Short Stories

Today, Dr. Mirzeler came into our class today to introduce the book Memed, My Hawk to us. He started by explaining to us his youth then related his experiences back to the novel. I was surprised by the beauty of Turkey that Dr. Mirzeler showed us in his pictures. He showed us all different types of landscapes in this country; I loved all the medieval castles the most. I assumed, like most Americans, that the Middle East was all desert with no other descriptive landscape. In reality, there are mountains, valleys, deserts, swamps, and everything in between. He discussed the Turkish culture being based primarily on agriculture and how Roman/Greek remnants are still around from previous occupation. Even though this occupation was hundreds of years ago. Dr. Mirzeler told us of a bridge that was built and how no one can seem to figure out how. The current was so strong, and the bridge itself is very secure, despite being over 2000 years old. He also discussed honor killings, and how men are never involved in being killed, but Dr. Mirzeler himself would have been a victim of the cycle of violence had it not been for the quick thinking of his mother and other family members. I was dumbfounded by this, we see it on television or hear about it...but never really experienced it. I couldn't it is unthinkable, imaging have to make a decision like that. To harm one of my family members is not even worth considering to me. I read the short stories on Sunday and found them getting progressively more difficult to understand. "World for Sale" was the most understandable for me, but the man seems to have a very depressing life. To lose not only your wife, but your child as well and another family member on top of that would be unbearable. But it seemed as if the man had a disconnect with reality. There was not a lot of emotion, maybe because he was so numb from all the pain he couldn't feel anything anymore. I think what he wanted to do with the money was profound as well..."So this kind-faced, unkempt man sitting in the corner of the coffeehouse is the man who wanted to buy the world." Everything was taken away from him, so he wanted to buy the world to make up for everything he couldn't have. The next two stories we more difficult for me to understand. It wasn't that they were hard to read, more that the subject matter was difficult to grasp. I'm hoping that we discuss them in class tomorrow to have a better idea of their meaning.

Honor Killings in Turkey

Today we watched the documentary called Women on the Front Line in class. It was about the honor killings in Turkey and had a lot of unsettling information about these killings that I never knew. Going into the film, I assumed honor killings were where family members feel a certain member of their family as disgraced them. In order to restore that honor that person must be killed. This film showed me that many of these executions of primarily women are prearranged and done by a male family member. The film did not specifically define what a person would have to do to result in an honor killing, but in our class discussion we talked about rape being one of the main reasons. The woman, the victim is blamed for the rape and honor must be restored by killing her. How horrible is that? She suffers through an unimaginable act then is punished for it. I thought it was interesting how, while the film did not condone honor killings, they portrayed the murderers in a victimized light. It was said that there is a significant amount of social pressure that if the men assigned to kill their family members do not follow though, other men may kill them. One of the limited statistics in the film said that while currently the rate of honor killings has fallen; the amount of suspicious suicides has drastically risen. Families are beginning to try to disguise honor killings as suicides or play them off a murders because the punishment is greatly lessened for murders. One would spend life behind bars for an honor killing, while he would only get 7 years behind bars for murder or nothing for suicide. One of the women being interviewed said that laws alone cannot stop the honor killings, cultural codes must change first. I could not believe that these families are trying to disguise honor killings as suicides. To me, it seems like it defeats the purpose. Whatever the person has done they have publicly shamed their family. To now publicly commit an honor killing would not should everyone that the honor has been restored. I just could never kill any member of my family for any reason at all, no matter what they did.

Paradise Now

One of the very first things I noticed about watching Paradise Now was the military presence and when there was sound of gunfire how everyone ducked, but still went on with their business as if nothing happened. I was also surprised as the ease with which the characters discussed suicide. For Americans, it is still such an abstract idea even though it happens everyday. It's a taboo subject, but within the film suicide can be discussed without even flinching because it is considered "God's will". I found a general similarity between the novel Gold Dust and this film, which was once women get involved everything becomes complicated again. I was surprised by the irony of when they were taping the reasons for their suicide missions, that the camera breaks and he must be filmed again. It gives him a second chance to think about his decision. The phrasing used in this film was interesting as well. The fact that the decision itself was "God's will" and they are martyrs for a cause, not chosen by chance. Everything has purpose and I think this is how Khaled and Said are convinced that suicide is necessary. I can't imagine the feeling one would have, having a live explosive strapped to themselves. The terror going through their minds. I was shocked when Jamal said, "when the first one carries out the operation, don't watch him do it." I couldn't believe that this was said given the seriousness of the issue at hand.

