Sunset of my Fulbright Year غروب وقتي في منحة فولبريت

You know, when people hear that I’m living in the Gulf they always say: “Well, that must be hot, but at least it’s a dry heat.” In fact, I was a believer of this conventional wisdom…until I moved to Muscat. The humidity is settling in between our mountains and the shore and that means it’s time for this nomad to pick up her few possessions and move along. Where to, you ask? Coming from one of the easternmost countries in the region, I’ll be heading to the westernmost, Morocco, for a quick trip. Then, after my peregrinations in the US, I hope to be settling temporarily near the nation’s capital. If you can’t be wandering the Middle East, you might as well be based in the city that defines the US relationship with the region. And trying to influence how Americans perceive the Middle East and what policies we follow. Idealistic? You better believe it.

As I begin to say ma’salama to the Sultanate, I find myself reflecting on the ridiculous skills I have acquired that will sadly succumb to disuse when I leave, and the others that will stick around to benefit my future research.

Lessons triumphantly learned

• How to navigate Omani traffic circles (not to be confused with normal traffic circles)
• When to go to LuLu to avoid the mob
• Interviews are better than surveys
• You seriously, seriously, cannot bring up anything against the status quo in public conversation
• I need to buy make-up so that people think I’m older (perhaps this would stop people from calling me their “bint” or daughter, or asking me if I am under 18, or feeling free to give disparaging comments after a presentation because I am such a ‘novice’)
• How to use a squat toilet effectively

I have also been compressing my everyday observations, and feel like there are a few topics that need to be studied further, by a Fulbrighter or someone doing an extended research project in Oman. Off the top of my head (and these are only the ones that would receive approval to study AKA excepting anything politically controversial)

Driving & safety issues

Tourism expansion

Traditional dress & handicrafts

Women’s capacity building (workforce and political inclusion)

New media

 

If anyone is interested in studying these issues, please shoot an email to Middle East Nomad and I can provide recommendations for in-country affiliations, yani, Omani organizations that are investigating these topics already, but need serious help.

 

لما يسمع الناس أنني أسكن في الخليج, رد الفعل دائما: "حسنا, الطقس سيكون حار, لكن, على الأقل, الحرارة جافة." وفي الحقيقة, كنت أعتقد بهذه الحكمة التقليدية...حتى انتقلتُ إلى مسقط. الآن, تستقر الرطوبة بين جبالنا والشاطئ فهذا الوقت لانتقال هذه البدوية مرة أخرى, سأجتمع ممتلكاتي القليلة وسوف أسافر. إلى أين, تسأل؟ إذا عُمان كان من شرق هذه المنطقة, سأتوجه نحو النقطة الغربية, المغرب, لرحلة قصيرة. بعدين, بعد التجوّل في امريكا, إن شاء الله سأستقر مؤقتا قريب من العاصمة. إذا كان ليس من الممكن أن أسافر حول الشرق الاوسط, فسأقيم في المدينة التي تقول ما هي العلاقة بين الولايات المتحدة والشرق. وسأحول أن أؤثر على كيف يعتبر الامريكيون الشرق الاوسط وما هي السياسات التي نتبعها. مثالية؟ طبعا!

وكما أقول "مع السلامة" إلى السلطنة, أعيد التفكير في المهارات السخيفة التي اكتسبت بها هذه السنة والتي لن أستخدمها بعد عمان, بالإضافة إلى المهارات الاخرى التي ستكون مفيدة لبحثي في المستقبل.

والدروس التي تعملتها هي

كيف أن أجتاز الدوارات العمانية (وهي ليست دوارات عادية 

متى الوقت لتجنب الغوغاء في لولو 

المقابلات أفضل من الاتسبيانات 

ليس من الممكن, أبدا, أن تناقش أي شي ضد الوضع الراهن في المتحادثات العامة 

لازم أن أشتري مستحضرات التجميل لاقناع الناس بأنني أكبر في سن (وبعدين ربما لن يستخدمو اسم "بنت" لي, أو يسألوني إذا كنت تحت سن 18, أو ينتقدو تقديمي لانني "مبتدية") 

كيف أستخدم الحمام العماني التقليدي

وكما أركّز على ملاحظاتي, أعتقد بأن توجد مواضيع مهمة للدراسة في المستقبل, من جهة شخص في برنامج فولبريت أو أي باحث في عمان. وهي (بدون المواضيع مثيرة للجدل)

قضية السياقة والسلامة

توسيع قطاع السياحة

الملابس والحرفات التقليدية

بناء القدرات النسائية (في سوق المال وبشأن الانتخابات 

وسائل الإعلام الجديدة

وإذا شخص مهتم بدراسة واحد من هذه القضايا, أرجو أن ترسل لي رسالة بالانترنت وسأوفر التوصيات عن المنظمات العمانية التي يعمل فيها الآن, والتي تحتاج إلى المساعدة.

