What We Know About Arabs and Their Cuture/s

The events of September 11 generated a greater interest in the Arab world and Arab cultures among Americans.  Our reasons for this interest were different, but was in most instances derived from our curiosity to know. This led to the emergence of academic and political "experts" offering their opinions and views, in many cases, from an American prospective without any consideration to what Arabs themselves actually think.  Many learned about Arab cultures in crash courses, with few ever living among Arabs and understanding the historical, social, religious, and political intertwining factors the inform the way Arabs think, create products, and practice their lives.

We attempted during the short course on Arab culture to start understanding aspects of this culture, and compare what we learned to the way we think and behave in the American culture, and as individuals with our own particular family and heritage culture. 

We hope that the course was the start of a journey of discovery of ourselves and the other, if Arab culture represented the other to us.  For those of us who feel closely associated with Arab culture, the journey of learning hopefully marked a deeper effort to better understand Arab culture objectively and how non-Arabs perceive it.

As I mentioned earlier, the course was just the beginning of the journey of learning and discovering and a tool to create a platform for networking and dialogue among people seeking to know and connect to Arabs and their culture.  Having the Internet allows us to continue the learning process beyond the framework and duration of the course.  This bog is a vehicle to keep us and others who visit the blog informed what we learned and continue to learn.

For the purpose of this post, please place in the comment section ideas, information, facts, or perceptions on one or more aspects of Arab culture that you learned through the course.  Why did you choose to write about that aspect/s? How does that aspects/s of Arab culture compares to yours?  I look forward to reading your comments.  Please post your comments before Tuesday, November 16.

Please also remember that the Wikipedia article on Arab culture is the responsibility of all of us. 
I noticed that some of you have already submitted your entries.  If you have not, please do so.  I hope that you will continue visiting, editing, and expanding Wikipedia article beyond the duration of this course.  You can also submit an entry on Arab culture to Arabic Wikipedia - which does not have a designated page for Arab Culture yet, if you prefer to write in Arabic.

Arab Cultures - Introduction

This blog is launched to serve as a platform for meaningful discussion about Arab culture with its practices, products, and perspectives in an attempt to build bridges between Arabs and the rest of the world through object examination, exchange of ideas, understanding of differences, and finding common spaces.

It is created as a forum for discussion and sharing information about Arab cultures by DePaul University Arabic Studies students.  We hope that it will allow students to publicly reflect on their learning about Arab cultures and engage in a meaningful dialogue with each other and interested students, scholars, and the general public to better understand Arabs and their culture.  The students will be also expending the "Arab Culture" article on Wikipedia, adding content, and editing when needed.  Please feel free to make suggestions for content or edits.

We hope that you will join us by sharing information, ideas, insights, and perspectives about Arab culture, or your perception of Arabs, and blog to clarify and explore. 

We look forward to your contribution.