Musings before shipping off to holiday spirit

I've had a lot of random thoughts swimming in my cranium recently so I'm just going to spit them out:

In trying to understand the process of "development" in Oman, look to the roads. Main thoroughfares are smoothly paved. Major side streets are constructed and more or less driveable. Parking lots and side-side-streets, particularly outside Muscat, are avenues of stones and strewn glass. First phase development, secondary changes, lack of tertiary reform.

A friend recently told me that many more cases of AIDS exist in Oman than the government is willing to let on, not wanting to tarnish its rep. Odd timing. Dealing with tough issues transparently? I remain skeptically hopeful.

America: Snow days, Oman: Rain days. Schools have been off for the past two or three days because of "unstable weather" in the capitol. I find it funny that the term غير مستقر or "unstable" has been consistently applied to this weather. Contextually, it accurately describes the meteorological happenings, but being from the US's east coast, anything that isn't labeled Nor'Easter doesn't seem to command the respectable term "unstable." I guess I should give a country whose weather forecast repeats"clear skies, hot, and humid" everyday a little more credit.

There is one, Omani, youth activist in Copenhagen during the climate proceedings. I think one of his fellow Arab activists there summed it up best: "Activism in the Arab world is very low,' Tayara, who manages an eco-village outside Beirut says. 'While some Arabs are active, when it comes to defying politics, defying power, the leaders - it's totally out of the question for many Arabs.'" Yay for our Omani in Denmark! He doesn't seem to be too radical (refusing for instance to wear a shirt proclaiming 'Arabs Against Oil') but I'm quite interested in catching up with him upon his return.

Omani's use the word 3esh عيش (I think it's spelled, I've only heard it because it's colloquial) for rice, whereas Egyptians use the same word for bread. Rice and bread opposing meal centerpieces. The arabic word 3esh formally comes from the root that describes living. Rice = life for Omanis. Bread = life for Egyptians. 

This morning I was reading about Shell's sigh of relief in being invited to develop Iraq's gigantor oil field, named 'Majnoon'. Yeah, yeah, politically and economically significant. My dramatic observation: how the heck did they decide on the name Majnoon?! Majnoon = crazy in Arabic. Initial conjecture: Perhaps in honor of the up-and-coming government figure Saddam Hussein when the field was discovered? Veneration for the desperate fate of Majnun of "Majnun and Layla" (Arabic dramatic love turned tragedy turned poetry, artistically envisioned to the right)? Apparently the etymology of oil fields is not a strong discipline (the esoteric PhD topic I have been looking for perhaps!). The only mention I found of the naming of the resevoir gives a much more plausible explanation: they called it Majnoon because there was a crazyyy abundance of oil there. Let down.

That will suffice for now. Adequate posts on littering, expatriate workers, and marriage in Oman coming after my holiday break which will be spent baking pies, drinking real Dunkin' Donuts coffee to avoid climate shock, and visiting B&N.

Extreme food for thought in the ensuing two weeks of blog inactivity:

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  How are problems best solved? Do solutions evolve from internal impetus for change or is the onus on developed countries to send human resources to less developed countries to spark change (we can use women's rights as an example)? Can you rely on the second without the first? Is this simply a statist reduction of reality?
  
  
  
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  Should one's goal in life be to develop and reform one's homeland? Is it wrong to specialize in another continent? How can we reconcile learning new languages, imbibing a new culture, studying foreign history and various religions which can consume years and years and is never a complete process, when what we know best--what we were born into--has so many problems as well?
  
  
  
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  What is the tangible result of cross-cultural learning experiences or a "regional expertise"? If you just write in life, is that enough? If no one "in power" listens to you, is writing still enough? If we learn about other cultures to understand that we are all human but have lived different styles of life, how does this realization practically influence the world?
  
  
  

Just a few of the questions I regularly grapple with as a political scientist student concentrating on the Middle East and Arabic, living in various Arab states, realizing I'll probably end up an academic. These are in no way new questions, but I constantly hear arguments for and against various responses. Comments demanded!

من المدينة إلى القرية From the City to the Village

كنت أقرأ هذا الاسبوع عن القبائل في عُمان و تحويل هذا النظام الاجتماعي منذ نفوذ الثروة النفطية و سلطة السلطان قابوس من حوالي 1970. و أصبحت هذه المقارنة بين الحضر و البدو ملموسة عندما ذهبتُ إلى الشرقية خلال العيد و زارتُ بعض الاماكن التي تجرب التغييرات في الوقت الحاضر.