Two Short Stories

I think the two short stories were an interesting choice in comparison to Gold Dust. I personally liked the Lawsuit better. I think it is a little more relateable except for the fact the father has more than one wife. But despite this, I took the new wife to be someone like a younger stepmother. A situation where the original mother is still involved, but the new mother is causing a significant amount of drama within the family. I thought it was interesting to see how she brought the lawsuit upon her "own family." I don't blame the family for being concerned about finances. I figured if the father didn't use a bank, his family would be more concerned for where it was being kept and who was taking money out of it....This whole situation really reminded me of step family within our own county and how it's portrayed in the media.

Gold Dust

I thought the novel Gold Dust was an interesting book. The main character, Ukhayyad, seemed like he was a very awkward man. In the beginning, he has all of these tremendous dreams of what he will do with his camel, but they come crashing down around him while he is trying to prove what a wonderful animal he has. The same thing happens when Ukhayyad has dreams of flirting with women, but then his camel ruins the moment because of a fight the camel has with another over a female. Ukhayyad has an undying love for his camel and it shows, not only in the way he treats his camel, but in his other relationships where he has put the camel above anyone or anything else. I was reading Ashley's blog about this novel and I totally agree. It does remind me of how friends of mine are with their own horses. A few girls I know would do anything for their animals, spend enormous amounts of money so these animals are happy. Its a difficult thing for me to understand because I have never felt that kind of love for an animal. But maybe in the same ways it's similar to a relationship with a human. To find an animal you make a connection with, that does not judge and accepts you for who you are. Maybe if one can find it in a person, they can find it in an animal as well. However, I think for Ukhayyad, his love for the camel has become so huge it does not allow him to make any connections with humans, especially women. "He despised women because, now, he looked at things with his eyes rather than his heart; and as his feelings melted into cool reason, Ayur's magic began to dissipate." I always think there is an issue when something becomes so important to a person they began to lose out on important and necessary human connections. I hope that Ukhayyad realizes what is happening because of his love for this camel.

The Day of Ahmed's Secret and Sami and the Time of the Troubles

These two stories were kids books where the setting was in the Middle East. Of the two the first one, The Day of Ahmed's Secret, was my favorite. I really liked how the story built up to him learning how to write his name. In class we discussed how other people were disappointed that this was the big secret. We also discussed how many people could not believe how Ahmed seemed older yet he was just learning how to write his name. I really liked this book because for a kids' book it really shows how excited a little boy or girl can get about something so simple such as writing one's name. If I were a little kid and didn't really have any formal education I would probably be that excited as well. I would want to build my parents up by telling them all day that I had a big secret. I think every little kid knows how that feels to have a secret and the relief it is to finally share it. I enjoyed this book because I think American children could relate to the same excitement of learning to write. In class we discussed the comparison between The Day of Ahmend's Secret and Sami and the Times of the Troubles. The second book was significantly darker compared to the first one. There was a lot more intense subject matter and even the colors of the pictures were significantly darker. I think the second one would be better for a slightly older group of readers compared to the first book. But overall I really enjoyed reading these books; it was interesting to see an American's take on Middle Eastern children's literature.

A Guest Speaker

On Tuesday, the first presentation group brought in Dr. Mustafa Mughazy to speak with the class about growing up in Egypt and give his opinions on the book, "War in the Land of Egypt."

I found what Dr. Mughazy was saying was so interesting. When he was talking about how much studying he did while in grade school, I couldn't believe it was up to 12 hours! He said it was because education is free over there, so in order to be successful one must be competitive. He said students would skip school just to stay home and study because they would learn more that way. I couldn't believe that students start increasing the amount of study time beginning in middle school. He also talked about how the grades that students get are determined by a final exam in the last year of school. A culmination of 15 subjects are covered in this exam and determines whether the student goes on to higher education, trade school, or no further education. To have that much pressure on an exam that determines one's life forever is incredible. Dr. Mughazy also said that in order to get into medical school, one must get between 98-99% on their exam in order to attend. If someone gets 97.9%, 0.1% of a point, they are not allowed into medical school and are limited to dental or another health profession.

