Tag: Writing

Outline and Chapter Abstracts for ‘Researching, Teaching and Working on the Arabian Peninsula: Creating Effective Interactions’

Outline and Chapter Abstracts for Researching, Teaching and Working on the Arabian Peninsula: Creating Effective Interactions [ https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-96-5326-3 ]

Chapter 1 – Situating Work and Research on the Arabian Peninsula 1

Overview 1

Audience 3

Locals 5

Non-locals 7

Becoming Local and Controlling Interpretations 8

My Background 11

Doing Research 14

Research and Safety 16

Other Voices 18

References 24

Chapter 2 – Literature Review for the Arabian Peninsula 27

Overview 27

Ethnography and the Importance of Changing Your Ideas 28

Ethnography and the Importance of Writing About When

You Are Wrong 29

General Anthropology Texts 32

Textbooks 32

Fieldwork Journals 33

Discussing Fieldwork/Fieldsites 33

General Texts About Anthropology and/or Arab/Islamic Countries 35

Arabian Peninsula Countries 36

Situating Arabian Peninsula Studies/History 36

Bahrain and Kuwait 37

Oman 38

Qatar 38

Saudi Arabia 39

The United Arab Emirates 40

Yemen 41

Arabian Peninsula Themes 43

From the Society 43

Islam 44

Labor/Migration 46

Partner Studies 47

Politics/Power 47

Social/Family 47

Survive/Thrive 48

Tribes 49

Women 50

References 53

Chapter 3 – Before Moving to the Arabian Peninsula 77

Overview: Thinking About Adjustments 77

Learn the Alphabet 79

Starting to Understand Islam If You Aren’t Muslim 80

Ramadan 80

Religion and Public Performance 82

Get Ready for Culture Shock 83

Get Ready for the Weather 85

Get Photos, Make Copies, Find a Bank and Get Change 86

Get in Touch with People 87

Buy Stuff 88

Plan for Happiness 88

For Travelers 89

Starting Out—Working 91

Starting Out—Teaching 92

Starting Out—Researching 94

Thinking About Fieldsites 95

Think About How You Present Yourself 96

Figure Out Your Way of Taking Notes, and Be Ready to Entirely Change It 97

Be Able to Explain Your Research in Ways That Make Sense to the People You Are Talking To 97

Proceed Slowly and Hope for a Hand-Off 98

References 100

Chapter 4 – Adjusting to Life on the Arabian Peninsula 103

Starting Out—General Points 103

Know Yourself and Be Prepared 103

Smile 104

Over-Explain 106

Don’t Lie 107

Refine Your Ability to Read People 108

Get Local 108

Get Generous 109

Be Yourself in Your Downtime 110

Time/Money Continuum 111

Safety/Anonymity 112

Transportation 113

Communication 114

Visual Cultures 118

Information Brokers 120

Friendship/Hospitality 121

Family 123

Busy/Lazy 125

References 130

Chapter 5 – Key Topics for Expat Researchers on the Arabian Peninsula 133

Overview—Positionality 133

Tribes 134

You Aren’t in a Tribe/You Are in a Tribe 135

Talking About Tribes 137

Clothes 138

Language 140

Knowing/Not Knowing Arabic 140

Age and Gender 142

Men 143

Special Themes 146

Exhaustion 146

Authenticity/Modernity 150

Prejudices 151

What Happens When You Love (or Hate) the People You Talk To? 153

Claiming Expertise 156

Safety 156

Payback 157

References 164

Chapter 6 – Strategies for Research on the Arabian Peninsula 167

Overview 167

Research Practicalities—Meeting Other Researchers 168

Getting in Touch with Other People for Information and Assistance 168

When You Meet 169

After Meeting 169

When Other People Get in Touch with You for Information 170

Research Practicalities—In the Field 171

Be the Most Cautious Version of Yourself Until You Are a Little Settled 171

Be Careful About Becoming a Dancing Monkey 172

Be Careful of Newspaper/Radio Interviews 173

Be Calm/Don’t Be Calm 174

Start Talking/Stop Talking 175

Go with the Flow 176

Think About Different Explanations 177

Be Wary of the Inclination to Save Anyone from Anything 178

Be Ready for Deflection Strategies and Deal with Them Calmly 179

Accept There Will Always Be Changes to Make and More to Do 180

Refinements 180

Have Situational Awareness 180

Sit Where You Are Told to Sit and Stay Seated 181

Giving and Receiving 182

References 184

Chapter 7 – Suggestions for Expat Professional Workers on the Arabian Peninsula 185

Overview 185

Starting Out 186

Greet Everyone 186

Modesty Is Equally Important for Men and Women 187

Stay Formal at Workplaces 187

Ask Questions 188

Understand That “Yes” Does Not Mean Agreement 188

Everything Is a Precedent 189

Do Not Notice When What Was Impossible Becomes Possible (or What Was Done for Years Becomes Impossible) 189

At a Job 190

Keep a Change List 191

Sit in Your Seat 192

Names and Phone Calls 192

Find Your Dumping Ground 193

Find Mercy 193

Find Your Expat Veneer 194

Dissembling 194

Meeting Important People 195

Pay Attention to and Follow Up on Off-Hand Comments 196

Don’t Be Evil 196

Cultural Understandings 197

Power and the Chain of Command 197

Value Honesty 198

Louise Penny as Management Guru 199

Tribes in the Workplace 200

Refinements 201

Judging Behavior 201

Providing Food 201

Making a House Visit 202

Attending a Funeral 203

References 205

Chapter 8 – Suggestions for Teachers on the Arabian Peninsula 207

Overview 207

Arrival and Expectations 209

Research on Teaching 209

Culture and Pedagogy 210

The “Third” Option 211

Cultural Constructions Within High Context Cultures 212

Cultural Constructions of “Power” and “Authority” 213

Cultural Constructions of “Magic Words” 215

Cultural Constructions of “Patience” 216

Cultural Constructions of “Shame” 217

Techniques 218

Understand That Fear May Appear as Anger or Silence 218

Stay in Calm and in Control 219

Check for Understanding 221

Make Statements Instead of Asking Personal Questions 221

Explain Your Reasoning 222

Do Not Fight the Family 223

Do Not Make False Threats 224

Use Distraction 225

Use Humor 226

Stay Realistic—What You Can Control 227

Stay Realistic—Expectations 228

Give Clear Directions 229

What I Had to Rethink 231

Assumption: Students with a Low Level of English Will Be the Hardest to Teach 231

Assumption: Teachers’ Interactions with Students Are Based on Professional Considerations 232

Assumption: You Make Your Choices and You Live with the Consequences 233

Assumption: Try the New 234

Teaching Fiction to Non-literature Majors 235

References 237

Abstract

Researching and Working outlines strategies for current or soon-to-be anthropologists, government employees, business professionals, researchers and teachers to communicate, study and work effectively on the Arabian Peninsula. Using first-person accounts, as well as scholarly research from the fields of anthropology, history, literature, political science and travel writing, this text gives clear advice so long- and short-term visitors can create successful interactions with people from Arabian Peninsula societies. By discussing how the practicalities of work and research intersect with cultural norms, this book fills the gap between guides aimed at the casual tourists and academic texts on narrowly defined topics. The author has lived and taught on the Arabian Peninsula for more than 20 years and this book is a distillation of observations, academic research and longstanding, deep involvement with local communities in southern Arabia.

Chapter 1 – Situating Work and Research on the Arabian Peninsula

Chapter 1 begins by discussing the audience and scope of the book. It then delves into the questions of who is “local” on the Arabian Peninsula and who speaks for whom? Next there is a brief overview of the author’s background and work in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Lastly, the author gives several extended examples of research and teaching to highlight elements of cross-cultural communication and confusion.

