Islam, Media and the West

In reading my fellow classmates blogs, it seemed that we all shared similar sentiments regarding new perspectives gained from the material of this course. As media, culture, and communication students, I was not surprised to see the theme of media objectivity show up more than once, as well as a critique on American culture. We are taught through the department that there is no such thing as objective media, and one thing that many of us considered is that the American culture often contradicts the notion of democracy, by limiting our access to media that appear countercultural. Al-Jazeera was brought up as an example of this, that although the United States government has deemed it a “mouthpiece for terrorists,” as a free country we should have the ability to receive information through Al-Jazeera so as to gather a more complete and educated understanding of the Arab world. It is contradictory to say that American media is more objective when it does not provide a space for acceptance of channels like Al-Jazeera. I agreed with the opinion of many of my classmates in saying that watching Al-Jazeera would be beneficial to many Americans.

The theme of a ‘clash of civilizations’ also was a common discussion topic among the blogs. Even as much as we dissected Huntington’s concept in class, it seems that there is still much left to be discussed. While most classmates acknowledged that a clash in Huntington’s terms (of there being 7 or 8 civilizations) did not exist, there was an inability to confidently state that any kind of ‘clash’ did not exist. There is still some sort of ‘clash’ happening between the Arab world and the West, and while many of us would like to pretend it does not exist and that Orientalism is a notion of the past, we found it to be inescapable. Part of this occurs as a result of culture not being a binary but a fluid entity. With there being so much cultural ambiguity, misunderstanding and stereotyping automatically take a lead in our interactions, resulting in a ‘clash.’ Whether in classes, our dorm rooms, or witnessing it through the media, we realized how much we were a part of this ‘clashing’ of civilizations or cultures, call it whatever you like. The difficulty in realizing that as much as we wanted to step away from it and observe from the outside, it became apparent that our mindsets were still very much embedded in a Western way of thinking.

Luckily this class seemed for many to be an open invitation to an opportunity to change this, and learn ways to engage in the ‘clash’, rather then try to ignore it or pretend it does not exist. In a class made up of primarily females, one of the ways that we changed our perspective was through getting a glimpse at the full spectrum of Arab women. From women like Haifa to Marjane Satrapi, it became evident that conservative did not mean Muslim, and that Muslim did not mean traditional. Modern Arab women have just as much ability to exert their opinion through television, embrace their sexuality through music videos, and become intellectuals while wearing the Veil. Modernity in the Arab world is happening whether or not the West realizes it, and our lack of recognition of it is depicted in our reactions to the images of Arab women.

An Analysis of Arab Television and Current US Involvement

ABSTRACT

In the post September 11th era, Al-Jazeera television has been a source of information and controversy for the Arab world and the international community. Located in Qatar, it was established in 1996 with a US grant of $150 million dollars. Initially much of the Al-Jazeera staff was made up of BBC World Service staff members, after being let go from the Saudi owned Arab television channel. Al-Jazeera has long been criticized as being sensationalist and anti-American. By choosing to show videos of Osama bin Laden, Al-Jazeera has been labeled by the US government as a form of propaganda for Al-Qaeda.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Analysis of Arab Television
a) Structure of Television Industry
i) Evolution of Arab Television
(1) Government Control
(2) Economic Opportunity
ii) Current Structure of Television Industry
(1) Ownership and Government/State Control
(2) Foreign Involvement
b) Television Programming
i) Evolution of Arab Programming
(1) Modernity
(2) Globalization
ii) Current Programming Trends
(1) News
(2) Entertainment
(a) Reality Shows
(b) Televangelist
(c) Music Videos
II. Analysis of Current US Involvement in Arab Television
a) Current Strategy
i) Benefits
ii) Problems and Suggestions for the Future
(1) Anti Western Propaganda

I. Analysis of Arab Television
While many of these criticisms towards Al-Jazeera derive from a certain level of substantiation, they cannot only be critiqued from understanding their news channel. The variety of television programming they provide to viewers offers a wider spectrum of information and perspectives than purely propagandistic material.