In Egypt, the government offers free education at all levels which is different than in the United States where K-12 is free, but post high school one must pay tuition. So here, basically however much one can pay is the type of education one gets. I did a little bit of research on the educational system in Egypt. "In 1966, illiteracy in Egypt was estimated at more than 70%; in 1995, it was 48.6% (males, 36.4%; females, 61.2%). For the year 2000, projected adult illiteracy rates stand at 44.7% (males, 33.4%; females, 56.3%)." From this article I found out there is a total of 13 universities in Egypt. I really found all this information on the educational system very interesting, mainly because of my own interest in becoming a teacher.

Kalamazoo Islamic Center

On Thursday the class went to the Kalamazoo Islamic Center right next to Western's campus. We stayed for nearly two hours, and in that time I learned so much and had so many misconceptions and stereotypes broken down. I was so impressed by the Imam. He looked like he was only a few years older than us, but had such a wealth of information to offer. I think because he was so close to our age, he was able to relate his culture to something which for many is base knowledge in our own culture-Christianity. He made a lot of connections to Christianity and stressed the religious tolerance his religion has for others. In both Christianity and Islam, the religion asks the follower to do just that, be a follower and submit him/herself to God. Its just that between the two religions, the means to get there are different. I really liked how the Imam presented it almost like a history lesson, in that it wasn't pushy like how some Christian denominations can be. I found it really interesting the sense of community this religion has. It is a strong push for all followers to pray together in groups or in the mosque on Fridays to strengthen that bond. By encouraging followers to gather together there is a strong sense of community and family. I noticed how similar that was to our own class. I feel, that by having Dr. Webb have us spend 45 minutes the first day learning each others names and 5 minutes everyday after created a sense of community in our classroom. I've never had that with any other college class in the last three years. But I feel like I can make better connections with my peers because I know all of their names and feel "safe" sharing opinions during discussion. Overall, going to a mosque would have been something I never would have done if not for this class. I think this was definitely a cultural experience that I really enjoyed and think everyone should go at least once.

Relationship Between Homosexuality in America and in the Middle East

Today we watched a Middle Eastern documentary in class called, "The Road to Love." We were asked to compare or contrast to our own personal views or the current views in the United States. This film was out of my realm of likes for even me and I occasional venture into foreign or specialty films. I was very impressed, given the content of this film, that Andrew felt confident bringing this film into our class. But I also think it shows how confident he is in our class that we could handle the subject matter with maturity and be insightful. I think in many ways this film parallels the views in the U.S. about homosexuality, but at the same time there are some differences. Last Friday I went to see the film "Milk." "Milk" takes a look at homosexuality in the U.S. in the 1970's and follows the adult life of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to public office. I noticed between the documentary, "Milk," and current societal views, one of the parallels was how there are places that are very accepting of the gay community. In the documentary, it was Morocco. In "Milk" and currently, San Fransisco is seen as the best example of an accepting community. "Milk" also showed how difficult it can be to come out, people telling you constantly that you're evil, that they want to fix you. Harvey explains how several of his lovers have committed or attempted to commit suicide. In the documentary, one of the interviewee's similarly talked about his identity issues and how his parents did not take his coming out well at all. One of the things that's different between the documentary and the United States was the view that society can accept homosexual interaction on the part of the "active" man during sex. Middle Eastern culture seemed to accept them as "real" men. The "passive" man is ridiculed and not accepted. In our culture, I don't think that generally people make the distinction. I do hear of the more macho men justifying it in the same way here, but I don't think ordinarily there is a distinction. I think this film was definitely an interesting perspective and topic to bring up in discussion. It also opened us up to foreign films which many people do not normally or even occasionally watch which was a good cultural experience.

9 Parts of Desire

Tonight I went to see the play "9 Parts of Desire" put on by the University Theater. 90 minutes of five women telling nine different perspectives of Iraqi women living both in Iraq and in the United States. It was such an intense play, the actors were so impressive in their ability to recreate emotions these women must have felt. I really enjoyed the girl who lived in America explaining how she felt trying to get a hold of her family in Iraq during the bombings. It was incredible the raw emotion that came out when her family actually got through after 9/11. I also really liked the perspective of the painter and the play itself had some great quotes. I think this class has taught me to have a different outlook on the Middle East, but this play really solidified things, for me at least. It's one thing to listen to documentaries analyze films or actions, but to actually hear a real woman's perspective gave me a better understanding of what life is like and how the U.S. is viewed over there. Tonight I am going to to pick out passages from the book that I was reading earlier. I decided to keep the book because I think some of these stories might fit in well with the information we got from watching the play. The accounts are short and I think they might supplement the other stories well.