Chapter 2 – Literature Review

Chapter 2 is an annotated bibliography of texts from the fields of anthropology, history, literature, political science and travel writing which relate to the Arabian Peninsula. The books and articles are arranged by topic and country for researchers interested to see what kinds of work have been done and for readers looking for more in-depth information. There are also short essays on the importance of changing your ideas and acknowledging when you are wrong while doing research, as well as how to pick a fieldsite. Next the chapter gives a selected bibliography of texts pertaining to specific Arabian Peninsula counties. This is followed by short lists of texts pertaining to reoccurring themes in Arabian Peninsula research: Islam, Partner studies, Labor/ Migration, Politics/ Power, Social life/ Family, Survive/ Thrive, Tribes and Woman.

Chapter 3 – Before Moving to the Arabian Peninsula

This chapter is for teachers, researchers and business professionals who have not spent significant time on the Arabian Peninsula. It covers basics such as learning the Arabic alphabet, starting to understand Islam and managing Ramadan as a non-Muslim. It also has specific advice on how cope, for example how to deal with the hot weather, the need for using an international bank and how to prepare paperwork. The chapter includes information for how to get in touch with people before arrival and how to plan for happiness in-country. It ends with sections for specifically for business professionals and teachers. For researchers, there is information about how to create a network of acquaintances, integrate with the local community, decide how to present yourself and figure out the way to take notes.

Chapter 4 – Adjusting to Life on the Arabian Peninsula

This chapter covers the nuts and bolts of first steps on the Arabian Peninsula for teachers, researchers and business professionals. For example, it explains that new arrivals are often taken directly from the airport to meet colleagues and/or start house hunting. The chapter sets out necessary adjustments such as the importance of smiling, over-explaining, not lying and learning how to read people. In addition, the chapter addresses topics such as safety/anonymity, movement through public spaces, effective communication and the consequences of working in cultures that are often visual-, not text-based. How friendships, family relations and information brokers are handled on the Arabian Peninsula are also discussed.

Chapter 5 – Key Topics for Researchers on the Arabian Peninsula

This chapter is for researchers and addresses the issues of positionality, tribal structures, clothing, language and gender. The text includes advice on general topics such as coping with exhaustion, handling prejudices and claiming expertise. It also discusses what happens when you love (or hate) the people you talk to, how to keep safe and how to manage payback.

Chapter 6 – Strategies for Research on the Arabian Peninsula

This chapter helps researchers think through specifics. There are sections about how to do interviews, talk about your project, deal with the press, give presentations and keep up connections with interlocutors. It gives suggestions about being the most cautious version of yourself until you are a little settled and not allowing yourself to be set up for public mockery. It covers how to cope with deflection strategies and keep up situational awareness.

Chapter 7 – Suggestions for Expat Professional Workers on the Arabian Peninsula

This chapter is for business professionals and travelers with guidance for how to prepare for the weather and bureaucracy on the Arabian Peninsula. It explains the need for quiet, modest and formal behavior at workplaces, public spaces, cultural locations and homes/hotels/hostels. It explains that a “yes” is not necessarily an agreement and “I can” does not necessarily mean the person has that ability. Further, it clarifies how to create a positive work environment within cultures which often value family-based events (births, weddings, deaths, recovery from illness, etc.) more important than work requirements. It gives details about settling into the work environment with details about power structures, the value of honesty, how to behave with important people and the importance of having an expat veneer.

Chapter 8 – Suggestions for Teachers on the Arabian Peninsula

This chapter is for teachers and covers how to set achievable expectations for classroom management and workplace behaviors. The focus is on how meanings of words such as “power,” “authority,” “patience” and “shame” carry specific, and possibly new meanings, within high context cultures on the Arabian Peninsula. The chapter sets out techniques to create a positive classroom atmosphere, check for understandings, stay realistic and use distraction. Lastly, the text explains the concept of the “third way,” meaning a combination of the teacher’s pedagogical background and local expectations within a classroom can create a space for win-win interactions between students and teachers.

Practicalities: Managing a Short Research Trip to the Arabian Peninsula

Practicalities: Managing a Short Business Trip to the Arabian Peninsula

Ethnography – Whatever You Do, Don’t Smile, part 2 of Discussing Photographs

Practicalities of Moving to the Arabian Peninsula: How to Sit, Not Wear Shoes and Use Your Hands

Practicalities: Managing a Short Research Trip to the Arabian Peninsula

Researching and Working on the Arabian Peninsula: Creating Effective Interactions, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-96-5326-3

First, look at the calendar closely – check for Ramadan, Eids, national holidays, school vacations – museums, archives, schools, stores will be shut without notice but at least make sure you are clear from the major closures. If you want to see people at a university, look at the school calendar. For example, many universities have their graduations ceremonies in the fall, not spring, so that means several days of canceled classes and everyone being busy. Check for tourist seasons; short-term rents can vary widely depending on the month.

Pack

  • all the documentation you might need, depending on the archive/ university/ research center you might need copies (or originals) of diplomas, transcripts and/ or letters of reference. You also might want to create a file with documents to leave with someone who can scan/ FedEx paperwork as needed. You don’t want to ask someone to search through paperwork or e-mails for the list of classes you took in your Masters program.
  • whatever medications you need to get you through the weeks ahead – you don’t want to lose a day or more trying to get doctor’s appointments and prescriptions. Drugs that are over-the-counter in your country might not be available where you are going
  • loose cotton/ linen/ flax clothing, make sure your body from elbows to knees will be covered with non-transparent fabric at all times (bathing suits for hotel pools and distant beaches), sunglasses (if you can afford it, get prescription sunglasses) and a hat
  • some kind of scent (rose water, orange blossom water or jasmine water are fine)
  • if your surroundings matter to you, bring whatever you need to sleep (lavender spray, eye mask, an app on your phone that makes white noise, painkillers/ aspirin/ melatonin) and Blu Tack. If you are traveling on a budget, you may end up in a cement-block room with a LOUD window air-conditioner and/ or a window you can’t open and it’s dark at 8pm. Blu-tacking maps/ fabric/ postcards to your walls can help your space feel less prison-like.

If you are not with a group, politely get in touch with people before hand – use whatever method you want (e-mails, LinkedIn, social media, etc.) at least a few weeks ahead of time. The whole arrive-in-country-and-spend-the-first-night-trying-to-set-up-appointments-for-the-next-morning endeavor is not usually helpful. Once you are in-country and have a few acquaintances, then you need to be ready for last-minute invitations, but try to get some contacts ahead of time.

Get a seat towards the front of the plane, be ready to get in the aisle and move as soon as it is your turn, move as quickly as you can to immigration – immigration can take 10 minutes or 2 hours, get is line as fast as you can.

You want to go to the most important place first but, if possible, try not to meet anyone or go to the archive/ museum/ university/ site on your first day in-country. Unless you already have a lot of experience in the Middle East, the heat/ humidity may be a shock. Give yourself a day to adjust and (depending on your home culture) get used to being stared at constantly. Take yourself for a practice run on the subway/ metro/ bus to wherever you are going to be working, walk around the neighborhood you are staying in, browse through grocery stores, find a café you like, etc.

Figure out what you are going to do for your down time; you can’t always be “on.” Reading, interviewing, translating, searching, walking through libraries, studying, taking photos: all that mental processing in a new culture is exhausting. Take breaks! Go back and forth six times in a row on an abra in Dubai, walk along the beach if you are near one, get a day-pass at a resort and lounge by the pool, read in a hotel lobby, go through the souq and buy cute leather slippers with gaudy, gilt threadwork. Do not try to spend all day every day chasing your research goals. Do not attempt to spend every night writing up notes. Make haste slowly.

Never get into a situation you can’t get out of. Until you have been in-country a few weeks, stay in more public areas and don’t rely on phones, electronics, web sites, apps, etc. to help you the same way as they did in your homespace. For example, if you meet a local, have a great conversation and they invite you to a restaurant for lunch, there are a lot of ways this could go right and some ways this can go wrong. You could ask a taxi driver if they know the restaurant, he says “yes,” you get in, he starts driving, then he confesses that he does not know, you can’t find the location on-line and it’s 30 minutes of aimlessly driving in the general area. Maybe that’s fun; maybe that’s not fun. Or you get to the restaurant, your friend cancels and you don’t feel comfortable in the place alone. Or you have a great lunch, your friend takes off and you decide to walk back to your hostel at 2pm, when it’s 98 degrees with high humidity. By the time you decide to get a taxi, there are none because everyone rests from @ 2pm until @ 4pm, so you have given yourself heat exhaustion and are in bed for a day. Malls are your friend until you are settled.