An analysis of Arab television is needed in order to present a current and accurate view of Arab television as a whole. Among the content of Arab television there is everything from soap opera type shows, to other news channels, music video channels, to talk shows.

a) Structure of Television Industry
To understand Arab television, it is important identify the evolution of the television industry and how it has led to the current structure. Also important are current television programming trends, as they demonstrate how Arab television has changed and provides a platform for the United States to reform their media presence in the Middle East.

i) Evolution of Arab Television
(1) Government Control
Up until the 1940’s and 1950’s the majority of the Middle East was controlled by European powers. After World War II however, these ruling European powers left the region, and the Middle East had the ability to begin creating their own governments. These new governments took control of the media, and their political parties used it as forms of propaganda, and as a way to restrict media from being used by another party. During the 1950’s countries such as Morocco, Iraq, Algeria, and Lebanon were introduced to the television, bringing about new possibilities for using media. The media continued to be controlled by the government, through two systems of government control over the media.

The first system of government control is strict government control. The government has say in every part of the media, and has the ability to use it as propaganda for their political means. Countries such as Algeria, Iraq, and Sudan demonstrated this system of media.

Although the government did not directly control the second system of media, it still presented a perspective consistently biased towards the government.

(2) Economic Opportunity
Economic opportunity aided Arab television, by opening the Middle East to the West. In particular the oil trade became a prominent part of Middle Eastern economic relations and the media became more open to Western influence.

ii) Current Structure of Television Industry
(1) Ownership and Government/State Control
According to William A. Rugh’s article, “Arab Mass Media,” “The structure and ownership pattern of the existing terrestrial radio and television systems did not change a great deal after 1990 but they have remained essentially the same as developed in earlier decades...Every Arab state has a government controlled radio and television organizations.”

Currently the governments of Arab television networks still have a considerable amount if control over them. Rarely do private television channels exist in the Middle East, as the government monopolizes the majority of the television.

However one of these rarities is found in Lebanon, where a law was passed in 1994 to end the state monopoly of television. A variety of people, from religious ones to businessmen have created their own television channels in Lebanon.

(2) Foreign Involvement
During the crisis in Kuwait in 1990-1991, Arab businessmen and leaders witnessed the power of satellite television and the ability of CNN to provide news broadcast that was better than local channel broadcasting. Understanding that CNN still provided a biased Western form of news, these Arabs took the initiative to create their own satellite news channels. This led to the creation of many Arab satellite channels, including Al-Jazeera. The availability of satellite television provided Arab viewers with more than a Western channel to watch. Previously they had turned to Western media to watch international news, yet with the creation of their own satellite channels they no longer had to do so.

b) Television Programming
i) Evolution of Arab Programming
(1) Modernity
Although much of the international world might assume that Arab television consists of conservative programs, the modernization of the Arab world has helped change the content of their television programs. Modernization of the Arab world has affected television programs by leading subject matter more towards a Westernized format.

(2) Globalization
Globalization has produced programming that is multi-cultural within Arab television. Influence of Western programs such as “Who wants to be a Millionaire” and others have led to programming that resembles Western media. Programs made in Arab nations are often watched and circulated within the Middle East, and so Arab cultures are exposed to media from each other.

ii) Current Programming Trends
(1) News
Current news on Arab television tends to revolve mainly around the government. On news channels in the Middle East, it centers around the actions or policies made by the government during that day. They are very simple and informative, not focusing on excess celebrity news as relating to politics, as is done in the United States.

