What is a “Jihadist” anyway?

By Nesreen | March 30th, 2008 | No Comments »

If you visit sites on the Internet about Jihadists, you are probably visiting ones supported by the American far-right rather than the radical extremists who use Islam as justification for violent, indiscriminate killings.

The former group–the far-right ideologues–think they are defining a form of radical Islam. The latter group, who would not use the term “jihadist” at all, think they are defending a form of radical Islam. Both are wrong. Islam does not condone the mad bloodshed that is happening in Iraq and elsewhere. Those people are not Muslims. They are mercenaries. As for the American far-right, the term “jihadist” doesn’t exist in Islam at all, although the term “mujahid” does. You have no doubt heard the term “mujahideen” referred to those in Afghanistan who fought against the Soviets during the 1980s. Those “muhahideen” were the friends of US Conservatives in the 1980s. Today, the fighters in Afghanistan are remnants of the Taliban–who are friends of nobody. They are also among today’s “terrorists,” a term whose definition is as slippery as “jihadist,” though in defense of the word “terrorist,” at least it is a real word.

If after reading this, you are a bit confused, then I have served my purpose. My point in writing this is to complicate this topic for you. Questions like “who is a terrorist,” or “what is Islam?” are not going to be answered definitively in this entry. All good questions deserve not just answers, but ongoing inquiry. How do you respond when asked “What is Christianity?” Maybe once the question is asked, you think to yourself, well maybe I should investigate to really understand what Christianity is. You wouldn’t accept a boilerplate answer to that question because it is part of your tradition, it is something that is dear to you, whether you are secular or practicing. So why should any of us accept the representations on our television screens as those of “Islam” or “Arabs” or “Muslims” or the “Middle East.” Why should any of us accept that “jihadist” is a real word with real meaning that speaks the intent of real people when it is a word fabricated by right-wing ideologues in the United States who want to decide for you what a Muslim is?

Women in the Middle East

By Nesreen | March 27th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

It’s an expansive topic so I’ll try to be brief here so I’m not pretending to cover it all. I was thinking about the amount of time, during public Encounters events, that audiences devote to asking questions about women in the Middle East. They want to know 1) as Western women traveling in the Middle East, will they be subject to endless harassment and 2) whether women in the Middle East are oppressed weaklings.

For question 1), let me assure you that Western women can travel to the Middle East, and do so safely, even while alone. Now, this of course depends on where in the Middle East we’re talking about. (Obviously No one can expect safety in Iraq). As a woman traveling in the Middle East, you need to dress modestly, be alert, appear confident, know a bit about the culture, watch your belonging and use common sense. You may be subject to some harassment. Maybe cat calls or unwanted solicitations. I wonder, could this advice not be applied to Western women traveling in Zambia, or India, or the Philippines, or Italy?

As for 2) women from the Middle East are not poor, oppressed souls. They are strong women who know how to navigate their societies. They know how to let men think they are in charge while they really run the show. To behold it is truly remarkable, but if you are looking with your lens of misconceptions you are bound only to see what you are expecting.

Middle Eastern women, I have found, are generally much more open among themselves than Western women, in female-only circles, ever would be. The topics that can be discussed, which I will not get into here, would be considered quite awkward or too presuming among, particularly American women. Yes, I guess what I’m saying is, an American woman among a group of Arab women chatting amongst themselves in a private home, she might even feel like a bit of a puritan. The American woman might be the one who feels like she is from the society that is closed, and that carries with it some notions of shame. It all depends on context. It’s a good discussion whenever it is being had, and one I’ll return to on this blog. For now, I recommend reading Betsy Hiel’s article “Clothes, Camaraderie, and Qat,” in our collection. Happy reading!

Nesreen

Encore - Interview with Encounters editors and contributors

By Nesreen | March 22nd, 2008 | No Comments »

If you missed Thursday’s live interview on blogtalk radio, you can still listen anytime to the recorded podcast available on the program’s website. All you have to do is go to:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/virtualauthortourslive
and select the Encounters interview.

The program features co-editors Nesreen Khashan and Jim Bowman as well as contributors Wally Al’Shamma, Erika Trafton and Michael Mcgee.

Erika, Michael and Jim had already met at the Book Passage event held March 1 in the Bay Area so this was a reunion of sorts for them. Wally just got back from Syria and repatriated to the Chicago area and I did my first event with any of the contributors.

Wally had been living in Syria for a while. He moved there to connect with his father’s native country. Wally remembers trips he took there as a child so returning as an adult had a special significance for him. His story, “A Damascus Cab Ride,” details his time in Syria’s capital city, and what it meant to be there as an adult, yet in some ways seeing it through a child’s eyes.

