Ever wonder why?

By Nesreen | May 7th, 2008 | No Comments

Why do we need this book, Encounters, beyond the plain joy it provides in reading its delightful, entertaining stories? Is not the joy of reading enough? Well, as someone who has sought refuge in books for much of my life, I would like to thing so. But we were thinking that we would serve another purpose when we came up with the idea of Encounters. We though there was a need to counterpoint all the material out there that reinforced myths about Arabs and Muslims. Try this one: As recently as 2004, according to this relatively dated article from the UK Guardian newspaper, the U.S. military was using The Arab Mind, by Raphael Patai, as a training book for the Middle East.

Now, like any decently raised kid, I was taught not to speak ill of the dead, but Patai’s book, in the words of one scholar interviewed for the article, “best use is as a doorstop” is not too harsh in my view (Patai passed on in 1996).

Its language is simplified racism, yet despite being published in 1976, it was considered worthy enough to be used as a training text in some quarters of the U.S. government. Appalling. I’m not going to claim that Encounters is a work of scholarship. Its not. It’s pure narrative, subjective, problematic, and maybe even a bit awkward from the viewpoint of some of our writers. I will say that at least from our book what you get is an honest, earnest effort to rectify the misunderstandings of the past and present, rather than a perpetuation of them, and for that I am quite proud of the stories we have collected.