(2) Entertainment
Entertainment news in the Arab world has taken on nearly as much importance as it has in the United States. In particular reality shows, televangelists, and music videos are popular forms of entertainment.

a) Reality Shows
Reality shows are a large part of current Arab television, with shows that emulate Britain’s Pop Idol, Big Brother, and the show Fear Factor. Arab viewers have the same fascination with reality television, which leads to high ratings and create opportunity for financial profit. This makes them prime spaces for advertisers to use to reach target audiences.

b) Televangelists
Just as the United States has Reverend Billy Graham, Arab television has its share of televangelists, one being Amr Khaled. Formally a banker, Khaled dresses in suits and wears a Bulgari watch on his wrist. Many of his followers are young Muslims, who are excited and challenged by his preaching. He is a powerful and passionate speaker, who demonstrates the same oratory skills as American evangelists, only his audiences are Muslims.

c) Music Videos
Music videos are also a central part of entertainment Arab television ranging from the very provocative semi-Britney Spears-esque videos of artists like Haifa Wehbe, to the religious songs of Sami Yusuf. These two artists are examples of the spectrum of acceptable musical entertainment allowed on Arab television. Haifa’s videos often depict her in sexualized clothes and atmosphere, which seems surprising considering the traditional nature of many Arab cultures. Sami Yusuf represents a genre of music that appeals to pious Muslims. In an article by Christian Pond entitled, “The Appeal of Sami Yusuf and the Search of Islamic Authenticity,” the author writes, “Yusuf’s message is one of tolerance and integration. In Yusuf’s music, talk of infidels and jihad are replaced with appeals to God’s love and the beauty of religion.”

II. Analysis of Current US Involvement in Arab Television
For the United States there must be a greater understanding and education of Arab television, so that the United States can have a more effective presence in the Middle East. By realizing the breadth and variety of current Arab television, the United States can provide alternative media forms that relate better to the people of the Middle East.

a) Current Strategy
i) Benefits
The United States current involvement in Arab television is beneficial in that it has tried to make an effort to connect with the people in the Middle East. By providing programming such as Al-Hurra, it demonstrates the United States attempt to become engaged in Arab television.

ii) Problems and Suggestions for the Future
A problem that the United States needs to recognize is that the wide scope of available channels makes it less likely for Arabs to become solely interested in American controlled television. Along, the fact that Arabs appreciate media not controlled by the government, means they are less ready to accept American government controlled programming. In order to deal with this, it would seem more logical to join with already existing independent networks, and buy certain amounts of programming time from them. This would alleviate the government control factor, and make American programming more legitimate to Arab viewers.

1) Anti-Western Propaganda
The other main issue with American involvement is how the US has tried to counter Anti-Western propaganda from the Al-Jazeera network. The problem is that a large majority of Arab viewers watch Al-Jazeera as a credible news source. Instead of continually trying to point out the flaws in Al-Jazeera it would be more appropriate to tap into other Arab programming to dispel anti-American propaganda.

As illustrated in this report, entertainment television is hugely popular in Arab television. Rather then focus on changing images in news, it would be more effective to focus on areas like reality television, televangelist shows, and music videos. Becoming involved in entertainment programming and supporting it will do several things:

First, it will show Arab viewers that the US is willing to see beyond the images that Al-Jazeera propagate of both Americans and Arabs.

Second, since American media is already so closely linked to entertainment media, Arabs would welcome Western influence to their entertainment.

Third, entertainment television has the ability to reach a wider target audience, with a larger age demographic.

“Amr Khaled: Islam’s Billy Graham” The Independent 4 Jan. 2006
Echchaibi, Nabil. “From the pulpit to the studio: Islam’s internal battle” pp.1-5
"History of the Middle East." Wikipedia 30 Nov. 2008 5 Dec 2008
.
Khalil, Joe F. “Inside Arab Reality Television: Development, Definitions, and Demystification” TBS Journal pp.1-26
Pintak, Lawrence. Reflections in a Bloodshot Lens. Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press pp.153-281
Pond, Christian. “The Appeal of Sami Yusuf and the Search for Islamic Authenticity” pp.1-26
Rugh, William A. “Arab Mass Media” Westport, Connecticut: Praeger pp.180-227

Since this class was entitled “Islam, Media, and the West”, I have decided to write about what I have learned in relation to each one, and how my perspective has changed, as a result of the material read in this class.

