Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Culture Shock
"After several months in the Middle East I had made a hobby of identifying nationality by the cut of a man's robe, the shape of his headdress, and the way he said certain words." -90 When he said this i was impressed with the ability to pick up such details and knowledge in the limited amount of time he had been a part of this foreign culture. I feel as though, and we have discussed this many times, the fact that we know so little about the middle east even after so much media coverage over the last couple of years still amazes me. When Horwitz describes the differences in the apparel of the people, and he distinguishes the differences between the different cultures it fascinates me, because before i was totally blind towards the fact that different robe cuts meant different cultures and different countries. In the beginning of this seen he is sitting at a bar examining people walking in and he then explains the fact that he could distinguish visitors from other countries from the people who are part of the town. It just opened my eyes to the fact that there really is so much unknown to me about Middle Eastern culture that it makes me wonder what else could possibly be so different. For me, if I sat down to eat at a restaurant I would not be able to tell a person from across the country or across the town, so it fascinates me to think that there culture is rich enough to have such differences even as specific as robe cuts and differently folded head dresses. AM
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2 comments:
AM, I definitely agree that it is fascinating how Horwitz can identify the different types of nationalities by the cut of a man's robe. The stereotypical thoughts for most Americans are that Middle Easterners are all the same. This, however, is proven to be untrue. We Americans also have that same theory regarding Asians. Most Americans cannot tell the difference between Japanese, Korean, and Chinese people, because many of us are ignorant enough to think that all of Asia is the same. The Asians, and the Middle Easterners, are all very different, and they all have different ways of life. By Horwitz being able to easily identify the different types of nationalities of the Middle Easterners, it shows that his time spent there in the Middle East has taught him a great deal about each individual nationality's culture. If we Americans spent more time to recognize each individual nationality as its own, I believe our knowledge on culture would expand to a great extent. -a.v.
While, it does seem amazing that people in the Middle East dress differently if they come from different cultures and countries, it is not a totally foreign idea. How many times have you seen someone walking in jeans, a cowboy hat and cowboy boots and assumed they were from the mid-west, or seen someone in a college sweatshirt and assumed they go to that college? While the emergence of fashion has stifled our ability to have a certain type of dress corresponding with a certain region, on can sometimes tell where someone is from because of their garb. One never hears about fashion magazines and runway shows happening in the Middle East, so maybe they haven't been exposed to all the different kinds of dress there is, and therefore stick to the traditional. On the other hand, maybe they know of all the latest styles, and just like their traditional garb. Nevertheless, while sometimes it does happen in the United States, it is astonishing that it is so easy to distinguish people only because of their dress. gr
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