Judge what is going on by actions, not words. If you are from a culture in which people point out mistakes and/or say what they feel, it may be disorienting to have people tell you what you want to hear, which might have no relationship with reality. If you can, ask “is it better if I do x or y” questions.

Remember that on the Arabian Peninsula, self-control is highly valued. If you are rude, sometimes locals will stay calm and pleasant, so you may not be aware of how big a mistake you are making. If you come from a confrontational culture in which it’s accepted that people argue loudly and with passion, it may be disorienting to have people who won’t engage with you. If you love dashing into political talk (or as one American undergraduate did, met Dhofari women and within a few moments asked them if their husbands beat them) you might find people who are happy to argue, but are always busy if you want to meet them a second time.

Practicalities of Moving to the Arabian Peninsula: Using the Arabic Language

Ethnography – Finding the Middle Ground, part 1 of Discussing Photographs

Bibliography for ‘Researching and Working on the Arabian Peninsula’ (2025, Palgrave Macmillan)

Practicalities of Moving to the Arabian Peninsula: Getting and Sending Mail/ Packages

Practicalities of Moving to the Arabian Peninsula: Using the Arabic Language

Some guides to Arabian Peninsula countries include word lists. In Researching and Working on the Arabian Peninsula [ https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-96-5326-3 ] I don’t have word lists for a few reasons.

First, I am not a linguistics person. Second, daily phrases like ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ vary widely across the region. Thirdly, writing Arabic using English letters is not a task I want to wade into. For example, the standard greeting/ response can be written as: Salam alaikum, Alaikum salam or As-salamu alaykum, alaykum As-salamu. One way to say goodbye is: Masalama/ Ma’assalama/ Ma Salama/ Ma’a as-salāmah.

A more over-arching issue is that I have not found many expats who are in the middle, linguistically-speaking. People either have learned Arabic or they never pick up anything. I have known people who lived on the Arabian Peninsula for years and never learned how to say “please” or “thank you” in Arabic.

That being said, here are some helpful words to recognize:

  • Marhaba – hello/ welcome
  • Bismillah – in the name of God, used at the start of something such as a meeting or meal
  • Wallah – vow/ oath, “I swear by God”
  • Khallas – something is done, over (important as it is used to end a negotiation or discussion)
  • Yallah/ Yallah Shabaab – let’s go/ let’s go guys, used to get someone moving, one of the very few things that can be yelled in frustration, like when you are stuck in a traffic jam
  • Min fadlik (please)/ Shukran (thank you)/ Afwan (you’re welcome)

It’s hard to say but I like: Astaghfirullah, used when you see something horrible (the exact meaning is ‘I seek forgiveness from God’ but in Dhofar it is used as ‘I take refuge in God’, when you see a mean person and say it, it’s a kind of protection and very effective for expressing dislike in a pious way)

But the words that are used most commonly are:

  • Alhamdulillah – praise be to God
  • Inshallah – by the way of God, may God allow this to be, God willing (express hope for the future)
  • Mashallah – what God has willed/ that which God wanted (express gratitude for what is)
  • Subhanallah – glory be to God

Alhamdulillah is used as celebration/ I am so happy to hear this good news/ what a wonderful thing has occurred, but it is also used in the face to something terrible as a way to remember that God is present in everything. I have heard people say “say Alhamdulillah” before giving bad news as a way to help the receiver of ill tidings not give in to despair.

Inshallah is used for any future plan, as in “I’ll see you tomorrow” – Inshallah.

Mashallah is used for praise, anytime you say anything positive about anything or anyone, you need a Mashallah to show that the good come from God (if you know Greek myths, you understand the construction of humans not taking the credit)

Subhanallah – in Dhofar, this is used often as an expression of surprise, wonderment, relief, sudden good fortune

Yet knowing these words is less than half the linguistic battle. To go off topic for a moment, when I studied at the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn for my junior year of college, I took a class on Russian drama because I had never read one. German universities give collective exams after 3 years of study, but since I was transferring back to Madison, I had to go to the professor’s office and have an oral exam at the end of the semester. One of his questions was “What is distinctive about Chekhov’s dramas?” I answered the best I could, but I did not get the right answer which was the pauses between when actors speak. I had no idea about this feature as I had only read the plays; I had never seen one performed.

That’s somewhat similar to trying to use these words correctly, it’s not just knowing when to say which word but that the words are often repeated back and forth.

If someone tells a story and ends with Alhamdulillah, often someone else will repeat the phrase. Then someone else might say Alhamdulillah, or the original speaker might say Alhamdulillah again. In the same manner, Mashallah might be said back and forth. If you are not used to this pattern or to a call-and-response verbal culture, it can get confusing.

If you will need a professional level of Arabic, you might be using the Alif Baa (Brustad et al. 2019) series. For learning on my own, I used the books by Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar (2021) which are more fun and practical. Their Arabic language learning books have everyday vocabulary and realistic practice conversations with a wide variety of reading, writing, speaking, and listening exercises. They also have beginning- and intermediate-level texts specifically on Arabic grammar, writing, conjugating verbs, etc., which can be used for solo learners.

Ethnography – Finding the Middle Ground, part 1 of Discussing Photographs

New Essay: “Ṭâ Is For Talisman” on The Arabic Alphabet website

Practicalities of Moving to the Arabian Peninsula: Navigating Public Spaces

Leaving Oman: Grief, Grandeur, Museums and Bringley’s ‘All the Beauty in The World’

Ethnography – Finding the Middle Ground, part 1 of Discussing Photographs

While working on an essay about marriages in Dhofar, I was writing about the issue of photographs, which made me realize that I have only one photograph of me with one of the research guys. It was taken by another one of the research guys and I think it’s an understated masterpiece that captures all the important parts of working with them.

We are in the nejd, the open, rocky area between the mountains, which are visible in the background, and the real desert. We are taking a rest from a long drive and have parked the cars at the right angle to create a small patch of shade. The mat was put down to take advantage of the shade and in accidental symmetry we each placed our shoes to the side because you try to never walk on a mat in shoes.

To stay in as much shade as possible, we are both sitting close to the truck and in another accidental symmetry, we are both cross-legged. In keeping with conventions, we sit with our bodies facing forward and turn our heads to see each other. These is a lot of empty space between us and our fore-arms and hands are kept within the space of our bodies. He is holding his pipe and has a cup of tea in front of him.

We are following the same conventions within our respective cultures: both of us have our hair covered, him with a kumma, me with a floppy hat. We both have our bodies covered in loose fabric from below the elbow to shoulders and down to below the knee. He is wearing a dark green dishdash and I have a long, pink tunic and loose, purple clam diggers.

I like the photo because it makes me remember thousands of happy hours in pretty much the same circumstances and because it makes me feel that I was finding a way to do research that was both on their terms and my terms.

We are sitting “on their terms”: on the ground, on a plastic mat, in the shade, with open space around us but our backs to something solid, with bare feet, bodies straight with shoulders at an angle, keeping our bodies self-contained (the over-arching idea is to not to move your arms or hands in a way that anyone standing behind you can see) and only the most necessary objects nearby (no chairs, tables, etc.) But I am wearing tropical pink – a shade I rarely saw any Dhofaris females wear.

We look different but equal. Whereas at the start of one of my essays, “Predator Anthropologists, Anthropologists Predators: Anthropological Metaphors in Popular Movies,” I wrote:

The cover of one of my anthropology textbooks has a white man in a white shirt, pressed pants, shoes and the accoutrements of academia (glasses, pen, notebook) talking to a woman with facial tattoos and cloth wrapped around her body. She’s “local,” with local knowledge and he’s the embodiment of knowledge derived from a Western-style education. He’s going to take her information, compare it to other knowledge from other cultures, add in some theory and publish.

