We will get nowhere by being stuffy, uptight and stubborn
Over the last few years I’ve had several conversations with academics, writers, linguists and historians who cover the Arab world in their perspective fields. In interviews and frank conversations, I discussed the following topics with them:
1) The current state of the Arabic language 2) Orientalist Art (paintings that depict aspects of the Middle East by artists from the West)
3) Arab myth and folk tales
Although these are three different topics, it’s interesting to note that in most of these areas the internationally recognised experts are white, European and often old. More interesting is the fact that all of them get incredibly defensive and want to shut down the conversation (in a polite and politically correct manner of course - well in most cases anyway) when I broach the following topics (questions and answers are paraphrased and part of a wider conversation but you’ll get the idea):
How can we get younger people more engaged in Arabic?
“I dispute the basis of fact on which this question is based...”
Regardless of the artist’s intention, how did orientalist art shape the view of the Middle East in Europe?
“The idea that these works have had any influence on how Arabs are currently perceived is a misconception that I would argue...”
How would you describe Shahrazad’s influence on female heroines in the West when 1001 Nights was introduced to Europe?
“It’s important to remember the French and English translators who added their own texts to the 1001 Nights which helped propel the stories to a European audience.”
Answers to these types of questions were always avoided or in some way attacked. On separate occasions each of them felt the need to bring up the writer and intellect Edward Said and inform me that his argument on the perception of Arabs is flawed and essentially wrong. It was also important for them to say that these types of conversations are tiresome and makes their work very difficult. I find this reaction perplexing. It’s nonsensical and short sighted to me that these men who are passionate about the Arab world, who have built their careers and made their livelihood on studying and examining different facets of it, simultaneously refuse to acknowledge fundamental problems on current perspectives as well as the negative domino effect some of these issues from the past have on Arabs today.
Despite being told a number of times by these men that my perspective is naïve, I remind them that my perspective is based not only on my own experiences as an Arab but other Arabs I know and have interviewed. I also assure them that they aren’t the only ones who find these conversations reductive.
My point? Instead of hearing, listen. Instead of reacting, respond. Instead of defending, attempt to understand, instead of proving something, discover. That’s why I and many other people ask questions and write - to discover something that will help us understand ourselves and each other better.