Blood and Oil

I watched the documentary tonight about the ongoing battle for oil in the Middle East called "Blood and Oil." I thought it was really interesting how it related exactly to what we discussed in class on Tuesday. How we (the U.S.) puts shady people in power to help our own goal of maintaining the flow of oil into the U.S. and then we have to go back later and take out those people like Saddam and Osama who WE put in power because they're terrorizing people. I also thought it was interesting because in class we talked about how the U.S. has to have their hand in everything. A perfect example of this is when we told Saudi Arabia that we would only occupy his country until the war in Kuwait was over which was the only reason he accepted our presence. But realizing that the only way to ensure the U.S. was getting the oil that we needed, our government decided we needed to be a constant presence. So before the war was finished, we decided we needed to contain Iraq which trumped the decision to leave and allowed the U.S. to have a permanent presence. It bothers me that we have to be so involved in everything. I know it is because of oil in these instances, but when I think about the way many of the countries in the entire world act...I get this image of the playground. I think of each country as a typical child you might find. I may be stereotyping and may need to edit this later, but I think of the U.S. as two different kids. I see us as the bully who is able to physically push others to the ground. But I also see us as the gossipy girl running around sticking her nose in everyone's business. Then all of the other countries would represent kids of the playground. The nerd, the athlete, the tag along, the wing-man, the trouble-maker. If you look at it, the countries as a whole are all acting like children, and some of those children are waving around daddy's loaded gun (WMD's and such). Even the U.S. has "Plan B" in his/her back pocket. Though she may not be blatantly waving it around, all the other children know its there. I just get frustrated that the government feels the need to lie and say its not about oil, but its obvious that oil is the driving force behind ever decision. When we (the people) call them out on it, they still lie right to our face. I think the film really shows that, how oil is the basis of every decision.

Group Project, Paper, and Life

I've been working on the group project a little bit. Our group decided to go to the play, 9 Parts of Desire and my group member Bailey and I will go this Thursday to see it. I think this play will really help us understand what being a woman in Iraq is really like. I think it'll help us prepare a good lecture and especially if other students see the play beforehand, we will have prior knowledge to pull from. I also finished my paper last night. I remembered in class, Rachel talking about some websites she found on gender roles and familial relationships. I was able to use those to help support my paper. I thought it was really interesting the comparison I could make between Turkish culture, Egyptian culture, and our own stereotypes. Everything's been pretty busy lately...but I remember a phrase that I learned in my communications class. Dumela! It means in South African, "hello or good day." But the way we used it in class was, "I believe in you, I affirm you, I support you."

Dumela!

Frustrated...

For the group project, I've been looking into information on Women in the Middle East and the book I chose was one that won't work for our group. I chose a book called "Women of Courage, Intimate Stories from Afghanistan," but it won't work for our group because it is just a collection of interviews. It doesn't seem to have a lot of substance for what the goal of the group project is to be. I did begin searching for films for us to watch during our presentation. The one given is called "Two Women" (1998) directed by Tahmineh Milani. This film chronicles the lives of two female students in Iran and how these two different women live their lives. I looked this film up online and found it for about $3.00 at half.com and Rotten Tomatoes gave it an 83% rating. I decided to keep looking for other films that would work well with our group project as well as other novels, since mine didn't work out!

Aunt Safiyya

While reading the novel, Aunt Safiyya, in the last two chapters the reader meets “the outlaws.” I find this term interesting because to me, it is used to describe a group of criminals. The image I get in my head is of the traditional American, old western outlaw. A rugged, rough and tumble criminal that drinks excessively and is not entirely all that smart. But the image the book portrays is one of maybe a group of rogue militia, but at the same time their interaction with the narrator’s father, Harbi, and the other monks definitely contrasts the standard image one gets with the term outlaw. These men are friends or at least sympathetic to Harbi and want to honor him as well as his friends. The bring gifts and are respectful to Harbi, the narrator’s father and even the villagers. When asked to leave because the image of having outlaws staying in their village looked inappropriate, the leader, Faris, reacts calmly to the request as opposed to Hinein. Faris even tells the narrator’s father that they arrived to the village by train which significantly contrasts the image in my head of country western outlaws thundering in on horses. I thought this was a very unique view of criminals for this novel, and it was one of situations that broke down a stereotype I had of what an outlaw is.

