Last night I made over two hundred flashcards. Tonight looks to repeat the experience. It's good that I feel that I'm making in progress in Arabic, especially since I speak it much better than I ever have all in the past 2 weeks. But I'm very very tired this morning. We leave to live with the Bedouins in a day. I'm really excited to get out of this city as it's pretty boring. Also we're going to be hanging out with sheep and in Wadi Rum one of the more beautiful places in the region I'm told. I'll also have plenty of time to catch up on Arabic vocabulary, and won't be distracted by the need to keep in contact with America (as happens when everyone is hanging out at school after hours to use the internet, it's hopping)
One of the reasons that Amman is so boring is that there is not a youth or alternative culture. Politics is divided between three fronts, the Islamic movement, the monarchy, and the democratic secularists. Most people here support one or more of them, not many people support none. In the states I've lost interest in all national politics as I've gotten further into home-grown politics and lost faith in any and all national figures. Not accidently I've gotten further into my Quaker faith and began thinking more and more how the Bible subverts all worldly authority. The last two sentences just boiled down about 6 years so I'll perhaps elaborate more later. The point I want to make here is that, though I have somewhat unorthodox political views, I never expected anyone else to live up to them. To me it's perfectly conceivable that a community might establish a kingdom. I don't know, I didn't grow up that way.
So here in an honest to god monarchy, I'm at a bit of a loss. It doesn't help that the class I'm in is comprised almost entirely of political science and international relations majors. As much as Jordan pretends that it's not, it is a police state. There are soldiers outside every single important building, schools, mosques, churches, embassies, police stations (we went today to get an extended visa, it was a fortress). These soldiers just don't choose to enforce traffic law. The king's image is greatly based on his history of a soldier in Germany serving with the American army. However the culture resembles something that is being praised in the states by some of the radicals I hang out with. People generally stay within walking distance of their extended family, there is an extreme community mind. At the beginning, we were told that sexual violators were dealt with by mob violence, no discussion needed, just a woman's scream. Some of the folks that are staying with close knit families don't go anywhere between 5 and 8 and generally don't stay out past 9:30. There is little or no generation gap when it comes to music, a little more when it comes to dress and mannerism, but not a lot, there are a lot of young people who wear hijab, and I've even seen some in dishdashas and kuffiyehs.
However, the first two lectures we had illuminated the delicate position the democracy advocates are in. There isn't the strong secularism here that there is in Tunisia, so a democratic system could elect a conservative Muslim power, who, although not necessarily anti-democratic, would be intensely socially conservative. On the other hand, the king, who was not trained for the job and got it at the 11th hour, is stuck with a failing vision of a unified Arab government (whose support, Political Islam is maybe taking) and still hasn't delivered so much on the Israel-Palestine issue, which regardless of all others is *the* primary issue to the Arabs, and is losing popularity by allying with the West.
Sum total: There are no radicals who are not Islamic or democratic intellectual. And it's odd because the people are definitely alienated politically. I mean come on, how has the lot of the Arab people improved in the last 50 years? I realize how foreign my idea must seem to the people here (even to people in the states) and it has put me off developing it for now.
I'm going to stop here because I'm rapidly running out of battery, sometime soon though, with pictures.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
In which I complain
My travelog (which broke as faithful readers will no doubt recall) has been playing games with me today. It might be fixed, in that it does not display "cannot access travelog.earlham.cs.edu" but it does not display the content. Technology sucks fyi.
In fact I was talking with my roommate Mike earlier today about how much cameras suck, the realization I came to when I was in Bethlehem. Essentially I thought about how pilgrims to the Church of the Nativity before this century would spend an exhorbitant amount of time and money getting to the church and spend many days praying. Nowadays you take a day trip from your air conditioned hotel in Jerusalem, take a few pictures (if you're obnoxious, with the flash) and leave. I could see most visitors saying upon return "I was unimpressed"
Sooooo, yea technology only makes your mental health decline. Un?fortunately I don't have my computer with me, which on the plus side means I waste a lot less time, and on the downside means I'll have to scramble for access when it's time to write my 50+ page paper. I'm starting to dread it a bit. I think I have a topic (the Abdoun Bridge and why it's so weird) but I'm not really into it. I'd much rather spend time out in the country doing farm research or in the city looking into the farms that pop up on land that has been cleared but not built on yet. That's where my passion is heading but I can't think of an appropriate research question to apply. It would be enough to just investigate a bit.
