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This digital document is an article from Middle East Policy, published by Middle East Policy Council on December 1, 2001. The length of the article is 1847 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Interview with Ezzeddin Ibrahim.(cultural advisor, United Arab Emirates)(Interview)
Author: Erick R. Peterson
Publication: Middle East Policy (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 2001
Publisher: Middle East Policy Council
Volume: 8Issue: 4Page: 39(4)

Article Type: Interview

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The role of women in the United Arab Emirates has advanced greatly in recent years, making the UAE a leader in women's rights in the Arab world. Though there were few opportunities for women outside the home before 1960, the discovery of oil led to advancement in women's position. The UAE constitution guarantees equality between men and women in areas including legal status, claiming of titles, and access to education. The General Women's Union (GWU), established by HH Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak wife of then President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, remains a strong component of the State's and participating organizations' various initiatives. ... Read more

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This digital document is a journal article from International Journal of Educational Development, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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This article examines the uptake of reflective practice, as one of a number of educational discourses, by student teachers in a new Bachelor of Education degree in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In a recent article, Pat Richardson [2004. International Journal of Educational Development 24(4), 429-436], argued that reflective practice is incongruent with the values of 'Arab-Islamic' culture and is therefore not an appropriate approach to promote in teacher education in the UAE. Here we argue that such a view relies on a limited reading of the concept of culture and reduces individuals to cultural 'dupes'. We also present evidence from student teachers that, far from endorsing the inappropriateness of reflective practice in the UAE context, shows Emirati women wholeheartedly embracing-and doing-reflective practice. ... Read more

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An increasing number of people are choosing to pursue an international career. While many are sent overseas by their employers others choose to go it alone as independent expatriates. This book explores what it means to pursue an international career independently. It examines the experiences of a group of British expatriate academics who have left Britain to work in one of four countries: New Zealand, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. It considers why they decided to expatriate, the nature of their subsequent experiences and how they evaluated those experiences in retrospect. While family and career played a dominant role, a search for adventure was the most dominant driver to expatriation. For many of the people who took part in this study expatriation was a modern day adventure characterised by professional and personal challenge as well as learning and transformation. The book is a useful resource for IHRM researchers and practitioners, particularly those managing expatriates. It is also useful for people considering expatriation as part of their own careers, particularly with respect to the impact on family,personal and professional development. ... Read more

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Culture Smart! provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and develop trust, friendships, and successful business relationships.

Culture Smart! offers illuminating insights into the culture and society of a particular country. It will help you to turn your visit-whether on business or for pleasure-into a memorable and enriching experience. Contents include:

* customs, values, and traditions
* historical, religious, and political background
* life at home
* leisure, social, and cultural life
* eating and drinking
* do's, don'ts, and taboos
* business practices
* communication, spoken and unspoken

"Culture Smart has come to the rescue of hapless travellers." Sunday Times Travel

"... the perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful and downright odd quirks and customs of various countries." Global Travel

"...full of fascinating-as well as common-sense-tips to help you avoid embarrassing faux pas." Observer

"...as useful as they are entertaining." Easyjet Magazine

"...offer glimpses into the psyche of a faraway world." New York Times ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Very good overview
Made great gift for someone going on a trip.Receiver appreciated advice and tips

Great Book
As a professional speaker who provides Train The Trainer Programs all over the world, including the Middle East, I found this book to be invaluable.
Great information and details about the reqion.

Lenny Laskowski, international professional speaker
National Best Selling Author, "10 Days to More Confident Public Speaking"
[...] ... Read more

Product Description
Culture Smart! provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and develop trust, friendships, and successful business relationships.

