Posts 16 Through 20

Coding Key:
! 1. Gender
(1.1 Norms, 1.2 Roles, 1.3 Expectation, 1.4 Inter/Intra Gender Interaction)
@ 2. Religion
(2.1 Islam, 2.2 Ramadhan, 2.3 Eid, 2.4 Mosque, 2.5 Social Gathering/Ceremony,
2.6 Christianity, 2.7 Judaism)
# 3. International Relations
(3.1 American/Arab Relations, 3.2 Israel, 3.3 Iraq, 3.4 American Hegemony, 3.5 Tourism, 3.6 Omani International Politics)
$ 4. Domestic Politics
(4.1 Government Policies, 4.2 Ministries)
% 5. Citizenship
(5.1 National Identity, 5.2 Expatriate Differentiation, 5.3 Sultan Qaboos, 5.4 Race)
^ 6. Foreigner in Oman
(6.1 Outsider/Insider, 6.2 Being American, 6.3 Culture Shock, 6.4 “Social Scientist”)
& 7. Family
(7.1 Sibling Interaction, 7.2 Parent/Child Interaction, 7.3 Husband/Wife Interaction)
* 8. Childhood
(8.1 Discipline, 8.2 Duties, 8.3 Socialization)

Field Study Journal #20: Day at the Salon
Recorded 12.10.07
Context, Location: Sawsan Beauty Parlor, Al-Ghobra, Muscat
Time: 10:00 to 17:30, October 11
Individuals Involved: Annelle, Kristin, Heather, Tumathr, Naila, (Tumathr’s friend, daughter of the salon owner)
Coding:
! 1. Gender
(1.1 Norms,1.4 Inter/Intra Gender Interaction)
@ 2. Religion
(2.1 Islam, 2.2 Ramadhan, 2.3 Eid, 2.5 Social Gathering/Ceremony)
^ 6. Foreigner in Oman
(6.1 Outsider/Insider)
Description:
At 9:30am Naila brought Kristin, Heather, and Heather’s little sisters, Hajl and Nakaf to our house, then took my sisters and me and the other girls to the salon. It was already crowded, so she took the younger girls to get less expensive henna elsewhere, leaving Kristin, Heather and me to wander the streets until the crowd cleared a bit. We soon returned as the heat was already intense. The salon remained crowded; Naila, the daughter of Khadija, the woman who had opened the salon only a month before, sat with us and Tumathr as we waited and talked. Other customers waited for their family-members to finish, keeping the salon more crowded. We were all waiting to get the black Sudani henna, although if we had chosen to do red Omani henna we could have been done faster as the woman who did it was free. The woman who did Sudani henna had come from Tanzania only a few weekes before, where she owned her own salon. She spoke Swahili and some English, and told me that prices for henna in Oman are much better, that her sister is keeping her salon for now but that she might choose to stay in Oman, and that she enjoys doing henna; she did not take a break the entire time, only when we left just before Iftar did the salon owner and Naila go home, and the other women ordered a pizza. We returned home, while Mama Naila and Belquees went after Iftar and did not come home until 2am.
Heather and Kristin and Heather’s family joined us for Iftar (after they had tried to catch a cab to Al-Atheyba only to realize that none would be available so close to Iftar). At one point Kristin asked “Where do the men eat?” I told her that there were none. They stayed for dinner. Afterwards Belquees put red henna on my fingernails to complement the black.

Interpretation:
The salon seemed to provide a public haven for women: inside the coiffurists did not wear abaya or shela, one woman discretely showed off the henna design below her collar bone and upper breast. Both seemed removed from the restraints of an Omani woman’s public wife, with short dyed hair and pants. One told me that I did not have to cover my head and asked me why I did, I answered “My family”. They noticed Kristin’s tattoo of a horse on her lower back and asked her to show them; they seemed to look at it admiringly, although I imagine most Omani women would consider it less attractive. I interpret this as similar to salon culture in the States, where one often finds the most daring hairstyles and individuals willing to push boundaries of appearance; however, when one woman insisted on driving me and Tumathr home, she covered her head; initially I had interpreted her statement that I did not need to cover my head to mean that she did not either, while afterwards I believe that she meant that as a non-Omani and non-Muslim I did not need to cover. Although customers first retained their reserve, they eventually relaxed into the atmosphere; little girls sat on the floor and played hand games, women uncovered, Kristin, Heather and I felt comfortable laughing and removing our shoes. However, I interpreted their behavior as being a bit too free; sometimes it seemed as if the Westerners had taken over and it seemed that the other women felt a bit uncomfortable.
I wondered whether the salon would be able to remain open during the rest of the year, or if it had opened the month before with the expectation that it might not survive past the Eid season, like the four month stay of the Tanzanian lady. I do not know if people also get henna or spend a lot of time at the salon for Eid al-Adha, although I have heard that many weddings happen just before Ramadhan as they are not allowed during the holy month.

Evaluation:
I had told Heather and Kristin that we would be coming to pick them up around 9am and I would text them when we were coming, and so felt annoyed when both of them called to ask when we would come, both that they still did not seem to understand “Omani time” and that they knew that I had no control over when Naila would get them. When Naila told us to wander for a bit until the salon became less crowded, I initially felt a bit miffed that the other SIT students were there, because I knew if it were only me, she could have taken me in the car. I had felt this irritation when Heather spent the weekend with us; having another student there upset the relationships I have with my family. However, I was soon glad of their company as we spent the following six hours sitting in the salon waiting to get henna done, and the final two finally having it. Although I enjoyed the chance to spend more time with them, I also felt conscious of the distance we created between ourselves and the others in the salon. While Tumathr and Naila sat and talked with us, I wanted to make sure that we were not somehow bad for business, (though it is doubtful that three Western girls would have much effect on the pre-Eid rush).

Field Study Journal #19: Molly and Lakshmi
Recorded 12.10.07
Context, Location: Baet Isma, the eldest daughter of Naila’s oldest brother, in Al-Amirat
Time: Evening, Wednesday, October 10
Individuals Involved: Annelle, Molly, a woman from India who travels from family to family giving waxes and facials in preparation for Eid, Tumathr, cousins and aunties and uncles from Naila’s family
Coding:
! 1. Gender
(1.1 Norms, 1.3 Expectation)
@ 2. Religion
(2.1 Islam, 2.2 Ramadhan, 2.3 Eid, 2.5 Social Gathering/Ceremony,
2.6 Christianity)
% 5. Citizenship
(5.2 Expatriate Differentiation, 5.4 Race)
^ 6. Foreigner in Oman
(6.1 Outsider/Insider, 6.2 Being American)

Description:
When I got home after going to City Center on the last day of class before Eid, I found Rayan sitting with Naila, who was getting her arms waxed by an Indian lady. When Tumathr, Rayan, Amran, and I went with Naila to have dinner with her family in Al-Amirat, (Belquees was not ready to go and we left her, something that has had not happened before), we brought Molly, the woman, with us. At the house we had Iftar, then Naila told me that if I wanted my arms waxed I should do it now, because Molly would be staying at one of the relatives’ houses in Al-Amirat. I asked Molly if she would not mind doing it, and asked in which room we could go. The others were praying in all available rooms, so we sat in the kitchen. She heated honey and lemon juice in the microwave and used strips of old sheet powdered with baby powder to strip out the hair. The young girl cousins came to watch and grimace and ask if it hurt, I told them no, as Tumathr would have her arms waxed after me, and I did not want to worry her. Afterwards multiple people told me and Molly to eat; she got her plate and asked me to sit in the kitchen with her, I went to get my food and was told to sit with the others, leaving Molly to eat alone. We left her there for the night, then she was at our home again in the morning. She spent about twenty minutes in the bathroom preparing the necessary implements for her work; when Tumathr asked who was taking so long in the bathroom Belquees hissed “Hada al Hindia.” Molly stayed with us Thursday night doing sandalwood facials, and in the morning Naila and I dropped her at a cousin’s house. She asked that all appointments stop at 11am in order to return to Ruwi. She mentioned something about “medicine” for God, in her reason for needing to be home at that time. I asked her later whether she was Muslim, and she said Christian; that she does not get tired or hungry or sick because she is always “praying nicely” to God.

Interpretation:
When I saw Molly I assumed that she was only at our home for the afternoon; when she came with us in the car I thought that we were dropping her somewhere. At the house I thought that we would have to wait until a more private room became available, as I was not sure whether waxing one’s arms in a space as public as the kitchen was appropriate. I interpreted Molly’s calm acceptance and obsequious “Madam”s to be necessary to an otherwise extrememly trying method of earning a living. When she responded to my repeated questions as to whether she was tired, I interpreted her response that “God takes care of her” as genuine faith and perhaps the source of her ability to handle her life with grace.

Evaluation:
When we brought Molly with us to Al-Amerat, I was not sure if she would be with us later and wanted to be sure that she was able to wax my arms, (as Tumathr has told me this was important for henna). I had been feeling slightly weird about her, this seeming “pass around” individual expected to perform whatever was requested of her at any time, and then dropped off at the next house. And so I was surprised to feel myself thinking about her in the same way, of what she could do for me, rather than considering her as an agent individual with her own agenda. I wanted to show her that I was aware of her as an individual, though I do not know if my efforts to talk to her were genuinely appreciated, (they seemed to be), or patiently tolerated. At the same time, there were also moments when she had taken over the bathroom again and I felt annoyed as well, forgetting that the only reason she was in there was to serve our family. When I paid her for the arm waxing I considered tipping her but miserliness won the day—I still do not know if I should have given her more, or if doing so would only serve to salve my conscience without actually helping her. At the same time, she seemed to be content, and so am not sure if my hyper-awareness of her, even more acute than for Lakshmi, our over-worked and elderly house-keeper. Too many times Lakshmi has vacuumed in my room too early in the morning, or screeched repeatedly at the kids; yet I eat the food that she prepares every day and walk across floors that she has mopped. Although I do my own laundry and dishes, I have noticed that other things I might usually clean up I now leave for her to do.

Field Study Journal #18: Ethics of Tourism Discussion
Recorded 10.10.07
Context, Location: Mama Naila’s house, dining room
Time: 21:45, Tuesday, October 10
Individuals Involved: Annelle, K., Naila’s cousin, unmarried, mid 20’s
Coding:
@ 2. Religion
(2.1 Islam, 2.6 Christianity)
# 3. International Politics
(3.5 Tourism)
^ 6. Foreigner in Oman
(6.1 Outsider/Insider)
Note. For this entry I had to create the sub-category 3.5 Tourism under # International Politics, which I hereafter changed to # International Relations.
Description:
K. came in into the dining room where I was studying alone, typing a summary of my thoughts on the Omani national narrative as compared to other countries, in preparation for ISP. She sat at the table beside me; I offered her the reading we had done for the day on eco-tourism. I explained that the article criticized the effect of tourist spectatorship of so-called “authentic” populations, as well as the ecological and economic impact of the tourism industry in general. I asked what she thought of tourists going to villages in Africa in order to see “authentic village life”. She responded that it can be hard to go to another country where the customs are different. I asked her what she thought about the tourists taking pictures of the villagers as they go about their daily activities; she told me that when taking pictures one must ask permission, and told a story about seeing two Masai men in Kenya. She wanted to take a photograph and asked her friend, who told her to ask. The men told her she would have to pay, which she did. I told her that if someone wanted to watch me “go about my daily life” I would feel suspicious about their motives and demand to know what they wanted. She said that the important thing is to respect the customs of the culture you are visiting, and told me about visiting Burnei, a country near Malaysia I had never heard of. She said that visitors are informed on the plane about the codes of conduct; no finger-pointing, improper sitting, eating in front of anyone during Ramadhan, public interaction between unmarried members of the opposite sex, and drinking alcohol. She explained that in Oman there is alcohol in the hotels, and that some Omanis go there to drink; she told me “There are two kinds of Muslims--some people are good Muslims, some people are just born Muslim and they do not really believe. Just like some Christians are good Christians, others are just raised that way.” She told me that even she would go sometimes to dance at discos. She said that at work she does not cover her hair or wear abaya. She said that she knows that this is wrong and that she did not used to do these things, and that in the future she hopes that she will become better. My mother was ready to go, but before leaving K. re-emphasized the importance of following the local norms. She said that while she can wear what she likes in Muscat, in the interior with her father’s family that has “never been anywhere” she has to follow their customs.

