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5 Women on What It’s Like to Be Young and Arab in Paris

BY ALICE PFEIFFER ELLE Magazine On August 24, a group of armed police officers forced a woman to remove clothing that resembled a burkini on a beach in Nice, France. The incident not only humiliated an innocent woman, but pointed to a frightening escalation of the continued oppression of Muslim minorities in the country–all under … Continued

Ancient Egyptian works to be published together in English for first time

Dalya Alberge

The Guardian

Ancient Egyptian texts written on rock faces and papyri are being brought together for the general reader for the first time after a Cambridge academic translated the hieroglyphic writings into modern English.

Until now few people beyond specialists have been able to read the texts, many of them inaccessible within tombs. While ancient Greek and Roman texts are widely accessible in modern editions, those from ancient Egypt have been largely overlooked, and the civilisation is most famous for its monuments.

The Great Pyramid and sphinx at Giza, the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the rock-cut temples of Abu Simbel have shaped our image of the monumental pharaonic culture and its mysterious god-kings.

Carved text from pyramid. Photograph: Dalya Alberge
Toby Wilkinson said he had decided to begin work on the anthology because there was a missing dimension in how ancient Egypt was viewed: “The life of the mind, as expressed in the written word.”

The written tradition lasted nearly 3,500 years and writing is found on almost every tomb and temple wall. Yet there had been a temptation to see it as “mere decoration”, he said, with museums often displaying papyri as artefacts rather than texts.

The public were missing out on a rich literary tradition, Wilkinson said. “What will surprise people are the insights behind the well-known facade of ancient Egypt, behind the image that everyone has of the pharaohs, Tutankhamun’s mask and the pyramids.”

Hieroglyphs were pictures but they conveyed concepts in as sophisticated a manner as Greek or Latin script, he said. Filled with metaphor and symbolism, they reveal life through the eyes of the ancient Egyptians. Tales of shipwreck and wonder, first-hand descriptions of battles and natural disasters, songs and satires make up the anthology, titled Writings from Ancient Egypt.

Penguin Classics, which is releasing the book on Wednesday, described it as a groundbreaking publication because “these writings have never before been published together in an accessible collection”.

Wilkinson, a fellow of Clare College and author of other books on ancient Egypt, said some of the texts had not been translated for the best part of 100 years. “The English in which they are rendered – assuming they are in English – is very old-fashioned and impenetrable, and actually makes ancient Egypt seem an even more remote society,” he said.

In translating them, he said, he was struck by human emotions to which people could relate today.

The literary fiction includes The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, a story of triumph over adversity that Wilkinson describes as “a miniature masterpiece”. It is about a magical island ruled by a giant snake – his body “fashioned in gold, his eyebrows in real lapis lazuli” – who shares his own tragedy in encouraging a shipwrecked sailor to face his predicament.

“I was here with my brothers and my children … we totalled 75 snakes … Then a star fell and they were consumed in flames … If you are brave and your heart is strong, you will embrace your children, you will kiss your wife and you will see your house,” it reads.

Letters written by a farmer called Heqanakht date from 1930BC but reflect modern concerns, from land management to grain quality. He writes to his steward: “Be extra dutiful in cultivating. Watch out that my barley-seed is guarded.”

Turning to domestic matters, he sends greetings to his son Sneferu, his “pride and joy, a thousand times, a million times”, and urges the steward to stop the housemaid bullying his wife: “You are the one who lets her do bad things to my wife … Enough of it!”

Other texts include the Tempest Stela. While official inscriptions generally portray an ideal view of society, this records a cataclysmic thunderstorm: “It was dark in the west and the sky was filled with storm clouds without [end and thunder] more than the noise of a crowd … The irrigated land had been deluged, the buildings cast down, the chapels destroyed … total destruction.”

The number of people who can read hieroglyphs is small and the language is particularly rich and subtle, often in ways that cannot be easily expressed in English.

Wilkinson writes: “Take, for example, the words ‘aa’ and ‘wer’, both conventionally translated as ‘great’. The Egyptians seem to have understood a distinction – hence a god is often described as ‘aa’ but seldom as ‘wer’ – but it is beyond our grasp.”

Words of wisdom in a text called The Teaching of Ani remain as true today as in the 16th century BC: “Man perishes; his corpse turns to dust; all his relatives pass away. But writings make him remembered in the mouth of the reader.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

The origins of Arab sweets

AYA ABI HAIDAR StepFeed Arabic sweets originate from many different cultures due to civilizations that occupied the region, such as the Ottomans and Mamluks. These sweets are very unique in their taste and special ingredients are used when they are made. They are especially popular during the month of Ramadan due to their nutritional benefits. Below … Continued

15 Reasons Alexandria, Egypt should be on everyone’s vacation list

BY:Adriana Murray/Contributing Writer 1. “Be heard across the ruins” via GIPHY While in Alexandria be sure to take a stroll through the Amphitheater which was once used for musical performances and poetry. Visitors rave standing at the center of theater is a wonderful experience where echos can be heard across the ancient ruins. 2.“Taste bud … Continued

America’s Other Orchestras: Arab American Ensemble Series Episode 4

Aswat, San Francisco’s Voices of Passion BY: Sami Asmar/Contributing Writer When an organization is founded by one individual, a highly motivated and passionate person, the passion comes through all its work. The principle applies to the wealthiest companies in the world, Microsoft’s Bill Gates or Apple’s Steve Jobs, to a local community ensemble. In 2000, … Continued

Why Beirut was Named the Top International City for Food

BY: Adriana Murray/Contributing Writer  People often ask what they possibly have in common with someone halfway across the world and the answer is food.  Everyone desires not only to nourish their bodies, but also to have incredibly delicious food experiences. This week, Arab Americans, as well as Arabs everywhere, can be proud that Beirut, Lebanon … Continued