Aunt Safiyya

Reading the novel, Aunt Safiyya, one scene that caught my attention was in chapter two. The scene where the bey beats up and tortures Harbi. First of all, I didn’t understand why the bey was so upset in the first place. I got the feeling that based on his old age and senility, Harbi may have said something that angered him and he got paranoid. In his paranoia, he found Harbi a threat to his family and decided to take action against it. Secondly, I could not believe the scene where Harbi is being beaten up and tortured, and the narrator must watch. It was so graphic and angry. Harbi was pleading with his father, pleading with the narrator to stop and go get help. Then when the bey’s guards tied him up to a tree and began picking him up and down, scratching the skin from his back and legs, it was so torturous and cruel. The bey shows his callousness when Harbi is pleading and he continues to taunt and prod at Harbi’s chest. It seems to me that in this novel, same-sex relationships are very violent and volatile. The way the narrator’s mother disciplines the female children- physically hurting them for dropping a plate of cookies and basically for no real reason at all other than they turned out to be girls. The male-male relationship between the bey and his nephew, Harbi is just as violent. In our culture, most would never consider harming family like that, but in this culture it’s different. However, the opposite sex relationships are strikingly different. There is a significant amount of respect that one sex has for the other. In the relationship between the narrator’s father and Safiyya, though he has the final decision, he allows Safiyya to have a good amount of say in her relationships. I think the respect that is there is so great that it confuses be because the same-sex relationships are so violent. It was interesting to look at the familial social relationships in this family and culture.

Aladdin

In watching the film, “Reel Bad Arabs,” last Thursday an interesting topic came up in our class discussion. Most of my classmates pointed out how the commentary on the Disney film “Aladdin” really struck a cord with them. It did for me as well, and in “Reel Bad Arabs,” Shaheen discusses how the soundtrack in the film exemplifies this negative view of Arabs. Part of the song in the opening credits says, “They’ll cut off your ear if they don’t like your face. It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” If we take a look other aspects of the film rather than just the lyrics themselves, we can see other ways of how even Disney has exemplified the negative view on Arabs. One thing that caught my attention was the accents given to the characters. Like all Disney films, the most basic plot is good versus evil. In “Aladdin,” the “good characters” Aladdin and Jasmine are up against the villain, Jafar. Important things to notice is American accents are given to Aladdin and Jasmine, but a stereotypical Arabic accent is given to Jafar. I bet if the three characters mentioned had their images put side by side and a child was asked to point out the bad man, he or she would immediately point to Jafar. Even the way the characters are drawn in a cartoon promotes the stereotype. Jafar was given more of the facial features associated with Arabs as well as made to look more sinister. Jasmine and Aladdin had less pronounced Middle Eastern features other than they were slightly browner in color in comparison to traditionally white characters. Other than that there really weren’t any defining facial features that would make them look “Arab.” There is an underlying message that Disney is promoting and their main demographic is young children. So even our youth are being taught from the time they can watch films that Arabs are bad.

"Reel Bad Arabs"

Last night I watched the short film called, “Reel Bad Arabs” for my ENGL 1100 class. Our focus is on Middle Eastern Literature and Film, and in this movie Jack Shaheen explains how Hollywood vilifies Arabs in accordance with several different agendas. The way Arabs are vilified that I found most interesting was in the case of American films portraying Arabs using a negative stereotype according to the U.S. government’s political agenda. Shaheen explained how three different events changed the Arab image after World War II, including the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, the Arab oil embargo, and the Iranian revolution. In the case of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, the U.S. government sided with Israel which put Palestine in a negative light. Shaheen explained that especially in the 1980’s and 1990’s Washington policies dictated how the country viewed Palestine, it was primarily seeing them as terrorists rather than people. So, for instance films like “Rules of Engagement” show a slaughter of people by American armed forces as a righteous killing. In the film, as in real life as well, if Arabs are not seen as human then anything can be justified. I think this is an important connection to make to the Holocaust of World War II. The mass genocide by Hitler shows how downright hatred for a group of people perpetuates violence because that group is seen as less than human. There is no emotional connection for those committing the violence to make, which is also a connection that can be made with African Americans in the United States. A group of people vilified because of the way they look or the images and stereotypes that surround them. Overall, I thought it was interesting how much Washington policies dictate American film. We see it now, a governmental push for an environmentally-friendly country and some of the more recent films out of Hollywood mirror that same push such as “Wall-e” or “The Happening.” I did like the film “Reel Bad Arabs” though; I think for our class it will be important to see how literature and film influence our cultural ideas on the Middle Eastern world.