Interpretation:
K.’s initial response probably came as a result of me not articulating myself very clearly; she probably interpreted what I was saying according to her understanding of me, that is, a “stranger in a strange land” dealing with the challenges of life abroad. When I tried to make the argument clearer by using photograpy as an example, I think she related personally to the experience of being a tourist eager for documentation. However I did not have the sense that she connected the violation of picture-taking with the larger implications of tourism upon local populations, therefore I continued asking questions. As we talked and it continued to seem as though she did not understand what I meant about the negative impacts of tourism’s consumption of “native culture”, I tried to find an explanation: I thought that perhaps the examples I used evoked different connotations for her. Yet possibly the guilt complex aroused by the rich oogling the poor as expressed by the article might only be understood by those that had experienced this guilt, i.e. me; perhaps for those who have not internalized it, the impulse to travel and see the world (that K. had expressed to me in the past), does not carry psychological baggage. Nor is K. on the receiving end, the “exploited native”, who might immediately identify with the objectification of performing daily life for foreigners. She is one of the tourists, yet from earlier conversations with her, I know she has close personal ties to Africa and the interior of Oman, both recipients of the touristic gaze. Would she therefore be exempt from either side of the equation, exploitation and guilt? Or is this naïvete potentially more harmful, comparable to Western anthropologists patronizing observation of “savages”. Yet despite today’s enforced political correctness, is the relationship to the “Other” any different? For example, the virtual extinction of “Orientalists” after Edward Said often represents simply a change of terminology.
I do not know which is worse, tourists gawking obliviously or tourists gawking guiltily; the question becomes only more complicated when the gawker is suddenly someone who is not necessarily “Other”, but who considers the gawking as recognizing cultural heritage and therefore an inalienable right. In the USA, we have actors parade in costume around colonial Williamsburg; here, some people wear “Omani dress” daily, others treat it as a product for consumption at the Eid holiday. Is this a “living tradition” or an symptom of capitalism? Probably both.

Evaluation:
I was glad that my computer screen had gone black (screen saver) as I think K. might have felt curious to see, and I felt more comfortable with her reading the article than having to potentially take responsibility for what I had written. I have spoken with her in the past about her travels and I know that she is sharp, will not tolerate b.s., and fairly worldly. Still, I felt a moment of hesitation before handing her the paper, as it had made me feel, in some ways, that my presence in Oman was damaging, damningly frivolous, or at the very least reflective of global inequalities often maintained along racial lines…and I did not want her to read it and feel differently about me. Looking back, this fear did not accord her basic respect as an adult who can come to her own conclusions; feeling that I have to maintain my presence in Oman by keeping others in the dark about the criticisms that it could evoke is hardly a mentality in which I want to exist. Yet the initial impulse to discretely remove my cluttered papers and begin small talk was there.
At first I felt awkward about essentially delegitimizing my own “tourist experience” in Oman, (despite its potential for increasing cultural understanding, yadayada, SIT could be easily construed as extended and immersive tourism), yet simultaneously quite interested in her thoughts; therefore frustrated at K.’s misinterpretation of what I was trying to say, which to me felt a bit condescending. (“I understand that it is hard for you here in this foreign culture; it is hard for everyone.”)
As the conversation shifted to K.’s stories about her travels I was glad to learn more about her; I had listened before to K. speak about jihad, the personal struggle for piety and proper conduct; I had thought of her as a fairly religious person and so felt surprised to learn that she does not cover her head at work.
Although I did not ever get a clear reading of her thoughts on the ethics of tourism, I wondered whether she had thought much about it. I struggled with this, as it seemed also to potentially patronize her, but to do so valorizes my own guilty soul-searching regarding my feelings on tourism over what I interpret as her less complicated understanding. It is likely that her relationship to the issue goes into far deeper territory than mine ever can, constrained as it is by the opposing forces of guilt and the knowledge that guilt will never stop me from traveling, although perhaps it will shape my choices as a traveler. Feeling righteous because I acknowledge the inequalities that allow for my status as a white person with the means to see the world does not change who I am or make such inequalities disappear. If I really felt so torn up about it, I would stay home.

Field Study Journal #17: Ramadhan Talk
Recorded 12.10.07
Context, Location: Post oil lecture, after class
Time: Sunday, October 7, Around 17:00
Individuals Involved: Mohammed Adil Al-Mughairy, SIT students on Khaled’s bus, Khaled, Elizabeth
Coding:
! 1. Gender
(1.1 Norms)
@ 2. Religion
(2.1 Islam, 2.2 Ramadhan, 2.3 Eid)
# 3. International Relations
(3.1 American/Arab Relations)
$ 4. Domestic Politics
(4.1 Government Policies)
^ 6. Foreigner in Oman
(6.2 Being American)
Description:
During his lecture about Omani oil, Mohammed had mentioned that if we had time att he end he could give a short talk on Ramadhan. After the lecture I asked him about it again, and while some of the students left, I asked Khaled if we could stay to hear and he agreed. The “short talk” turned out to be a full power-point presentation lasting almost an hour, divided into “Balanced Life Style”, “Merits of Ramadhan”, “Faith and Action”, and “Diciplined Tradition after Ramadhan”. His themes of emphasis were healthy relationships (to self, others, and Allah), sustainability and piety, as well as the importance of putting one’s faith into actions. He explained Ramadhan as a training period for the rest of the year, a time to focus on becoming the best person/Muslim possible and turning the related behaviors into habits to continue throughout the year. He thus compared a Ramadhan Action Plan to an Annual Action Plan, moving from 1)“Where I Am Now” to 3)“Where I want to Be” via 2)“Steps to Get There”. Examples of 1) Not reading enough Quran, not praying five times a day, not visiting family. 3) Read a few verses of Quran daily and put them into action, pray the Taraweh and Qiyam al-Layl, visit one relative a week. After Ramadhan, other areas to focus on included: not being sincere to my employer, not ensuring that my children receive a modern and creative education, and completing Shaval, the six days of voluntary fasting. He admonished Muslims that spend Ramadhan gorging all night, sleeping all morning, and shopping all afternoon. Under “The Merits of Ramadhan” he explained the holiness of the month, a time when the devils are constrained and angels are closer, people are nicer to each other, and Muslims everywhere feel a sense of solidarity. Ramadhan can also offer preparation for hard times or natural disasters, realizing the needs of the body can be met with very little. At one point Khaled corrected the amount necessary to give in zakat for each fasting dependent. Mohammed accepted the correction. Both Khaled and Elizabeth listened from the foyer, and afterwards Khaled introduced himself. By the time we left the Salat al-Maghreb had almost arrived.


Interpretation:
I was not sure how to interpret his intention, as he indicated his awareness that his audience as not Muslim, and yet the talk was clearly meant for a Muslim audience. Although I found it informative, I was curious as to why he did not address this apparently obvious disparity between his target audience and those present. I interpreted his choice to give the lecture as a subtle effort at evangelism, as well as providing an alternative portrait of Islam to people whom he may have (rightly) assumed are the recipients of mostly negative and frightening characterizations of Islam. He prefaced his talk with a direct mention of terrorists, “the guys with long beards and short dishdasha” that directly contradict his emphasis on balance necessary for a proper relationship with Allah. I imagine that he included this for our benefit; I do not know if radical Islam and terrorism are often discussed or even mentioned. Thus far people seem less than eager to talk about terrorism, or if it comes up they often dismiss it as a perversion, not actually having to do with Islam. Therefore, the fact that he mentioned it to us seems to strengthen the argument that his presentation of the Ramadhan talk was directly meant for us, in stressing the balance and peace of a pious Muslim lifestyle. He also mentioned that the Quran forbids the killing of women and children, which also seemed a direct condemnation of militant Islam.

Evaluation:
Listening to him, I wished that he could give this Ramadhan talk to Americans in order that they could see the similarities both to Christian values of balance and piety, as well as secular self-help strategies. Minus the specific vocabulary of Ramadhan and Islam, the talk felt very familiar, similar to motivational books and group programs that encourage individuals to take responsibility for their goals and change their destructive behaviors. I have often felt an attraction to Islam since coming to Oman, as well as previously, and the talk reaffirmed some of the appealing aspects. However I still feel a barrier when Allah is mentioned directly; while I can relate to the desire for balance, moderation, and peace of mind, for me it remains valid on the level of personal fulfillment rather than a relationship to a greater power. To behave in order to appease a Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or God of any creed seems to weaken the relationship to the deity, creating an interaction of servility rather than conscious choice. Perhaps this has been my conclusion after fasting for a month with no religious obligation; by fasting voluntarily I am affirming myself, my will power, my desire for solidarity with others, rather than ascribing to a set of imposed rules. This seems to be reaffirmed with the practice of Shaval, or voluntary fasting post-Ramadhan. Again, on the whole Islam appears to have found some of the best methods for creating community, yet like any religion, it does so by compulsion. Still, Islam as a lifestyle presents its attractions; I wonder if one could become a “surface Muslim” who does not believe in God/Allah but ascribes to the practices and becomes a member of the community. Not that I am ready to convert, I am still not reconciled to the gender disparities. I still do not see why there have not yet been female imams, or if there have, why they remain so rare.
I found particularly interesting his statement that the Quran forbids destruction of the environment, even cutting a tree during wartime, an indirect but obvious condemnation of the oil industry which he later expanded into a direct reference against the tons of pollution dumped into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels. I wish that he had addressed the stand that supposedly Islamic governments take on this nugget of hypocrisy, (I would be particularly curious to hear how the alleged sharia government of Iran reconciles its oil production with Quranic imperatives towards the environment), although the answer would probably give no more satisfaction than any other situation in which ideology does not match economic objectives and so lies ignored.

Field Study Posts 1 Through 16 With Coding

For Field Study Journal Blog

Coding Key:
! 1. Gender
(1.1 Norms, 1.2 Roles, 1.3 Expectation, 1.4 Interaction)
@ 2. Religion
(2.1 Islam, 2.2 Ramadhan, 2.3 Eid, 2.4 Mosque, 2.5 Social Gathering/Ceremony,
2.6 Christianity, 2.7 Judaism)
# 3. International Politics
(3.1 American/Arab Relations, 3.2 Israel, 3.3 Iraq, 3.4 American Hegemony)
$ 4. Domestic Politics
(4.1 Government Policies, 4.2 Ministries)
% 5. Citizenship
(5.1 National Identity, 5.2 Expatriate Differentiation, 5.3 Sultan Qaboos, 5.4 Race)
^ 6. Foreigner in Oman
(6.1 Outsider/Insider, 6.2 Being American, 6.3 Culture Shock, 6.4 “Social Scientist”)
& 7. Family
(7.1 Sibling Interaction, 7.2 Parent/Child Interaction, 7.3 Husband/Wife Interaction)
* 8. Childhood
(8.1 Discipline, 8.2 Duties, 8.3 Socialization)

Field Study Journal #16: Prayer Circle
Recorded 05.10.07
Context, Location: Backyard at the home of Samra’s uncle, Al-Qurum, Muscat
Time: Around 19:30, Thursday, October 4
Individuals Involved: Annelle, Samra (neighbor of Naila, estimated age 26, her family hosted an SIT student last semester), Samra’s mother’s family
Coding:
! 1. Gender
(1.1Norms)
@ 2. Religion
(2.1 Islam, 2.2 Ramadhan, 2.5 Social Gathering/Ceremony)
^ 6. Foreigner in Oman
(6.1 Outsider/Insider, 6.4 “Social Scientist”)
& 7. Family
(7.1 Sibling Interaction, 7.2 Parent/Child Interaction)
* 8. Childhood
(8.1 Discipline, 8.2 Duties)
Description:
My neighbors/friends Samra, Habiba, and Esma, (three out of nine siblings), brought me to have iftar at their mother’s brother’s house, a huge house full of relatives, (perhaps forty people). After dinner Samra and I went looking for sweets; Habiba told us that we would pray first, then have desert. We went into the back yard where a group of men and women sat talking in a circle on a mat on the grass. Samra and I greeted everyone, then sat with the group; a woman explained to methat during Qadr, the holiest final ten nights of Ramadhan, a star appears every night, and those that see it are granted anything they wish by Allah. Kids played on the trampoline and ran around. A middle-aged woman passed out computer-printed sheets of paper; she paused at me, and Samra asked if I could read Arabic. I told her that I could read but I did not always recognize the word; they gave me a sheet. Older women began to come out and sit around another mat, (also approximately 2.5m by 3.5m); we stood up to pull our mat next to theirs. I did not notice when it happened, but when we sat back down, there were only women present, (the children continued to play). Women came from inside carrying bottles of water and joined the now-larger circle. An older woman remained in the middle of the circle, left from before the other mat had been brought and the circle expanded. The woman who had handed out the paper began to read from the Quran, a few women responded with a call-and-response, most remained silent. After a few minutes of praying, the woman to the left of the prayer-reader tapped the older woman in the middle to tell her to move onto the edge of the circle. The praying continued; at one point the woman next to me removed the kanga wrapped around her skirt and used to it cover the older woman, who was wearing a pale green jalibia and scarf. The praying continued; occasionally a child would come to its mother and be pulled into a lap or ignored, or boys making too much noise were shushed. Women shifted and slapped at the mosquitoes, prayers paused occasionally then resumed, one woman poured water for the reader. Twice another woman read, and the words on the printed sheet of paper were read. Some of the women held laminated decorated booklets from which they read. Two men came around the edge of the house then stopped and went back. Habiba and some of the preteenaged girls watched Friends inside the house, though at one point some of these younger girls joined the circle of previously only adults. The prayer ended, Samra told me to drink water; while we drank I asked her to explain some of the words I’d heard, such as “Amin”, which I learned was the same as Christian “Amen.” Samra’s mother came from inside, Samra laughed and apologized and told me that her mother had been praying inside and did not know that the prayer circle had started. The men returned from the mosque, we ate sweets, tea and fruit. I went to get my bag, but women were praying individually in the room and I waited. When preparing to leave, Samra and I said good-bye to the woman who had lead the prayer. She told me in English how happy she was that I was in Oman and had become Muslim. I looked to Samra, but thanked her. She wanted to know how long I would be staying. I told her, she told me I should get an Omani husband; Samra and I laughed. She asked my name, I told her “Annelle”, she asked my Muslim name. Samra explained that I was not Muslim, she and Samra spoke in Swahili, then she told me that she would pray for me and that Insha’allah, I would become Muslim. Afterwards Samra explained that she had said that because I was wearing abaya and had sat so nicely during the praying that she assumed I was Muslim. When she’d learned I am fasting she became sure I was Muslim.