I like this photo because it looks like a conversation, not an extraction.

“Predator Anthropologists, Anthropologists Predators: Anthropological Metaphors in Popular Movies” – https://openanthroresearch.org/index.php/oarr/preprint/view/121/187

Ethnography – Whatever You Do, Don’t Smile, part 2 of Discussing Photographs

 

Practicalities of Moving to the Arabian Peninsula: How to Sit, Not Wear Shoes and Use Your Hands

Practicalities of Moving to the Arabian Peninsula: Getting and Sending Mail/ Packages

How NOT to Describe People Who Are Foreign to You: Exoticizing Omanis

 

Bibliography for ‘Researching and Working on the Arabian Peninsula’ (2025, Palgrave Macmillan)

working bibliography for Researching and Working on the Arabian Peninsula: Creating Effective Interactions – M. Risse – https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-96-5326-3

[photo: Dhofar, Jebel Qara in khareef, by M.A. Al Awaid]

authors in bold have additional publications which are not included in this list

Abdul-Jabbar, Wisam. 2024. “Towards a ‘Study at Home’ Education in the Arab Gulf Region: Reterritorializing the ‘Study Abroad’ Mode.” Journal of Gulf Studies 1.1: 21-39.

Abu-Lughod, Lila. 2016/1986. Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society. Berkeley: University of California Press.

—. 2016. “The Cross-publics of Ethnography: The Case of ‘the Muslimwoman’.” American Ethnologist 43.4: 595-608.

—. 2013. Do Muslim Women Need Saving? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

—. 2011. “Seductions of the Honor Crime.” Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 22.1: 17-63.

—. 2008. Writing Women’s Worlds: Bedouin Stories. Berkeley: University of CA Press.

—. 1991. “Writing Against Culture,” in Recapturing Anthropology. Richard Fox, ed. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press. 137-62.

—. 1990. “Anthropology’s Orient: The Boundaries of Theory in the Arab World,” in Theory, Politics and the Arab World: Critical Responses. Hisham Sharabi, ed. New York: Routledge. 81-131.

 —. 1989. “Zones of Theory in the Anthropology of the Arab World.” Annual Review of Anthropology 18: 267-306.

—. 1985. “A Community of Secrets: The Separate World of Bedouin Women.” Signs: A Journal of Women in Culture and Society 10: 637-57.

—. 1985. “Honor and Sentiments of Loss in a Bedouin Society.” American Ethnologist 12: 245-61.

Adra, Najwa. 2011. “Tribal Mediations in Yemen and its Implications to Development.” AAS Working Papers in Social Anthropology 19. Vienna: Institut für Sozialanthropologie. 1-17.

Adra, Najwa, Marieke Brandt, Steven Caton, Paul Dresch and Andre Gingrich, eds. 2021. Tribes in Modern Yemen: An Anthology (Denkschriften Der Philosophisch-historischen Klasse 531). Vienna: Institut für Sozialanthropologie der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Ahmed, Qanta. 2008.  In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor’s Journey in the Saudi Kingdom. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks.

Al-Amadi, Dana, Mark David Major, Heba Tannous and Amina AlKandari. 2023. “Diving for the Spatio-functional Qualities of Exclusivity at The Pearl-Qatar.” Habitat International 138. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197397523001169?via%3Dihub

Al Farsi, Sulaiman. 2013. Democracy and Youth in the Middle East: Islam, Tribalism and the Rentier State in Oman. New York: I.B. Tauris.

Al-Ghanim, Kaltham, Andrew Gardner and Noora Lari. 2023. “Contemporary Women in Qatar: An Ethnographic Study of Their Challenges in Terms of Traditional Applications and Modern Requirements.” Sage Open. 1-17. DOI: 10.1177/21582440231196030

Al-Hajri, Hilal. 2006. “British travelers in Oman from 1627-1970.” Modern Oman: Studies in Politics, Economy, Environment and Culture of the Sultanate. Andrzej Kapiszewski, Abdulrahman al Salimi and Andrej Pikulski, eds. Krakow: Ksiegarnia Akademicka. 63-88.

Al-Hikmani, Hadi and Andrew Spalton. 2021. Dhofar: Monsoon Mountains to Sand Seas – Sultanate of Oman. Chicago: Gilgamesh Publishing.

Al Hussein, Mira. 2022, Nov. 10. “UAE: National Identity and the Social Contract.” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/88371

—. 2021, Dec. 30. “The Economic Contracts of New Gulf Citizenships.” Orient XXI. https://orientxxi.info/magazine/the-economic-contracts-of-new-gulf-citizenships,5265.

—. 2021, Oct. “Citizenship in the Gulf.” Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Policy Report 40. https://www.kas.de/en/web/rpg/detail/-/content/citizenship-in-the-gulf

—.2021, Sept. 15. “The UAE’s ‘Foreign Talent’ Dilemma.” London School of Economics Blog. blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2021/09/15/the-uaes-foreign-talent-dilemma

Al Ismaili, Ahmed. 2018. “Ethnic, Linguistic, and Religious Pluralism in Oman: The Link with Political Stability.” Al Muntaqa 1.3: 58-73.

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Marielle Risse

Books

Houseways in Southern Oman. Routledge, 2023

This book explains how modern, middle-class houses are sited, designed, built, decorated and lived in with an emphasis on how room-usage is determined by age, gender, time of day and the presence of guests. Combing ethnography and architectural studies, the author draws on over sixteen years of living in the Dhofar region to analyze the cultural perceptions regarding houses and how residential areas fit within the urban areas in southern Oman. Dhofari houses are also compared to houses in other Arabian Peninsula countries and positioned within the theoretical frameworks of the “Islamic city” and the “Islamic house.”

 

Foodways in Southern Oman. Routledge, 2021

This book examines the objects, practices and beliefs relating to producing, obtaining, cooking, eating and disposing of food in the Dhofar region of southern Oman. The chapters consider food preparation, who makes what kind of food, and how and when meals are eaten. Foodways connects what is consumed to themes such as land usage, gender, age, purity, privacy and generosity. It also discusses how foodways are related to issues of morality, safety, religion, and tourism. The volume is a result of fourteen years of collecting data and insights in Dhofar, covering topics such as catching fish, herding camels, growing fruits, designing kitchens, cooking meals and setting leftovers out for animals.

 

Community and Autonomy in Southern Oman. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019

This book explores how, in cultures which prize conformity, there is latitude for people who choose not to conform either for a short time and how the chances to assert independence change over time. The main focus is on how the traits of self-control and self-respect are manifested in the everyday actions of several groups of tribes whose first language is Gibali (Jebbali/ Jebali, also referred to as Shari/ Shahri), a non-written, Modern South Arabian language. Although no work can express the totality of a culture, this text describes how Gibalis are constantly shifting between preserving autonomy and signaling membership in family, tribal and national communities.

Publications – scholarly articles and chapters – anthropology/ culture/ travel writing

“Lifeways of Traditional Fishermen in Dhofar, Oman,” in Fish as Food: Lifestyle and a Sustainable Future. Helen Macbeth, ed. International Commission on the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition – Alimenta Populorum series. 2024: 155-170. https://archive.org/details/macbeth-young-and-roberts-ed-fish-as-food-anthropological-and-cross-disciplinary

“An Ethnographic Discussion of Fairy Tales from Southern Oman,” Fabula: Zeitschrift für Erzählforschung / Journal of Folktale Studies / Revue d’Etudes sur le Conte Populaire 60.3-4 (De Gruyter, Berlin) 2019: 318–335.

 “Understanding Communication in Southern Oman,” North Dakota Quarterly 84.1 (Special Issue on Transnationalism) 2017: 174-184.

“Generosity, Gift-giving and Gift-avoiding in Southern Oman,” Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 45 (Oxford: Archeopress) 2015: 289-296. 

“Understanding the Impact of Culture on the TESOL Classroom: An Outsider’s Perspective,” TESOL Arabia’s Perspective 18.2, 2011: 15-19.

