Banquet Reflection

I really enjoyed the banquet we had instead of a final exam. For my dish I made hummus with a recipe from the children's book that I did my presentation and paper on, Farah Rocks Fifth Grade by Susan Muaddi Darraj. In the book, Farah’s catchphrase is “holy hummus”so the hummus recipe was very fitting and in the book the recipe was even called Farah’s Holy Hummus. I picked this dish to make because I love hummus. I grew up eating a lot of it, I always preferred a hummus and cheese sandwich over a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I also knew it would be easier to make. I am not a very good cook nor do I particularly enjoy cooking but this recipe was fun and made me interested in making more food in the future. I thought the recipe was a little under seasoned and simplified for normal standards of hummus but since it was a recipe for kids to make it worked for the book. Hummus is a traditional appetizer from the Middle East that dates back to 13th century Egypt. The ingredients for the recipe I made were chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, salt, cumin, water, olive oil, and paprika. At the banquet we doctored it up a bit to help it suit a more mature palette and I was quite pleased with how it turned out. Tahini is where most of the iconic hummus flavor comes from and I think I could have used more of that. Tahini is thought to have originated in the area that is now modern-day Iran and it is a paste made from sesame seeds. Chickpeas are the foundation for the spread and they are thought to have originated 9000 BCE in the areas of modern-day Turkey and Syria. Sadly I did not have time nor the transportation to make it to an Arab grocery store so I purchased all of my ingredients from my local Giant. I think this banquet was the perfect choice for a final exam for this class. We can talk all we want about the books and the messages within them but ultimately one of the most recurring messages was to eat instead of talk. We saw this most prominently in Crescent with Sirine and her grandfather and then we saw it later in A Woman is No Man with Isra and her father-in-law. I think there is no better send off for this class than eating good food and sharing stories throughout the night. The oral storytelling tradition was another huge thing we learned about in Arabic culture through our readings and it all started with A Thousand and One Nights. So instead of rehashing the stories we have already studied, we created new ones. It was such a lovely night and it felt so gratifying to get to try dishes that we had only read about. It is very hard to imagine the impact of a meal without ever having tasted it, that would almost seem cruel. I loved this class and I loved the chance to experience the Arabic culture a little bit more and to get to chat with the other students in the class. It was wonderful. (538)

Interview with Diana Abu Jaber Reflection

 Having now read both of the books Crescent and Fencing with the King, it was an absolute joy to get the chance to chat with Diana Abu Jaber, the author of both of these books. I loved both of her books that we've read in class, she writes like a poet. There is so much fluidity, atmosphere, and mystery in all of her stories. Because of this element of mystery that is often presented in her novels, it was incredibly enlightening to talk to Abu Jaber. She was a very gracious person to converse with. She gave extremely elaborate and thoughtful answers to each of the questions asked by the students. My favorite part was when she told us the real story of her own uncle that lived in a cave in Jordan. It was so exciting to learn about how, in her book Fencing with the King, the character of Musa was inspired by this personal story of hers. From talking with Abu Jaber, I was fascinated to discover just how much her stories and novels, especially Fencing with the King, pull from her own life and experiences. So many of the main plot points and details are from her life, such as her father being the King of Jordan's favorite Fencing partner and having an uncle who is obsessed with regaining the family knife. Despite Fencing with the King having the most story references to her actual life, Abu Jaber confessed that the character that she connects with the most out of all her novels is Sirine, the main character in her book Crescent. She said this was because Sirine is a cook and that is something she herself has a passion for as well. It almost seems she feels that cooking takes up a larger part of her being than writing. It was such a pleasure to get to chat with such a talented and accomplished writer like Diana Abu Jaber.  (324)

A Woman is No Man

 

Etaf Rum’s debut novel, A Woman is No Man, is a story of female oppression particularly in the Arab societies. Isra, Deya, and Sarah all experience this innate inequality for their simple crime of being born a woman. Sarah is kept from going to college, Deya is pushed towards marriage, and Isra is forced to keep having children and when they are not boys, she is beaten until she ultimately dies. None of these events would happen to a man in the same situation. The title A Woman is No Man perfectly represents this sentiment. Men and women are not equal. Just because they both have the word man in them does not mean they are the same. A woman is no man. They have different expectations and pressures. They have different obstacles and adversaries. I often talk to men who wholeheartedly believe that men have it harder in the world than women. A man told me recently that it is easier to be a woman because she does not have to work, she can just sell pictures of her naked body online, while men are expected to work and they get no appreciation. A woman is no man. Arab women are meant to be revered but instead they are policed. As seen in this book, the people around the main women control nearly every aspect of their lives. Their education is controlled, their hair and clothing are controlled, even their romantic lives are controlled. There are so few choices that the women are given the freedom to make for themselves. The book holds up a mirror to the patriarchy in the Arab world and takes a red marker to circle every nasty bit. Obviously this is not equivalent to every Arab home but the issues are prevalent enough for the story to resonate widely. (305)

A Map of Home

 

