I was in class yesterday, and during some down time I checked my email on yahoo. I was using the e-podium which projected everything I was doing onto the smart board in the front of the class, so everyone could see. The first news story that popped up was about Iran and prominently displayed the Iranian flag on the screen. My students immediately shot in.
"Teacher, Teacher. Iran very bad. Very bad, teacher."
Not usually one to discuss issues that could be controversial thanks to the express warnings we've all received to that effect, I couldn't help but probe for just a bit.
"Really? Why?" I said, playing dumb.
"Very bad, teacher. They not Muslims. Shia not Muslims," said one student to the immediate confirmation by everyone within ear shot.
Ignoring the grammatical mistakes I've been trying unsuccessfully for 13 weeks to correct, I continued to goad them.
"Really?"
"Yes, teacher, not Muslims. Wallah," they continued. "And they hate all Sunni. They want kill all Sunni."
"Really? Why?" ever the Socratic, I said, examining further.
"They want Mecca and Medina, teacher," a wide-eyed student exclaimed, emphasizing the obviousness of the statement.
"We hate them teacher, all Shia. All Shia very bad."
"Why?"
"They lie, teacher. They marry prostitutes. They think like animals."
And then I posed the final question:
"And how do you know this?"
To which they replied:
"Everybody know this, teacher."
It was the last statement that left the biggest impact. "Everybody" they said. There wasn't the slightest bit of doubt. To them, these weren't even widely held opinions, they were widely known facts. It's not hard to understand how this narrative became as pervasive as it is. The religious clerics in this country are extremely powerful and use a great deal of that power to implement their propaganda and their narrative from the very beginning of education. But it was the unquestioning acceptance of this narrative that was the hardest for me to understand.
I didn't have the gumption to probe any deeper, not in class. I wanted to ask them questions like "Have you ever met any Shias?" and "What are your experiences with Shias that make you feel this way?" I wanted to find out what stories they're told. I wanted to ask about the the history that they learn. I wanted to know what they're told the Shia think of them, where they think the conflict will head, if they support Saudis and other Sunnis perpetrating sectarian violence and/or governmental crackdowns on and against Shias.
In other conversations that I've had with Saudis outside of school, and from the conversations I've had with teachers who speak Arabic and who have been here much longer than I have, I've learned that the epistemological questions (those dealing with how they've arrived at their knowledge) have for the most part never been asked. Most Saudis take whole sale what their told from an early age. This applies to what they know about Shias as well as what they know about Jews, Israel and also the West. As a good friend of mine puts it, you have to understand "the power dynamics in this part of the world. Some people in the region are only now beginning to conceive of how to challenge that authority, which includes thinking for themselves, rather than following what they're told. Other nations are more politically mature, and have demonstrated their anger by ousting their leaders. Saudi belongs to the former, and throwing off a national narrative is not easy, but it is slowly changing."
It's interesting because at the same time that my students will make gross sweeping negative statements about a group like the Shias or about Israel, affirming their narrative, a few even making statements expressing fondness for Osama bin Laden, none of them have any interest whatsoever in perpetrating violence, or advocating war. It's really as though the words in their mouth are just that, only words. They're the words that have been put there and never questioned. When they come out, they're only coming out as words, not from anyplace deeper, as they've never been processed on a deeper level.
As a Westerner and an educated person, I like to think that I challenge the history and the narratives that I'm presented with. I like to think that I know how to find alternative narratives, challenge the commonly perpetrated ones, and think for myself. Whether this is in fact the case or not might take a lifetime to reveal. Still though, I take a certain amount of pride in my supposed freedom of thought, and seeing a society who in general buy what their sold unquestioningly makes me feel a certain amount of contempt for those in power, and empathy for those under it. At the same time, I can see that things are starting to change in this part of the world. I know that ideas are spreading more easily and restrictions to those ideas are more and more difficult to maintain. But it's not an easy process. It's one that takes generations and enormous amounts of struggle to pursue. Only time will tell if Saudis will be begin to challenge their narratives and what the results of that challenge will be. So we'll just have to wait and see. But an understanding of that narrative and the forces that keep it going are essential to understanding this place, or at least beginning to.