“Cultural Refraction: Using Travel Writing, Anthropology and Fiction to Understand the Culture of Southern Arabia,” Interdisciplinary Humanities 26:1, 2009: 63-78.

Publications – scholarly articles and chapters – literature/ pedagogy

“Using Cultural Understandings to Improve Teaching in Oman,” in Unpackaging Theory and Practice in Educational Sciences. Abdülkadir Kabadayı, ed. Lyon: Livre de Lyon. 2023: 129-141.  https://www.livredelyon.com/educational-sciences/unpackaging-theory-practice-in-educational-sciences_595.

“Teaching Paired Middle Eastern and Western Literary Texts,” in Advancing English Language Education. Wafa Zoghbor and Thomaï Alexiou, eds. Dubai: Zayed University Press, 2020: 221-223.

“Teaching Literature on the Arabian Peninsula,” Anthropology News website, October 7 2019. http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2019/10/07/teaching-literature-on-the-arabian-peninsula/

“Selecting the Right Literary Texts for Middle Eastern Students: Challenges and Reactions,” in Focusing on EFL Reading: Theory and Practice. Rahma Al-Mahrooqi, ed. Muscat: Sultan Qaboos University Press, 2014: 165-188.

 “Frosty Cliffs, Frosty Aunt and Sandy Beaches: Teaching Aurora Leigh in Oman,” Ariel: A Review of International English Literature 43.4, 2013: 123-145.

“Who Are You Calling ‘Coddled’?: ‘Cloistered Virtue’ and Choosing Literary Texts in a Middle Eastern University,” Pedagogy 13.3, 2013: 415-427.

“Do You know a Creon?: Making Literature Relevant in an Omani University,” in Literature Teaching in EFL/ESL: New Perspectives. Rahma Al-Mahrooqi, ed. Muscat: Sultan Qaboos University Press, 2012: 302-314.

“Reader’s Guide” for the English version of Khadija bint Alawi al-Thahab’s My Grandmother’s Stories: Folk Tales from Dhofar (Translated by W. Scott Chahanovich, U.S. Fulbright Scholar at Dhofar University, 2009-2010). Washington, D.C: Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, 2012: 17-23.

Conference Presentations – anthropology/ culture/ travel writing

“Conducting Research on the Arabian Peninsula: Creating Effective Interactions,” Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference. Nov. 14, 2024.

“Windguru and Other Gurus: Fishing off the Coast of Dhofar, Oman,” Navigating the Transcultural Indian Ocean: Texts and Practices in Contact Conference, sponsored by the Rutter Project. June 5, 2024

“Crafting a Home: Interior Home Design in Southern Oman.” Home/Making Symposium, Concordia University. Montreal. May 12, 2023. https://www.concordia.ca/finearts/events/home-making.html

“Good Governance and Open Spaces: How the State and Residents Negotiate the Use of Government Land in Dhofar, Oman.” AnthroState Talks for the European Association of Social Anthropologists Network on Anthropologies of the State. May 4, 2023. https://easaonline.org/networks/anthrostate/talks

“Explorations in the North-west Indian Ocean: The Research Journeys of the ‘Palinurus’ along the Omani Coast in the mid-1800s.” Research Expeditions to India and the Indian Ocean in Early Modern and Modern Times, sponsored by the German Maritime Museum / Leibniz Institute for Maritime History. Nov. 3, 2022.

“Private Lives in Public Spaces: Perceptions of Space-Usage in Southern Oman.” Middle East Studies Association annual conference. Montreal, Quebec. December 2, 2021.

“The Costs and Benefits of Fishing in Southern Oman.” Fish as Food: Lifestyle and a Sustainable Future, annual conference of the International Commission on the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition, hosted at the University of Liverpool. Sept. 1, 2021.

“Ethical Eating in Southern Oman.” Just Food, virtual conference of the Association for the Study of Food and Society; Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society; Canadian Association for Food Studies and the Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition, hosted by the Culinary Institute of America and New York University. June 12, 2021.

“Foodways in Southern Oman,” for the session “Uncovering Truths, Building Responsibility in A Pandemic: Insights from Emerging Monographs at the Nexus of Culture, Food, and Agriculture.” American Anthropological Association. Nov. 9, 2020.

with Keye Tersmette. “Ghurba at Home – Views from Oman.” The Arab World as Ghurba: Citizenship, Identity and Belonging in Literature and Popular Culture, University of Warwick. June 21, 2019.

“Accounts from the Journeys of the Brig ‘Palinurus’ Along the Dhofar Coast in the mid-1800s.” Maritime Exploration and Memory Conference, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England. Sept. 15, 2018.

“Recent Views on Oman.” British Society for Middle East Studies, University of Edinburgh. July 6, 2017.

“Female, Femininity, Male and Masculinity in the Gibali-speaking Tribes of Southern Oman.” The Gulf Research Conference, Cambridge University. August 2, 2017.

“‘Words Mean Nothing’: Fluency in Language and Fluency in Culture in Anthropology Fieldwork in Southern Oman.” British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Wales. July 15, 2016.

“’Why Would I Hurt a Woman?’: Respectful/ Respecting Women in Southern Oman.” Middle East Studies Association Conference, Denver. Nov. 21, 2015.

“Generosity, Gift-giving and Gift-avoiding in Southern Oman.” British Foundation for the Study of Arabia’s Seminar for Arabian Studies, The British Museum, London. July 27, 2014.

“‘I Do Not Need the Night’: The Gibali Conception of Self-Respect in Southern Oman.” Middle East Studies Association Conference, New Orleans. October 12, 2013.

“They Came, They Saw, They Fought, They Compromised, They Left: The Foreign Military Presence in the Dhofar War (Oman, 1965-1975).” Royal Geographical Society Annual Conference; Edinburgh. July 3, 2012.

 “Waiting for [both] the Barbarians”: Tourism in the Dhofar Region of Oman.” Traditions and Transformations: Tourism, Heritage and Cultural Change in the Middle East and North Africa Region; Amman, Jordan. April 6, 2009.

Conference presentations – literature/ pedagogy

“Finding the Right Texts for Teaching Literature, Cultures, and Empathy in the Middle East.” American Comparative Literature Association Conference. April 9, 2021.

“‘I Came to You for Good’: An Ethnographic Discussion of Folk Tales from Southern Oman.” Third Joint Seminar of The Folklore Society and the Royal Anthropological Institute, Royal Anthropological Institute, London. Oct. 26, 2017.

“Antigone, Alcestis, Deanira and Philoketes visit the Empty Quarter: The Reception of Greek Drama on the Arabian Peninsula.” American Comparative Literature Association Conference, University of Utrecht. July 8, 2017.

“‘A Man Was Always Catching Fish’: Fairy Tale Elements in the Ali al-Mahri/ Johnstone/ Rubin Gibali Texts from Southern Oman.” American Comparative Literature Association Conference, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. March 18, 2016.

“Analyzing Arabic Teaching to Improve English Teaching.” TESOL Arabia Annual Conference; Dubai. March 14, 2014.

 “John Clare Looks Good in a Dishdash: Linking John Clare to Middle Eastern Poetry.” Modern Language Association Annual Conference, Chicago. January 7, 2011.

“How Can You Hate the Sun?: Translating Western Conceptions of Nature.” Humanities Education and Research Association, Chicago, Illinois. April 9, 2009. 

“Do You Have Anything on Cowboys?: Creating a University Library in the Middle East,” with Chris Sugnet. Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association Conference, Albuquerque. Feb., 2000.

Creative Non-fiction

“Yemen with Yul,” in Emanations 11. Independently published, 2024: 417-429.

“Questions About Food and Ethics,” in Emanations: When a Planet was a Planet. Brookline, MA: International Authors, 2021: 403-408

“Ok Kilito, I Won’t Speak Your Language: Reflections after Reading Thou Shalt Not Speak My Language,” in Octo-Emanations. Carter Kaplan, ed. Brookline, MA: International Authors, 2020: 233-236.

