Egyptian Culture

The Office of International Services hosted a cultural showcase with the Egyptian Student Association to celebrate Egyptian culture.  It was held on March 27th in Caldwell Lounge and is what I chose for my last blog post.  I am pleased with how different each blog post event has been.  My first was a speech given by a National Geographic photographer, and the second was a German foreign film.  This cultural showcase was quite different from the first two.

The showcase began with a power point introduction for the showcase.  The speaker thanked everyone for coming and all the volunteers who helped run it (especially all the wives for cooking).  I wonder if that itself says something about their culture, that only the wives prepared the authentic Egyptian food?  After the thanks and a brief rundown of the different displays available, the speaker invited us all to sing Egypt's national anthem, Bilady, Bilady, Bilady, with him.  I felt bad, because even though the lyrics were displayed on the Powerpoint, I honestly couldn't sing along if I wanted to.  I am very unfamiliar with Arabic as of right now, hopefully one day that will change.  It was beautiful to hear, even though it really was just the speaker singing.  Apparently I wasn't the only one unsure of singing in Arabic.  

Here are the Arabic lyrics, transliteration, and English translation:

(Thank you Wiki)

After the introduction everyone was pretty much free to roam the showcase.  Other than a raffle at the end, there wasn't anything specifically run by the showcase.  First I went over to a small table the speaker mentioned in the introduction, explaining how unlike western cultures, traditionally in Egypt people eat on the floor on these tables:

The display was simple but very pretty.  I liked the teapot and cups, because they seem very Egyptian style, and I know from experience that it is a social norm to offer guests tea.

Near the table was a display table of traditional clothing and instruments:

  

The wooden instruments were beautiful and hand crafted, but the cloth was very impressive.  The colors are eye catching and the gold thread designs look beautifully intricate.

Behind that was a table displaying Islam and it's significance in Egypt.  Islam is Egypt's state religion, with the population predominately being Sunni.  Percentages were displayed on the tri fold, showing 90% Muslim, 9% Orthodox Christian, and only 1% other.  I thought this was very interesting, but I had already had a hunch that Egypt was very strongly predominately Muslim, as they are.

The last exhibit that really stood out to me was actually where you could have your name written in Arabic.  The table itself had mostly geographical facts of Egypt, and a video on a small screen showing different civilizations throughout all of the country.  There were scenes from the capital, other larger cities, the suburbs, and all the way out to the rural dessert like areas that people still inhabited.  It was a beautiful video on loop with uplifting and cheerful Arabic music, portraying Egypt's beautiful society and people well.

And last but not least, what was probably everyone's favorite, was the food table.  As I stated earlier, all the cooks were women and wives of other men volunteers running the showcase.  They were working remarkably hard even well into the showcase.  I guess I assumed they just prepared the food earlier and where there to display it all.  However they were diligently hustling around their area keeping everything stocked and preparing fresh dips and snacks.  All the women cooking were wearing hijabs, another facet of Egypt's cultural and state religion.  

 

 

Egypt has been under much scrutiny and global attention in the past few years, not all positive.  What I like greatly about this showcase was the opportunity to see people with great Egyptian pride sharing what they know of the country and their own culture.  It was also a good opportunity for a closer look into all the beauty (and rich food) Egypt had to offer, as well as all the factual information I never knew before.

Der Krieger und Die Kaiserin

The Office of International Services and International Studies Club sponsored an International Romantic Film Festival to celebrate Valentine's day.  The film of choice, which I watched for my second international studies blog post, was The Princess and the Warrior.  The German title is Der Krieger und Die Kaiserin, which translates to "The Warrior and the Empress."  This German film is about a woman, Sissi, who is convinced a man who saved her life is the love of her life, and the man who saved her, Bodo, who is convinced he isn't.  I found the film to be a lot more complex than just a romance story.  Probably just as big as the romance factor is the theme of letting go and moving forward.

First of, the writer and director of the film is Tom Tykwer, who is from Germany but has had international success with his films.  "Run Lola Run" is one of his films that apparently reached farthest internationally.  I think it is important to note the writer/director because he is what makes this film have international significance.  More than just being an NC State student watching a foreign film, Tykwer is an artist who has repeatedly manage to achieve international success.  In our class we learn a lot about international politics, religions, businesses and such that connect people globally, but art also unifies the people of the world. 

On to the plot of the actual movie though.  The female protagonist is Sissi,  a nurse in a psychiatric hospital who grows very close to all of her patients.  In the beginning of the film she receives a letter asking for her help with the affairs of a friend's dead mother.  While out, Sissi gets hit by a truck, which is how her path crosses with the male protagonist, Brodo.