Culture Smart! offers illuminating insights into the culture and society of a particular country. It will help you to turn your visit-whether on business or for pleasure-into a memorable and enriching experience. Contents include:

* customs, values, and traditions
* historical, religious, and political background
* life at home
* leisure, social, and cultural life
* eating and drinking
* do's, don'ts, and taboos
* business practices
* communication, spoken and unspoken

"Culture Smart has come to the rescue of hapless travellers." Sunday Times Travel

"... the perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful and downright odd quirks and customs of various countries." Global Travel

"...full of fascinating-as well as common-sense-tips to help you avoid embarrassing faux pas." Observer

"...as useful as they are entertaining." Easyjet Magazine

"...offer glimpses into the psyche of a faraway world." New York Times ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Isolated Island: Intriguing, Compelling, Myserious
'Culture Smart' Series Review:

First, I am a culture junkie and am a big fan of the 'Culture Smart' series with seven guides thus far in my growing collection. * Germany, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Cuba, Croatia, Brazil and Morocco * This series offers a compact look into the cultures of the world: their customs, attitudes and behaviors, etc. These books provide perhaps as close of understanding to many of them as a reader will have. It also does not hurt that I take in fun/unusual facts like a sponge. I highly recommend this series before traveling to another country or just to further your knowledge of other cultures. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Gandhi's Cookbook, Ishy Bilady, Music of the United Arab Emirates, Liwa, Desert Heat, in the Cesspool of Culture, Sandwash, Hoyamal. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 30. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Gandhi's Cookbook is a ska punk/hardcore punk band based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The roots of the Gandhi's Cookbook began with Chris Ryan, Rob Courtis and Scott Morrison playing music together with several school friends, but never amounting to much at all. After meeting Martin B through a mutual friend, the four became acquainted and soon after, due to a mutual love of the Dead Kennedys, Martin was invited to be the vocalist. After having a few rehearsals together, playing a number of covers of 1980s hardcore punk songs and writing a handful of original material (some of which was to comprise the 2008 release In the Cesspool of Culture) the recently named Gandhi's Cookbook played their first live show in late 2006 - the sixth installment in a series of events held by local dubai organization Ignite Events called 'The Assembly'. Rob Courtis left to Australia shortly after to pursue his studies; his bass playing duties were taken over by Adarsh Sekhar. Following this, the band continued to write new material and rehearse, as well as playing a number of shows at The Springs skate park and DIY house shows. Although some amateur recordings had been made in the past, the now-cemented Gandhi's Cookbook lineup decided upon recording an album of all the original material they had written up until that point - to be their debut EP In the Cesspool of Culture. Over time, Chris had been accumulating knowledge of recording and had begun to set up a small recording studio in his bedroom, which was to be where the album would be recorded. Recording of the 8 songs was finished b...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=16974153 ... Read more

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At a time when the turmoil and conflict in the Middle East dominates world news, students need to develop an understanding of the people and culture of this region. This five-volume set, part of the Discovering World Cultures series, examines geographical, historical, economic, and cultural issues in 16 Middle Eastern countries. For each nation, information about people groups, natural resources and geography, economy, and religion is included. A section on everyday life considers education, leisure activities, dress, holidays, the arts, and food, including sample recipes. Tables, charts, illustrations, timelines, and fact sheets provide visual references to support the written material.

Volume 1: Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt

Volume 2: Iran, Iraq, Israel

Volume 3: Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman

Volume 4: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria

Volume 5: Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

Grades 6-8

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Photo essay with text and captions in English, Arabic, and French ... Read more

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These thought-provoking essays provide insightful reflection on both the experience and the condition of experiencing another culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Spring in the Desert
Andrew Carnegie once said a library " is the never-ending spring in the desert." In Writing Off the Beaten Track, Judith Caesar invites her readers into an unfamiliar desert world, that of the UAE, and leads them to an oasis of understanding and delight. Primarily about her experiences as an American woman living in the Emirates and teaching at the American University of Sharjah, her writing well illustrates what Thomas Meron meant when he said that a real journey is interior.