Interpretation:
I mentally divided the women into three categories; older, middle-aged, and young, (both married and un-married).
I believe that the older woman’s veil was slightly transparent, explaining why the other woman covered her.
I am not sure why some of the women responded vocally to the prayers, with chants or “amin” while others did not, or only joined in when one word was repeated over and over. I think perhaps this is personal preference. I know that some of the older women do not speak Arabic well;

Evaluation:
The communal prayer felt dominated by the older women, the one leading the prayer in particular, and the few other women she designated to read. Towards the end of the praying, when it seemed interminably long, a few women left. I saw surprised that the women would tell the older woman to move or cover her with a kanga; I had assumed that as one of the oldest there, to do so would be disrespectful. However, it seems that the strength of a community spirit, and of regulating everyone’s behavior to the common rhythm provides a stronger pull than seniority.
Sitting with the women I was struck by a sense of the women as eternally caught in the role of mother and caretaker: the children mingled coming to their mothers, one woman leaving the circle to oversee two little ones on the trampoline. Although from the women’s behavior, and my interpretation, caring for the children was a relief from the eventually-cramped seating position, it reenforced for me that religion is of utmost obligation of the men, while women must juggle the responsibilities to god and family.

Field Study Journal #15: Night Walk
Recorded 03.10.07
Context, Location: Neighborhood near our house, Al-Ghubra
Time: Around 10:45, Wednesday, October 3
Individuals Involved: Annelle, Lokhman
Coding:
! 1. Gender
(1.1 Norms, 1.2 Roles, 1.3 Expectation, 1.4 Interaction)
^ 6. Foreigner in Oman
(6.1 Outsider/Insider, 6.3 Culture Shock)
& 7. Family
(7.1 Sibling Interaction)
Description:
When I went with Tumathr and Rayan to the dukan we noticed the cool night air, our first night when walking five hundred meters hasn’t left me feeling sweaty. Tumathr and I planned to take a walk later, but then Naila wanted her to come to a relative’s house. At 10:30 I asked Belquees if she wanted to take a walk. She said no, she needed to take a shower; Rayan also did not want to walk. I asked Lokhman, he agreed. On the way out Lakshmi told him to not go far. Outside, our usually populated street looked nearly deserted. Lokhman brought his bike, I began to walk. Lokhman saw a dog across the road and told me to be careful; we saw another one coming from a dumpster in front of our house. Lokhman did not want to go near them, but I told him he would be fine, you only need to be careful of dogs in packs. We passed a few men, and a group working on house construction with a pulley. We passed an old man in dishdasha digging near plants in front of a home. Lokhman salaamed, and told me he was the father of friends of his sisters. We passed another house; Lokhman told me the Imam lived there whose young son sometimes calls the Aden. The street was dark near the houses, brighter when we came to a commercial area. A car passed and honked twice. Lokhman told me that Omanis honk a lot and he does not understand why. Returning to the house, Lokhman told me that a graveyard lies in the open field beyond the trees, and explained that the low building near our house held something related to electricity. Our walk lasted about twenty minutes.

Interpretation:
I interpreted my sisters’ reluctance to come with me as possibly related to the late hour; if I had asked Tumathr at that time she might have said no. I interpreted the dogs as being more afraid of us than we were of them, although this could potentially have back-fired if the dog were threatened into attacking at our approach. I believe that the empty street resulted from the time of night, although Tumathr had also mentioned earlier that more people will be at home or at the mosque during these final ten days and nights of Ramadhan. I believe that the honk was probably directed at me as a foreign woman, although from Lokhman’s comment this could be wrong; perhaps the driver wanted us to move away from the edge of the road. Always covering my head when I go outside, I wondered how everyone can immediately tell that I am a foreigner. Then I remembered my own response when seeing foreigners in Oman; I stare as much or more than the Omanis. However, I think that perhaps seeing a foreign woman in abaya or kanga might present an even rarer sight.

Evaluation:
I felt a twinge of uneasiness, rare thus far in my experience of Oman; Lokhman’s nervousness about the dogs raised my nervousness about the few men walking the street alone or in clusters. Although I did not consider it remotely likely, I wondered what I would do if someone started to harass me, or came up behind and grabbed me. I wondered what Lokhman would do, and reminded myself that he is only seven years old, and his first instinct at any dangerous situation would probably be to run away. I felt vulnerable only wearing a kanga over a tanktop and higher-than-ankle loose pants. Although similar attire is not uncommon for women in my neighborhood, I would have felt more secure in an abaya. However, after the initial adjustment to the almost empty street, I enjoyed the walk. Crossing through the more populated and brighter commercial strip I felt aware of the bracelets Lokhman had put on my wrists earlier and that I had not removed: the one part of my body that carried something meant to draw the eye rather than deflect it. Traditions of ornamenting the hands, such as with henna, I understood in a new way; that afternoon Abuii Khaled had explained that for Eid we would do henna. He laughed and said that while some men are turned on by henna, he is not. Although I had appreciated the aesthetic beauty of henna, for example, or wrist and ankle jewelry, I had not yet experienced the importance of decorating the hands, or putting kohl on the eyes, decorating any exposed body part: I felt what I had previously only thought of as an “interesting cultural practice.”

Afterward:
In reading over my thoughts on the walk, I sound like a cowering wimp. I have been in situations in New York that would rate as much riskier than a nighttime stroll through a neighborhood in Muscat. I know that if I were not living with my family I would probably take nightly walks alone; yet having experienced life in Muscat only in the context of life with my family I have equated the two, and thus taken on some of their habits and expectations, (according to which near-midnight strolls are perhaps “eccentric” at best). I wonder whether this will affect my ability to function alone in the Middle East in the future, in Yemen for instance, or whether I will react as my family would: total shock at a woman traveling alone. I suspect that once I am out of my family’s sometimes stifling embrace I will revert to my usual independence; however, I can appreciate people’s reactions when they hear that I will be traveling through Yemen and Egypt on my own.

Field Study Journal #14: Skin Color in Oman
Recorded 03.10.07
Context, Location: In the girls’ bedroom, Mama Naila’s house
Time: Around 14:00, Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Individuals Involved:Annelle, “L.” extended cousin
Coding:
% 5. Citizenship
(5.2 Expatriate Differentiation, 5.4 Race)
^ 6. Foreigner in Oman
(6.2 Being American, 6.4 “Social Scientist”)
Description:
I was lying on my bed after class when my sisters and one of their cousins came home from school. The kids stayed in the room for a few minutes, then all but the cousin left. She asked questions about American pop culture; she asked “Do you know Tyra Banks’ show? She is black.” I waited a few moments as the conversation continued, then asked her to explain what she meant when she said that Tyra Banks was black. She told me that this was what people said in America, that I, Annelle, was white, while Tyra was black. I asked her what she meant by “white” and “black”. She said that I should know, I was American. I asked if she would be “black”; she said no. I asked why Tyra Banks was black. She said because her skin was darker than mine, it was like hers. I aksed why Tyra would be black if she wasn’t. She said, “Ok, Tyra isn’t black, she is like me.” I asked whether people in Oman say that people are “black”; she asked why I was asking this question. I explained that she was right that in America people will say that someone is “white” or “black” depending on the color of their skin, but I wanted to understand why she had said “Tyra is black” and asked again if Omanis would say, “That person is black.” She said that she did not understand. I explained again that she was right, that “black” and “white” are used to identify people in the States; I added that this was “wrong” and “racist”, and asked again whether people would say the same sentence “So and so is black” in Oman. She asked if I wanted to know how to say the sentence in Arabic. I said no, that I wanted to understand if the term “black” is applied to people in Oman. She said yes. I asked who would be called “black.” She said that she did not understand. She then began to ask me how I would feel if black people in the United States said “We don’t like white people.” I told her that I did not believe that “white” and “black” actually meant something real; that it was a way in which to discriminate against and oppress people. She told me that America fought a war because they did not like black people. I tried to explain that the Civil War was not because white people did not like black people, but because some white people wanted to keep slaves while others wanted slavery to end, and that the war was based on money. I asked her if Oman had had slavery, she said that she did not know. I told her that I thought so, but that slavery was different in the United States. I asked again who would be considered “black” in Oman. She asked if I could stop asking her these questions. She began to talk about the number of Filippino, Chinese, and Indian people in the United States. I told her that there were a lot of Indian people in Oman. She agreed, and began to talk about house-maids that had killed the children of the people they worked for. I told her I did not believe her and so she told me a story about a housemaid who had been yelled at and killed a little boy in revenge. The conversation moved on.

Interpretation:
I have had difficulty trying to decide whether to create a separate coding category for “Race”, or whether to include it with issues related to “Citizenship”. In the United States, race would unquestionably require its own category for reasons of political correctness as much as for the weight of the psychological and political implications. Yet in the Gulf, citizenship seems to be the more-loaded issue, the category by which some are included or excluded. I am unsure whether to code the experience under an Omani rubric or an American one, for although I as an American may never be able to completely erase the effects of an American upbringing on giving me a “black and white lens”, I must hope that a different context could allow me to conceive another perception, as least. Perhaps the best I can hope for is that by learning the discriminations of another society I may conceptualize them as constructed and thereby weaken those that I have internalized.
I think that L. included the sentence “She is black” as way to help me remember the show. I believe that she is aware that “white” and “black” are important methods for identification in the United States, and perhaps assumed that I would need this differentiation. I do not think that she meant “black” to carry any meaning beyond a visual cue for recall, and I interpreted her later behavior as an indication that she did not expect such a probing from me.