Strategic, Not Foolish

Sometimes the attempt to maintain friendly relations with all your neighbors and global powers makes you look a little silly. Just ask Oman.

While Obama headed a conference to address nuclear issues in DC, Tehran invented her own counter-conference, titled 'Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapon for No One.' And of course, Oman was in attendance. But not only did the Sultanate's Foreign Affairs Minister travel to Iran, but he publicly stated that, "The Tehran conference transparently shows the Islamic Republic pursues the disarmament of nuclear-armed countries and at the same time stresses that Iran's nuclear program follows peaceful objectives." If all we had to do to confirm the loftiness of our ideas and the nature of our initiatives, was to hold a conference purporting that we were following a certain path, I would like to schedule a conference to be held in Washington, DC. I will call it, "Puppies for all, Cats for no one." Thank goodness we won't have any more cat people living in our nation's capitol.

The juxtaposition of a conference aiming to highlight nuclear energy for peaceful goals, and Iran's recent war games couldn't be more humorous. As helicopters, speedboats, submarines, and other pieces of the Revoluntary Guard's military equipment are called into operation on the Strait of Hormuz - planting mines and performing other drills - Oman has to maintain her equilibrium while walking a tight rope. How does one sustain peaceable relations with a regional power that also borders the Strait of Hormuz, who could threaten Oman geo-politically, and one that has strong economic ties to the Sultanate; while continuing positive relations with the West, those countries that will continue to be the dominant world powers this century (this is just a realistic reading). In my opinion, Oman had been acting strategically, but the comments made by the Foreign Affairs Minister crossed over into foolish territory.

The absence of politics = politics غياب السياسة = السياسة

Many have asked me: "Why did you choose to come to Oman? There are no politics in Oman, and you are a Political Scientist." My response: The absence of politics is an amazing political phenomenon.

Omanis are loath to discuss anything that would cause friction between those involved in the conversation. This is not an overstatement. Yes, there are a handful of nationals out there willing to stir up a bit of trouble, but the stereotype of the Omani as laid back, chill Gulf citizen is largely accurate. The proliferation of online web forums, however, indicates that while many citizens are unwilling to publicly discuss problems facing the country, they are more than happy to do so by publishing or reading blog posts. The complacence of most Omanis + a self-censored media + burgeoning online forums + friendliness to a fault in personal interactions = unusual political phenomenon.

Politics is of course not simply a study of political undercurrents and societal awareness. A study of politics takes up the State, institutions, economics, culture, civil society, foreign relations, and oh boy does the list go on. Did anyone really imagine that a State could be devoid of politics? If one human being is trying to coexist with another, we have matter for political research.

In fact, there are immense political discussions to be had in Oman. Throughout my research project on "water" I have asked myself, how does __insert following subject__ effect water decision making?

• An economy based on oil production & rents
• A Sultanate system of government
• The welfare state
• An inflated public sector
• The history of tribes
• The comparison between Oman and her neighbors
• etc etc etc

Yes, it is frustrating to be curious about political issues and know that it is rude to bring up politics with anyone I interview. Yes, I wish there was a political science department at Sultan Qaboos University, filled with professors that understand my methodology. Yet the underlying questions that fill my research are political and have revealed a great deal about how things get done in the Middle East.

Lastly, my time as a Fulbrighter is running out. I look forward to posting some final conclusions and lesson learned from my Oman experience in the coming weeks.

قد سألني الكثير من الناس: "لماذا اخترتِ المجيء إلى عمان؟ ما في سياسة في عمان وأنت خبير في السياسة." واجابتي هي: انعدام السياسة ظاهرة سياسية نفسها.