A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar, is a prime example of a Bildungsroman, a coming of age story. The troupe of coming of age stories or Bildungsroman, is prevalent throughout various forms of media. We see characters change, they trade their child like wonder for adult understanding. There is often some sort of rebellious phase in between there too. In A Map of Home, we follow Nidali’s character from her birth up until she leaves for college. This is usually seen as the end of childhood and the beginning of the once coveted adulthood. Nidali’s character starts off as the obedient daughter whose only wish is to please her father but as she grows older she starts to see the cracks. It is a big day in a child's life when they realize their parents are not always right, when you realize you can say no to them. Nidali starts to fight for what she wants and if she is not given it then she takes it. If her parents say she can not go out then she’ll sneak out instead. She also begins exploring her sexuality. This is another large part of coming of age, when puppy love loses its innocence. She quietly revolts against her father by pocketing the money he gives her for lottery tickets, and not so quietly revolts by running away from home to get what she wants. She holds herself ransom to negotiate for a more free life. We also see the aging of her parents, while she started the book as a calm baby, her father started it as a fiery young man. As the story continues we see them slowly switch places as her fire is ignited in herself while his dims and he begins to mellow out. The term “coming of age” might traditionally be applied to stories of children becoming adults but I believe we are all constantly “coming of age”, there is always more to learn and more to be.  (332)

Food in Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber.

 

Food is integral to the book Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber. Where there are no words there is food. When a character is unable to speak, they eat. The basis of Han and Sirine’s relationship is the preparation and consumption of food. From that first morning they made baklava together there was no turning back. When you frame a story around a main character who is a chef, it is impossible to avoid food and Abu-Jaber leans into this whole-heartedly. Even at the end of the book she spends time describing what’s bubbling on the stove instead of what Han has to say on the phone. Food is the easiest part of a culture to share. All a person must do is eat, they do not need to learn a new language or travel to another country. Nadia’s cafe is a hub for the Arab American community in California. The yearning for a taste of home or the taste of one they love’s home is what brings the people together in a way that nothing else can do to such an extent. Food holds memories. A single bite has the power to transport its taster back in time to places long forgotten. When Sirine is making the baklava, before Han shows up, she remembers when she would make the dessert with her mother and father. This is the most tangible description of her parents we get in the whole book. The rest of her memories of them are fragmented dreams or imagined from photographs but when she’s preparing the baklava she can see them clearly. And it is a happy memory, her parents were so often gone but this food brought them together. It gave them a purpose to spend time around one another. The common cause of cooking unites people, whether it be in friendship, romantic and familial. 

(Word Count 309)

 The lives of Arab Americans drastically changed after the events of 9/11. They had lived relatively under the radar of  American masses up to this point. Most people did not have an opinion of them, neither good nor bad. Suddenly, they were thrust into the spotlight for something they had no connection to at all. Fear became prevalent and this fear brought out paranoia and prejudice. Overnight, ethnic and religious profiling of Arab Americans became the norm. It was something that was expected. That’s not to say that it had not existed before this point in time but it reached its boiling point after the events of 9/11. People’s lives were torn apart. There were those who were wrongfully imprisoned with little evidence or explanation for something they were not associated with. They are detained at airports and questioned beyond belief and padded and prodded for some sort of weapon. And they must endure all this outright disrespect and profiling because if they were to speak up it would just make things worse. It could be perceived that they are hindering/obstructing the law. Arab Americans were lied to, cheated, and manipulated. Immigration offices would tell them there was an “issue” with their paperwork and then they would detain them for months. In some cases they were deported out of America. Mustafa Bayoumi wrote his book How Does it Feel to be the Problem? to share the stories of the Arab American youths in Brooklyn after 2001. Bayoumi reflects,“I know what it is like to be Arab and Muslim today, but what is it like, I wondered, to be young, Arab, and Muslim in the age of terror? Today's young Arab Americans often live uncomfortably between expectations.” No matter our religion or ethnicity we all have blood pumping through our veins and we all deserve a chance instead of being proclaimed and treated guilty for others actions.

(Word Count 320)

Suheir Hammad

 Suheir Hammad’s poetry is precise and cutting and filled with emotion. Her writing has a slam poetry style that I feel really reflects her childhood in Brooklyn. This rawness also translates into her acting in the movie Salt of the Sea. She might have had a character name but she was/is a real person/people. The rhythm with which she writes is pulsing and vibrant. In her poetry book title, “Born Palestinian Born Black” I believe she is using black to mean not white, other, the minority among the majority. Like she says in one of the prefaces in the book, like African people in America or Indians in England or, as this book heavily addresses, Palestinians in Israel. I think she gave the book this title for a couple reasons. The title really catches the eye, if it were simply Born Palestinian it would probably be less likely to be picked up. It makes others feel included in the story, the feelings and events she is talking about are ones that many different groups of people can relate to, whether it be segregation here in America or apartheid in South Africa. Others know what it feels like to be othered. The title also pulls inspiration from the poem she mentioned and said heavily influenced her, Moving Towards Home by June Jordan. Hammad fights to have her voice and the voices of people like her be heard through her poetry, acting, and other endeavors. Because of the genocide that is currently happening in Palestine, the Palestinian people do not have as many resources to speak out which is why Hammad’s work is so important. Poetry is so much more invigorating and impactful than a simple news story to me. Hammad’s poems capture pure unfiltered emotions that can not be found in some news article by someone that has nothing to do with what’s going on. 

(Word Count 316)