Evaluation:
The conversation was one of the few in Oman during which I was less careful to “take care” of the person to whom I was speaking; I pursued the topic almost relentlessly and at the time was aware of crossing my own “interview etiquette” boundaries. Looking back I do not know if I behaved unethically by not responding earlier to her apparent discomfort with the topic. I do not feel that I caused her undue emotional stress, although I know that had she been one of my sisters I would not have pressed her to the same extent, partly because I feel more protective towards them, and partly because I would not want to damage our established trust or make them feel that I was “studying” them, despite the fact that I am. In agreeing with L. and assigning myself as an example of “white” I was careful to not say that L. would be “black”; I consider this an American label, and hoped that she had not felt it necessary to insert herself into America’s racial(racist) boxes.
I also pursued an obviously delicate issue because I have wondered about the subject of race in Oman, and how an Omani would feel in coming to America, particularly Omanis whose skin color would have them categorized as “black” in the States. The conversation felt particularly unusual because unlike discussions I have had about race in America, this did not follow the patterns that I am used to. The “political correctness” without which I would not feel comfortable talking about race in America, and which generally leads to both discussants rehashing statements and positions that both have already heard, played only a minor role. Although the conversation felt loaded, as has every discussion of race I have ever heard or been part of, it also felt potentially open-ended. For a few moments while asking L. to tell me what the meaning of “black” and “white” would be for her, these terms lost their meaning for me in a way that no other dissection of race has ever managed to do. However, I think that part of this comes from a naïve idolization of the situation, based on my assumption that L. has not internalized an American projection of color. Her statement that “You are American, you should know”, is true; a discussion among Americans of all races starts with a shared basic understanding of the daily implications of race in American life, thereby perhaps limiting the potential of the discussion to change participants’ perceptions.
While I do not know the extent to which “white” and “black” carry meaning in Oman, nor for L., I know that she is more exposed to American culture than my siblings, another potential reason that I pressed her for answers, as I consider her, correctly or not, to be “tougher” than my sisters. Her level of exposure could have the opposite effect; talking to someone for whom skin color-based discrimination has no personal meaning would be less potentially stressful or damaging than someone who holds these ideas, particularly a teenager who idolizes the culture that would and will send her negative signals about her skin color. Afterwards I felt almost sick at the thought that every American cultural export carries a degree of racism woven within it, even if at the subconscious level. I do not know what L. has been exposed to, but she obviously already knows that in the States “white” and “black” have very different connotations, especially based on her reluctance to label herself as “black”. Although I know that paler skin is considered more desirable in Oman, I have been uncomfortable broaching the subject of race in previous situations. Looking back at my attempt to describe the Civil War both understandably and somewhat accurately, I realized that she had a better explanation than I did, that not only did “white people not like black people” then, but that many still felt the same way. Luckily she did not ask for an explanation of why, because while I could list historical facts and factors, in the end hate does not have a rational explanation.
When she asked if I could stop asking her questions, I felt simultaneously relieved and frustrated. I had so many other questions to ask; at the same time, the discussion was emotionally draining for me as well. When she asked “How would white people feel if black people said they didn’t like them?” I felt annoyed at her naïvete, at her feeling legitimate in nonchalantly taking up as complicated and explosive an issue as American race relations, a topic in which I doubt she has much knowledge; yet if she had been an equally uninformed but African-American teenager, I would have considered her indignance completely appropriate. In retrospect, I think that my feeling would apply to all contexts; I think only an American would be qualified to speak about American race issues. (What this says about my legitimacy as a “researcher” in Oman is a question I will have to try and answer.) However, I think that this reaction is closely tied to emotions, white guilt in particular. I do not want to have to carry the eternal baggage of American racism: I feel fascinated by the chance to live in Oman where oppression lies along different lines, and I resent the possibility that this might be taken away from me by camraderie among “global oppressed” against the “global oppressors”. Yet this is not my choice to dictate.
There have been moments, when glancing up at my three sisters doing their homework with me in the dining room, and at our little brothers cavorting around, under and over the table, that I have thought about the fact that in the States they would be considered “black”. Looking at them as “Omani” and “my family,” it feels surreal to then to feel a “lens” slip over my eyes and see them as “black”. The American connotation of “black”, with all its bloodied history, cannot coexist as yet with my everyday interactions with my siblings. This is not to say that I cannot see them as having African heritage; it re-enforces the construction and manipulation of the concept of “blackness” in American society.
Afterward:
I noticed that I put most of my comments in the Evaluation section; I have been taught that in speaking about race, the subject cannot be handled at all unless discussants first admit to their own “racial psychoses” and emotional investment in the issue. Yet I hardly brought actual “emotion” to my so-called evaluation, because while I have learned to admit that I cannot discuss race objectively, I then try to pretend that my “emotional” response is objective, intellectual, and mildly self-abasing, rather than let slip actual gut reactions for fear of demonstrating what I have allegedly admitted, i.e. being inescapably racist. The elephant is still in the room.

Field Study Journal #13: Conversion
Recorded 01.10.07
Context, Location: In Naila’s van, outside the home of a Sheikh relative of Naila’s, where we stopped to buy laban from his catering business
Time: Around 13:30, Monday, October 1
Individuals Involved: Annelle, Sheikh, Mama Naila
Coding:
! Gender (1.1 Norms)
@Religion (2.1 Islam, 2.7 Christianity)
^Foreigner in Oman (6.1 Outsider/Insider)
&Family (7.3 Husband/Wife Interaction)

Description:
Naila and I had stopped on the way home from class, (after dropping off a giggling group of school girls), at the home of a friend who apparently sells laban. Upon going up to the door Mama Naila warned me to cover my hair “nicely” because a sheikh lived in the house. She commented on the trees and bushes in the garden around the front door as “Nice; like the village.” We met only his children at the door, but upon re-entering the car the sheikh returned home. Mama Naila opened my window, but he came around the car to talk through hers. Initially they spoke in Swahili; I watched and smiled. Then Mama Naila apologized and explained that they were discussing the fact that I was fasting for Ramadhan. The sheikh asked how it was going, I replied in Arabic that it was fine though tiring at times. He and Naila continued to speak, sometimes stopping to ask me a question. The sheikh wanted to know if I would become Muslim. He went on to explain that Islam is peaceful and that it never requires violence or force to be spread, only “the mouth and the heart”. He emphasized that Christianity and Islam share one God, and told me that I should not worry about returning to the United States as a Muslim because there were many Muslims there, then suggested that I marry an Omani and stay in Oman. He described other Europeans or Americans that had converted to Islam; Mama Naila murmured “Alhamdu-lillah” occasionally. I smiled throughout and laughed when he laughed.
The religious discussion evolved into a talk about the impossibility of fairly having more than one wife. He said that “My wife is eighteen. When she turns twenty, I will get another wife.” And laughed. He explained that having more than one wife and not treating them equally brings thim from Allah that could prevent one from entering jinna, although this could be forgiven through nia. He referenced Naila’s status as one wife of three; Naila laughed and then grew quiet and wiped her eyes as he continued. We drove home soon after.

Interpretation: I have heard the request to “cover nicely” before, and usually interpret it as corresponding to situations where my appearance will reflect upon Naila.
I interpreted the sheikh’s efforts to coax me towards Islam as good-natured but not overly loaded with the expectation that I would become Muslim. I did not know the term nia, but I had heard of thim and jinna, and understood them to be part of the “point system” of Islam, which I characterize as similar to Catholic sins and penance. Naila has made what I have understood to be subtle references to my becoming Muslim in the past, and I think that she saw this as a possible opportunity to pursue the subject further. I do not think that the sheikh generally bloviates on the subject of polygamy, but I interpreted his harping on the subject and his own monogamous status as an indication of the importance he gives to the issue. I interpreted Naila’s response as one that she gives routinely when friends or relatives talk about Khaled’s decision to take three wives; despite explicit criticism, she laughs and shakes her head. I was unsure whether the sheikh had made her feel badly, or if her behavior, (wiping her eyes, leaving almost “abruptly” by Omani standards), did not reflect emotional distress.

Evaluation: I almost laughed when Naila described the garden as nice; it appeared to me as fairly overgrown and seemed to hold a number of items no longer useful inside: an old rug, a few rusty and dusty toys. Of the gardens I have seen in Oman, this won no aesthetic prizes. Returning to the car I felt slightly disappointed that we had not met the sheikh, and pleased when he appeared. I felt comfortable talking with the jolly sheikh, particularly because of Naila’s presence, although at times I was unsure of the actual dynamics of the situation. When he asked why I had not yet become Muslim I considered saying that my parents would not be pleased if I became Muslim, although this is untrue. I decided that lying would only coplicate the situation, and that the argument was flawed, as most likely many Western converts come from less-than-supportive families. I hoped that by remaining friendly and open I could maintain a balance wherein he would continue to discuss Islam and gently try to convert me, (which I found fascinating), without increasing his, or my mother’s expectation that actually I would. I wondered about the ethics of “leading them on” in this way, i.e. not making clear that I have no intention of becoming Muslim, nor am sure of my belief in God, and so felt relieved when the conversation shifted away from Evangelism. However, I felt uncomfortable at the shiekh’s apparent tactlessness regarding the sin of multiple marriages; although I could not ascertain whether Naila’s eye-wiping was a result of dust or emotion, she did seem less comfortable with this discussion. I have not yet felt that it would be appropriate to ask her how she feels as the first of three wives. I have also felt conflicted about this myself, because I genuinely like Khaled and consider him a caring husband and father, and so feel strange when I have heard him criticized. I wonder the extent to which his children are exposed to similar conversations and how they feel.


Field Study Journal #12: Neighborhood Mosque
Recorded 28.09.07
Context, Location: On the roof of Mama Naila’s house
Time: Around 21:00, Friday, September 28
Individuals Involved: Men from my neighborhood
Coding:
! 1. Gender (Norms)
@ 2. Religion (Islam, Ramadhan, Mosque, Social Gathering)
# 3. International Politics (American/Arab Relations)
% 5. Citizenship (Expatriate Differentiation)
^ 6. Foreigner in Oman (Outsider/Insider, Being American, Culture Shock, “Social Scientist”)
* 8. Childhood (Duties)
Description:
I went onto the roof of our house. I had only just learned that the small building southwest of our house is a mosque; on the way to iftar at Hobo’s house Naila stopped the van to give a plastic plate of food to a man on the street. He took it to this building. Later, walking with Tumathr after dark, I saw men praying within and asked her. From the roof I could see the men praying within. I saw one small boy praying with them. The men inside rose and fell nearly together; when a new man arrived he went into the door to the left of the main entrance and then came out and removed his shoes and joined the rhythm of the others. At one point a man came out speaking on a cell-phone and smiling, he returned inside after a few minutes. Two men came from a room in front of the prayer room visible to me; one of them left with the boy. After about half an hour watching the men praying and men passing on the street, I came downstairs. Belquees saw me and asked whether the weather had been nice. I told her it was still hot.

Interpretation:
When the man took the food to the building, I thought that it was simply the home of our neighbors, who were perhaps less-well off. I wondered about the other two grown men sitting outside, but did not connect the small, minaret-less building with my mental picture of “mosque”. When we passed the building later and I saw the men praying and learned that it was a mosque, I interpreted its small size as possibly indicating that the mosque is for a specific group of people, perhaps non-Omanis. Our other neighborhood mosque is larger and more ornate, and very close by, just on the other side of our house; I do not understand why our street would need two mosques unless it reflected the demographics of the neighborhood, which, to my understanding, has a high number of expatriates. From the roof I interpreted the men praying as the “late-comers” since the final Aden had sounded almost an hour before. I interpreted the man with the cell phone’s behavior as an action I have learned from Amir and my sisters as being nearly taboo: interrupting one’s prayer. However, it is possible that he had already finished praying and returned inside for another reason. I do not know the purpose of the room in front of the main prayer room, unless it was perhaps it served the prayer leader. I do not actually know if there is always someone to lead the prayer, ready to serve people whenver they enter. I also realize that I do not know whether mosques are always open, or whether there is always someone there. I assume there must be an ediquette for when one goes to mosque, how late one can go to pray and still have it “count”. I do not know whether men speak inside the mosque or whether there are times when it is appropriate to spend time inside if not praying. I interpreted the men’s behavior as representing characteristic mosque habits; however it is possible that a Friday in Ramadhan calls for different customs. I doubt that as a woman I will ever be privy to mosque life, yet I do not know if it would be also impossible for one of my male classmates to explore this world.

Evaluation:
Going onto the roof was something that I have wanted to do but I had not found a moment when removing myself from the company of others seemed appropriate. Finally deciding to go felt liberating, one of the few situations in which I have chosen to do something that felt out of step with my family’s routine and expectation. I have been feeling somewhat constrained lately; whereas acquiescing to my mother’s choice of jalibia for me felt initially like a cultural adventure, now I feel more like any daughter whose wardrobe is not her decision. Therefore, going onto the roof felt like a mental health balm. I felt slightly exposed on the roof; I worried that if anyone looked up and saw me they would think I was a CIA agent, or that the student that Auntie Naila had graciously accepted into her home was really a jinn, but no one looked up, (this seems universal). I was very interested to watch the mosque without feeling that I was intruding or staring rudely, and so was glad of my “invisibility”. The glimpses I have caught through the gates or windows of mosques have felt stolen, taboo; I believe that this has more to do with my cultural understanding of the mosque as portrayed by the media, i.e. the source of Islamist jihad, of radical salafism, of suicide bombers. Although I know that the mosques I have seen in Oman are the antithesis of these overblown and malicious stereotypes, I have felt shy of paying too much attention to mosques, for fear that people assume that because I am an American, I perceived them in this way. However, I am probably far more aware my mosque-observation habits than an Omani for whom a mosque is so commonplace. I laughed at myself for my condemnation of the man with the cell-phone whom I interpreted as breaking his prayer; I realized that I have been internalizing some of the expectations for religious behavior, however only in their social implication (rather than from a religious standpoint). Watching the men rising and falling, I thought of Sheikh Khalfan’s semi-joking description of the aerobic value of praying; it did appear yogic. I thought of the way this image has sometimes been projected by Western media as “brainwashed Muslim hordes”, the scores of men moving in unison, apparently without individual will. Having professed to study “Islamophobia” in college I had to acknowledge the extent to which demonization of Islam has also entered my perceptions. Although the process seems peaceful and relaxing, and I wish that I could join them if only for the camraderie and exercise-value, it feels entirely “other” as a religion. I remember feeling similarly when visiting historic churches and mosques in Cairo; although I could appreciate the beauty and grandeur of the mosques, I only felt the sense of “holy” within the churches. I believe that this is still the case, although my relationship to Christianity is now more estranged than it was at age fourteen. And so watching the men I thought about God, a thought that I do not often have. Although I tell myself that I do not really believe in God, at least not to the extent that a presence judges people’s behavior and that there is life after death, standing on the roof in the yellow light of the waning moon, I could not deny that I believe in a greater power. I do not know if this is reassuring or frustrating: in a way I think that God, Allah, Yahweh, Buddha, Vishnu, Jesus, etc. etc. etc. can only ever represent humanity’s need for comfort in the face of mortality and relativity. As a self-proclaimed nascent “social scientist” I know the power of the need for “meaning”; social scientists can never be true atheists, I think, because our careers and the way in which we (choose to?) view the world balance upon the assumption that meaning can be assigned to human behavior. That patterns will recur, that decisions are rational, that behaviors and history will repeat themselves and so can be predicted.