يتردد العمانون أن ينقاشو أي شيء سيخرق الاحتكاك بين الناس في المحادثة. وهذه ليست مبالغة. نعم, توجد حفنة المواطنين وهم يريدون أن يحرّضو مشكلة صغيرة, لكن النمط عن العماني كمواطن خليجي مستريح, صحيح جدا. مع ذلك, توسيع المنتديات الالكترونية يشير إلى أن بينما معظم المواطنين غير راغبون أن يجاهرو عن المشاكل التي تواجهها عمان, هم سعداء أن ينشرو المعلومات أو يقرءو عنها في المدوّنات. ورضاء معظم العمانين + الرقابة الذاتية في الإعلام + المنتدات الالكترونية المزدهرة + صداقة العمانين بدون حد في التفاعلات الشخصية = ظاهرة سياسية غريبة وفريدة.

طبعا, السياسة أكثر من دراسة التيارات السياسية والوعي الاجتماعي. البحث عن السياسة يتناول مواضيع الدولة, والمؤسسات, والاقتصاد, والثقافة, والمجتمع المدني, والعلاقات الخارجية, إلخ. وهل تخيل شخص, في الحقيقة, أن الدولة تمكن أن تكون بدون السياسة؟ إذا حاول شخص واحد التعايش مع شخص ثاني, لدينا موضوع لدراسة سياسية.

بالتأكيد, توجد مناقشات سياسية هائلة للتناول في عمان. خلال بحثي عن "المياه" لقد تساءلتُ, كيف __واحد من المواضيع التالية__ يؤثر على صناعة القرار عن المياه؟

اقتصاد قائم على النفط

نظام سياسة "السلطنة"

دولة الرفاه

القطاع العام المتضخمة

تاريخ القبائل

المقارنة بين عمان وجيرانها

إلخ إلخ إلخ

نعم, من المحبط أن أكون فضولة عن القضايا السياسية وأعرف أن سيكون وقح إذا ناقشتُ السياسة مع أي من زملائي هنا. نعم, أرغب في وجود قسم العلوم السياسية في جامعة السلطان قابوس, مليء بالاساتذة الذين يفهمون تنظيم دراستي. لكن, تحت السطح, تتكون بحثي من الاسئلة السياسية و قد ظهر الكثير عن كيف تمشي الاشياء في الشرق الاوسط.

واخيرا, نقترب من نهاية وقتي كباحثة في منحة فولبريت. أتطلع إلى صدور بعض الملاحظات النهائية من تجربتي في عمان في الاسابيع المقبلة.

Make them accept it تُجبرهم إلى القبول

A friend of a friend has an expression that is eternally useful: “Make them accept it.”

Apparently, this individual applies his phrase indiscriminately, toward animate and inanimate objects alike. “You will accept this plug!” he cries to a stubborn outlet that hesitates to accept a laptop charger. Since picking up the phrase, I have found its usefulness to be without limits.

The most recent application of this forceful phrase came, in fact, from an interviewee. After a long discussion on the status of the environment in Oman and university, bureaucratic, and political obstacles to reform, this gentleman stated that, ultimately, if someone in power tells a farmer that he can only pump a certain amount of water from his well, he will just have to accept that regulation. They will make him accept it.

Tell people to do something and they will do it. Who would have thought that we would be asking for more authoritarian decision making and implementation in one of the world’s last remaining Sultanates? The truth is, we’ve seen evidence of strong, swift decisions on socially controversial issues in the past. My interviewee pointed out two examples, and the Omani(s) out there currently (hopefully) reading this post, please correct this if it is wrong.

Mourning traditions were a serious issue in Oman until the Sultan's intervention. Individuals were taking the customary one month off work to mourn the death of a close relative. The economic toll of this tradition is obvious, but a hidden issue of concern was the personal economic burden placed on those mourning. It was their duty to spend up to 5,000 OR (over $13,000) stocking the house with refreshments and food to extend to visitors for the duration of the mourning period. Then the Sultan said: there will be three days of mourning, and you will only provide dates, coffee, and water. Of course, at first there was some resistance from the older generation, but soon everyone changed.

Similarly, bride prices were getting out of control as Muscat and the rest of Oman developed. Then, one day, HM said that bride prices must be between 2 and 3,000 riyals, 80% lower than what they were. Of course, some people skirt this by offering jewelry and other goods in place. But these issues prove that anything can change.

