News and Notes: perhaps the final blog post of 2010...

I returned yesterday from a 2-week vacation in Cairo that featured a lot of relaxation and entertainment, but also a bit of work (conference attendance and Arabic conversation). I got in bed just after 3 AM Maryland time after 48 hours of being awake. The Delta flight home was as comfortable as 2nd class gets--surplus breakfast sandwiches, friendly flight attendant Ronen, and a 2-seat row to myself for the 13-hour flight that only lasted 12. Anyhow, none of that is interesting. The coming year has much in store, and this blog will continue to revisit events from 2010 while carpe-ing the diem during 2011, as I catch up on writing and enjoy new experiences.


Some upcoming entries:

I got word a few days ago that my university, Old Dominion, has chosen me to present my Morocco field research via a 3' x 4' poster at the 5th annual Virginia Council of Graduate Schools Graduate Student Research Forum on Thursday, 3 February at the Library of Virginia. I will write about that event.

I want to post some items about conferences where I presented or attended this past year--a conference on misrecognition in Bristol, England, WOCMES in Barcelona, the EuroMeSCo annual conference also in Barcelona, and feminist alternatives in Cairo.

I have some musings on what 'Muslim' means, and how US Americans recognize, identify, or otherwise 'know' what 'Muslim' is.

My most recent trip to the Arab world, from 12 December to 25 December 2010, has also produced a wealth of insights, currently only available in the form of unorganized scribblings across slips of paper and already fading memories.

All this and more, inshallah, to come!

I want this woman to be my friend

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http://yum-and-yuk.blogspot.com/

Trans rights?

Rights of the incarcerated?

Loving 30 Rock and In Bruges?

This blog rules.

“Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Safely back on American soil, the past few days of repatriation have been relaxing and unsettling at the same time. While I ease back into my life à l'américaine, I struggle with the choking monolingual reality of my homeland. English is everywhere and ubiquitous (even if obnoxious non-American Anglophones still dog me with their unnecessary, often incorrect criticisms). But I am not composing this entry to muse about the difficulties of re-entry. Rather I wanted to draw attention to some recent news coverage about the difficulty of learning a foreign language, but also to the benefits!

First this article on 27 August 2010 “Should British pupils give up studying French?” does eventually reach the salient point that actually accomplishing conversational fluency in a language cannot occur for most people within the classroom—and is quite difficult in any case, often with little pay-off. I’ve certainly come across a few people who are so adept at language learning that they need only a book or two, and a few weeks, to become quite competent, though these folks are usually heritage speakers of a language in the same language family as the target. In any event, the majority of others who claim to ‘speak’ a foreign language or two are complete bluffers who are relying on the ignorance or confidence of the interlocutor. These types are also extremely frustrating to those of us, including me, who devote a lot of time, effort, and relationship building to become conversant in a foreign language for real.

While French is not an easy language to learn, it is nonetheless less difficult for native English speakers to learn than is Arabic. French is not in the same language family as English—the former is a Romance language, the latter a Germanic language—however, due in large part to the Norman invasion in1066, French and English share more of an affinity than either language enjoys with Arabic—a Semitic language. That is why I am delighted at the number of programs, funding, and interest in learning Arabic and other lesser-taught languages (as they are currently called in pedagogical circles). While some of the personal comments in this article are a bit horrifying, it is interesting nonetheless (including a mention of the Critical Language Scholarship, which I had the privilege of enjoying 3 times).

Meanwhile, if it is indeed so hard, time-consuming, and labor intensive to become conversant in a foreign language (as opposed to ‘learning,’—what does that even mean?), why bother? I never seriously entertained a career as a translator, interpreter or foreign language teacher, despite the fact that the rest of the world assumed that those would be the only reasonable options available to a student in modern languages. Instead, I abandoned my biology major after one semester, transferred from a private, women’s college after my first semester, to a public university, and picked up my major in Modern Languages and Linguistics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. My goal? Two-fold: To increase the number books available to me to read and multiply exponentially possibilities to socialize. I have a hard time being motivated by money, except for money that I intend to use for my next big adventure. Fortunately, a major part of the mission of my current work is relationship building—a euphemism for socializing! While my current job doesn’t necessarily require my foreign language use, I am able to incorporate French and German into my daily routine thanks to my international colleagues. As for Arabic…I have my post-program language test tomorrow. I have been reading Arabic every day since I returned less than a month ago. Likewise, I have been listening to Arabic here and there, and writing emails to my Arabic teachers. As for conversation, the opportunities are sparse. Fortunately I will be spending two weeks in Egypt in December. Meanwhile, I am working on my dissertation, the methodology of which features indigenous materials—that is, books, essays, and articles written by Moroccans in Arabic and French.

الرفيسة

That is all. More soon--about repatriation, missing Morocco, and loving my homeland.