Field Study Journal #11: Mopping
Recorded 27.09.07
Context, Location: Preparing to host Khaled’s mother and both sisters’ families in our house for Iftar. In the kitchen, Mama Naila’s house
Time: Around 17:30, Wednesday, September 26
Individuals Involved: Annelle, Mama Naila, Lakshmi, (our elderly Indian maid), Belquees
Coding:
! Gender (Roles)
^ Foreigner in Oman (Outsider/Insider)
& Family (Sibling Interaction, Parent/Child Interaction)
* Childhood (Duties)
Description: I generally wash my own dishes, put away food, and ask if I can help in the kitchen; usually I start to help with what needs to be done because if I ask I am often told “No”. I began trying to be especially helpful during the first days, before Lakshmi had returned from India and my mother and sisters were doing laundry, ironing, cooking and cleaning. After Lakshmi returned she took over most of this work. This evening my sisters and Mama Naila had been working hard to prepare for the guests. I came into the kitchen to ask if I could do anything else, (having been asked only to tidy the dining room and set the table). Mama Naila had been speaking with Lakshmi, and asked me if I could mop the floor. I said yes. She got the mop for me and wetted it. Lakshmi said something I did not understand. I pushed the mop around the kitchen floor, often making a scraping sound that I had never heard Lakshmi make when she mops. Once Naila re-wetted it for me, and when I was done I cleaned it and put it outside. Belquees was also in the kitchen, preparing food. At one point Lokhman tried to come in and Naila yelled for him to get off of the clean floor.

Interpretation: I interpreted Naila’s request for me to mop the floor as resulting from Lakshmi’s statement that she had already mopped the floor that morning. I do not know if Naila had asked her to mop it again and she protested, or that Naila knew that she would not be keen to mop again and asked me directly. However, Lakshmi seemed to be shaking her head at the situation. I interpreted Naila’s decision to ask me, rather than Lokhman or Tumathr for example, as a result of my request to help, and their usual practice of ignoring her when she asks them to do a chore; additionally, I do not think that Lokhamn would be asked to mop because he is a boy. I interpret Lakshmi’s role in the family as half maid, half child care provider. Amran goes to her for comfort, my other siblings often do not pay much attention to her.

Evaluation: I usually try to be helpful in the kitchen, and I had been feeling guilty about not helping more in preparation for our guests. However, when Naila asked me to mop I felt slightly taken advantage of. At the same time I felt annoyed with myself for considering mopping to be Lakshmi’s job. The experience made me think more about Lakshmi, and to realize that I had not given her a great deal of sympathy previously. When I first met her, she reminded me of my grandmother who died in April, something about her toughness, reserve, and long-suffering patience. However, I have not felt very close to her as I cannot speak very easily with her, so attempts I have made to make friends or to ask her questions are usually met with a blank stare. Although I have thought about the fact that our family has a maid, and have felt annoyed with my siblings for not being more polite to her, I was not overly bothered by the situation. Mopping, I had a different perspective: I felt frustrated with people walking over the floor and thought about the impossibility of trying to keep a house clean with six kids in it, including a clueless foreigner. I thought about the degradation of being a “cleaner”, although this has to do with my feelings, and possibly Lakshmi has never felt degraded. I wondered if my siblings’ behavior towards me would change if they started to see me as on Lakshmi’s level. I felt disgusted with myself for feeling this way.

Field Study Journal #10: Beach Etiquette
Recorded 26.09.07
Context, Location: On the beach near the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Salalah
Time: Between 16:00 and 18:00, Friday, September 21
Individuals Involved:Annelle, Chase, Taxi Driver
Coding:
! Gender (Roles)
^ Foreigner in Oman (Culture Shock)
Description:
Chase and I decided to go to the beach near the Crowne Plaza Hotel that the group had visited the day before. We caught a taxi from the Haffa House Hotel to the beach. When we arrived, another taxi spotted us and we arranged for the driver to come back at 17:45, giving him time to return us to the hotel and reach a mosque in time for al-salat al-magreb. We swam, Chase in a knee-length bathing suit, I in a t-shirt and calf-length loose pants. After swimming we sat on the beach; as evening approached the previously empty beach began to fill with cars of families, all of which ignored us. A young man on a four-wheeler zipped past, the man nodded in our direction. I put a house dress over my wet clothes and removed them from underneath, then put on an abaya and black head scarf. Chase put on a t-shirt. At 17:50 the taxi returned; Chase reached it first and the driver poured water over his sandy feet, and then over mine. Getting into the taxi, my skirt hiked up and one leg was bared to the knee. I do not know if either man noticed. On the return trip the driver asked us a few questions, sometimes in Arabic, sometimes in English. When he asked in English if we were married, I said yes. Chase almost corrected me but stopped. The driver asked if we had children, I said “Not yet.” The driver went on to tell us about his children and his work and gave Chase his card when we arrived at the hotel. Chase and I laughed about the question afterwards.

Interpretation:
I interpreted the behavior of the families and fishermen on the beach as related to our location. Near the Crowne Plaza Hotel people are probably used to seeing foreigners swimming in pairs and wearing semi-scandalous clothing. If we had been elsewhere I think we would have received open stares.
When the taxi driver first asked if we were married, I thought that he was kidding. Although I realized immediately that of course he was not, I had previously not been fully aware of the depth of the expectation of marriage between a man and woman alone together. I had subconsicously assumed that our obvious identity as foreigners removed us from the sphere of these general societal norms, or at least that people assumed that our customs were different. However, I do not know why I would assume that the surrounding culture would keep itself up-to-date on the habits of all its visitors; yet I had believed that western hegemony had permeated to the extent that young Westerners would be more likely suspected of impropriety than of following custom. But life and its accompanying expectations cannot be turned on and off, despite the sometimes comforting delusion that we can choose our degree of involvement.

Evaluation:
On the beach I had felt cushioned from the sometimes pinching constraints of Omani social behavior; it was the first time I had been alone with a male member of our group, and I enjoyed the chance to interact as I would with a friend at home. However, I also felt aware of the few fishermen on the beach, and later the families; although I felt reassured because we did not seem to receive any extra attention, I felt distinctly “other”. I wonder how Chase felt; I will ask him, he may have had an entirely different reaction.
The taxi driver’s question, and the moment that precipitated this entry, was not highly emotional: it has been in the analysis of it that I realize how thick is the feeling of insulation I have thus managed to maintain. I still feel somehow that I am a “scuba-diver” in Oman; equipped with the tools for survival, but only involved with the environment on my own terms. The experience on the beach culminating in the question from the taxi driver gave a sensation of dissonance; the moment when the air-tank gets too low and the scuba diver remembers what they may been previously able to forget, the fact that they are in a situation that cannot be negotiated on their own terms. Yet the bouts of culture shock are inevitable; if I could eliminate the “low air-tank” moments, it would mean I had learned how to breathe underwater. I feel doubtful that this can happen in three years, let alone three months, but I hope that I will manage to better anticipate them. This will require that I do not allow myself to feel removed from any situation, or excused from expectations because I am an outsider. The experience also emphasized the distinction between male and female that had temporarily softened on the beach. This is not to say that men and women are considered the same in Western cultures, but for the duration of our stay at the beach I could almost forget that I was in a location where the understanding of the roles of men and women does not match my own.

Field Study Journal #10: Fasting Among SIT Students
Context, Location: Classroom, SIT office, Muscat
Time: Lunch break, around 13:15
Individuals Involved: Annelle, other SIT students
Coding:
@ Religion (Ramadhan)
^ Foreigner in Oman (Outsider vs. Insider)
Description:
I was sitting in the classroom during lunch break reading “Oman in the World” in preparation for the in-class essay on the trip to Dhofar. A group of my SIT classmates came in from walking to the internet café and dukan; some of them held or ate food. Most of them went into the kitchen, where I could hear talking, laughing, and eating.

Interpretation:
My classmates are not accustomed to having to censor their behavior when we are together. Many of them have mentioned that they feel constrained and unable to act naturally or spontaneously when among their families and value the safe space provided by the SIT office that allows them to relax and act without anxiety. I believe that if I had mentioned that it was difficult to fast around others who are eating, they would have felt initially mortified at having acted carelessly. Later they may have felt resentful of me for infringing on their one bastion of personal freedom. They also may have wondered why I would insist on fasting if I found the experience so difficult as to feel the need to limit their right to behave as they chose in their own space. I was also aware of the unique quality of this experience for myself, or anyone who is wealthy enough to have never had to go hungry while others ate. The sensation of analyzing the experience as unique, however, keeps me at a “superior” level, that of a “social scientist” thinking about being hungry, (and waiting for a full meal at iftar), rather than someone who regularly has to go hungry while others eat. The fact that afterwards I felt guilty about my feelings of animosity towards the others, and my doubts as to the significance of an experience that at the time I interpreted as important made me think about both the power of physical sensations and their lack of permanence. I had not previously understood how someone who once went hungry will not necessarily remember the intensity of that feeling and will not necessarily behave empathetically towards another in the same position. In a way I think that this is a survival mechanism: memories of physical pain or deprivation fade. Otherwise it would be difficult for mothers would have more than one child, for example. My interpretation of the situation was dictated by my physical state and its accompanying emotions.

Evaluation:
This experience was almost completely dictated by my feelings, and looking back now with a full stomach I can hardly justify its qualifications as a journal entry; however, at the time I felt strongly enough to decide that it merited recording. At the time I was feeling physically unwell from fasting and lack of sleep. Hearing my classmates laughing and eating in the kitchen after watching them come in with food, I suddenly felt angry at their lack of discretion. In my family, if one of us is not fasting, he or she would never allow the rest of us to see them eat. Although I understood their behavior on the level of myself as a student, my physical state weakened my attempts to sympathize and rationalize. However, I was not so incensed as to talk to them about it. I think that this has to do with my own feelings of ambiguity in regard to fasting: sometimes I feel that by doing so without a religious motivation I am somehow disrespecting those who fast out of faith in Allah. Therefore, I would feel vindicated in asking the other students to be more conscious of eating in front of others if I were actually Muslim; yet fasting as a personal and cultural experience does not earn me this right.

Field Study Journal #9: Talking with Ralib
Recorded 20.09.07
Context, Location: After a morning outing, in the first floor hallway of the Haffa Hotel outside room 107, Salalah
Time: Around 15:00, Thursday, September 20, 2007
Individuals Involved: Annelle, Ghalib, Guide/Travel Companion for the Group, lived in Zanzibar, now lives in Muscat. A male and female hotel worker, non-Omani, passed occasionally in the hall; the woman was cleaning my room.
Coding:
! Gender (Interaction)
$ Domestic Politics (Government Policies)
Description
After returning from the morning tour, most of the other students were going to the beach. I was staying in the hotel to wait for the sun to weaken; a woman had come into the room to clean it. I came out of my room with bare feet, wearing a housedress, with my head uncovered to find out from the others about the plans for the rest of the afternoon. Ghalib was standing in the hallway. He told me that the bus was waiting to take us to the beach; I told him that I was not going swimming until later. I asked him about the price for catching a cab to the beach; he said it would be around 500 beza or maybe a rial to get to the Crowne Plaza Hotel beach, where the others were going. He said that it was not permissible for us to swim at the beach by the Haffa Souk because there were a lot of young men there. We continued talking: I have tried to record a paraphrased version of what he said, which mainly involved me listening as he spoke: our discussion of camels was initiated by my question about visiting the footprints of Prophet Saleh’s camel, which I had heard about from my host sister, Belquees.
“People use the young female camels for racing because they are lighter. The males can weigh up to a ton. At the races, they have people to stop the camels, because once they are up to speed they cannot stop. They could kill you, they come to a tree or something, they will just keep going. You sit behind the hump when you ride [indicates rolling motion]. Camels can live to be very old, almost a hundred years sometimes. Camels used to be expensive because they were used for transportation. Now they are less, just used for meat or milk. It is possible that we could go to see where they are selling the meat and camel cheese, also the fish market. Maybe on Saturday morning before the plane leaves.
Dhofar is one of the wealthiest areas in Oman—people have hundreds of camels or cattle. Some people work until 2:30 and then go home, go out with their boat and at 7 they sell the fish at the market. People are farming, or fishing, or keeping animals.
Sur is the second richest. In Muscat people are less wealthy, they work all the time. There are not such wealthy people in Muscat. Here they have huge villas. The owner of this hotel, the Haffa Hotel, also owns part of the big car companies: Jeep, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Saab.
In this building, only the first and second floors are hotel. The rest is flats for rent. During summer, it is full; people even sleep in the hallways. It used to be difficult to come here; it was known as a war town. Even after the war ended in 1975 you had to get a permit from Muscat to come to this area. In the 1980’s they opened it and people started coming. And the Al-Kharif festival began seven or eight years ago.
There weren’t so many people here after the war that were still angry with the Sultan. Here people are wealthy, they are happy. Those others [war agitators], “zip”; the government keeps them quiet with money.
The government gives people land for houses, good services. But only if you are from Dhofar will they give you permission to build a house here. If you are not from here and you want to live here, you have to wait until someone from here needs money and will sell you their house. And if you are selling your house for money, the government will not give you more land. It is a good system, because otherwise everyone would be moving, everyone would want to move to Muscat, who would stay here? It would be empty. This way the government keeps people in their hometowns. Everyone would move to Jabal al-Akhdar; it is one of the coolest places in Oman, 3,000 meters high. It is very difficult to build there; the ground is all rock. In Muscat you could build a house for 25,000 Rials; there, to bring the materials and cut into the rock, it would cost you 50,000. Muscat is very different from here: the language, the traditions.”
At this point Heather came out of Rebecca’s room to return to her room. I asked her about her plans for the rest of the afternoon. Afterwards, Ghalib, Heather and I each returned to our rooms.