Stakeholder dialogues are an ideal tool for understanding the needs of local populations when devising a development project. What is interesting in Oman, however, is that both extremes in the spectrum of scenarios are missing. We witness neither the fostering of discussion and interaction amongst farmers, professors, and officials, nor authoritarian water decisions made with finality and implemented justly on all. Instead, inertia is perpetuating our current scenario, one in which all parts of the decision making equation push forward their claims as to why strict regulation of water wouldn’t work. Their perceptions of resistance are usually unfounded. Instead, if all parties would agree on the bottom line, that water use rationalization is necessary for sustainable development, then the excuses would evaporate, and that one leader (HM or otherwise) could step forward and, you guessed it, make them—Omanis and residents—accept it.

photo: Apparently 'Accept' is a heavy metal band. Thanks Google images. I think we need the rockers to "make people accept" water regulations in Oman if no one else is willing to step forward.

صديق صديقتي, لديه عبارة وهي مفيدة جدا: "تُجبرهم إلى القبول."

ويبدو أنه يستخدم هذه العبارة بدون تمييز, إلى الناس وإلى الاشياء. "سوف تقبل هذا القابس!" يصيح إلى مقبس عنيد, يتردد أن يقبل قابس الكمبيوتر المحمول. ومنذ الوقت الذي سمعتُ العبارة فيه, لقد وجدتُ أن فائدة العبارة بدون حد.

لكن, في الحقيقة, التطبيق الاخير لهذه العبارة القوية كان من جانب شخص شرك في بحثي. بعد مناقشة طويلة عن حالة البيئة في عُمان, والعوائق من الجامعة والبيروقراطية والحكومة في طريقة الإصلاح, قال هذا الرجل إن, في النهاية, إذا قرر قائد أن المزارع يستطيع أن يضخ كمية معينة من المياه من بئره فقط, من اللازم ان المزارع يقبل القانون. ستُجبره إلى القبول.

إذا قلتَ لشخص أن يفعل شيء, سوف يفعل ذلك. ومن كان يظن أن سنطلب أكثر من صناعة القرار الاستبدادي وتطبيقه في واحد من السلطنات الاخيرة في العالم؟ في الحقيقة, رأينا دليل من القرارات السريعة والقوية بشان القضايا الاجتماعية ومثيرة للجدل هنا. واشار الرجل الذي تكلمتُ معه, إلى مثلين, وأطلب من العمانيين في القارئية (في؟) أن تصحّحون هذه المعلومات إذا وجدت مشاكل.

عادات فترة الحداد كانت قضية جدّية في عُمان حتى تدخل السلطان في الموضوع. كان من العادي أن قريب الشخص المرحوم بقى في البيت لشهر واحد بعد الموت. وبالرغم من أن العبء الاقتصادي من هذا التقليد واضح, توجد مسألة مخفية وهي أن الأهل سيُنفق حتى 5,000 ريال لتوفير المشروبات والطعام إلى زوار البيت خلال فترة الحداد. لكن, قال السلطان: ستكون ثلاثة أيام للحداد, وبتقديم التمر والقهوة والمياه فقط. طبعا, في البداية, وجدت مقاومة من جانب الجيل السابق, لكن بمرور الوقت, غيرت العادة.

على نحو مماثل, ارتفعت اسعار العرائس بشكل كبير كما تطورت مسقط وعمان عموما. بعدين, يوما ما, قال الجلالة إن اسعار العرائس لازم ان تكون بين 2 و3,000 ريال, 80 في المئة أقل من الاسعار السابقة. طبعا, بعض الناس يتحايلون على القانون بتوفير المجوهرات والبضائع الاخرى بدلا من الفلوس. لكن تُثبت هذه القضايا أن أي شيء يمكن أن نغيره.