Brodo, in the beginning, is living with his brother and has great troubles controlling his emotions.  Unable to find work, he robs a grocery store and indirectly causes the accident that leads to Sissi being it by the truck.  He finds Sissi unable to speak or breathe, so in order to save her life he performs a tracheotomy.  He walks with her to the ambulance, to escape from the police which is also the motives which led him to found her pinned under the truck in the first place.  Sissi holds on to his hand until she passes out.  He leaves her after she is under proper medical care, leaving no name.  Sissi is left with nothing but a button from his coat, but knows she must find this man again.  He is the one.  

She actually goes to one of her patients, who is a blind man, and asks him to retrace the route of her savior.  She manages to track him down, but he has no interest in her or any other woman.  We learn more about Bodo then.  Bodo and his brother Walter, who is eomployed as a secuirty guard at a bank, have been planning a robbery.  At night he has hallucinations that lead him to embrace a hot stove.  When Sissi is at Walter's, he tells her Bodo's bad dreams or hallucinations are about his deceased wife who died in an explosion at a filling station while Brodo was in the bathroom.  When Bodo returns home though, he kicks Sissi out.

Walter and Bodo rob the bank, which Sissi visits at the same time.  An alarm is tripped and Walter is shot by a secuirty guard.  Sissi ends up helping them escape by preventing the secuirty guard from shooting the brothers more.  Walter makes it to the hospital but ultimately dies.  His last words to his brother are "get off the toilet, Bodo."  This is a reference to his wife's death, and how Bodo has yet to move on from it. 

After this, Sissi hides Bodo in the institution, but he ends up being treated as a patient due to his mental breakdown over his brother's death.  It is during his time there as a patient that we learn the day his wife died, him an his wife had been arguing at the gas station.  He went to the restroom after the argument, but saw his wife intentionally throw a cigarette into a pool of gasoline.

Sissi wants to leave with Bodo, imagining having a deep, husband wife relationship with him one day.  However one of her other patients, Steini, calls the police on Bodo out of jealous over the attention he receives from Sissi.  He even attempts to kill Bodo by throwing a toaster into his bath.  It is then that we learn through a flashback that Steini had killed Sissi's mother the same way.  Bodo saves himself and chases Steini into the attic.  The police arrive, and Sissi realizes the truth about her mother's death.  She follows Steini tot he roof.  THere he offers to jump off the roof to atone for his sins.  She says no, however, and "you're not going to jumo anyway."  She then grabs Bodo's hand and jumps with him into a small pond.  

The last scene was rather confusing.  Bodo and Sissi and in a car at the gas station his wife died at.  "Past Bono" comes from the restroom and sits in the driver's seat, next to Sissi. Present Bodo is sitting in the back.  Past bodo is crying while he drives, and when Sissi reaches over to try and wipe his tears, he pulls away to wipe them himself, pushing her away.  Present or real Bodo is disturbed by this, and leans forward to cover past Bodo's eyes, forcing him to stop the car.  He orders past Bodo to get out, and Sissi and him leave him standing in the middle of the road.

I believe this final scene symbolizes Bodo letting go of his past, or "getting off the toilet."  This is one of the major themes of the film and can be universally related to.  The film was chalk full of universal themes though.  Death, suicide, love, crime, etc.  Characters lose their way through the bank heist and criminal activity, as well as emotionally, all of this tangling up their lives.  The director does a good job of showing the many layers of their characters, especially emotional instability.  At the beginning of the film when Bodo applies to a job at a funeral home, he gets fired for crying of all things.  I understand why this movie was chosen to celebrate Valentine's day through the clubs, but I think the greater themes of this film has to do with the universally understood state of not having control of one's emotions and past, as well as the great feat of letting one's past go.

All and all the movie was long, but artistically enjoyable.  The length was understandable when one considers the immense layers Tykwer writes into his characters and story lines.

Individual Project #1 - Jodi Cobb

National Geographic Photojournalist Jodi Cobb: Stranger in a Strange Land
                                  

"There are stories everywhere in your own house, your backyard, your town. You need to find out what you're interested in, what you're passionate about, what you want to change, celebrate, illuminate, interpret. It's right there.  Jodi Cobb. Join veteran National Geographic photographer Jodi Cobb on a whirlwind retrospective of her distinguished career, spanning the social and cultural milestones of four decades of global history."