“Predator Anthropologists, Anthropologist Predators: Anthropological Metaphors in Popular Movies,” Open Anthropology Research Repository. Aug. 25, 2020. https://www.openanthroresearch.org/doi/abs/10.1002/oarr.10000333.1

“What’s in Your Bag?” Anthropology News. American Anthropological Association. Oct. 30, 2019. http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2019/07/23/whats-in-your-bag-2019-edition/

“Living Expat,” in Emanations: Chorus Pleiades. Carter Kaplan, ed. Brookline, MA: International Authors, 2018: 308-318.

“Throwing Children in the Street: Explaining Western Culture to Omanis,” in Emanations: Third Eye. Carter Kaplan, ed. Brookline, MA: International Authors, 2013: 265-274.

 “To Learn Arabic, You Have to Talk the Talk,” The Chronicle of Higher Education. May 31, 2012. http://chronicle.com/article/To-Learn-Arabic-You-Have-to/132057

“Bringing Theory Home in Oman,” The Chronicle of Higher Education. July 10, 2011: B24. http://chronicle.com/article/Bringing-Theory-Home-in-Oman/128139/

Practicalities of Moving to the Arabian Peninsula: Dealing with Loss

Ethnography – Staying Calm

Ethnography – Navigating Shaking Hands on the Arabian Peninsula

Leaving Oman: Grief, Grandeur, Museums and Bringley’s ‘All the Beauty in The World’

Practicalities of Moving to the Arabian Peninsula: Getting and Sending Mail/ Packages

I recently realized that I did not write about mailing issues in Researching and Working on the Arabian Peninsula: Creating Effective Interactions [ https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-96-5326-3 ]. This topic came up because the book’s publisher asked me where I wanted my complimentary copies sent. I gave the PO Box of my former university in Oman so that a friend who still works there could give out the books to the Omani people who helped me do research. But the publisher does not ship books to PO Boxes and Oman does not deliver mail to street addresses, all mail goes to PO Boxes.

Welcome to the world of trying to get what you want where you want it!

For some people who move to the Arabian Peninsula, mail is never an issue. But if you will need to send/ receive papers or objects, it is worth thinking through what is the best way to manage that. Because, like everything else when you are in a new country, a simple act like mailing a letter can go sideways.

Three overarching issues:

1) Mail is not used for communication very often, to the point where some people do not have or need a mailing address.

2) The kind of mail delivery depends on the country. There is no home mail delivery in Oman; in Saudi Arabia there is home delivery; in the Emirates and Qatar, mail is delivered to a PO Box, usually at work, and you can pay for home delivery if you want to.

3) Some countries have post office clerks who do all tasks; you stand in line and whoever is there can help you. Arabian Peninsula post offices are set up with clerks who do specific functions, so you need to look/ ask to make sure you are in the right line; for example, there might be one counter for domestic stamps/ letters, one for domestic parcels, one for international parcels, one to pick up a parcel etc.

The first concern is when you are sending boxes to yourself so that they are there when you arrive. If you are moving for work, get specific instructions from someone on your team. It is probably better if you address the boxes to someone who is already working there, not to yourself. If you use your name, someone at the post office or your company might not recognize it and return your box.

Also, talk to someone if you are sending something that is not standard household goods. This is the sort of detail that you will want to check and double-check as you do not want your boxes to sit in limbo at customs or in the depths of the package room at the main post office.

If you are going for research, you might be able to send a box to your hotel (but check with them first) and/ or the archive you will be using.

Once you are in-country, you have a couple of choices:

1) use your work address to receive mail, which is what most people do – the drawback is you are dependent on someone else (the people who go to post office, sort the mail and deliver to your office) but most companies have employees who pick up the post every day or every-other day and get your letters to your desk within a few hours

2) get a PO Box for yourself, which means greater control of when you get your mail but also that you have to drive to pick it up

3) use a transshipping company, which means everyone you know/ every store you buy from sends letters and goods to a street address in your home country, then the transshipping company opens the boxes, combines all your mail into one box which is sent with FedEx/ DHL/ Aramex etc. I used Stackry and never had a problem but there are many companies to choose from – this is most expensive but also fastest, most reliable and your boxes are delivered where you want, either home or office.

Remember that moving items within the country or within the Arabian Peninsula can sometimes be done more easily by bus. There are a lot of bus companies which will take even the most haphazardly wrapped items as cargo. I used to buy rugs, pillows, tablecloths, etc. in Muscat and put them on the bus to Salalah; they arrived overnight and it cost a few dollars. A friend once sent me a paper shopping bag, stapled shut, full of lotion and perfume in glass bottles and everything arrived in good shape. This also works between countries!

Also remember to ask people who are in-country what the delivery times are. Shipping companies and national postal organizations can chirp about “3-day delivery” but the people on the receiving end will know the actual transit time.  

As with many other errands, you can decide if you want to pay for help. In the States, I would never think of paying someone to mail my letters. In Oman, I would sometimes drive across town only to find that they were out of stamps or the stamp-clerk was on break, so it was worth it to me to out-source some post office visits.* There are often people at work who can help you pick up and/ or drop off packages (sometimes called “runners”) but it is only fair to use them if you pay them well. Ask the going rate, then add a generous tip.

Lastly, the chances are good that you will end up with a horror story about shipping. When the mail goes wrong, it goes terribly wrong. There is no perfect company and no way to know when it will fall apart. One package from DHL took 21 days to arrive and I got into an epic 3 week fight with FedEx to get a box out of customs purgatory. There is so much written about “global village” and “instant access” that it can come as a surprise when you can’t get some little thingie from here to there: it’s a postal strike or a federal holiday or bad weather or the mailing label got torn.

If it is something important/ irreplaceable – carry it with you or pay extra for special services.

* Unless you have hired a butler, it is in no one’s job description to run your personal errands. I don’t think there is anything wrong in hiring people to make your life easier if you treat them with respect and give them honest wages. It is unconscionable to be rude or underpay.

Researching and Working on the Arabian Peninsula: Creating Effective Interactions

Reflections on Ethnographic Research: Deciding to Hire Expat Workers (part 1 of 4)

How NOT to Describe People Who Are Foreign to You: Exoticizing Omanis

Leaving Oman: Grief, Grandeur, Museums and Bringley’s ‘All the Beauty in The World’

Ethnography – Staying Calm

I often talk about how it is important in Dhofar to project calm at all times.* The need to always be peaceful can create puzzling situations. Recently an Omani friend asked me to provide some specific information that I don’t have access to. When I told the person that, they responded by telling me that they already had the information.

To an outsider, that might seem like a confusing statement, why did the Omani ask me for information they already had? From a Dhofari perspective, the person wanted my input, but when I said I could not help, they needed to reassert their autonomy and to make the “weather calm” between us. They did not want to appear to be in need to help, nor did they want me to be worried. Whether they have the information or not (and when they received it), is not the point. Keeping our friendship on an even keel is the point.

I try to go along with this POV as much as I could but it is often difficult. An Omani who did what they could to destroy my career, insisted on coming up to me to say “hello” and ask how I was whenever they saw me. The juxtaposition between their private cruelty and public smiles was so odd, I often just stared at them instead of replying. Other Omanis told me that I needed to “hold myself” and answer pleasantly. My pleas of “they are making my life miserable” were ignored. I was told if someone is actively attempting to hurt me, the only acceptable response is politeness.

Another example is when an Omani man insulted an Omani woman in front of over 20 people. I called him on it, he brushed it off and she insisted that she wasn’t bothered at all (as a way to assert her self-control).

A few days later he asked me if I had forgiven him; since he had shown no contrition I said, “No,” and he got mad at me. From his point of view, he had done a pro forma apology, therefore I needed to forgive him. I thought his action was deliberately malicious and felt no compunction to make peace.

My funniest example is once when I failed to stay calm, an Omani man who I did not know decided to teach me patience.

The Omani man was in an academic office, looking at a form he had filled out. I came in and sat down, waiting to talk to the clerk. The man asked the clerk some questions, then reread the form. He smiled at me and, when I did not smile back (as I was annoyed that he was fussing over an unimportant form), he reread the form again. Then he asked the clerk the same questions.