الحوارات بين الشركاء آلية مثالية لفهم احتياجات سكان منطقة عندما تريد أن تخطط مشروع. لكن, من المثير للاهتمام في عمان أننا نفتقد القطبين: لا نشاهد تعزيز النقاش والتفاعل بين المزارعين والاساتذة والمسؤولين, ولا نشاهد قرارات استبدادية ونهائية في ما متعلقة بالمياه, وتنفيذها على الجميع بالعدالة. بدلا من ذلك, يستمر الجمود والكسل السيناريو الحالي, وفيه كل اجزاء من عملية صناعة القرار تدفع تبريرها للفشل الحتمي لاي تنظيم شديد متعلق باستخدام المياه. وتصوراتها عن قوة المقاومة ضد التغيير إلى الوضع الراهن, معظم الوقت, لا اساس لها من الصحة. إذا وافقَت هذه الاحزاب على المبدأ الرئيسي, أن ترشيد استخدام المياه لازم للتنمية المستدامة, فستتبخر التبريرات, وقائد واحد (الجلالة أو شخص اخر) يمكن أنه "يُجبر العمانيين والسكان إلى القبول."

Innovation's Dramatic Death Scene

How do we quantify development and intellectual progress? Count up the number of PhDs held by citizens? No. According to an environmental expert I recently interviewed, the real question is: What do we produce? What ideas do we have and what do we do with them? (Am I starting to sound like Thomas Friedman yet?).

Example: Omanis developed an innovative technology to filter petrochemical wastewater using plants resistant to contaminants. Israel contacts Oman to profit from this solution. Oman ends up giving away technologies such as these to larger, international companies. This would be acceptable, if there were partnerships between Omanis and the international corporations so that both sides would benefit. Alas, there are few of these mutually beneficial relationships.

Of course, innovation is based on education. And quality education is sorely lacking in the Sultanate. My interviewee criticizes many aspects of the university system that he was a part of for 20 years. He asserts that people here have not changed their way of thinking. Professors are not concerned with actually fixing problems and helping the poor. What are they concerned about? He has created three labels for scientists/professors. 1) Those that aim to please the public. They don’t publish anything that would upset them. 2) Those that aim to please the government. They just want to keep working with ministries on consultancies. 3) The opposition; the minority.

In the US, a department that is hiring will strive to bring in the best possible addition to its faculty to aid in future collaborations. Here, it’s a story of employing who you know, or who will make you look better comparatively, or who is cheaper for HR. With low quality professors who care more about keeping their jobs than anything else, what can you expect from students?

An Omani friend of mine was a public high school English teacher for one year. He hated his job. Every day he would enter class, and motivate his students in Barka by telling them how important English was to their future. But these were 12th graders who had been passed in English class since grade school, and now were preparing to graduate without knowing how to hold a conversation in that language.

At SQU, the highest level university in Oman, students are equally unmotivated and under prepared. My interviewee said that his daughter, a middle school student at a private school in Muscat, could write a more cogent essay that an SQU attendee. One SQU professor I recently spoke with said that it takes an average of 6 years for students to complete their degree. Though they are only allowed to be on academic probation (below a 2.0 average) three times, many petition high level university officials, and tally nine probations without being expelled.

Students are given free tuition at SQU, free housing, free meals, a monthly stipend. These are supposed to be the best of the best, and they are treated as such. This is just one more reason not to care as much about school. You are not wasting anything by spending more time at university; whereas in the US, two extra years at a university would cost you at least $60,000. Heck, if I was able to stay in college two years longer, for free, as opposed to having to find a real job or get locked into a marriage here, why not prolong my stay at SQU?

In class, students demand things from professors. In a science course, students revolted against a professor who used questions for his exam that did not exactly mimic the examples he gave in class. You are getting the picture. Students are not pushed to perform. They are not asked to think creatively. There is no accountability. Teachers do not set good examples. Everyone gets passed in the end.

If the education system refuses to water the seeds of innovation, bureaucracy is a rabbit that goes around gnawing at any little sprout. My new environmentally minded friend spent four months in communication with a ministry because they did not like the name of the center he was trying to establish. How many people would wait that out? How many people could afford to keep paying the rent on the building that they had chosen for their new “small/medium enterprise” to wait on a ministry to approve their name? And that is just step one. As he explained, Oman is influenced by the Egyptian administration style, and this is cancerous. It is a paper bureaucracy where many, many copies are made of any approval. People value the “proof” that paper provides and do not trust electronic systems. Long strings of procedures perpetuate the bureaucratic inertia.

Innovation. Discussion. Debate. These can all be seen as destabilizing forces because they require change. But Oman is learning that economic progress will stall without such creativity.