I was reading this week about the tribes of Oman and the transformation of this social system since the influence of oil wealth and the rule of Sultan Qaboos from roughly 1970. And this comparison between the Hadar (settled peoples) and the Bedu (nomadic peoples) became concrete when I went to Ash-Sharqiya (region in Oman) during the Eid holiday and visited some places that are experiencing changes in the present day.

كما تعلمتُ من مقالة ج.ي. بيتيرسون "قبائل و سياسات في جزيرة العرب الشرقية", بالقياس إلى جزيرة العرب الشرقية, كان هناك في عمان تاريخ الحضارة, من قبل غزه العرب إلى إقليم عمان. هذا الحق, بالإضافة إلى وجود الطائفة الدينية "الإباضية", يميز عُمان من الدول الاخرى الخليجية, كما تمتعت عمان حضارة متواصلة (2). مع ذلك, القبائل كانت موجودة في عمان, بشكل حضرة او بدوية.

As I learned from J.E. Peterson’s article “Tribes and Politics in Eastern Arabia,” in comparison to Eastern Arabia, a history of civilization was present in Oman before the invasion of the Arabs to the Oman territory. This fact, in addition to the presence of the religious sect Ibadhism, distinguishes Oman from the other Gulf countries, as Oman enjoyed continuous civilization (2). However, tribes were present in Oman, in hadar/settled or bedu/nomadic form.

طابق توقيت انخفاض نفوذ القبيلة في عمان من توقيت اكتشاف النفط في السلطنة و توطيد سلطة نظام السلطنة بعد عرش قابوس بن سعيد المعظم. تبع انتاج و تصدير النفط, انتقل أكثر من الناس إلى المدن, استفادة من الأمن الوظيفي و الخدمات المتاحة. قد اكتسبت الحكومة الفلوس من تصدير النفط أن توفر الخدمات إلى الموطنين, نفس الخدمات التي كانت توفيرها القبائل من قبل, مثلاً, تخصيص الماء. فضعف دور القبيلة في عمان بشكل ملوحظ و أضافاً أكثر و أكثر العمانون أنتقلوا إلى مراكز الحياة و أنشأوا المستوطنات. أصداء النظام القبلي موجودة الآن في السلطنة, و نشاهدها في تعيين الوزراء (واحد من هذه القبيلة و واحد من القبيلة القوية الاخرى للحفاظ على التوازن), او في مشاعر الانتماء بالقبيلة و الصلة الواضحة ممثلة في الاسم الكامل.

The timing of the decrease in influence of the tribe in Oman corresponds with the timing of the discovery of oil and the consolidation of the power of the Sultanate regime after the accession of Qaboos bin Saed al-Muatham. Following the production and export of oil, more people moved to cities, benefiting from job security and the available services. The government had acquired money from exporting oil to provide services to citizens, the same services that tribes were providing before, for instance, water allocation. So the role of the tribe weakened in Oman noticeably and additionally, more and more Omanis moved to centers of life and established settlements. Echoes of the tribal system are present today in the Sultanate, and we witness them in designating ministers (one from this tribe, one from another strong tribe, to preserve the balance), or in feelings of belonging to a tribe and the clear link represented in the full name.  

حسناً, وصلنا إلى اليوم الحاضر في عمان. إذا بقى شخص في العاصمة مسقط فسوف يرى السيارات الجديدة, النظارات الشمسية المصممة, و قلق للأسلوب و الديكور. على العكس, نفس الشخص سيتخيل أن البدو و سلالة البدو (هؤلاء الناس مستقرون الآن لكن بجذور في البيداء), سيتخيل أنهم ربما فقير و بسيط و بدون الاستخبارات المتطورة. لكن, في الرحلة بسيارة من مسقط إلى قرية صديقه, أخبرنا صديقنا فيصل عن الواقع.

Okay, we’ve arrived to the present day in Oman. If a person stayed in the capitol of Muscat he would see new cars, designer sunglasses, and a worry for style and décor. On the contrary the same person would imagine that the Bedu and the offspring of the Bedu (those people settled now but with roots in the desert), he would imagine that they are perhaps poor and simple and without sophisticated intelligence. But, on the car ride from Muscat to his friend’s village, our friend Faisal informed us on the reality.