Interpretation
In terms of what I had heard, I consider Ghalib a knowledgeable person and a reliable source. Although he has not been to Salalah for seven years, he had told me that he knows the area. The only thing that I did not take completely as fact was that camels live for a hundred years; although I know that he knows more about camels than I do, I interpreted this as an exaggeration. I interpreted his information regarding the wealth of Salalah, Sur, and Muscat as fact; it seemed to me that Salalah would be a prefereable residence to Muscat, though I did not understand why Salalah would be “empty” if people were allowed to move; perhaps because the growth and emplyment opportunities are more favorable in Muscat.

Evaluation
The conversation lasted far longer than I expected it to; when he asked me about going to the beach it seemed to be in passing, and I expected to return to my room right away. Therefore, although at first I was not overly self-conscious of my bare head and house dress, as the conversation lengthened I began to feel more aware of my appearance. I tried to watch Ghalib for signs of discomfort, but he seemed to be at ease. Hotel workers passed back and forth; when they did so he glanced at them; I felt aware of their opinion of a young woman without a head scarf speaking to an older man. I wondered how Ghalib would have reacted if I were Omani and we had found ourselves in conversation
When he discussed the inability of people to choose where in the country they will live, unless they are wealthy enough to purchase land and build a house where they choose, I felt surprised. I had assumed that people were free to live where they chose. As to the government provision of housing, I had not given a thought to whether people were allowed to specify the location of the house. However, I agreed in part with Ghalib’s praise of this policy; there have been many place sin the United States that I would consider ruined by popularity, and other places that have been abandoned. However, I personally would not want to be subjected to the control of such a program.

Field Study Journal #8: “Talking With Belquees About Salalah”
Recorded 18.09.07
Context, Background Information
Time: Around 23:30, Tuesday, September 18
Location: Muscat, Mama Naila’s House, Computer/Homework Room
Individuals Present, Ages, Relationship: Annelle, Belquees (host sister, 15)
Coding:
@ Religion (Christianity)
^ Foreigner in Oman (Being American)
Description
I asked Belquees to tell me about Salalah. She told me to go to the grave of Amran, that he lived to be ninety nine and that he was very tall because many people in those days were very tall. I asked her who Amran was. I will try to paraphrase her response.
“Do you know the story of Isah? You know, the man like this? (indicates arms out on a cross). Amran was his grandfather. Isah is the only person to be born when his mother was not married. Her name was Meeryam, she was a very nice lady, spoke nicely, did not steal, she was not doing fitna [gossip was what I understood from her explanation], not speaking badly. God told her to sit under a date tree, she ate dates for three days and God made her pregnant. Nine months later it was Ramadhan, when people do not speak. Because speaking is the cause of all evil; if you are lying, you are speaking, if you do fitna, you are speaking. It comes from the mouth. During Ramadhan you try to empty the bad bin and fill the good one. So when Amran asked about her pregnancy she would not speak. When the baby was born he told the people when he was just a year old that he is the son of god. And he was the only person in the world to be called by his mother’s name, “Isah bin Meeryam”. And he told people about Islam—not our Islam, but about god. And someone he knew who acted like a friend to his face and an enemy behind his back told the bad people where to find him. And god took him up. And he is not dead. Like a billion years later and he is alive in Heaven. And God made a copy of him, like a Xerox, and put it down. And the people thought this was Isah although he told them he was not. And they tied him on the thing, the cross, and hurt him with swords and left him there and that’s how he died.”
While Belquees was talking I did not interupt. Then she began to tell me about “The Feet of the Camel”, a place that commemorates a camel that was killed. From what I could understand, the prophet Saleh told the people to drink the camel’s milk so that they would have a sustainable food source, but they killed it for its meat. And God sent a storm to destroy them. Belquees also mentioned Queen Belquees, the Queen of Sheba.

Interpretation
I was unsure how to interpret Belquees’ decision to explain the story of Isah. I had previously assumed that she had assumed that I was Christian and therefore knew the Christian stories. However, at no point did she mention the word “Christian”; it is possible that she thinks of Isah as one of the prophets leading up to Mohammad and does not associate him with modern Christianity, though this seems unlikely. Interpreted my reaction to her story as having less to do with my feelings about God and religions and more to do with the cultural weight that the story of Jesus carries in the United States as part of the American narrative and dominant American identity, (although this identity is obviously problematic, because even saying that Christianity constitutes part of the American experience challenges other “fundamental” aspects of being American, i.e. freedom of religion, diversity and plurality).

Evaluation
I was impressed that Belquees knew the story of Jesus, because I doubt many American teenagers could say much about the life of Mohammad. However, it was strange to realize that I consider the story of Jesus as one of “my” stories, that the version of the story that I know is the “right” one. This surprised me because I usually do not identify myself as Christian nor do I feel strongly about God’s existence one way or the other. My emotional connection to the story of Jesus and my interest in Belquees’ rendition of her understanding of it felt involuntary and at odds with the way that I tell myself I feel about Christianity. I felt slightly confused as to what religion she thinks I am or what my beliefs are, and very curious both to know what she thinks I believe, and what her telling of the story of Jesus would entail.

Field Study Journal #7: “Discussion with Khaled”
Recorded: 18.09.07
Context, Background Information
Time: Around 17:30, Tuesday, September 18
Location: Muscat, Between Al-Hail and Al-Ghubra, In the van coming home from class
Individuals Present, Ages, Relationship: Annelle, Khaled, (host dad) Later Tumathr, (host sister, 13), Rayan (host sister, 9), Amran (host brother, 3)
Coding:
! Gender (Roles, Expectation, Interaction)
@ Religion (Islam, Christianity, Judaism)
^ Foreigner in Oman (Being American)
& Family (Parent/Child Interaction, Parent/Parent interaction)
* Childhood (Socialization)
Description
In the morning before we have picked up the other four students that ride in our carpool, and in the afternoon when the others have been dropped off, Khaled and I speak more than when they are in the van. One day he described the reason that women do not fast when they are on their period because they are considered dirty. This afternoon I picked up a conversation that we had begun this morning; Khaled had asked what I knew about Judaism. I had told him that I knew their holy text to be the Torah, that they shared a common god and ancestor Abraham with the Christians and Muslims. This afternoon I told Khaled that I did not know very much about Judaism and wanted to know what he knew. He told me that the Jews had many prophets; that while the Arabs, (and not the Muslims, as I had said), were descended from Ishmael he was not a prophet, while Isaac was. He described Jews as holding high positions in society, and that as a Muslim man it was possible to marry a Jewish or Christian women. I asked if a Muslim woman could marry a Jewish or Christian man; he said this was more complicated because then the children were less likely to be Muslim. He acknowledged that some people might say that this was unfair and proceeded to explain that the place of women is actually more important than men because they are in the home and responsible for raising the children. I asked, “If it is the women who raise the children, wouldn’t it be more likely for them to be Muslim if their mother were Muslim, not their father?” He said no, because the husband “is the boss”. He then went back to the discussion of Judaism and described a group of Jews that had predicted the coming of Mohammed, but were disappointed to find that he was Arab because the Arabs were traditionally uneducated. This topic led into a description of a part of the Bible that prophesized the coming of “Ahmed”. At this point we had arrived at home and were still sitting in the van talking; Rayan, Tumathr and Amran came out, Salaamed both of us, and sat in the van. Tumathr told me twice to write down what Khaled was saying. When Khaled finished, (at one point he stopped to respond to a phone call), Rayan clapped. I went inside when the kids began to speak to Khaled in Arabic.

Interpretation
I think that Khaled and I speak less when others are in the car because they are often talking and it becomes hard to hear. Sometimes he continues to talk, but the others often do not listen and he does not try to compete with them. If they were quiet, I think he would continue to speak.
I did not know how to interpret his question about Judaism; I think he was curious to know my thoughts as an American, in the context of America’s pro-Israel lobby. I interpreted his take on Judaism to result from the oft-toted comparisons of the “three great monotheistic religions”, how they are far more alike than different. I also interpreted his description of women as being more important than yet still subservient to men according to other comparable discussions of the “separate but equal” roles of men and women in Islam.
I interpreted Tumathr’s “Write this down” as a joke, although at first I almost pulled out my notebook because I wanted to remember what Khaled told me. I interpreted Rayan’s clapping also as a joke, half mocking her father for bloviating, half showing that she felt proud of him.

Evaluation
I sometimes feel caught in the middle when other students express frustration with Khaled such as if traffic makes him late in the morning—I often feel frustrated as well, but my relationship to him is more personal. However, I feel annoyed by people thinking of him only as “the driver”; yesterday Chelsea was very surprised to find out that “the driver” was my dad. Yet I remember thinking about him in the same way, as only “the driver”, during Orientation Week; now I feel defensive of him if people become frustrated. However, some of the things he has said have made me feel the distance between his beliefs and my own. For example hearing him matter-of-factly describe menstruating women as “dirty” made me feel angry for a moment, though I tried to distinguish my opinion of Khaled from my opinion of his views.
I felt slightly wary in discussing Judaism with Khaled; I was more interested in hearing his opinion than in letting him know that my best friend is Jewish, and that I have half-Jewish cousins. I therefore did not let on to know very much about Judaism, although this made me feel slightly guilty as it somehow seemed a betrayal of Jewish friends.
I felt exasperated by the disparity in Khaled’s argument that “women are the most important, yet men are still in charge”, mostly because I have heard this before and I think that Khaled is smart enough to see the flaws in this argument and to come up with his own explanations. However, in writing this now I wonder which of my views have glaring disparities that I do not think to question. One example of hypocrisy that I criticize but am no longer surprised at is the disconnect between American nationalist rhetoric of freedom, rights and democracy, and the actual policies of the government particularly since 9/11. Although I do not parrot this rhetoric, I do still somehow consider the American myth to be lying dormant somewhere, and someday it may finally live up to its grandiose ideas of superiority.
When the kids came and sat with us I felt slightly more self-conscious than I had with Khaled alone. I have noticed this in the past, that both Khaled and I seem to feel quite comfortable with each other if no one else is around, but at home I always have to remember that displaying too much ease in each other’s presence could be misinterpreted; I think that he feels the same way.

Field Study Journal #6: “Trip to Aza”
Recorded: 17.09.07
Context, Background Information
Time: Around noon, Sunday, September 16
Location: Near Yonql, Family Home of Sultan Said, Sitting Room
Individuals Present, Ages, Relationship: Annelle, Heather, Elizabeth, Friends and Family Members of Sultan’s Family
Coding:
! Gender (Roles, Expectation)
@ Religion (Islam, Social Gathering/Ceremony)
^ Foreigner in Oman (Being American)
& Family (Husband/Wife Interaction)
Description
Elizabeth, Heather and I had come to the house a few hours before to sit with the other women. We had first been led through the main house and outside to a shaded area between the main house and the men’s quarters: the women’s quarters for the Aza, or funeral gathering. About twenty women sat quietly along the walls on carpets and leaned on rows of pillows, a few sat next to pillows in the center. Heather and I followed Elizabeth’s practice of taking the right hand of each seated woman and saying “Salam Aleikum” almost under our breath, as the women did. Then we sat in the far corner with Samira and her son Tariq. Elizabeth and Samira spoke quietly, Heather and I sat in silence except to greet newcomers as they came past. Women offered us their right hands and greeted everyone as we had done. When greeting others or receiving their greetings I looked at each woman and smiled; few women met my eyes. For what felt like half an hour we sat quietly in the heat; I tried to discreetly watch the other women, softly crying family members of the deceased, and wandering children clutching bags of chips. Women arrived and left in groups; a few came and greeted everyone, sat for a few minutes, and came to say good bye to everyone, and left. Eventually Samira told us to follow her and we returned to the house. Inside I learned that we had only sat outside because the electricity had been off, but when it returned to the house the fans made it cool enough to sit in the main room. We sat in a corner near the door; Elizabeth spoke with Samira and Heather and I spoke occasionally. Another woman named Zahkia began to speak to Elizabeth; she asked me a question. I moved closer to her in order to understand. With Elizabeth’s help we discussed what Heather and I thought of Oman, her marriage to an older husband, her children, and her town of Barka, famous for its halwa. She brought her husband’s niece over to us to speak as well, and invited me to her home in Barka. She wanted to know if I would stay with my host family for the entire period, or if I could come to live with her. I was still speaking with her when Elizabeth told us that we needed to return to Muscat in order to not miss iftar. As we said goodbye to each woman I received more smiles and eye-contact than I had in greeting.