That Caesar understands this is clear from her introduction, " Why Don't You Just Stay Home?" as she begins to let the readers into her own past to explain why this book is about a world so different from her native northwestern Pennsylvania. As all skillful writers do, no matter the form or subject, she both educates and entertains in this delightful book, revealing a world so far removed from most of her readers in geography, history, and culture. And yet, like the Emirati culture itself, with its blending of Middle Eastern ways and American pop culture influences, its love for traditions oddly mixed with the latest in gee-whiz postmodern architecture, she has the ability to make the strange familiar and the familiar sometimes oddly strange. A very small example of this can be seen in one of her early explorations of her new desert world as she finds herself wondering at, and wondering about, the differences between the sand dunes there and the lake-effect snowsdrifts of her native home. Less careful observers might dismiss this as a superficial contrast, but it illustrates the curiosity and openness she brings to all her encounters, a willingness to dig beneath the surface for the truths that lie there, taking her readers far beyond what they thought they already knew.

As she begins to try to understand her new land, exploring the cities of Dubai and Sharjah, and the desert lands beyond, she shows that the map truly is not the territory, that to understand the Emirates of today, she must reach back into their history, both remembered and re-constructed. She discovers it is not quite what one would think, as she delves further and further back into the past of Sharjah and Dubai. And if J.B. Jackson was right in telling us that the value of history (and he here meant the vernacular history of place) is what it teaches us about the future, then what Caesar lears about the Emirates may reveal less obvious lessons for American readers, both those who travel abroad and those who just stay home, traveling only in their minds.

Not only does she learn about the place but also, and more importantly, the people, and her encounters with her students, as she writes, " teaching and learning across cultures," are at the very heart of this book, as she explores both the problems and rewards of teaching multiculturally and being multicultural. Her students, too, with a mixture of cultures, backgrounds, and attitudes, find themselves in a different sort of alien world as they explore such works of literature as Ibsen's A Doll's House or Alice Munro's short story, " An Ounce of Cure." Familiar with American pop culture but without much further experience of the western world, they bring to the study and discussion of the literature points of view that add a new understanding to the works, both for them and for their professor as together they face the task of searching for meaning across cultural gaps. And sometimes, as in the case of A Doll's House or other works in translation, this involves yet a third primary culture, that of the work's author. That Caesar handles this so well illustrates her willingness to be aware of, and accept, those multiple viewpoints, both in her teaching and in herself.

These multiple viewpoints appear throughout the book, as she observes, living within herself somewhere outside her native United States, looking back at her own society with a vision altered by distance and experience. Like Hiawatha's Mittens, she turns the inside outside and the outside inside.

By the end of the book, she again finds herself in the desert--this tim for the Millennium. Here the careful readers may grasp the answer--an answer--to the question posed in the introduction: why didn't she just stay home? And they should be glad she didn't, as I am, that we were invited along for the journey. And, as in her first book, Crossing Borders, she leaves us with a poetic image at the end, a momment caught in time, that makes the whole trip worthwhile.

Captures the syncopations of life in Dubai
I totally disagree with the Publisher's Weekly 2002 review of this book....the reviewer didn't get the point. Caesar did NOT attempt and therefore didn't fail to "extrapolate from her experiences...to a larger commentary on the Middle East."
On the contrary, what I liked about her essays was their disinterest in the "big ME conflict" issues and her focus on the sometimes bizarre but always thought provoking juxtapositions of traditional/local and modern/global aspects of life in a contemporary Arab capital. Millions of people in this region get up every morning, go to school and work, go shopping and come home or visit with friends without thinking about the Middle East conflict. This book witnesses that. As an American living and travelling in this region for more than 25 years, I found her insights as a teacher and observer rang true and articulated very well some complex aspects of relationships in these communities undergoing compressed social change.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who cares to go beyond the limitations of news headlines into the fascinating diverstiy of social relationships and aspirations in the Middle East today.I especially recommend it to academics planning to teach cross-culturally in the growing number of "American" universities sprouting up across the region.

