I was recently in a car with a few Jordanian guys when Celine Dion came on the radio. I expected my friend to change the channel. Instead, he turned it up. I couldn’t help but laugh.
I’m in Jordan listening to a 1990s Dion song with a bunch of Jordanians who are innocently humming along. Any guy in the United States who admits to liking Celine would get a raised eyebrow, but in Jordan even the “manliest men” don’t understand the cultural significance of different types of American music. It’s a great example of how Jordanians relate to Western culture – and an indication of how cultural subtleties get lost in transmission.
When I first came to Jordan, I thought it would be dangerous to share my nationality with others; my plan was to be Canadian for the year. However, I soon realized that to most Jordanians, being an American is a plus. “You’re from America?” the conversation normally goes. “Ahalan Wa’salahan – welcome! I have cousins there!” If I had said that I was from Canada, we’d have had nothing to talk about.
Jordanians have access to American culture; my host family has more U.S. satellite channels than we do at this university. At the same time, their cultural access to the United States is often limited to Hollywood movies and TV shows such as American Idol. Deeply held American values such as liberalism and individualism generally don’t make it through the airwaves. The skewed understanding of Western culture that results is often amusing and entertaining, but it can sometimes cause real problems.
Western women, especially those with blond hair, tend to have a more difficult time in Jordan than men or women with darker complexions. For Jordanians who have only had access to Baywatch reruns, many see stereotypical-looking American women as Baywatch babes in the middle of Amman, Jordan’s capital, ready to fulfill any young, sexually frustrated Jordanian guys’ fantasies. (Of which there are many.)
Cultural misconceptions are not limited to physical appearances; they’re also apparent in speech. Jordanians use the word n—– without reservation – they just don’t understand its significance. I’ve had a number of awkward conversations trying to explain to Jordanians that if they went to the U.S. and started using the word liberally, they’d be insulting a lot of people and should be preparing for a big ass-whooping.
At the same time, these cultural misunderstandings can go both ways. When I tell Jordanians I’m from Chicago, they ask, “But isn’t it dangerous over there? The mob? Bullets?” When I talk to my friends and family in the U.S., they say, “Jordan? Dangerous! Aren’t you in the middle of a war zone?” Both sides incorrectly perceive the other as being unsafe, based on nothing more than what they see on television, read on the Internet or hear on the radio. The funny thing is, I feel the least safe in the one place no one questions: College Park at 2 a.m.
A recent Hollywood film, Body of Lies, was supposed to center on life in Amman. Most Jordanians I talked to were frustrated with the movie – I was, too, as it wasn’t a fair representation of the Jordanian capital. It looked more like a scene out of One Thousand and One Nights than the real city, teeming with far more people wearing hijabs and keffiyehs than there actually are. While it fulfilled American expectations of what a “real” Arab town is supposed to look like, it did not reflect reality. It’s easier to generalize than to acknowledge the nuances within any given society. Sadly, both sides seem content with their misconstrued understanding of the other.
Ari Gore is a junior government and politics major. He can be reached at arigore@gmail.com.