When he smiled at me a second time as I sat stony-faced, he got agitated and repeated the questions for a third time and reread the form yet again. The interaction was not going the way he wanted it to as I was not behaving properly (i.e. looking unbothered) and he could not end it comfortably until I smiled, expressing that I was at peace with his behavior. He had the right to pester the clerk with several iterations of the same questions and I should accept this right.

Finally, he left, but I did not start talking to the clerk as I was pretty sure what was going to happen. Within a minute, as expected, the man returned.

He had decided that he need to write his phone number at the top of the form. The clerk explained that his phone number was already on the form, but the man insisted on double-checking. So, the clerk handed the form over and the man wrote his phone number at the top, then asked the same questions he had asked before.

Then he looked at me and smiled for the third time. I know I was supposed to keep my dignity by responding in a way to show that “I am not bothered” but I simply stared at him. Finally, he stood up to leave, but before he reached the door, he turned back, pointed at me and said in Arabic, “She’s “za’lana (angry)”! I replied in Arabic that I was not za’lana, but he repeated, “za’lana! za’lana!” and laughed.

He had won the interaction. Although I didn’t say anything, I showed my lack of serence self-control by not smiling and acting as if I had all the time in the world while he reread the form.

* Omanis know that always keeping calm is impossible, so there is a corollary that if you see someone not up to the task, you need to step in, help create peace and never encourage anger or violence. Thus, there is an expectation that if two people start to yell at each other, everyone in the vicinity should work to separate and quiet them (unlike the American action of on-lookers creating a circle around the two opponents and yelling “fight, fight!”).

Geography is Destiny: Growing up in Columbia, Maryland

I grew up in a model city. This does not mean I turned out as a model citizen but my city, Columbia, Maryland, did the best it could. [see also Michael Chabon’s essay on Columbia, “Maps and Legends” in his essay collection with the same title]

Columbia came from a conglomeration of pieces of land bought up by under the direction of James Rouse for the Howard Company Research and Development Corporation. The area, between Baltimore and Washington D.C, was at that time mainly farm land; Rouse planned a “new city” which was supposed to create the feel of a small town but with housing available to people with all ranges of income.

Columbia was founded in 1967 and was built to seem small and friendly. It had curving roads, sidewalks, walking paths, artificial lakes, lots of trees and a “village centers” that would be within walking distance of most of the houses. Each village center was a mixed-use area with a community space/ theater, small stores and a large grocery store as well as restaurant and other amenities such as a library. Schools were also located within walking distances of most housing. All this was gilded with a patina of poetic names. I lived on ‘Open Sky,’ next to ‘Thicket Lane,’ ‘May Wind Court,’ ‘Green Mountain Circle’ and ‘Twin Rivers.’ People from nearby towns called Columbia “Disneyland” in the beginning years.

The idea of creating a community was incorporated into even the smallest detail. Mail was not delivered to houses. To get our mail, we walked across the street to a large box which had cubbyholes for 20 houses. The idea was that you would meet and talk to your neighbors as you picked up the mail every day.

The three main differences between Columbia and most other developments were that Columbia was deliberately built to bring people from different incomes together into the same space. Every village had single-family homes, townhouses, apartments, condominiums and subsidized housing. Thus every school had students from a wide-range of financial backgrounds.

A second difference is that religious buildings were forbidden. There were “interfaith centers” in each village center; each religious groups using the space at different times, i.e. Baptists at nine, Methodists at eleven. Lastly, the Columbia Medical Plan (CMP), an early form of HMO, was set up for residents so that most residents went to the same hospital.

The motto of Columbia is “People Power” and the power came from people who wanted to live in a “willed community,” meaning the people who bought homes there wanted to have neighbors from all economic, social, religious and national backgrounds. In middle school my best friend was from Haiti; in high schools my group of friends included people who were Jewish, Catholic, Hindi, Protestant and atheist.

The crowning touch was that I went through a ‘model’ school system. My elementary, middle and high schools were built ‘open plan’ – no classroom walls. Teachers used flimsy dividers to block off their own area. Students sat in semi-circles; the teachers sat on their desk or roamed around the space. There was always noise from other nearby classes; I enjoyed the setup but it must have been hell for those with ADHD.

The teachers were encouraged to be innovative and let students learn using a variety of methods. In elementary we learned math by using counting sticks. In high school we could work our way through math books at our own pace. We didn’t have lectures in English classes. There were about 45 ‘packets’ – each with a reading assignment and questions to answer. Each student had to do 12 packets in one year. If you powered though, you could finish in one semester, or languish on for 1 ½ years.

My last year, I had a very hip teache, who decided to let me and another student watch THX1138, George Lucas’ first film, a dystopia sci-fi short movie. The teacher wrote up a series of questions and we wrote essays to answer them, a far cry from the usual high school curriculum in 1986. Another teacher was doing research on ‘learning styles.’ My two best friends and I announced that we learned better sitting comfortably, so we appropriated the sofa which had been brought into his class space. We ‘needed’ the sofa to optimize our learning capabilities.

Despite the luxuries I was enjoying, my mom suggested that I finish high school in three years. I looked into it and found I would only need to take one summer school class – English. So that summer I took a bus to another school in town, a real high school. It had hallways. It had windows and classrooms with doors. Amazingly, the chairs were in straight columns, and the teacher never moved from behind his desk. It was a classroom just like I had seen in the movies!

I sat in the last chair, the column nearest the windows, propped up my textbook, set the book I was reading inside it, and read all summer. The best of possible worlds! The teacher’s voice was a low, steady drone from the front of the class; no one was paying attention. There were no creative projects, nothing to turn my brain on for – I was envious of the students who got to “learn” like this all the time! This was what high school was supposed to be!

One result of growing up in Columbia is that as a teacher I make my students sit in a circle so we can all interact. I walk around the classroom. I try to think of creative homework assignments. The second result is that I can read anything anywhere; I can make myself concentrate on any mental task no matter what confusion reigns around me.

The last result is that I don’t really ‘get’ hating someone else because they have a different religion. In this, perhaps inadvertently, Columbia was eminently successful. When I got to college and heard a woman from my dorm disparage another woman because “she was Catholic,” I was surprised. You would dislike someone because of their religion? Really? It seemed so oddly old-fashioned, like living in a house without electricity. Not trusting someone because of their religion? Weird.

I think part of the reason I could live overseas in Germany, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates and Oman is that I grew up with such a mix of people. Or to be more precise, people from different backgrounds who were happy to live near people from other different backgrounds. As a child, it never occurred to me that I was supposed to fear or hate someone whose appearance, religion, background, language and/or country of origin was different than mine. Not, I hope, in a holier-than-thou sort of way, but I wasn’t taught to fear or hate, so I didn’t fear or hate. People Power, plain and simple.

Navigating Working in USA without Speaking English, part 1

Returning to USA – Culture Shock essays

Culture Shock – Adjusting to American Hand Shakes

Researching and Working on the Arabian Peninsula: Creating Effective Interactions

image of small boat in blue ocean seen from above

Practicalities of Moving to the Arabian Peninsula: Navigating Public Spaces

I am happy to announce that my 4th book, Researching and Working on the Arabian Peninsula: Creating Effective Interactions, will be available in June – https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-96-5326-3. 

This book outlines strategies for current or soon-to-be business professionals, government employees, researchers and teachers to communicate, study and work effectively on the Arabian Peninsula. Using first-person accounts, as well as scholarly research from the fields of history, anthropology, political science, travel writing and literature, this book gives clear advice for expats wanting to create successful interactions with people from Arabian Peninsula societies. By discussing how the practicalities of work and research intersect with cultural norms, this book fills the gap between tourist guides aimed at the causal tourists and academic texts on narrowly defined topics.

Navigating Public Spaces – walking

People who come from cultures in which it’s normal and easy to go by foot and/ or public transportation for shopping, work and recreation might have to adjust their expectations. Some mixed-use developments, like the Pearl in Qatar and City Walk in Dubai, are set up for ease of movement, but they are the exception.

