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[CCBC-Net] Books about the Middle East
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From: seta toroyan <storoyan>
Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 22:53:28 -0400
Hi,
I'm new to CCBC, so I hope it?s okay to jump in on the tail end of this Middle East discussion. As a half Lebanese writer raised in the Arab world, I wanted to say thanks so much to whoever recommended Funny in Farsi. What a delight Firoozeh Dumas is! Hysterically funny, and one of few books about the Middle East written by an insider.
I also wanted to add that it seems important to remember that most of us impose our own cultural criteria on our work, disregarding those of the culture we write about, and so westerners living in the Arab world usually interpret the culture through a western mindset.
For example, some of the books mentioned earlier had arranged marriage as a theme. An arranged marriage is not the same thing as a forced marriage: it just means your parents introduce you to someone whose family they know and like and trust, and most of the arranged marriages in my family are happy. It happens to the boy as well as the girl, a factor usually overlooked in western fiction. A forced marriage is a totally different kettle of fish. There is cruelty in all cultures, and poverty often exacerbates people's reactions, but a forced marriage is not representative of an Arab family any more than sexual abuse or death by gunfire is representative of the American family. Similarly many devout Muslim women do not consider wearing a headscarf necessary, just as many devout Jews don't feel it?s necessary to keep strictly kosher.
Books written in the US about the US often illustrate the exception rather than the rule, which can make them interesting. But when we are unfamiliar with another culture, the danger is that these books may shape our ideas of the norm there - and perpetuating such stereotypes seems particularly dangerous today.
Seta Toroyan NYC
Received on Tue 20 May 2008 09:53:28 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 22:53:28 -0400
Hi,
I'm new to CCBC, so I hope it?s okay to jump in on the tail end of this Middle East discussion. As a half Lebanese writer raised in the Arab world, I wanted to say thanks so much to whoever recommended Funny in Farsi. What a delight Firoozeh Dumas is! Hysterically funny, and one of few books about the Middle East written by an insider.
I also wanted to add that it seems important to remember that most of us impose our own cultural criteria on our work, disregarding those of the culture we write about, and so westerners living in the Arab world usually interpret the culture through a western mindset.
For example, some of the books mentioned earlier had arranged marriage as a theme. An arranged marriage is not the same thing as a forced marriage: it just means your parents introduce you to someone whose family they know and like and trust, and most of the arranged marriages in my family are happy. It happens to the boy as well as the girl, a factor usually overlooked in western fiction. A forced marriage is a totally different kettle of fish. There is cruelty in all cultures, and poverty often exacerbates people's reactions, but a forced marriage is not representative of an Arab family any more than sexual abuse or death by gunfire is representative of the American family. Similarly many devout Muslim women do not consider wearing a headscarf necessary, just as many devout Jews don't feel it?s necessary to keep strictly kosher.
Books written in the US about the US often illustrate the exception rather than the rule, which can make them interesting. But when we are unfamiliar with another culture, the danger is that these books may shape our ideas of the norm there - and perpetuating such stereotypes seems particularly dangerous today.
Seta Toroyan NYC
Received on Tue 20 May 2008 09:53:28 PM CDT