Arab America Ambassador Network

To be an Ambassador, please go to this link and apply: ARAB AMERICA AMBASSADOR NETWORK For Immediate Release Arab America Launches Ambassador Network Empowering Arab Americans through digital media (WASHINGTON, DC) August 15, 2016 – Arab America, the leading provider of digital media to the Arab American community, announced today the launch of the Arab America Ambassador Network. Arab America is … Continued

8 Arabic phrases you wish translated well, but don’t

LEYAL KHALIFE Stepfeed There are certain things that are better off said in Arabic, a language that never runs short of phrases that perfectly capture that very specific thing you’re feeling. So when in an animated conversation with non-Arabic speaking friends, the tempatation of using an Arabic expression is nearly impossible to resist. You translate it verbatim into … Continued

Gaza through a different lens

By Ghada Al-Haddad We Are Not Numbers   Ibrahim Faraj As the notable American photographer Aaron Siskind once said, “Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving.” And indeed it is, especially in the war-torn, blockaded, misunderstood Gaza Strip. Outside of Gaza, impressions of the Strip are limited to images of ruined buildings, poverty-stricken villages and … Continued

How to Say ‘Arab’ Unoffensively, and Other Tips from BLAC Detroit Magazine

Traditional fabrics from Africa and the Middle East enliven the August cover. (Photo by Lauren Jeziorski)
 

By Alan Stamm
Deadline Detroit

The editor of BLAC Detroit magazine, just nine months into the job, tackles an urgent, touchy topic in August’s cover story.

Aaron Foley explores “Detroit’s most divided, yet most similar, communities” — blacks and Arabs — and gathers suggestions about bridging the gap.

“It’s a little unorthodox for us to discuss Arab-Americans in a magazine for black readers,” he acknowledges up front in a monthly editor’s “letter” about the magazine’s content. “I ask that you read this issue with an open mind.” 

For his part, he addresses the topic with an open notebook, eight interviews and the homegrown context of someone who “only saw Arabs in gas stations, certain grocery stores and in Dearborn.” The result is a richly informed, sensitively nuanced and bluntly direct presentation that fills five pages.

Foley also devotes a page to frank observations by Isra El-Beshir, a curator at Dearborn’s Arab American National Museum. As a Sudanese-American, she describes personal knowledge of “anti-blackness” among some local Arab-Americans.

The topic has a personal tug for Foley, his introductory note shows:

A deep divide between African-Americans and Arab-Americans in metro Detroit [is] something I’ve thought about a lot, as I get older and my circle of friends grows and evolves. 
He gets right to it with a basic heads-up: “The correct way of pronouncing it is ‘air-ub.’ But when you hear someone pronounce it as ‘aye-rabb,’ not only is it incorrect, it’s often derogatory.”

Yes, this is real, not a Benetton ad or 1971 Coke commercial.

The 3,560-word article quotes an Arab Muslim law school instructor, a black educator, a Somali-American who’s Muslim, the first Muslim-American woman in Michigan’s Legislature, a black teacher who converted to Islam, a Wayne State board member, a black former Deadline columnist and others.

“Both communities have more in common than we realize,” Foley writes.

There is so much that we can relate to and empathize about within our communities, and yet here in Detroit, where our numbers are plentiful, there exists a great divide and misunderstanding.

How can we bridge the gap? It starts with understanding our similarities to overcome our differences.

The magazine sketches the paths that originally brought Southern blacks, Arab Christians and Arab Muslims to Detroit; the challenges both groups faced and face;  the misconceptions and racism that arise; the dietary and religious nuances that can cause unintended missteps.  

Kim Trent, an education policy associate for Michigan Future and an elected WSU Board of Governors member, talks about shared experiences:

“Arab-Americans had been dealing with profiling. And black folks have been dealing with profiling forever. We found some common ground that we didn’t have in 2001. You know, as mothers – we all worry for our children.”

Her chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority has co-hosted discussions between blacks and Arabs for 15 years.

The article also quotes from a 2013 column at this site by Darrell Dawsey, headlined “African Americans Need to Stop Shopping Where They’re Disrespected.” The Detroit writer, now communications director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, tells Foley:

“There’s a willingness by a lot of immigrant groups to assert your proximity to whiteness by doing what Americans do, which is disrespect black people. That is American as apple pie.” 

In her separate commentary, El-beshir — who has a 2008 business degree from Grand Valley State University and a 2013 master’s in cultural anthropology from WSU — writes:

I am the daughter of many narratives: Black, but not African-American; Arab, but not Middle Eastern; the daughter of two Muslim immigrants, and born an American. . . .

In addressing the relationship between African-Americans and Arab-Americans in metro Detroit, it is necessary to understand the relationship is not one, but one of many. It is built around social, political and economic institutions.

I still get a few surprised gasps when I speak in Arabic or identify as an Arab from Arab-Americans in Dearborn, who are predominantly Middle Eastern and ignorant of the diversity in the Arab world.

El-beshir offers advice for bridging gaps, one interaction at a time:

  • Start with understanding the fluidity of identity that exists in both groups.
  • Confront the stereotypes.
  • Identify the common traits.
  • Simply look for the humanity – starting here, right now.

Source: www.deadlinedetroit.com

Four Vignettes: Sipping on Mint Tea in Morocco

BY: Eugene Smith/Contributing Writer Waiting for Zaid   We had arrived at Seven Saints Café in Marrakech in a dusty old beige Mercedes. The café’s terrace offered an ample vantage point to witness the slow morning routine of the place Jemma el-Fnaa, the lively heart of Marrakech. It connects a circulatory system of bazaars, roads, shops, … Continued

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