Maneval mentions that “streets in contemporary neighbourhoods in Jeddah have been designed for cars and not for pedestrians…Except for a few streets in the old town and its adjacent neighbourhoods, there are no pavements” (2019 180). The same holds true in most towns on the Arabian Peninsula. Home-owners will often pave the section between the house wall and the street to use as a parking space, but there are often no sidewalks. To walk from one house to another, you will constantly move between different types of paving stones, gravel, parked cars, dumpsters and rocky open land.

Sometimes the house takes up all of the land and the house wall is so close to the street that the owner must park in the street. While this isn’t legal, it’s also not complained about and no one would suggest tearing down the house wall to get the cars out of the streets, so although all residential areas are designed with two-way streets, practically-speaking many have only the center of the street open for driving.

The mosque is seen as the center of the neighborhood; men walk to it for the 5 daily prayers if they are in the house at prayer time. This walking is the only time I have seen men walk within neighborhoods. Women do not often go to the mosque, but some will walk around the neighborhood with children as exercise. 

The area around a mosque is usually paved with flag stones where men stand and talk before and after prayers. During Ramadan, this space can be used for iftar, the sunset meal to break the fast, with dates, pastries, fruit with water, juice and/ or butter milk (laban), etc. given free. The space is also used to collect goods during charity drives. 

Many mosques share a side wall with a shop. There might be only one small grocery store or a few shops including a bakery, vegetable store and/ or dry-cleaners. Men can stop and pick up necessities for the house on the way back from prayers and children are sent to get last-minute items for meal preparation or to buy sweets. Many neighborhood mosques have small playgrounds near them.

In commercial areas, there is also usually little walking. While a row of shops with aligned storefronts may have a short, common sidewalk, walking between stores means navigating many different types of paving materials, open spaces and parked cars, with the additional hazard of dripping air conditioners.

Many expats live in high-rise apartment buildings which have small shops on the first floor, e.g. dry clearer, coffee shop, small grocery store, fruit and vegetable store, shoe repair, etc. There is endless duplication so that if your building does not have a shop you need, a nearby building probably will. The clerks in the store can bring whatever is needed up to an apartment and an apartment dweller can pick up whatever is needed on the way to or from work.

Walking for fun is usually done in public spaces set up by municipal governments for recreational purposes, such outdoor shopping malls, walking paths, picnic areas and beaches. As one researcher told me, “You drive to walk.” Meaning, you often need to get into your car to get to a place where it’s fun and comfortable to walk.

Since land is bought and sold in parcels which are developed at different times, you can often find a luxury property next to empty lot which might be used as a garbage tip. There is seldom the cheek and jowl, seamless, block after block of retail stores that you can find in European downtowns. You might park in scrubland then walk in the street to get to your office building or live in an enclave that is surrounded by sandy waste.

No matter what you are wearing, if you are walking in public, you are going to be stared at which can be frightening if you come from a culture in which eye contact from strangers is a sign of danger. Some people love this attention, some hate it – but there is no way to stop it. Dressing immodestly may cause more staring, but dressing conservatively does not prevent it. Wearing sunglasses, walking with someone and not looking at other people can help you minimize the discomfort and there is rarely any overt behavior (such as being followed or called out to), but you are going to be observed and judged at every public appearance. 

Navigating Public Spaces – gender issues

If you come from a culture which does not have a focus on keeping space between men and women in public, there might be some adjustments as you get used to the Arabian Peninsula. There are three basic ways to keep a male/ female separation in public: 1) laws/ government regulations, 2) how the buildings are planned, i.e., built-in elements and 3) people’s individual choices.

For example, some commercial and public spaces have laws such as women-only restaurants or women-only days at a shopping festival or park or women-only wards in a hospital.

Depending on where you are, you might see specific written instructions such as “family area” or “women and families only on Tuesdays.” Some restaurants have the family area upstairs with the entry through a different door. Sometimes the family section is a group of small closed rooms or it is divided from the open section by a low wall.        

Some locations don’t have laws or built-in barriers, but people walk and sit in ways to create gender divisions in places such as the gate area in airports and on beaches. Several years ago my bank started an initiative to have a “women’s only” teller complete with a long, narrow, pink carpet for women to stand on while waiting. Before this, women wearing black abayahs would often cut to the front of the line or stand in line, then men would gesture for them to go to the front. Women who were not conservatively dressed would wait in line but there would be a little extra empty space ahead of and behind them.

The “women’s only line” initiative fizzled out fairly soon (I never saw a woman in the women’s teller space, although there are female tellers) and was eventually replaced with a ticket system in which each person would take a numbered ticket when they arrived and wait for the number to be called. The chairs in the waiting area are not marked in any way, but are always divided by the people waiting with women in one section and men in another.

Similarly, in Oman hospitals and clinics often have ‘women-only’ and ‘men-only’ waiting rooms but you can find people sitting and looking in ways to create privacy for others. For example, a man who is with his mother might sit in the ‘women-only area,’ but stay next to the door. Several times when men in my research group have been sick, I have visited them, sometimes staying for hours in areas marked ‘men-only.’ And I know that sons, brothers, husbands and fathers walk into ‘women-only’ wards to visit female relatives.

In general, both men and women can define their wish to apart by using location and clothing. For example, one woman might choose to sit in the open section of a restaurant, while another pulls the back of the sheila over her face to cover her eyes as she walks to the woman-only section.

And just as there are signals that you want privacy, there are signals that you don’t want privacy, i.e., “look at me” behavior – talking loudly, gesticulating, wearing a lot of perfume and clothes to accentuate shape, this includes men wearing brightly colored and/ or very tight fitting dishdashes.

Sometimes the signal is: “look at me being virtuous,” i.e., preforming conservative beliefs in public in a way that attracts attention so that you know you will to be under observation. For example, in an airplane, some Dhofari women make a very public controversy about refusing to sit next a man; this can be done very loudly with raised voices, blocking the aisle, refusing to sit where asked, arguing with a stewardess, etc.[1]

How privacy works in public areas is not simply the physical set-up, distance or clothing, locals also use deliberate systems of noticing and not noticing to grant a kind of seclusion to others. For example, sometimes Omanis purposefully don’t “see” people who share their space. This can be a way of showing respect; a married man who is walking with his wife in a mall might be ignored by friends who pass him or acknowledge him only with a small gesture such as lifting the eyebrows.

If I am sitting alone in a café, men who know me will often ignore me until either another man from my research groups comes to sit with me or they are leaving the café. What often happens is that they will walk slowly, allowing their friends to go ahead, then come to my table to say hello, while their friends wait outside the door.

A general rule of thumb is that if you are male, learn to make room for conservatively dressed females, even if within your own culture women make way for men. On the walking paths, men need to move to the side to let women pass; on beaches and in picnic areas, if there are women sitting together, it is expected that no man will approach them.

If you are male and accidently bump into a local woman, take up whatever the “I’m sorry” position is in your culture. For many North Americans that means hands up at shoulder-height, slightly away from the body, palms facing the person you touched, while slowly backing up.

If you are female and not dressed like a local, be prepared that some men will refuse to notice your existence, to the point of practically running you over in hallways.

            [1] This can also be done politely and without fanfare. Once, as I stood next to my aisle seat preparing to sit down, the man in the middle seat spoke quietly to his young son at the window, who then switched places with him. The son clearly wanted to be by the window, but the father did not want to sit next to me.

Returning to USA – Culture Shock essays

 

Culture Shock – Returning to USA

Culture Shock: The Basics

Culture Shock: (Not) Being Under Observation

Culture Shock: The Parable of the Boxes

Culture Shock: The Land of Detachment and Toolboxes

Culture Shock: Bumpy Reentry and Moral Dilemmas

Culture Shock – Communication is Always the Worst Part, part 1

Culture Shock – Communication is Always the Worst Part (Don’t Lie), part 2

Culture Shock – Drugs, Medicines, Choices and Chances

Cultural Preferences for Gathering Information – Talk to a Person or Type into your Phone?

Navigating without Language

Teaching: Reflections on Culture Shocks