Tag: Literature

I recently found this excellent article, “Women in Omani Arts: From Traditional Folk Tales to Contemporary Art” by Nada Al-Ajmi from the Department of English, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman

It is unusual to find a country that has been modernized in which practices encapsulated in folk tales dating back some 6,000 years are regarded as contemporaneous and intrinsic to the national identity. It is also rare for an oral tradition to be transformed into the visual arts medium and in doing so both accurately convey past narratives while translating them into expressions of present-day issues. This study specifically investigates representations of women in Omani folk tales selected from a collection in print translated into English from Arabic. Analysis of theoretical work in the field of folklore appears alongside outcomes from qualitative interviews conducted with six contemporary artists whose art work features depictions of women. These interviews canvassed the artist’s knowledge of, and influences from, folk tales in their work. It also gauged their perceptions of women’s situation of in present-day Oman, in relation to values and beliefs expressed in folk tales. Analysis of folk stories found that women’s
actions were portrayed in a positive light and that they warned against practices that
placed restrictions on women, such as, choice of husband. Artists’ viewpoints in their
work and during discussions confirmed these findings and revealed particular concern
around continuation into the present of socio-cultural practices that would limit women
and place them in difficult situations. Further research into linkages between different art modalities in relation to folk tales would be instructive.