Cultural and social insights abound
Judith Caesar's Writing Off The Beaten Track: Reflections On The Meaning Of Travel And Culture In The Middle East reflects on the meaning of travel and culture in the Middle East as it surveys her journey through the Untied Arab Emirates and the flavors of Arabia. Cultural and social insights abound. ... Read more

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"Ram Buxani's autobiography is multi-faceted achievement that's a pleasure to read. As he narrates the engrossing story of his own life, he's catalogued the history and spirit of many a Sindhi family. The book is also a handsome tribute to Dubai and a philosophical work on business and life that's bound to fire the imagination of the reader." In Dubai there are some figures among the expatriate community who are seen as leaders not only by virtue of their success and standing in society but by their actions and qualities. Ram Buxani is both businessman and friend, public and yet very private. His is a story of reaching Dubai more than 40 years ago and seeing a glorious future unfurl before him. He's been a husband and father, a successful businessman, the quintessential Indian, a pillar of the Sindhi community, an enterprising NRI and a highly vocal and supportive expatriate reveling in the growth and progress of the UAE. Buxani spearheaded the need to give dignity to the Indian community abroad and much of the understanding and co-operation between India and the UAE has seen him play a leading role. He's captured the story of his life right from those early, pioneering days to being a resident of modern Dubai. "Dubai is my home," he says quietly and with a well-earned right. "I have received so much from it. Whatever I give back will be too little. And India is my motherland - I'm doubly blessed." Taking the High Road pays tribute to two places that lie on the outposts of Asia - Dubai and Japan. Buxani has traced the history of the rise of these nations, drawing interesting links with the Sindhi spirit of adventure and enterprise. The book is also a testimonial to Sindhi women, who have played a leading role in the past and have an important new role in the future. Based in Dubai, Buxani has enjoyed considerable success as a businessman and his practical, no-nonsense approach to business will be an inspiration to any aspiring executive. ... Read more

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Prickly Predicaments is the first of a series of three books for children, aimed at a ten to eleven year old audience.

The main characters are two desert hedgehogs that live in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
The action in Prickly Predicaments covers two nights and a day in the lives of Henrietta and Harry as they become separated from one another.
Two boys, one Saudi and one American, come into possession of the animals.
The story concerns the adventures of the hedgehogs within the two households and how they come to be reunited. All of Harry and Henrietta's actions reflect the natural behavior of hedgehogs and details of Arabic language, ambience and culture are based on my experience as a long time resident of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The boys have in common: their love of animals, trouble communicating with their fathers and their sense that boys live in a secret world apart, not accessible to adults. The hedgehogs display no interest in the humans. It is their indifference to anything but their own condition which establishes their credibility as dignified creatures with a right to be free. The Middle Eastern motif is topical and presents the Arab culture realistically but non-judgmentally. In the course of the story some cultural differences between Americans and Saudis are overcome by mutual human concerns and the friendship of the two boys.
... Read more

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This book deals with the legal status of the three islands of Abu Musa, and the Greater and Lesser Tumbs. In December 1971, the sixty-seven years of the Anglo-Iranian dispute over the islands transformed itself into Irano-UAE conflict--a conflict which Iran considers a colonial legacy inherited by the United Arab Emirates. The alliance of convenience between Iran and Britain cemented under Shah Abbas in the early seventeenth century had faded away by the mid-eighteenth century, after the collapse of the Safavid Dynasty. During the nineteenth century, the Anglo-Iranian relationship evolved into mutual distrust and resentment. The matter is complex, particulary because material facts and evidence, relating to a very short span of time in the nineteenth century, are ambiguous and debatable. British Colonial interests and past interventions have marred the evidence. Hence, clarification of the material facts and the choice of applicable law form the crux of the present study. This is a multi-disciplinary study, dealing with geography, history, economics, politics, international relations and law. ... Read more

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During the first Palestinian uprising in 1990, Jeffrey Goldberg – an American Jew – served as a guard at the largest prison camp in Israel. One of his prisoners was Rafiq, a rising leader in the PLO. Overcoming their fears and prejudices, the two men began a dialogue that, over more than a decade, grew into a remarkable friendship. Now an award-winning journalist, Goldberg describes their relationship and their confrontations over religious, cultural, and political differences; through these discussions, he attempts to make sense of the conflicts in this embattled region, revealing the truths that lie buried within the animosities of the Middle East. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (34)

Excellent book about the Middle East
"Prisoners" is a very enjoyable read, but also incredibly educational. The author, Jeffrey Goldberg, isn't afraid of nuance, and the whole book is textured and very, very smart. Definitely a must-read for anyone interested in the world's most difficult place.