Erika and Michael did a good job of discussing some of the anxieties and misconceptions that some first-time travelers of the Middle East have. They explain these feelings in the context of their stories, both of which are wonderful. Michael’s story “The Promised Coffee,” has generated a lot of comments because of its power to help people rethink notions of arranged marriages.

Erika’s story “The Way of Suffering,” shows Trafton’s own journey through Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem’s Old City. Via Dolorosa, “the way of suffering” in Latin, is the path Jesus took on his way to crucifixion. This story is a fitting one to ponder this Easter weekend. In it, Erika talks about the intensity that belongs to Jerusalem. She expresses both a grief and wonderment for this holy city, but most importantly, a respect for the way that the peoples there manage their seemingly barely held together coexistence. Erika said in the interview that she loved Jerusalem but would never want to live there. I echoed that sentiment. Each time I’m on a plane back to the States, I am overwhelmed by gratitude. Like anyone who is Palestinian, Jewish, or Israeli, I too have strong feelings about Jerusalem and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in general. But at the end of the day, I get to go home, back to the United States, where my environment doesn’t have to be a constant, stinging reminder of the tragedy of this conflict.

Happy Holy Days.

Nesreen

Virtual Book Tour: Details for Listeners

By Nesreen | March 18th, 2008 | No Comments »

This Thursday March 20 5pm PST/8pm EST is our first Encounters virtual book tour. Editors Nesreen Khashan and Jim Bowman will be online and available by phone to take questions, as will contributors Erika Smith, Michael McGee and Waleed Al-Shamma. Readers and those interested in visiting the Middle East are welcome. Anyone interested in the broader discussion of how the Middle East is represented in mainstream media is welcome. Friends of contributors or editors are welcome. Please join us, and bring your questions and comments! All you’ll need is a phone and and Internet connection.
Details follow:

Virtual Book Tour Information Details for Listeners

Date: Thursday, March 20, 2008

Time: 5pm PST/8pm EST

Listen by Web: www.blogtalkradio.com/virtualauthortourslive

Listen by Phone: 1(646) 915-9813

Call-in to Ask Questions: 1(646) 915-9813

What do Uber-Capitalism and Ibn Battuta have in common?

By Nesreen | March 16th, 2008 | No Comments »

Encounters writer Tim Mackintosh-Smith has the answer in the March-April edition of Saudi Aramco World. Mackintosh-Smith has written prolifically about Ibn Battuta, who was an Arab-Berber explorer whose own published travel accounts are still treasured throughout the Arab world. Ibn Battuta was a contemporary of Marco Polo, but of course lesser known in the West.

Mackintosh-Smith has helped give Ibn Battuta a boost in contemporary culture by not only writing about the famed explorer, but following the paths of his travels. Now, Dubai’s hyper-capitalist culture may be next in line in feeding the Ibn Battuta revival. As Mackintosh-Smith writes, Dubai’s Ibn Battuta mall features panel displays of the great explorer’s travels. Visitors can also participate in an interactive game about Ibn Battuta’s adventures.

As an at side, I happened to be studying in Tangier, Morocco a couple of summers ago. Tangier is the birthplace of Ibn Battuta and this breezy Mediterranean city still enjoys touting its link to its beloved explorer. Ibn Battuta’s name is used all over the city on storefronts and restaurants. Tangier, by the way, was where those great scenes from the Arab world were filmed in the latest Bourne Identity film Bourne Ultimatum. Maybe Tangier has Dubai, Tim Mackintosh-Smith, and finally, Ibn Battuta himself to thank for its newfound celebrity.

Saudi Aramco World

By Nesreen | March 14th, 2008 | No Comments »

Saudi Aramco World magazine’s latest issue has selected Encounters with the Middle East for its latest Recommended Reading list! Here’s the review link.

Here’s What they said:
Encounters is an earnest collection of writings from mostly American, mostly young people, most of them seeing the Middle East for the first time: “a heady cocktail of jet-lag, adventurousness, and naiveté,” as one narrator describes her own state. Most of the incidents and encounters are on the delicate everyday level: Drinking too much tea on a bus ride in Turkey; smoking molasses-flavored tobacco in the sheesha in Alexandria; getting grouchy from lack of sleep in the Old City of Jerusalem; committing Arabic bloopers in a Kuwaiti barbershop; bonding with a cab driver in Damascus; joining a family in Bahrain to watch a Shia ritual. Small details of difference and interaction are savored, wide-eyed. Although an occasional ugly-American moment creeps in, stereotypes are mostly avoided, and the simple and instructive pleasure of the friendly encounter carries the day. —Ann Walton Sieber (MA08)

Encounters With the Middle East

By Nesreen | March 3rd, 2008 | No Comments »

Stay tuned for news about our virtual tour scheduled for March 20, 5 p.m. PST. Editors Nesreen Khashan and Jim Bowman will answer questions from readers about how this collection came to be.