Islam

On the first day of class, we were ask to define the Middle East, the Arab countries, and what it meant to be a Muslim. While I still have difficulties in understanding the differences between them, what it taught me was about the fluidity of the categories we have placed upon Middle East. In particular I learned that just because a person was a Muslim, did not mean that they were conservative, traditional, or a terrorist. The readings of Osama Bin Laden, Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama Bin Laden were particularly powerful, and surprisingly much easier to relate to then I would have thought. Although Bin Laden argues his case for his fellow Muslims, I resonated with many of the critiques and flaws he found in the West. It made me realize that there is no ‘good’ vs. ‘bad’ Muslim, just as in America there is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ Christian. Rather there is a spectrum of liberal and conservative beliefs held by Muslims, many who actually do not hold Bin Laden’s views to such an extreme degree. To give Islam the image of Bin Laden, is like giving Christianity the face of the Crusades, and leaves no room for alternate understanding.

Media

Perhaps my favorite part of this semester was reading the graphic novels, and watching the YouTube clips in class. I have never been one to read comic books, however the one’s we read in class I found impossible to put down. The amazing thing about Persepolis or Palestine is that it portrayed everything we learned in class, in such a simplistic and yet effective manner. The personal touches of the characters in the books made the situations more real then they might have even been had I seen it on the news.

In terms of globalization, Salam Pax’s blog was a clear demonstration of the ability of media to change stereotypes. The wit and frankness of the blog countered most pre-conceived notions that many have of Iraqis. It also really showed how powerful of a media tool the Internet has become, and how media can give a voice to those that might otherwise be silenced.

West

Finally I think I have learned the most about the West, and how much my opinions and perspective are aligned to Western thinking. Before the class I would have thought myself to be a fairly open-minded individual. However as this semester reaches an end, I realize that I still have many stereotypes to break in my own mind, that hinder me from being able to fully understand the Middle East.

The West has this uncanny ability to take everything and give credit to none. This class has taught me that I want to change that, and gain a wider perspective than simply my Western one. Seeing the music videos of Sami Yusuf, and reading the articles about the ‘televangelists’ shows the wide range of new media left to experience from the Middle East. The West constantly thinks of itself as the country from which the best forms of media derive from. I’d like to argue however that the television programming, comics, music videos, and even video games made in the Middle East are just as entertaining as those from the West, and might even hold more substance in relation to current events. It holds numerous amounts of untapped entertainment, which I will continue to discover.

Throughout the course of the class, I could not help comparing the experiences of the Arabs with the experiences to that of my own culture. Being an Asian American, or more specifically a Chinese American, my culture is often misunderstood, just as much as those in the Middle East are misunderstood.

In Edward Said’s piece on Orientalism, it primarily focuses on ‘oriental’ as referring to the Middle East. While he acknowledges Japan and China as also part of ‘the Orient’, it becomes dismissed in terms of the argument. This notion of Orientalism has made me think over my own experiences as being part of the ‘East’ and the conflict I have with the fact that I am also from the ‘West.’

Having never been to Asia, I finally went to Shanghai last fall semester to study abroad. Before going there I had expectations of what it would be like to live and breath among the people of my heritage. While I found many of my assumptions to be correct, I also found that I had some trouble being able to connect and feel comfortable because I did not always fit in. Only now do I realize that this was a result of my Orientalist views upon my own culture.

Growing up in the West, even as a Chinese American, caused my understanding of China to be confined to the American perspective. It might sound a bit naïve of me, but I honestly thought that by being Chinese I would have a fairly clear picture of what China was actually like. However from learning in this class about Orientalism and learning to challenge the binary system that we often place cultures in, I’ve learned that there is no way that my vision of China could have been accurate, simply based on the fact that I am an American born Chinese person.