I was going to wax political in the post but I think I'll save it for when I have more time to write. For a teaser/trailer here's a sentence: "A Quaker Anarchist can get mighty lonely in Amman"
In fact I was talking with my roommate Mike earlier today about how much cameras suck, the realization I came to when I was in Bethlehem. Essentially I thought about how pilgrims to the Church of the Nativity before this century would spend an exhorbitant amount of time and money getting to the church and spend many days praying. Nowadays you take a day trip from your air conditioned hotel in Jerusalem, take a few pictures (if you're obnoxious, with the flash) and leave. I could see most visitors saying upon return "I was unimpressed"
Sooooo, yea technology only makes your mental health decline. Un?fortunately I don't have my computer with me, which on the plus side means I waste a lot less time, and on the downside means I'll have to scramble for access when it's time to write my 50+ page paper. I'm starting to dread it a bit. I think I have a topic (the Abdoun Bridge and why it's so weird) but I'm not really into it. I'd much rather spend time out in the country doing farm research or in the city looking into the farms that pop up on land that has been cleared but not built on yet. That's where my passion is heading but I can't think of an appropriate research question to apply. It would be enough to just investigate a bit.
I was going to wax political in the post but I think I'll save it for when I have more time to write. For a teaser/trailer here's a sentence: "A Quaker Anarchist can get mighty lonely in Amman"
Monday, February 19, 2007
Kuffiyehs
On the male side, so far I've seen three types of kuffiyehs or head scarves that are typically associated with terrorists or uppity college kids in the states.
The black and white checkered one is the one I'm most familiar with so I'll start with that. This kuffiyeh was traditionally the Palestinian rural garb however when the trouble in the region began it was embraced by all Palestinians as an emblem. That's kind of where it's at today. In Jordan you're just as likely to see a black and white kuffiyeh as you are in Palestine. I'm sure there's more meaning attached to it, but it's generally embraced both here and abroad as a measure of support for the Palestinian cause.
The red kuffiyeh is a bit more complex in politics here. Palestinians account for about half the population of Jordan and really they are the reason Jordan is as much of an urban society as it is. Palestinians brought wealth and a business savy. Hence they own most of the business here and are largely urban. The Jordanians that trace their roots back to the bedouins wear the red kuffiyeh. It can be a symbol of Jordanian nationhood, as opposed to Palestinian unrest that nearly toppled the monarchy in the 70's, or it can be a simple declaration of history. It can be a profound political statement (one of our lecturers referred to 'Jordanian skinheads') or it can be simply fitting in. I haven't worn my kuffiyeh (red) around a lot, but when I have, it hasn't attracted much attention.
The plain white kuffiyeh is generally reserved for special occasions or if the wearer is someone special. Hence it's generally associated with the Gulf countries. Of course the person who explained this all to me does not wear a kuffiyeh herself.
The black and white checkered one is the one I'm most familiar with so I'll start with that. This kuffiyeh was traditionally the Palestinian rural garb however when the trouble in the region began it was embraced by all Palestinians as an emblem. That's kind of where it's at today. In Jordan you're just as likely to see a black and white kuffiyeh as you are in Palestine. I'm sure there's more meaning attached to it, but it's generally embraced both here and abroad as a measure of support for the Palestinian cause.
