Makluba and the 'Culture of Cool'

Today I had lunch at my friend’s host family’s beautiful house. We had Maklouba – a traditional Jordanian rice and chicken dish served on a HUGE platter that everyone helps themselves from. It was fun to spend time with them and see a different side of Jordanian society (I’ve been meeting mostly young students). They have a live-in maid from the Philippines and live in a nice, gated neighborhood. Because the Ministry of Public Affairs is across the street from them – there is an M16 - toting guard across the street who Lily (my friend from the program) says gives her comfort walking home at night.

During the course of our meal, Fatima (a stylish, impeccably made-up Jordanian woman) began telling me about her 11-year-old daughter’s obsession with “America.” By this she meant that the kid is glued to Disney channel, idolizes Justin Bieber, and faithfully hangs on Oprahs every word.

 “She wants to be President of America, this one.” Fatima jokes.

Her daughter is only in middle school, but is already thinking of going to America to study and is totally keyed-in to her perception of American life. How many American kids her age could name a single Middle Eastern t.v show?

What does it mean to have one society that is so unilaterally focused on the other – taking cues on how to “be cool?”

I would argue that what we are seeing with the Occupy Wall Street protests sweeping across America and abroad, in the wake of the inspirational ‘Arab Spring,’ is actually a sign of the opposite. For seemingly the first time, it’s “cool to be Arab.” They’re not just greedy oil sheiks and one-dimensional terrorists and any other variation of diminishing camel-riding stereotype – they used massive nonviolent movements and social media to bring down powerful dictators.

They are now the ones worthy of emulation.

These shifting political trends must spill over into the cultural realm – still to be seen how they will manifest themselves especially given that most Westerners are starting from a place of ignorance and misperceptions about the Arab World. However, sitting at the dining room table today, I wondered if in ten years time Leen (Fatima’s daughter) will be listening to Jordanian music (as opposed to the Michael Jackson that she plays now!) on her ipod with her new American friends – who controls the “culture of cool?” 

Weekend Adventures hiking/Canyoning in Wadi Mujib

Wadi Mujib is a canyon that enters the dead sea BELOW sea level, making it the lowest-altitude nature reserve in the world...also one of the best places to walk though a river, propel down waterfalls :) 

 

Using the weapons of Non-Violence to break stereotypes

The Middle East?

My favorite class thus far is called the Arab Spring - a political science class in which we look at the various political and social roots of the events that that took place in the Middle East this past year. We each have to choose a research project topic for the semester. While I have not fully formed my paper title, I would like to focus on the application of strategic nonviolent action in the recent uprisings. The vast majority of the theorists that we read the past week either overtly stated r more subtly implied that revolutionary violence is a necessary prerequisite to breaking with repressive past and creating a peaceful future. In Revolutions and War Stephen Walt said that “mass revolutions are almost always bloody and destructive” – making the nonviolent component of the recent civil insurrections especially interesting to me because they seem to dispel this notion.

I also find this a good way to challenge stereotypes of Arabs/Muslims. I remember reading in James Zogby’s Arab Voices: What TheyAre Saying to Us, and Why it Matters that one of the big “supermyths” that Americans hold about Arabs is that they’re passive followers or autocratic leaders on one extreme or crazed terrorists. This, plus the image of the Arab as an irrational “bad guy” perpetrated by popular culture and the media (I watched the documentary Reel Bad Arabs which explores how Hollywood has consistently villafied Arabs) stands to be refuted by these strategic, nonviolent movements. On a side note, I wonder if a shifting American cultural perception of Arabs as more than just the “one-dimensional terrorist” but rather a young revolutionary capable of using modern technology (Facebook) to organize a non-violent movement will shape in any way U.S policy towards these nascent Middle Eastern states?

Bagpipes in Jordan ?

Roman ruins, the remnants of an ancient civilization in the heart of the Middle East….bagpipe music? Apparently the British introduced the instrument to the Jordanian soldiers who fought with them during the second world war….our tour guide said that despite our shock at seeing an Arab man in a kilt – it’s not uncommon for festivals and cultural events here…glad to see there are some more lighthearted lasting effects of western imperialism..

Jerash

Entering the ancient Roman city of Jerash

Relaxing Day at the Dead Sea

This weekend we rented a van and drove to the dead sea spa resort for some much needed R&R and a break from studying epic piles of arabic flashcards and dense articles from revolutionary theorists...

Hey, It's full of nutrients!

 

This past July I hiked up Masada mountain in Israel (at an ungodly hour) and watched the sun rise over the Dead Sea - now I've seen it set from the Jordanian side :)

Call to Prayer

If the American chain restaurants and sprawling malls have you forgetting your studying in the Middle East – the call to prayer, played over a loudspeaker throughout the city five times a day, is a sure reminder. My relationship with the call to prayer is rather shaky at the moment seeing as its woken me up each morning religiously at 4:30 a.m.

Some would say that this is evidence in prime that religion is still the main driving factor in the social and political life in Jordan. Perhaps true, but I wonder how different is the fact that I grew up pledging “allegiance to the flag….one nation under GOD” or that when I was just in London it was hard to find stores open on Sunday (the holy day in the Christian religion.) Maybe religion still permeates all of our cultures in different ways, yet it is definitely more noticeable for a foreigner to pick up on in Jordan.

For now, at least I’m saving my JD’s on an alarm clock…