Since 9/11 American students have chosen to study Arabic more and more, and so their time abroad is increasingly in Muslim countries. This is an excellent phenomenon, because the Middle East, and the Arab world in general, is profoundly misunderstood in the United States. Getting to know real people who are different allows Arabs and Muslims to be humanized.
Yet none of them said they had confronted anti-American sentiment, other than occasional disagreements over foreign policy. “I found that whether I was in Cairo, Aswan, Amman or Damascus, people with whom I interacted wanted to talk about common interests — family, sports, music and economics — rather than our struggles and disagreements,” said Richard Frohlichstein, 21, a senior at Georgetown University who spent last autumn at American University in Cairo.
They realize Arabs are people too. This is great! And yet, I can't help but think there is something wrong here, though. None of them confronted anti-American sentiment. Really? None of them?!
Perhaps that merely reflects the extent of Arab hospitality as they distinguish between the people of a country and the government of a country. Perhaps...
I can't speak for the American University in Cairo, but I do know what happens at the University of Meknes in Morocco. Dozens of American students are bundled through a few month program together. Some live with Moroccan families, but most live in apartments and associate pretty exclusively among themselves. Almost none of them speak Arabic or French well. So their access to Moroccans is limited pretty exclusively to university professors, students who speak English well, families who have housed dozens of Americans before, and tour operators. In short, people who all have extensive experience with Americans. Those Moroccans have already undergone the difficult process of cultural engagement with the West or they have a profit motive in minimizing disagreement and disaccord.
But that also means that those students do not have to go through that process of cultural engagement themselves.
Instead, the foreign exchange students at the University of Meknes receive only a superficial encounter with Moroccan culture. Certainly, it's better than nothing, but one can't help but wonder if they are merely taking back a different, more positive stereotype back to the United States.
Americans who stay for longer, learn Darija better, and venture out of American cliques quickly discover that not everyone is singing Kumbaya and prancing around the meadow holding hands. There are fundamental disagreements over religion and politics, and if you encounter a Moroccan a few levels removed from the tourism or study abroad economy (and perhaps a social class lower), he is likely to tell you what he thinks about your country and your faith in no uncertain terms: You have a chance to embrace Islam before you burn in hellfire. American support of Israel is downright shameful. The American military is criminal. Jews are evil, always act en masse, and give money to create and cover up Arab suffering.
Most Moroccans continue to be hospitable in such conversations. They tell you about Islam because they want to help you after all. They let you know about Jewish-financed media conspiracy hiding the truth from Americans so that you will finally know the truth. But such conversations nevertheless make Americans uncomfortable. And perhaps uncomfortable for good reason. It is a discomfort born out of the realization that there is drastic difference--a difference the students interviewed in the New York Times article seem to have escaped.
True understanding between cultures involves a recognition of the underlying humanity that unites us as well as an honest recognition of differences. As long as US study abroad programs get only the first of the two right, we will still continue to misunderstand the Muslim world.
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Just spotted this now (thanks to the trackback). On this point:
ReplyDelete"You have a chance to embrace Islam before you burn in hellfire. American support of Israel is downright shameful. The American military is criminal. Jews are evil, always act en masse, and give money to create and cover up Arab suffering."
Though I know what you're saying, that wasn't entirely my experience (and I've spent plenty of time with Moroccans--and Syrians, and Lebanese, and others--beyond the social classes you mention).
To the first point, more often than not, I found people respectful so long as you claim to believe in God (I don't, but I don't like those discussion in Morocco or the US). Muslims have certainly told me I'll burn for not converting, but then again, so have plenty of heartland Christians. I don't identify well with either.
I tend to agree that the US military--or its leaders, anyhow--is pretty criminal, and that US support of Israel is shameful, so I can't say that's hard to hear.
As for genuine anti-semitism, well, it was the rare occasion that someone expressed it. It happened once while I was teaching class, and though I doubt I influenced that particular student, it sparked an interesting discussion (to which I allowed darija to creep in) on humanity.
I agree with you to a certain extent that a lot of the programs in the region for Americans are pretty sanitized, but I don't know that your statement constitutes who Moroccans or Muslims are, either. I found far more genuine commonalities than differences. And I don't think encounters with Moroccan urbanites--a growing class--are any less genuine than those with rural folks (who have far less political influence in their own country, anyway).
"This is an excellent phenomenon, because the Middle East, and the Arab world in general, is profoundly misunderstood in the United States."
ReplyDeleteThe United States is profoundly misunderstood in the Arab world, too. And when Arabs do come here, they tend to hang out with other Arabs.
It works both ways.
@Jilian Thanks for your comments, but I feel perhaps you misunderstood me.
ReplyDeleteWhat I described certainly isn't my experience all the time either. What I described never happens at work, not with students or with fellow teachers. And most places I go, Moroccans are warm and hospitable and we talk about comfortable subjects. Upper class and upper middle class Moroccans are generally as you described them. But in the middle classes and lower classes, it's a mixed bag. Some are hospitable and are happy just to hear you believe in God. Others are still rather hospitable but aggressively pursue these points. And that's when it can get uncomfortable for someone not familiar with these beliefs and differences.
It's not just a rural-urban. I specifically referred to 'a few levels removed from the tourism or study abroad economy', and I meant it. I'm talking about on the train in deuxieme classe or in certain poorer parts of the medina or in some cafes. I inevitably get asked if I have embraced Islam and the conversation goes the direction I described (in one unlit bakery I got pulled into a blind man gave me a particularly impassioned plea while refusing to physically let me go and pointing to the oven as an illustration). From what you said, it appears these sorts of things have not happened to you.
I can think of a reason perhaps. I've noticed that men are singled out more than women in this regard. More than once during some encounter, a female co-worker has been asked about family and work sort of things, but when she leaves and I'm alone I get interrogated about religion and politics. (One time on the train, a Moroccan wouldn't take my "to you your religion, to me mine" as an answer leaning over into my face to make his point). Perhaps part of it is that women monotheists need not convert to marry, and men do. I don't know. But there is a double standard with regard to these discussions. And obviously we've had differing experiences.
Also, I don't know how representative you are. You're not only someone who seems to have charmed the socks off of Moroccans you knew, but you also came in with an excellent background knowledge. The average American study abroad student probably doesn't know much about American foreign policy or how it's viewed internationally. And so for the vast majority, it is a shock. But my point was that it's a good shock (that it seems they're not having), because they're forced to confront the world as it is. You've obviously confronted this argument, weighed the evidence, and decided you disagree with the standard American line. Many study abroad students don't get that far.
Eek, sorry - I missed this for a whole week (forgot to subscribe).
ReplyDeleteI think you've probably hit the nail on the head when it comes to the male/female thing. You're right that men are treated differently; I practically forgot all about then while writing my reply. I could tell all sorts of stories about that, but alas, they're not my stories to tell.
In any case, well said.