بإيجاز, قال فيصل أن يتظاهر نسبة لا يستهان الناس في العاصمة, لاسيما الشباب, بأنهم لديهم الثروة. و بسبب سهولة الحصول على القروض, يستعير الناس كثير من المال لغرض استخدامها للاشياء المادية, أفراط التسوق و بقاء مدينين لسنوات. أفترض أن انتشار هذه الظاهرة سيؤدي إلى مشاكل كثيرة في مستقبل عمان. المزيج من الديون الشخصية و انحدار تصدير النفط و لذلك انحدار متوقع ثروة الحكومة كلها تمثل مسألة خطيرة تلوح في الأفق لعمان. و يتعكس الموضع كله التفكير على المدى القصير النموذجي في عمان...

To be brief, Faisal said that a significant portion of people living in the capitol, particularly youth/young adults, pretend they have wealth. And because of the ease of obtaining loans, they borrow a lot of money for the purpose of using it for material things, excessive shopping, and remain debtors for years. I assume that the prevalence of this phenomenon will lead to many problems in Oman’s future. The combination of personal debt and declining oil exports and therefore the expected decline in government wealth, represents a serious issue looming on the horizon in Oman.

ثم, وصلنا إلى قرية محمود. طبعاً, كنا استقبلنا بكرم الضيافة الاسطوري العماني. بعد زيارة النساء, قابانا الجد في العائلة و لللآسف ليس لدي صورة منه بسبب رغبتي أن أكون محترمة. مصره كان ملفوف في أسلوب البدو و حمل عصا ليساعده في الممشى. قال محمود بعد الزيارة "قريتنا ليست متطورة" لكن عندما سألت الناس فيها عن الاختلاف بين الحياة في مسقط و الحياة في القرية (لأن قضى معظمهم الوقت خارج القرية, مثلاً للتعليم) أكدوا أن لطف القرية في العلاقات بين الناس. يعرفون كل الجيران و يفعلون الزيارات إلى الجيران و أفراد الأسرة كثيراً. الحياة في العاصمة منفصلة, و أنا موافقة. حتى لو, كما قال فيصل, سعى معظم الناس في القرية إلى نوع الحياة في العاصمة, في الحقيقة, يفضلون نظام الحياة في الريف في نواح عديدة.

Then, we arrived at Mahmoud’s village. Of course, we were received with the legendary Omani hospitality. After visiting the women, we met the grandfather of the family and unfortunately I don’t have a picture of him because of my desire to be respectful. His masar (turban fabric) was wrapped in the bedu style and he carried a cane to help him walk. After the visit Mahmoud said “our village is not developed” but when I asked people about the differences between life in Muscat and life in the village (because most of them spent time outside the village, for instance for schooling) they stressed that the 'niceness' of the village is in the relationships between people. They know all of their neighbors and make visits to the neighbors and members of the family often. Life in the capitol is separated, and I agree. Even if, as Faisal said, most of the people in the village aim for the type of life in the capitol, in reality, they prefer the structure of life in the countryside in many ways.

عندما ذهبنا إلى مزرعة الجمال (أحبها!) تبينت الطبيعة الحديثة لهؤلاء البدو سابقاً. همس محمود في أذني, أن غالب, صاحب مزرعة الجمال, لديه مصنع الحلوة و معطم صغير أيضاً. بعد ذلك, في السيارة, قال فيصل أن كثير من البدو أو البدو أصلاً, أغنياء الآن, لكن ليس من الممكن أن نرى أشرات هذه الثروة من سلوكهم او بيوتهم مثلا.

When we went to the camel farm (I love them!) the modern nature of these formerly bedouin peoples became clearer. Mahmoud whispered in my ear that Ghalib, the camel farm owner, had a Halwa (Oman sweet) factory and small restaurant as well. After that, in the car, Faisal said that many Bedu or those originally Bedu, are rich now, but it’s not possible for us to see the signs of this wealth from their behavior or their homes for instance.

فهذا هو, تاريخ بسيط عن تطور دور القبيلة في عمان و ملاحظاتي المتعلقة عن الاختلاف بين الحضر و البدو و ال"ما في بين" في عمان اليوم.

So that’s it, a simple history on the developed role of the tribe in Oman and my observations relating to the differences between the “settled”, “bedu”, and the “in between” in Oman today.