If you read the websites and tourist info about the United Arab Emirates, it is the cutting edge of technology, architecture, and education in the Arab world. Oddly enough, one cannot get a wireless connection in this town. Nevertheless, Dubai has some truly funkyrific modern architecture. Here is the skyline of downtown Dubai: 
I read that Dubai is trying to keep a distinctive Gulf flavor to the buildings by making the windows be shaped in a more traditional manner, but these marvels of glass and steel look more forwards than backwards. Near the hotel where we are living, things are little more on the normal urban scale.
But there are things about people that never change, like laundry. As we do our laundry every night, we just festoon the room with our damp clothes, but these folks have their urban clotheslines right out there on the main avenue.
The traditional architecture that is supposed to maintain the national identity are the dhow (the traditional pearling boat that sometimes did a bit of pirating but is now used on dinner cruises) And the other emblematic bit of architecture is the wind tower. Now, all the buildings are totally air conditioned, but the wind tower hearkens back to the non-air-conditioned days of the 20th century (may it rest in peace) when these towers caught breezes and funneled them through the stone walls to cool the air so it would flow through the houses. When we visited the University, they gave us little wooden models of it. This omiage created a certain amount of confusion before it was figured out.
Part of our trip was a lecture and lunch at the Sheikh Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding. Evidently this place opened up several years ago to help foreigners understand Gulf culture. However, as modernization has gripped the UAE by the throat, local people show up for their lecture/demos to reconnect with their heritage. Two very nice hosts, a young woman and an older man, entertained our questions. They were very gracious and offered quite heartfelt and earnest answers. On the concept of modesty, it seemed that their concept was that one does not engage in modest behavior because it is the law or because it is doctrine but because it is a way of being polite and showing respect for others. In our American understanding of “modest behavior”, it seems that we often see what these people are describing as personal restrictions on individual expression. As I listened to them describe their understanding of what it means to be polite, it was clear that this was an issue of Individualistic Orientation in contrast with Group Orientation. If I value the individual over the group, them I will value (tolerate?) individual expression regardless of social convention. If I value the group over the individual, I will value social convention regardless of the desires of individual expression. I read this very same sentiment in the student newspaper of the American University of Sharja, where a young lady was praising personal restraint as a way of being nice to other people.
After this discussion we had lunch, which was coffee with cardamom, noodles with sugar and cardamom, fried bred with date syrup, and an omelet like dish with cardamom. This was all followed by tea that was much stronger than the coffee. Cardamom is so tasty, I didn’t mind its pervasiveness, but I remember the last time I bought some at the grocery store and I minded how much it cost!
I read that Dubai is trying to keep a distinctive Gulf flavor to the buildings by making the windows be shaped in a more traditional manner, but these marvels of glass and steel look more forwards than backwards. Near the hotel where we are living, things are little more on the normal urban scale.
But there are things about people that never change, like laundry. As we do our laundry every night, we just festoon the room with our damp clothes, but these folks have their urban clotheslines right out there on the main avenue.
The traditional architecture that is supposed to maintain the national identity are the dhow (the traditional pearling boat that sometimes did a bit of pirating but is now used on dinner cruises) And the other emblematic bit of architecture is the wind tower. Now, all the buildings are totally air conditioned, but the wind tower hearkens back to the non-air-conditioned days of the 20th century (may it rest in peace) when these towers caught breezes and funneled them through the stone walls to cool the air so it would flow through the houses. When we visited the University, they gave us little wooden models of it. This omiage created a certain amount of confusion before it was figured out.
Part of our trip was a lecture and lunch at the Sheikh Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding. Evidently this place opened up several years ago to help foreigners understand Gulf culture. However, as modernization has gripped the UAE by the throat, local people show up for their lecture/demos to reconnect with their heritage. Two very nice hosts, a young woman and an older man, entertained our questions. They were very gracious and offered quite heartfelt and earnest answers. On the concept of modesty, it seemed that their concept was that one does not engage in modest behavior because it is the law or because it is doctrine but because it is a way of being polite and showing respect for others. In our American understanding of “modest behavior”, it seems that we often see what these people are describing as personal restrictions on individual expression. As I listened to them describe their understanding of what it means to be polite, it was clear that this was an issue of Individualistic Orientation in contrast with Group Orientation. If I value the individual over the group, them I will value (tolerate?) individual expression regardless of social convention. If I value the group over the individual, I will value social convention regardless of the desires of individual expression. I read this very same sentiment in the student newspaper of the American University of Sharja, where a young lady was praising personal restraint as a way of being nice to other people.
After this discussion we had lunch, which was coffee with cardamom, noodles with sugar and cardamom, fried bred with date syrup, and an omelet like dish with cardamom. This was all followed by tea that was much stronger than the coffee. Cardamom is so tasty, I didn’t mind its pervasiveness, but I remember the last time I bought some at the grocery store and I minded how much it cost!
1 comment:
I never thought about politeness except in contrast to "rude", which means that one cares about what another person thinks of you. Still individualistic. One is only polite if the Other matters to one. Group, schmoup.
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