Explains the Middle East
This is a great book. It's compelling and very very interesting. But most of all, it helps you understand why everything you hear about the Middle East is basically simple-minded. The author shows that this is such a difficult subject, and that everytime you think you know which side you're on, all of a sudden you get a new piece of information that changes your mind. I think I understand Israel much better after reading this book.

Excellent--mostly autobiography, but deeply interesting
I picked up this book because the title encapsulates much of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in its ironies (Israelis eat Palestinian foods as their own, Palestinians adopt Israeli slang), and that title captures a well placed metaphor that in daily life it is not always clear, even in Ketziot, who is the prisoner of whom.

Against the backdrop of two warring peoples engaged in an endless cycle of revenge and provocation we meet young Jeff as a Jewish kid in New York struggling with crossing identities and his growing self-invention as a latter day Ari Ben-Canaan (that's my analysis not his) and then we see him morphing into a journalist and all round thoughtful journalist. The other people in the book sometimes come across as strawmen for Goldberg's preconceived notions. Nothing really wrong with this, the book is at its heart, an autobiography and it should be read, and I highly recommend that it be read, with that in mind.

Goldberg's strong suit is in the dense and reference laden language in the first 50 or so pages.As his narrative develops, the book becomes more of a camera panning from one plainly expressed view to another. Toward the end, the narrative becomes a bit fragmentary and I wondered what was going on, like we had set out on a marvelous adventure together and suddenly we realized that the scout master wasn't sure where we were going. I like the book, even with these imperfections,in fact I like the book for these imperfections and for the author's sincere soul searching. It's rare that I get a good feel for the author himself, and this book serves the purposes of a street level view of the conflict and the psychological landscapes of a prominent contemporary observer.

more of an autobiography than "muslim and jew across the divide"
It should be renamed Jeff Goldberg and Jeff Goldberg across the Middle East Divide because it is far more autobiographical than about a conversation or friendship of Muslim and Jew. He tells how he was hated by Christians growing up who called Jews Christ killers. He tells of being obsessed with reading about the Holocaust and listening to older relatives tell about it. He was enchanted by Kahane and other militant terrorist types at one point (and still can't fathom why Palestinians would want to do the equivalent!). He went to Zionist socialist summer camps and longed to live in Israel for about a decade before he fulfilled the dream. Once there, he tried a kibbutz and the army before becoming disenchanted and returning to America. His time in the army at Ketziot prison during the first intifada is where the book takes place. Rafiq is the Muslim in the title and at that place they strike a tentative, cautious, tenuous, almost-friendship. Jeff is extremely critical of Palestinians, Islam and constantly suspects Rafiq of mal intent, notably when Rafiq gives him a clock and some other things to take back to America for a friend at the University and Jeff breaks into a cold sweat at night and smashes the clock to be sure it isn't a bomb. Jeff doesn't give us nearly the amount of history and insights on Rafiq as he does himself; I don't think Jeff did him justice compared to the treatment in the title.

Jeff talks about a Jewish soldier who hates Arabs, but he justifies it in his mind because he got his arm blown off by a rocket. He doesn't ever say the same of Palestinians- their rage is unjustifiable no matter the circumstances. He also shares (some stated, some my impression) his feeling about Arabs- they are dirty, stupid, guilty, want to kill Jews, all in prison are guilty, etc. He thinks Palestinians should try Gandhi and King's methods, yet doesn't say anything about Israel's terrorist beginnings and if he thinks those are equally as appalling, wrong, criminal, immoral, etc. He spent his childhood longing to be an Israeli Jew with a gun instead of a weak Diaspora Jew and still can't understand why Palestinians turn to violence to resist and survive. It makes no sense.