We have learned that within one culture there are many individual smaller entities. The world is not made up of Huntington’s ‘clash of civilizations’, because cultures are far more complex then that. In my instance, I was not part of the actual Chinese culture, but rather part of a diaspora of Chinese people that has over time changed and adapted to an American lifestyle. While I might consider myself to be a member of a ‘Chinese civilization’, I represent only one group within that larger ‘civilization.’

I have realized that my own life story as a Chinese American is representative of the larger themes learned in this class. I am a fifth generation Chinese American, whose family came to America during the building of the railroads. However my ancestors never actually helped build the railroads and instead worked in Oregon, away from where much of Chinese American history occurred. I have never struggled with a language barrier, and even my grandmother barely speaks Chinese fluently. Yet this does not discount my identification to the Chinese culture.

The combination between my Chinese heritage and myself as a Chinese American illustrates the movement towards modernity. For myself, modernity has allowed for my ancestral culture to become slowly intermingled with my American culture. I do not exist as simply Chinese or American, but both, which is a demonstration of how cultures begin to mesh as a modernization begins to occur.

Similarly, as the Middle East progresses on towards modernity, the same thing will happen. Those living in the Middle East will find their culture becoming a combination of Western influences and their own culture. This will even further divide Huntington’s ‘civilizations’ so that they will fail to exist in a modern society. Not only will Western influences be involved, but the integration of cultures within the Middle East will also happen, and lead to those who like myself find themselves between the binary of two differing cultures.

As I was in the stairs in the Silver Center one day I saw a girl wearing a headscarf. I probably would not have thought about it that much normally, but since it was after this ILA class, I was more in tune to think something of it. The first thing I thought of was the fact that she was one of the few people I had seen on campus wearing it. I guess I naturally assumed that a campus as diverse as NYU would house more than one student who chose to wear the one. Surprisingly however I could not remember the last time I had witnessed a student wearing it other than today.

After this happened I decided to do some random Google searches on Muslim students, and more generally the Middle East and students. I stumbled upon this website called the “Iraqi Student Project.” http://www.iraqistudentproject.org/

What this organization does is it provides a way for Iraqi students to come to the United States and study at an American university. As a result of the War in Iraq, many students have been unable to study, and professors and students have been displaced, or fled because of the violence. This organizations hopes to give these students a second chance to first gain a good undergraduate education, and second take their knowledge back to Iraq. The goal is that these young minds can help to rebuild Iraq back into a strong country, and the hope is that these students can be the start of the process.

I looked on the website and looked under the section that lists the colleges participating in the program. Not surprisingly, I did not find NYU’s name on it (I figured that if they had been participating in the program I would have heard a lot about, since it would have given NYU some bragging rights.) However I was surprised to see that none of the colleges were really institutes of an elite education (and by this I mean Ivy Leagues, and those schools that run close to the top tier of the American education system.)

Now I am not discounting the education of the majority of colleges across the United States, however this discovery I found to be a bit problematic. If institutions like NYU and those that are a part of the Ivy League are supposed to produce some of the brightest and most brilliant students that are to change the realm of politics and international interactions, shouldn’t students like those who are part of the Iraqi Student Project be welcome into those types of universities?

I guess it was a bit disappointing that institutions like NYU or otherwise portray an image that seems to value diversity, and wants to enhance a proper global understanding of the world is not participating in such a program.

And in some ways this seems a bit orientalist. These students are welcome at lower level universities, yet are not able to enter into an arena that will give them the best possible ability to create change in their home country. According to orientalism the West looks upon the East as less intelligent, and sees the West as needing to educate the East.

I think it is not far fetched to say that something of a similar nature is happening here.

Of course the reasoning is that these Iraqi students are getting the opportunity to be educated which could not happen in Iraq because of the situation. But the problem is that institutions that are the ‘cream of the crop’ of the American education system, are not a part of this.

And that furthers the notion of orientalism.