"Teacher, Teacher. Iran very bad. Very bad, teacher."
Not usually one to discuss issues that could be controversial thanks to the express warnings we've all received to that effect, I couldn't help but probe for just a bit.
"Really? Why?" I said, playing dumb.
"Very bad, teacher. They not Muslims. Shia not Muslims," said one student to the immediate confirmation by everyone within ear shot.
Ignoring the grammatical mistakes I've been trying unsuccessfully for 13 weeks to correct, I continued to goad them.
"Really?"
"Yes, teacher, not Muslims. Wallah," they continued. "And they hate all Sunni. They want kill all Sunni."
"Really? Why?" ever the Socratic, I said, examining further.
"They want Mecca and Medina, teacher," a wide-eyed student exclaimed, emphasizing the obviousness of the statement.
"We hate them teacher, all Shia. All Shia very bad."
"Why?"
"They lie, teacher. They marry prostitutes. They think like animals."
And then I posed the final question:
"And how do you know this?"
To which they replied:
"Everybody know this, teacher."
It was the last statement that left the biggest impact. "Everybody" they said. There wasn't the slightest bit of doubt. To them, these weren't even widely held opinions, they were widely known facts. It's not hard to understand how this narrative became as pervasive as it is. The religious clerics in this country are extremely powerful and use a great deal of that power to implement their propaganda and their narrative from the very beginning of education. But it was the unquestioning acceptance of this narrative that was the hardest for me to understand.
I didn't have the gumption to probe any deeper, not in class. I wanted to ask them questions like "Have you ever met any Shias?" and "What are your experiences with Shias that make you feel this way?" I wanted to find out what stories they're told. I wanted to ask about the the history that they learn. I wanted to know what they're told the Shia think of them, where they think the conflict will head, if they support Saudis and other Sunnis perpetrating sectarian violence and/or governmental crackdowns on and against Shias.
In other conversations that I've had with Saudis outside of school, and from the conversations I've had with teachers who speak Arabic and who have been here much longer than I have, I've learned that the epistemological questions (those dealing with how they've arrived at their knowledge) have for the most part never been asked. Most Saudis take whole sale what their told from an early age. This applies to what they know about Shias as well as what they know about Jews, Israel and also the West. As a good friend of mine puts it, you have to understand "the power dynamics in this part of the world. Some people in the region are only now beginning to conceive of how to challenge that authority, which includes thinking for themselves, rather than following what they're told. Other nations are more politically mature, and have demonstrated their anger by ousting their leaders. Saudi belongs to the former, and throwing off a national narrative is not easy, but it is slowly changing."
It's interesting because at the same time that my students will make gross sweeping negative statements about a group like the Shias or about Israel, affirming their narrative, a few even making statements expressing fondness for Osama bin Laden, none of them have any interest whatsoever in perpetrating violence, or advocating war. It's really as though the words in their mouth are just that, only words. They're the words that have been put there and never questioned. When they come out, they're only coming out as words, not from anyplace deeper, as they've never been processed on a deeper level.
As a Westerner and an educated person, I like to think that I challenge the history and the narratives that I'm presented with. I like to think that I know how to find alternative narratives, challenge the commonly perpetrated ones, and think for myself. Whether this is in fact the case or not might take a lifetime to reveal. Still though, I take a certain amount of pride in my supposed freedom of thought, and seeing a society who in general buy what their sold unquestioningly makes me feel a certain amount of contempt for those in power, and empathy for those under it. At the same time, I can see that things are starting to change in this part of the world. I know that ideas are spreading more easily and restrictions to those ideas are more and more difficult to maintain. But it's not an easy process. It's one that takes generations and enormous amounts of struggle to pursue. Only time will tell if Saudis will be begin to challenge their narratives and what the results of that challenge will be. So we'll just have to wait and see. But an understanding of that narrative and the forces that keep it going are essential to understanding this place, or at least beginning to.
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