Interpretation
I interpreted the women’s lack of eye contact with me and quiet demeanor as both a result of the solemn occasion and my identity as a foreigner and stranger. I think that Zahkia’s questions about the United States reflect anxiety about American perceptions of the Middle East that I have often encountered. I interpreted the parting smiles as a greater degree of friendliness, which I perceive as resulting from my eagerness to make myself understood despite my pidgen Arabic.

Evaluation
When I moved away from the wall and sat with my back to the rest of the room in order to talk to the woman I felt self-conscious because most of the women leaned against the wall. However, some sat in groups, so I did not think I could break any rules of behavior if I did the same. I felt almost painfully self-conscious throughout the visit both because of the solemnity and ceremony of the situation and the reserve of the women. I felt relieved to have Heather, Elizabeth, and Samira as three friendly and familiar faces, as well as role-models for behavior. I however felt less foreign than I had expected, I believe because the attention was directed towards Sultan’s sisters and family. My emotions changed drastically when Zahkia began talking with me; I no longer felt like a barely-tolerated semi-intruder, but like any other guest. Although I worried briefly that our discussion had become too animated, I decided that Zahkia would probably not behave inappropriately. When the women seemed to be pleased with me for trying to speak Arabic, or at least more friendly, I felt that I had not only passed, but aced the test of the Aza, and my first encounter with the intimidatingly-conservative interior.

Field Study Journal #5: Physical Punishment
Context, Background Information
Time: Around 22:00, Monday, September 16
Location: Muscat, Al-Ghubra, Mama Naila’s house, family sitting room
Individuals Present, Ages, Relationship: Annelle, Naila, (host-mom) Amran, (host brother, 3) Lokhman, (host brother, 7) Belquees (host sister, 15)
Coding:
^ Foreigner in Oman (Outsider/Insider, Culture Shock, “Social Scientist”)
& Family (Sibling Interaction, Parent/Child Interaction)
* Childhood (Discipline)
Description
Naila had taken Lokhman and Amran to the tailor across the street for measurements on their new dishdasha for Eid. Lokhman had returned when I heard Amran screaming. Amran ran into the sitting room shrieking uncontrollably, holding his arm out. Naila followed him carrying a fly swatter. She told him “Stop” in English and raised the fly swatter. He shrieked more loudly and Naila hit him with the handle on the upper right arm. He screamed, she told him “Stop” and hit him again when he continued. She left the room, Amran stood by the wall and shrieked. No one looked at him; I looked at him and he shrieked more loudly. He quieted down and went to the sofa, occasionally beginning to cry loudly and then stop. Finally he was quiet, sitting alone and sniffling. Naila came back and asked him what he wanted to eat, brought him a sausage, wiped his face; he turned away and began to cry again. She left him alone and went into her room; he stopped crying. Naila came out of her room, looked at Amran and picked up the sausage. She tried to sit with him but he stomped away, tearfully, and threw himself on the sofa. Naila left. Amran began to cry again, shrieked twice, and was quiet. I did not look at him. When Belquees came out of the room he began to cry and went to her, she hugged him briefly and went about putting away her school work. Amran returned to the sofa and wiped his face. Naila returned with food which she ate sitting next to Amran, called into the kitchen for Belquees to bring Amran a tissue. She leaned towards him and said “Sorry” but he turned away. He sat next to Naila and closed his eyes and sniffled. Naila leaned toward him and tried to get him to eat a sausage, then asked a question. She moved close to him, said something about “dukan” (store) and started speaking, then said “Halas” (finished) when Amran began to become upset. She spoke quietly with him, he responded. She pulled him onto her lap, he continued to hold himself stiffly and then got down and threw away the tissue. Naila left.
Later Naila returned to the sitting room. Amran was on the sofa. She said to me “Amran is a naughty boy; if you shout at him, he is not scared. You have to speak quietly to him.” She then asked me something in Arabic; I answered “Aiwa.” Naila stood and asked Lokhman a question, calling Lokhman a “good boy” after hearing his response.
When Naila went to bed and shut the door, Amran followed her.

Interpretation
It seemed that Naila looked at me as she came into the room with the fly swatter, and seeing that I was ignoring the situation, continued with her method of discipline; although it is possible that my presence did not affect her behavior, I do think that it made her slightly embarrassed afterwards. When Amran was still frantically shrieking I understood that everyone else was pointedly ignoring him; my choice to look at him came from a desire to see what he would do. I should have ignored him as well, as I think he was looking for someone to acknowledge his tears, so when I looked at him he began to scream again.
When Naila came into the room with the food and sat by Amran and spoke with him, she seemed to be explaining why she had become upset with him; this interpretation probably comes from the child-rearing techniques in the United States where parents are encouraged to talk to their children afterwards about the situation that resulted in their punishment. However, in my experience so far it seems that once a conflict is over, people in my family do not bring it up again; it is possible that she was cajoling him to eat.
Once Amran was calm, Naila seemed to feel bad for hitting him because she spoke very nicely to him, Lokhman, and Tumathr afterwards, whereas it seems that she often speaks with them only to nag them. They, in turn, are slow to respond to her, often ignoring her even when she directly asks one of them to do something. I interpreted her quick explanation to me to result from her feeling self-conscious about my opinion of the punishment and the general uproar. When she asked me the question in Arabic it seemed to be purely for Amran’s benefit; I believe it had something to do with being finished and going to bed. I was not yet ready for bed, but it seemed that she was trying to show something to Amran; perhaps the dispute had been the result of an argument over bedtime? This does not seem likely as every one of my siblings simply fall into bed when they are tired.

Evaluation
I did not know what had happened, and so did not have any idea of why Naila would have gotten to the point of hitting him. Usually I think that Amran gets away with too much: he doesn’t seem to listen to anyone, he whines and screams when he does not get his way, he quickly becomes violent and usually no one discplines him. I figured that he must have truly stepped out of line for Naila, who is generally infinitely patient with her children, to feel that it was time to make things clear. However, I could not help but cringe to see him hit. Khaled had told me this morning that children are usually only hit after they reach age ten, because by then they should know better. Seeing Amran’s inconsolable crying afterwards and Lokhman and Naila and Belquees’ lack of sympathy made me aware of how Amran had been getting on my nerves. I was surprised that I did not feel worse for him, and aware that if I had seen similar discipline carried out in the U.S. my positive attitude towards Naila as a parent would have been deeply shaken.
Amran has such a developed personality and assertive will that I forget how young he is sometimes. I am not even sure, to tell the truth. I think he is three. He seems to me to be aware of his behavior and to make definite decisions; I do not consider him or his behavior innocent, as I would consider the behavior of three or four year olds in the U.S. because Amran seems so much older. I do not know if I feel this way because he truly acts more self-conscious awareness of his actions or because his family does not “baby” him, or change their voices or behavior when they interact with him. For the most part they often ignore him, which I think makes things worse because he becomes used to having to whine or scream to get people’s attention.
I also felt strange because I recorded the event while it was taking place; I felt guilty for blatantly writing about a situation that was potentially sensitive, and doing so in front of Naila. I wondered what would happen if Tumathr or Belquees happened to notice what I was writing, and if someone came too close I would move the page to a different section. However, I did not consider stopping; I do not know why I felt justified in recording a situation in which I sensed that my presence made Naila slightly uncomfortable.

Field Study Journal #4: Pushing Boundaries
Recorded: 14.09.07
Context, Background Information
Time: Around 17:00, before salat’a al-magreb, Friday, September 14
Location: Muscat, Al-Ghubra, Mama Naila’s house, Girls’ Bedroom.
Individuals Present, Ages, Relationship: Annelle (21), Host Sisters Belquees (15) and Tumathr (13), Mama Naila
Coding:
! Gender (Expectation)
@ Religion (Islam, Ramadhan, Social Gathering)
^ Foreigner in Oman (Outsider/Insider)
& Family (Sibling Interaction, Parent/Child Interaction)
Description
My family and I were preparing to go to Mama Naila’s sister’s house, Auntie Sada’s, to break our fast. I had asked how nicely we needed to be dressed, and Belquees had said nice, but not like for Eid. I wore the jalibia they picked out for me and asked Tumathr if she could do kohl on my eyes. I knew that during Ramadhan it is not permitted to have nail polish, or wear perfume, or very much makeup, but that kohl on the eyes was allowed. She lined underneath my eyes, and then used my eye-liner to do the top, and put some powder on my face. Belquees entered the room and began to shout. Tumathr laughed and said “Arif” (“I know”). Belquees shouted for their mother. I asked Belquees to explain, and in between arguing and trying to hit Tumathr she told me that Tumathr had put too much makeup on me and that she should know better. Tumathr argued that Belquees had used powder the day before. I did something I had never done before and stood between them, because it was my eyes that were part of the argument; usually I try not to be involved in order to avoid the risk of appearing to take one side over another. Mama Naila came and told me that I needed to remove the eye-liner from the upper lids, that only the bottom was permissible. I removed it and asked if I looked presentable. Belquees and Naila said I looked fine, Tumathr did not speak.

Interpretation
I think that Tumathr decided to test the flexibility of the rules for me, whether Naila would allow me to go out rather than tell me to go back and wipe off the makeup. I think that Belquees’ reaction may have had more to do with Tumathr pushing boundaries than with me wearing extra eye-liner; as the big sister she did not want Tumathr to be allowed to break the rules through me. However, I think that even if I had done the makeup myself Mama Naila would have gently told me to remove some of it, because in my experience she has not hesitated to let me know what is appropriate. I interpreted Tumathr’s claim that Belquees had used powder to be the truth, if slightly exaggerated. Naila told me that she used powder herself during Ramadhan but only a little; the important thing to remember was not to draw attention to one’s face. I believe that because Belquees and Tumathr’s argument had escalated into a full-blown fight, Naila had to step in and establish what exactly was allowed, as our house rules in general seem to be open to slight pushes. In my interpretation, levels of propriety always seem determined by insignificant markers, it is only the meaning with which others endow them that makes them powerful. I also interpreted the situation according to gender expectations, for while I believe the underlying issue had to do with boundaries, it was ostensibly related to my physical appearance, and the power associated with a woman’s methods of making herself attractive. Perhaps the fact that we were going among Naila’s family, rather than to a more formal gathering, made Naila and Belquees anxious to not have me appear too made up, as both a temptation for their male relatives and my makeup as a reflection of their family.

Evaluation
Tumathr had done my makeup in the past and I knew that she was far better at it than I was, which was why I asked her to do it for me again. But I felt bad afterwards for getting her in trouble, and told her so. She said that it was fine, but I still felt guilty. I felt slightly annoyed with the apparently arbitrary nature of the rules, (bottom lid is allowed, top lid is not), but I understand that any instance of rules will be arbitrary, (a woman wears a skirt to her ankles in a bar in New Jersey and is raped; the guy is prosecuted. A woman wears a skirt to her thighs to a bar and is raped; she is blamed.) Afterwards I could feel myself reacting differently to Belquees, interpreting her behavior towards her siblings less sympathetically than I had in the past. Usually it seems to be that her brothers and sisters do not appreciate the work that she does for them or the way she helps to make the house run smoothly; after this incident I paid more attention to the way she bosses the others around. I think before I identified more with her as the oldest child with the most responsibilities; after being treated like one of her younger siblings, I saw her as bossy and domineering, perhaps more similar to the way that they do. I did not feel strongly about the makeup one way or the other; instead my emotional reaction came from the interactions with the other people involved.

After
Belquees and Tumathr seemed to be behaving nicely with each other when we returned from dinner. Belquees called Tumathr “Biniti” (my daughter, my girl), and the two had coffee with milk together in the kitchen before going to bed.