It becomes problematic that these Iraqis are only able to reach a certain level of education, as though they are not yet ‘Western’ enough to receive the best possible education. If they were to be able to attend an Ivy League university, they would be learning along side students who have the potential to become political leaders in the future. Leaders who the Iraqi students will hopefully in the future have the opportunity to create a better world future with.

For the Western students it would benefit them because they would have first hand interaction with students who have lived their lives in some of the toughest battle zones politically and physically of our generation. This would help to break orientalist stereotypes that many Western students may have, and in turn create opportunities for better understanding of those from the Middle East. However because these institutions are not participating, it does not help with the problem of orientalism and might even continue to encourage it.

I was reading an article on the BBC today about how they are planning to move more Iraqi refugees into the EU. I immediately thought of our reading of Persepolis and the difficulties Marjane faced when she went to school in Europe. These Iraqi refugees will in some sense be facing the same sort of problems that she faced in terms of a difference between cultures. However for Marjane, going to Europe was different in that she was not completely a refugee like these Iraqis will be.

For the refugees that are children and teenagers, it is probable that they will face a bit of the same identity crisis that Marjane faced. They will grow up with many Iraqi traditions, yet at the same time want to fit in with the European culture. Their parents on one hand will try as hard as they can to keep their language, traditions, and cultures a large part of their identity, but as a child or a teenager, it becomes natural to want to rebel against their parents.

Some might think that this means these young refugees will have just as difficult of a time living in a new country as Marjane did. An orientalist in particular would say that these Iraqis would have no idea how to live in a ‘modern society’, and assume that their physical appearance, understanding of technology, and cultural ways would hinder their ability to become fully embedded as a European citizen. However after going through this class, I would beg to differ with this idea.

Although these young Iraqis will inevitably face some amount of conflict growing up in a country that is not their motherland, I think that the cultural conflict will not be nearly as intense for these young Iraqis as it was for Marjane.

As we have studied throughout this semester, media in the Middle East is not very different from the type of media we experience in the West. Nor do the people of the Middle East look vastly different from the way people look in the West. While some might argue that the movement of these Iraqi refugees will lead to a difficult time assimilating, after everything we have learned in class, it seems that this will not be the case.

An example of this is though the music videos of Haifa and Sami Yusuf, which do not differ hugely from music videos found in the West. While some may see those from the Middle East as being sexually repressed and conservative, Haifa’s sexual video's show that it is highly doubtful that these Iraqis would be shocked by a Western music video that is also highly sexualized. Also, Sami Yusuf is British and a Muslim, and that in itself provides a link for these refugees to connect themselves to Western media. Although the assumption is that these Iraqis are completely removed from any type of Western formatted media, the reality is that they have already been exposed to similar media in their home country so that Western media will hardly be a new thing.

Another reason that these young refugees will have an easier time assimilating, is because many of them already dress in modern clothing. From watching Arab television shows in class, it shows that many Arabs do not dress in what is considered 'traditional clothing' (according to a Western orientalist perspective), but instead look like men and women that would fit on a street in a Western city. This means that many of the refugees do not have to worry about a visual barrier between them and the Westerners they encounter. It will be easier for them to fit into society, and will limit judgment from Westerners with orientalist views, because they will not fit into an orientalist image.

In terms of technology, so many of the youth in Iraq are fully exposed to the Internet, that it makes it hard to defend the possibility of technology as being something that these refugees will have no knowledge of. From the reading of Helga’s piece on video games, it also indicates that these young refugees will be just as able to enter into the cyberspace world in Europe as they did in Iraq. One thing about the technology and in particular the Internet is that it has allowed for the global sphere to become more intimate. Anyone who is able to navigate the Internet in their home country has the ability to do so in a foreign country, which means these refugees will have no problem as well.

Although Marjane experienced a similar type of displacement when she moved to Europe, because of how the Middle East has progressed since then, it seems unlikely that these refugees will have the same experience. As much as the West has changed, so has the Middle East, and it means that these refugees will fit more comfortably into Western culture than most would think.