The red kuffiyeh is a bit more complex in politics here. Palestinians account for about half the population of Jordan and really they are the reason Jordan is as much of an urban society as it is. Palestinians brought wealth and a business savy. Hence they own most of the business here and are largely urban. The Jordanians that trace their roots back to the bedouins wear the red kuffiyeh. It can be a symbol of Jordanian nationhood, as opposed to Palestinian unrest that nearly toppled the monarchy in the 70's, or it can be a simple declaration of history. It can be a profound political statement (one of our lecturers referred to 'Jordanian skinheads') or it can be simply fitting in. I haven't worn my kuffiyeh (red) around a lot, but when I have, it hasn't attracted much attention.
The plain white kuffiyeh is generally reserved for special occasions or if the wearer is someone special. Hence it's generally associated with the Gulf countries. Of course the person who explained this all to me does not wear a kuffiyeh herself.
1st in this blog
It appears that my continual attempts to consolidate communication back to America keeps running into troubles. Due to the semi-unavailability of my other blog this one will have to do for consistency's sake. When I can get to my old blog, I'll post the content here.
Hijab:
Most of the everyday Jordanian women I see walking down the street wear the hijab, or headscarves that are the typical image of Moslem women in the west. There have been two very notable exceptions. One at the concert where the women were very dolled up for a western influenced rock band. The other at the university where women and men freely associate (at least from what I can tell from my few minutes there). In either case I don't know what to make of it. In the states when a woman wears a hijab, there is a very definite connotation of piety and when an arab woman doesn't wear hijab, it's not necessarily a statement against such piety.
Here it's different. When a woman doesn't wear a hijab, the traditional method of interaction between men and women (extremely restrictive) is suspect, however this does not imply that communication is any easier. The women without hijab may be trying to be "western" yet still keep their distance from men by being more conservative in manners. Conversely the women who do wear hijab are not necessarily conservative. The original purpose of hijab was to allow women an opportunity to associate freely with men by removing *ahem* distracting elements from discourse. The Koranic justification for hijab is weak at best and it's largely an aspect of traditional culture. During the 50's at the heyday of Arab Nationalism, there were very few hijab in sight. However as the dream of a unified Arab nation state failed gradually, the allegiance to the state leaders as cultural pioneers has also fallen.
This contradiction between the traditional gender dynamic, as restrictive, and the religious and cultural gender roles, as relatively free (most women hold jobs and are educated, though it's not as free as in the states) confuses me. The absence of hijab further confuses me. Since they are not the norm, what exactly are they rebelling against, or are they rebelling against anything?
Needless to say though, the hijab is a choice here, though what exactly is being chosen remains a bit of a mystery.
Hijab:
Most of the everyday Jordanian women I see walking down the street wear the hijab, or headscarves that are the typical image of Moslem women in the west. There have been two very notable exceptions. One at the concert where the women were very dolled up for a western influenced rock band. The other at the university where women and men freely associate (at least from what I can tell from my few minutes there). In either case I don't know what to make of it. In the states when a woman wears a hijab, there is a very definite connotation of piety and when an arab woman doesn't wear hijab, it's not necessarily a statement against such piety.
Here it's different. When a woman doesn't wear a hijab, the traditional method of interaction between men and women (extremely restrictive) is suspect, however this does not imply that communication is any easier. The women without hijab may be trying to be "western" yet still keep their distance from men by being more conservative in manners. Conversely the women who do wear hijab are not necessarily conservative. The original purpose of hijab was to allow women an opportunity to associate freely with men by removing *ahem* distracting elements from discourse. The Koranic justification for hijab is weak at best and it's largely an aspect of traditional culture. During the 50's at the heyday of Arab Nationalism, there were very few hijab in sight. However as the dream of a unified Arab nation state failed gradually, the allegiance to the state leaders as cultural pioneers has also fallen.
This contradiction between the traditional gender dynamic, as restrictive, and the religious and cultural gender roles, as relatively free (most women hold jobs and are educated, though it's not as free as in the states) confuses me. The absence of hijab further confuses me. Since they are not the norm, what exactly are they rebelling against, or are they rebelling against anything?
Needless to say though, the hijab is a choice here, though what exactly is being chosen remains a bit of a mystery.
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