He tells the story of a Jewish settler friend whose son was killed by Arabs and says he's ready to give up that land for peace even though it would mean moving the gravesite. He wants to find a Muslim who thinks that way and says he hasn't yet. I'm thinking it might have something to do with the amount of high level terrorists he has as contacts for his job. He talks to these guys about religion and can't find a moderate. Go figure. He spent time at a Pakistani madrassa, did award winning pieces on Hezbollah, talked to Sheik Yassin and a ton of others. He also goes to talk to ex-prisoners, not all of whom are quite as forgiving as Rafiq about having started their lifetime prison careers for doing nothing but waving a flag or throwing a rock, without being charged for even that.

Jeff says he's in search of a Muslim who wants peace more than to hate or kill Jews, but what he really wants is to find a Muslim to acknowledge Jewish suffering and 2000 year exile and triumphant return while ignoring the consequences of said return- al Nakba- massacres, unjust, unnecessary imprisonments (which ironically turned many from kids to revolutionaries and sometimes terrorist operatives), occupation, collective punishment that continue to today.

Not to mention, in addition to ignoring al-Nakba, we are to ignore the part of the Bible where the land promise is conditional upon obedience and the Israelites indeed were scattered, had famine, war, and pestilence visited upon them. My second problem is how after 2000 years of intermarriage with Europeans and other goyim, they are still considered Israelites returning from exile. My third would be how Jews exist after the coming of the Messiah, but I'm getting into theology now.

Despite all this, there are some things I admired. Jeff did not agree with punishing an individual for something he clearly did not do and took a stand in the prison on one occasion. He also stops a "friend" from beating an Arab he'd arrested to death. This is admirable, yet when it comes to admitting that Israel in fact frequently punishes those that have done nothing or dishes out punishments far in excess of the crime- he cannot fathom it.

Instead, you should read:
Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question by Edward Said - this is very comprehensive, but reads like a textbook and isn't what I'd call an easy read. Informative, though.

Drinking the Sea at Gaza by Amira Hass is enlightening.

Jimmy Carter's Palestine Peace Not Apartheid is good and short. It puts a lot of importance on his admin and US at the time of his presidency, though.

Queen Noor's book, Leap of Faith, has some good history in it, though it is baised toward Jordan. She leaves out how Jordan also screwed the Palestinians, but other than that it is a great book overall and has several passages about the major conflicts.

The Lemon Tree is a good one. It is the story of a 1948 Palestinian refugee who eventually meets and talks to the family that moved into his house weeks after his family was forced from it. This one is fairly balanced, though there is a ton about the Holocaust- probably due to the fact that the author is a Holocaust scholar. I was struck by how similar the Jewish march to trains to death camps were to the Zionist Jews killing and forcing Palestinians from their homes in 1948...

A Season of Stones: Living in a Palestinian Village by Helen Winternitz is good.

Gaza: A Year in the Intifada : A Personal Account from an Occupied Land by Gloria Emerson

Children of the Siege by Pauline Cutting

Days of Honey, Days of Onion: The Story of a Palestinian Family in Israel by Michael Gorkin

By Way of Deception: The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer
by Victor Ostrovsky

Norman Finkelstein, Paul Findley, Ghada Karmi, Noam Chomsky, Rashid Khalidi, John J. Mearsheimer are also good authors on this subject.

An Amazing Reading Experience
You always read about how people read a book in one sitting but it never happens to you. Well it did with "Prisoners." I literally read it over a single day. It is such a compelling story that I couldn't put it down. It is not a subject that people often find easy, but Jeffrey Goldberg makes the Middle East so understandable, and so accessible, that this book is amazing. ... Read more