This article has an interesting picture of one of the future developments in Dubai.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7693614.stm

Arab singer held on drugs charges

George Wassouf has released more than 30 albums since the age of 16
The Syrian-Lebanese singer, George Wassouf, has been arrested in Sweden on suspicion of drug offences, police say.
Reports say the singer was found in possession of cocaine when police raided a hotel in Stockholm on Saturday, shortly before a concert.
Police say they are continuing their investigation into the incident, and formal charges have not been pressed.
Mr Wassouf, 46 is a major music star in the Arab World. He has released more than 30 albums since the age of 16.
Thousands of people had bought tickets to see him perform on Saturday evening at a newly opened venue in the Stockholm suburb of Solna. The concert had to be cancelled following his arrest.
The Swedish newspaper, Aftonbladet, said Wassouf had been in possession of 30g of cocaine when he was arrested. Police would not comment on the report.

I thought that this article conveyed the similarities between the West and East. This could easily be a story about an American celebrity, and would not even be surprising considering that stories like this are so common in American media. It shows that celebrity culture is one area that can create a similar interest between the East and West. The article was found on the BBC, and I wonder how much coverage, or how important the story would be if George Wassouf had not been arrested in Sweden.

In my Gender Communications class, we read an article by Nilifer Gole, titled “Islam in Public: New Visibilities and New Imaginaries.” The article discusses a woman named Merve Kavakci, who was elected into the Turkish Parliament by her pro-Islamist party. Her first day in office turned out to be her last one, as she entered the Parliament to a collective, negative response. On her website, there is a video of the Parliament standing and booing her as she walks into the room. Kavakci keeps her composure throughout the ordeal, which very much contrasts to the expectations of her reaction.

The reason for this incident was that Kavakci decided that she would wear her hijab in the Turkish Parliament, even though it was not required by law to wear one. It is interesting that while the Parliament made a decision to ‘free’ women from having to wear the veil, the response to Kavakci’s wearing of it seems to silence her decision. Giving women the ability to choose to not wear the veil, also means that they must be given the same amount of credibility if the do choose to wear the veil. Ironically the actions of the Turkish Parliament discount their own decision.

At the same time, the West tends to do this to Eastern cultures. The West places the ‘other’ in a box, but when they break out of the mold, they criticize them because they no longer fit into the West’s ideal of that mold. Often times it seems that the West believes that they need to ‘free’ the East from oppression, but instead end up putting them under new forms of oppression that are hidden behind a veil of freedom.

Here’s her website: http://www.mervekavakci.net/

And here's a video of what happened on the day she tried to take office: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK_3Lb4UOpk

I found the discussion about Dubai in class today to be quite interesting. First the discussion made me want to visit Dubai immediately, especially because it is currently in such an interesting state of rapid development. Second, it related extensively to the type of modernization that I witnessed during my semester studying abroad in Shanghai, China. The tall buildings, huge malls, flashy signs, and grandeur of Shanghai seem to be a past example of what is currently happening in Dubai. For cities in the ‘Eastern’ sphere, it seems that there is this movement towards becoming a place that can rival the West. Unlike the way that cities in the United States or Europe were formed over time however, the East is progressing in a rapidly alarming rate. Since the East’s way of modernizing does not fit into the West’s way, the West criticizes the East for not being ‘authentic.’

I however think that cities like Tokyo, Shanghai, and Dubai are each authentic in their own way. Perhaps we are entering into a new era of modernism where rapid development is the new way that cities will be realized. While the East is being criticized for not being true to the identity of their culture and heritage, it might be possible that this fast paced construction is in fact Eastern modernization. Although the East does take many Western elements of architecture and consumer capitalism into their system of modernization, they are still progressing at their own pace, a pace that just happens to be fast. Instead of trying to make Easter modernization fit into the Western ideal, it might be that the East is actually taking on a their own form of modernization the West cannot understand.