Dangerous illiterates

In Morocco, as in most countries with robust prison populations, there is great interest by both civil society and international organizations in monitoring and reform. Organizations like Search for Common Ground have pursued (unfortunately fruitless) projects involving prisons here. In terms of incarcerated populations, though, it is the US that boasts the largest group of imprisoned people. I have become extremely interested in the state of US prisons and am in general appalled by what I have learned. The Economist recently featured a few articles on US prisons. While trolling the internet, I came across the following quotation, which directly relates to my research on illiterates as an empowered faction, not a societal impediment. Bruce Sterling, in his article (1997) “Hardware for Hard Time” about the corporate stake in prisons wrote, “The technique [of electronic monitoring] is great for keeping well-behaved, middle-aged, highly literate, and responsible white guys out of the joint. Say, bank vice presidents who have blundered into embezzlement. But for semiliterate, sociopathic, unemployable, or strung-out former inmates, electronic gadgets lashed to their wrists or ankles aren't likely to be enough to get them to straighten up and fly right.”

Here is yet another example of the seemingly infinite examples of the vilification of illiterates. They don't just impede development, they are also dangerous criminals who must be locked up because despite their ignorance and stupidity (or perhaps because of it) they are menaces to society. Truly ridiculous. But if this trope didn't exist, I wouldn't have such rich fodder for my dissertation. Alas.

Socrates and Literacy

I am presenting my field research next Tuesday at the World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies in Barcelona. While I put together the PowerPoint presentation and re-read my research so far, I am reminded of a clip I presented this idea--it hadn't yet become my dissertation topic. Dr. Fish, an incredibly supportive professor at ODU, encouraged me to take the idea farther. Anyhow, the first 45 seconds of this clip sum up my approach to knowledge and knowledge construction. Enjoy!




Illustrated Books And Newspapers

Discourse was deemed Man's noblest attribute,
And written words the glory of his hand;
Then followed Printing with enlarged command
For thought -- dominion vast and absolute
For spreading truth, and making love expand.
Now prose and verse sunk into disrepute
Must lackey a dumb Art that best can suit
The taste of this once-intellectual Land.
A backward movement surely have we here,
From manhood, -- back to childhood; for the age --
Back towards caverned life's first rude career.
Avaunt this vile abuse of pictured page!
Must eyes be all in all, the tongue and ear
Nothing? Heaven keep us from a lower stage!

By William Wordsworth, 1846

Hans Wehr: Part 1

UPDATE: Hans Wehr Part 2








My Arabic school here in Rabat sometimes has students do presentations. I had avoided them for the most part with my busy work schedule (I’d rather chat in Arabic or go hiking with an Arabic guide or do anything besides presenting to a group of non-native Arabic speakers and a few teachers). Alas, I reached the limit for getting out of these presentations, so I reluctantly told my teacher I’d prepare a talk on Hans Wehr. Or rather Prof. Dr. Hans Wehr. There is almost nothing that the internet doesn’t know; however, Hans Wehr’s life happens to be a total mystery unavailable on the internet. Wikipedia in English, French, German and Arabic is nearly useless. Even WorldCat, my faithful friend, doesn’t yield much. Google can only sell me the books he has written, but can’t do much else for me. I finally came across 3 serviceable sources, and one of those is just a bibliography, the other an epic scholarly tribute. None of the three really reveal anything about the orientalist’s life.

First there is Wolfdietrich Fischer’s article on the event of Hans Wehr’s death.

Wolfdietrich Fischer. Hans Wehr (1909-1981). Der Islam, 59 (1982) p.1

That article led me to the bibliography called ‘Verzeichnis der Schriften von Hans Wehr’ in the Journal of Arabic Linguistics. Issue 8. 1982, p. 7-11. It is finally the one place where all of Prof. Dr. Wehr’s published work is listed together, by H. Bobzin and O. Jastrow. Interestingly, it is the first and only mention my perfunctory research has revealed of a Frau Wehr…that would be Frau A. Wehr…Agnes? Agatha? Some good German name, no doubt.

Then there is the book called Festgabe für Hans Wehr. Zum 60. Geburtstag am 5. Juli 1969 überreicht von seinen Schülern. Edited by Wolfdietrich Fischer. Since it’s a proper book, the closest I can come is the review article by T. M. Johnstone in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 34, No. 1 (1971), p. 144.

The Library of Congress turned up this gem after a key word search: Fünf sprachen unter einem hut by Helene Fera, 1939. But I doubt it is related to the Prof. Dr. Wehr, as the Google Books preview didn’t look promising.

So what does it all mean? I shall write Hans Wehr’s biography! I happen to be visiting Leipzig, his birthplace, in August. I intend to gather any documents I can find there-birth certificate, marriage certificate…whatever else. Also, I contacted the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft photo archivist, who is going to send me a photo they have from 1939. Mysteriously there is a photo of Hans Wehr on the ‘Hans Wehr is my copilot’ Facebook page. I contacted the person who manages it about the photo, but he hasn’t gotten back to me. Since the revered (by me, at least) linguist studied and taught in Halle, where the archives and library of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft are currently located, I’ll make a visit there since it’s just 25 minutes or so from Leipzig. Research is grand! That is my plan for now. The next step will be to seek out this fantastically named Wolfdietrich Fischer and see what he can tell me. Meanwhile, yes, I will still be working on my dissertation, which happens to be totally unrelated. Also, why should you care about Hans Wehr? Well if you don’t know who he is, you shall have to wait till my book is finished. And if you do, then you KNOW why you should care about him.