Field Study Journal #3: Lemia’s Visit
Recorded: 11.09.07
Context, Background Information
Time: Around 18:30, before sala’a al-magreb, Tuesday, September 11
Location: Muscat, Al-Ghubra, Mama Naila’s house, Girls’ Bedroom, on/around beds (3).
Individuals Present, Ages, Relationship: Annelle (21), Host Sister; Tumathr (13) Second Oldest Sister; Rayan (9) Youngest Sister; Lemia (around 10) Cousin.
Coding:
@ Religion (Islam, Ramadhan)
# International Politics (American/Arab Relations, American Hegemony)
^ Foreigner in Oman (Being American)
& Family (Sibling Interaction)
Description
I was doing homework on my bed. Rayan, Tumathr and Lemia came into the room. They closed the door. I asked Lemia why she had a British accent. Lemia said that she liked speaking with one. I asked if she had learned in England. She said no. A few minutes later, Lemia said that she spoke English better than Tumathr and Rayan and Belquees (Oldest sister, 15). Tumathr began to repeat what Lemia was saying with an exaggerated accent. They started singing American hip-hop music and dancing; although Tumathr and Rayan sang some of the words, Lemia knew more of the words, though not all. Tumathr and Rayan danced and sang a few words, Lemia sat on the bed next to mine and sang. At one point Rayan asked me to sing American songs. I sang the first that I could remember, “You Drive Me Crazy” by Britney Spears. Tumathr and Rayan said that it was too slow to dance to, and Lemia continued. The songs I recognized were “Umbrella” by Rihana, “Candy Shop”, “Shut Up”, and “Riding Dirty”. There was another song in English that I did not recognize: Rayan and Tumathr knew a dance to go with it. They asked Lemia to sing it while they danced; about five times they told her to stop and go back to the beginning, at which time they would begin the dance again. Tumathr told Lemia to sing Arabic songs, and Rayan and Tumathr danced an Omani dance. I asked the girls if they could help with my Arabic homework: “Find as many names for clothes in Oman as possible”. They told me dishdasha, jalibia, and were helping me to spell these words when the Salat Al-Magreb sounded. Immediately Tumathr stopped speaking, and then Rayan. I did not speak either, although Lemia whispered instructions to me regarding spelling. Tumathr began to say the accompanying prayer. When the Adan was over, we continued naming and spelling clothes.

Interpretation
I chose to highlight this moment, in particular what occurred during the Salat Al-Magreb, because it had never occurred before. In the past few days I had observed my sisters’ behavior during the Adan as being the same as at other times. (I remembered that in Cyprus, although the Turkish Cypriot family I lived with was secular, they would uncross their legs when they heard the Adan. I asked my sister Tumathr whether people would do anything during the Adan, she told me that if people are religious they stop what they are doing or saying to pray.) At the time I interpreted Tumathr and Rayan’s choice to be silent during the call to prayer as a spur-of-the-moment decision having to do with Lemia’s presence. In my understanding, choosing to embrace a more religious behavior at that moment lessened Lemia’s power or importance, which had seemed greater during the singing because she knew the words and spoke better English. I came to this conclusion because Tumathr and Rayan had appeared to be displeased with Lemia’s behavior: they had mocked her British accent when I commented on it. Tumathr had told Lemia to swith to Arabic songs that all the girls knew equally well. When the Adan came, it was an opportunity for Tumathr and Rayan to be “in the know”. This choice, to my understanding, would strengthen their status from a religious standpoint, and therefore in the community, and it is possible that this is why they chose to keep silent during the Adan. However, I think that their decision was motivated by a desire to disempower Lemia as an outsider who did not know that their normal behavior would have been to continue as normal during the Adan. In my interpretation, I began to link this decision to the global trend I have heard decribed in academic studies of Islam, the so-called “crisis” of identity in which some Muslims choose to embrace Islam with more passion as an alternative to adopting the products, dress or mentality diseeminated under American hegemony. However, I thought that this was over generalizing a situation that seemed to have more to do with power dynamics among young girls than about any “identity crisis”.

Evaluation
I felt included in the secret a bit. Lemia had been getting on my nerves for behaving as if she were superior to Rayan and Tumathr for her British accent and knowledge of American songs. I also worried a little that Mama Naila, our mother, would not be so happy with the songs that Lemia was singing, and I hoped that she would not think that I had encouraged the girls to sing them. I had felt a little bit uncomfortable during the song “Candy Shop” for the lyrics “I’ll let you lick the lollipop”; although I did not know if the girls knew exactly what it meant, they knew it was supposed to be sexy, perhaps from the tone of the singer, or from other kids saying so. I did not react at all to any of the songs, only smiled in the same way at everything, in hopes that I would not add or detract any understanding the girls had already acquired regarding them. In all, with the door closed and the girls dancing suggestively, I felt as if they felt comfortable being more free around me, particularly with American culture, than they would around their older sister or mother. I did not want Tumathr or Rayan to do anything that might get them or me in trouble, nor to make them feel too dis-satisfied with life in Oman, or glamorize the United States any more than they possibly already had. Therefore, when the Adan came, I felt relieved because Tumathr and Rayan reaffirmed the power of the part of their identity that comes from religion, and/or tradition, and/or the Omani community instead of choosing to give more power to Lemia by allowing her to continue to outshine them in singing American hip-hop and speaking English.

After
After reconsidering the situation I felt surprised at my feeling of relief. I think that before coming to Oman I would have considered the girls’ choice to sing American songs in this “sub rosa” context as expressing themselves in a situation where they felt free to rebel slightly against taboos and I would have encouraged them to do so as a way of having fun and not being afraid to pus their boundaries a bit. However, after ten days in Oman and five days with my family, (has it only been five days? I already feel like these girls are nearly my real sisters), I worry that if the girls begin to feel too dis-satisfied with the constraints of an Omani woman, they might behave in a way that could get them in trouble. Although I would encourage them to work for women’s rights as adults, I would not want them to replace the abaya with booty shorts and the Arabic love-songs (which may be sappy, but at least are sweet), with “I’ll let you lick the lollipop”.

Field Study Journal #2: One of the Family?
Recorded: 13.09.07)
Context, Background Information
Time: Around 18:15, before dinner, Sunday, September 09
Location: Muscat, Al-Ghubra, Mama Naila’s house, Kitchen, by the sink.
Individuals Present, Ages, Relationship: Annelle (21), Host Mother Naila, Host Sister Tumathr (13)
Coding:
^ Foreigner in Oman (Outsider/Insider)
& Family (Sibling Interaction)
Description
I had come back from class around 18:00, gone to my room to remove my abaya and come into the kitchen to help prepare dinner, as I had done for the previous meals. Naila about me about my day, I asked about hers. I asked Tumathr about school, she replied it was fine. I was asking Naila what I could do to help when Tumathr hit my upper arm. I looked at her, she hit me again. I ignored her, she hit me again. I smiled and started to talk to her about something we had discussed the day before. We picked up a conversation and she did not hit me again. In the time since she has not hit me. Naila ignored the event.

Interpretation
I had noticed before this occurrence that my siblings regularly hit each other in play or anger, though this would rarely result in anyone being actually hurt. The hitting would stop after a minute; if the hit resulted in tears, they usually seemed to be used as a strategy to stop the attack rather than an indicator of actual pain. I had wondered if I would be included, and if I was not, whether this would be due to my status as only a semi-sibling, or whether I was too old to be an acceptable target. I interpreted Tumathr’s behavior as having to do with establishing my relationship within the house. I think she wanted to test my reaction, because the way in which she hit me and then watched my reaction seemed distinct from the playful or angry tussling I had seen among her and the other kids. It is possible that she was feeling frustrated with having yet another student in her house, or with my over-zealousness in trying to ingratiate myself by helping with housework, and hit me initially out of this frustration. When she continued to hit me I think she may have simply wanted to see what I would do. I interpreted her stopping to mean that she felt either bored or satisfied with my reaction. Overall, I felt I was being tested somehow.

Evaluation
Initially, I felt that Tumathr’s hitting me meant that I was enough a part of the family to not be immune from regular sister behavior. However I felt confused as to how I should respond. I thought it possible that she wanted me to hit her back, which I did feel comfortable doing. After first surprise and then acceptance, I felt a moment of panic when the hitting continued because I thought that she was genuinely angry with me and I did not know why. I realized that ignoring her was not working and might make her more angry. I felt bewildered, as the hitting was forceful though not overly painful. I also felt betrayed, as I thought that of all my siblings, Tumathr and I had established the closest bond through talking to each other and sleeping in the same room. I did not think that I still needed to pass tests from her. However, when I managed to engage her in a discussion we had had the day before, drawing on our established past relationship, this seemed to work. It is possible that she decided to stop on her own and that my actions did not have any effect. I have not felt comfortable enough to bring it up again and ask her because I thought that do so might make her feel that the event had bothered me.

After
In writing up my memory of the situation I realized that I had allowed too much time to pass between the event and my recording of it. Although I had planned to analyze it and so had thought through what my description, interpretation and evaluation would be, in trying to remember the specifics I found that I was not confident in my recollections. Next time I will choose a more recent event or be more careful to write my reactions immediately following.

Field Study Journal #1: Street Fight
Recorded 14.09.07
Context, Background Information
Time: Around 22:30, before bedtime, Wednesday, September 12
Location: Muscat, Al-Ghubra, road between the local dukan and Mama Naila’s house.
Individuals Present, Ages, Relationship: Annelle (21), Host Sister Belquees (15), Host Sister Tumathr (13), Host Brother Lokhman (7), Host Brother Amran (3).
! Gender (Norms)
^ Foreigner in Oman (Culture Shock, “Social Scientist”)
& Citizenship (Expatriate Differentiation)
Description
My siblings wanted to buy laban so that they could have it with rice and yoghurt for the following morning, the first day of Ramadhan. They had told me that they always have this breakfast prior to a day of fasting. We had walked to the dukan (store) and were returning. There were a few men sitting here and there or walking; although there was minimal light from streetlights they had no independent sources of light. We heard voices shouting ahead of us and saw two men drag a third out of the front door of a house on the left side of the street ahead of us. A fourth man followed with a wooden stick. The two men brought the third in front of a car, the fourth hit him with the stick. The men being beaten cried “Yedi! Yedi!”; the other men were also shouting. Because of the darkness it was difficult to discern everything that took place, but after a minute they put the man in the car. My siblings and I had passed by this and glanced back occaisonally, but for the most part we continued on our way. When we returned home Tumathr said that she felt frightened, Belquees seemed unconcerned, the boys had tried to see what was going on but did not ask questions.

Interpretation
I did not know how to interpret the situation that we witnessed; I asked my siblings and they did not have any answers for why the men were beating up the third. My first thought at seeing the men was that they were drunk; it soon became clear that this was not the case. I was not sure initially if the men were Omani or from another background. I did not at first understand the word “Yedi” which means “My hand.” I could not understand the rest of the words spoken, although my siblings told me that they were in Arabic.

Evaluation
I was feeling slightly anxious because I had not yet been outside after dark. My sisters seemed to be perfectly at-ease, though I wondered if part of the reason we brought my little brothers was so we would not be only girls; though we generally bring them everywhere, so perhaps not. Regarding the men’s behavior, I felt confused and indignant. I also felt helpless as to ever being able to understand what I saw, as my siblings were unable to explain it for me. In most instances in Oman, I feel that my confusion is based on cultural differences; I am not used to being in a situation that no one seems able to explain. Living in Oman with the perspective of a “social scientist”, analysis and explanations are a large part of the way in which I experience every-day occurences. Not being able to explain this event, and the accompanying ethical questions—did we see something that someone should have put a stop to? Did we see a kidnapping or a crime? Where is that man now and is he alright?—leave me feeling angry at my lack of knowledge. Usually when I do not know something about Oman, the lack of information does not hurt anyone. In this case it might be different, but I do not know!

Afterwards:
I learned a few days later that the men had been Pakistani. Belquees, Tumathr and I had gone out for our first night stroll; Tumathr saw two Pakistani men digging and said that she felt frightened because of the man’s beating we had seen. I asked how they knew they were Pakistani, although he had spoken Arabic. They said that they simply were Pakistani. Tumathr wanted us to turn back in order to avoid walking past the men, but I told her that if she turned around every time she saw a Pakistani she would never get anywhere, and we continued. I relaize now that the men were not wearing dishdasha, from which I should have guessed that they were not Omani.

Coding Key:
Gender (Norms, Roles, Expectation, Interaction)
Religion (Islam, Ramadhan, Eid, Mosque, Social Gathering/Ceremony, Christianity, Judaism)
International Politics (American/Arab Relations, Israel, Iraq, American Hegemony)
Domestic Politics (Government Policies, Ministries)
Citizenship (National Identity, Expatriate Differentiation, Sultan Qaboos)
Foreigner in Oman (Outsider/Insider, Being American, Culture Shock, “Social Scientist”)
Family (Sibling Interaction, Parent/Child Interaction, Husband/Wife Interaction)
Childhood (Discipline, Duties, Socialization)