That was the description I received in an email about upcoming CHASS events.  I knew I needed to find something to do before the thirtieth, and I figured this one had the most potential.  I have always enjoyed art and photography, so it would be better than my backup of going to a restaurant.

The day of I wasn't particularly excited.  I even considered trying to convince one of my friends to come with me.  I ended up going alone though, and in retrospect I am very glad I did.

Jodi Cobb is an American photographer who was named White House Photographer of the Year and received Pictures of the Year awards from both the World Press and the National Press Photographers Association... according to Wikipedia.  She was given an introduction pretty identical to this.  While an impressive resume, this description doesn't do Jodi Cobb justice.  She has an amazing personality.  I found her humorous, free spirited, and passionate about making a difference in the world.  I think that last trait is greatly under appreciated at this time.  She opened with stories about her early beginning, growing up, discovering photography, and traveling the world with her parents.  

Part of her humor came from when she told stories from her times traveling with widely known bands and singers.  She had some photos from those times, always in black and white.  They were entertaining anecdotes, but I appreciate its significance in portraying how she wasn't always a contributing photography to global awareness.

She seemed to have a natural desire to travel the world with her photography, and in doing so she started discovering beauties the world had to offers, and well as the misfortunes.  She seems to be extremely famous for her work on Geisha.  At the time she got a glimpse into their world, it was very allusive and many citizens of Japan never even got to see a Geisha, Cobb explained.  She explained the social significance of Geishas while previewing her photos, displaying a beauty in the world brought by traditional Japanese culture.  This photo, she later revealed in the Q&A at the end, is one she is most famous for: 

                                                  

I have some prior knowledge of Geisha from previous Japanese language and culture classes, so her insight into their world was nothing new to me.  That did, however, not make her explanation any more beautifully explained.  While this is on the gentler side of her photography, to so much exposing but revealing traditions from a foreign culture, this project was the first major way her work has connected people across the globe.  As she said, Geisha life was not something easily shared with the public of their own country, much less those outside of it.  Even now many of her photographs would probably be considered a rare view into their daily life.  She displayed photographs revealing inner relationships within the Geisha houses: 

                                                                                  

And explained how woman are raised into this career starting as young children, and can sometimes work into their elderly years.

                                                     

After this beautiful period of her work, Jodi Cobb shared what is, in my opinion, a much more detrimental side of her work.  The work that I would describe as 'the exposing.'  I believe it started when Cobb, through much legal red tape, was able to enter Saudi Arabia to research woman through her photography.  She shared the immense rejection she took for months on end.  Woman being photographed was very scandalous, she explained.  She would first have to get a woman to agree to being photograph, which rarely happened.

Then, even if they did agree, they would then have to ask permission from their father or husband.  It was even more often that they would refuse.  Through her trails Cobb exhibited a personal perseverance that we now know would pay off.  However I think it is important to note that being in a very foreign country, alone, and taking rejection on a daily basis would discourage most people.  

Fortunately, Cobb found that out in the desert, woman were much more open.  They actually loved being photographed, and weren't as severely covered.  She recalled how if men were to ever come back, they would stash Cobb's photography equipment away in pots, and tell her to hide in their tents.  Once the men would leave, they would bring the cameras back out.  I appreciated that story as an insight into what woman over their can be like.  Considering photographing a woman was so taboo, having found some that eagerly had their picture taking is somehow uplifting to me.

                                            

Jodi Cobb traveled much more from that.  Exploring, revealing, and exposing many other countries, cultures, and organizations.  She had quite a portion of her speech sectioned out for discussing her times photographing children forced into brutal labor conditions.  There were various reasons why they would be there, whether it was being sold into work as a child, or working off their parent's debt that would intentionally never end due to unreasonable interest rates.  This was the portion of her presentation that really got me feeling several things.  To be completely honest, I left that campus cinema feeling very displeased.  Not because Jodi Cobb did not exceed expectations, which she did, but because of the photographs and stories she shared like these.

                                                      

        

                                    

This is a major way I find Jodi Cobb to be a global citizen who has contributed and connected the world.  If she has done as activist or charity work, she did not say, however the photographs she took are enough of a contribution to this world in my opinion.  She exposed so much wrong doings, and forced people to be aware and truly see.  That is why I left the presentation unhappy.  Cobb made me feel that if all I work towards does not in some way make a difference in this world to someone, it will have all been for nothing.

Changing objectives slightly, Cobb went on to show her exploration into human beauty.  She was fascinated by varying cultures and what they valued as beauty as well as the means by which they achieved it.

  I believe she said this was from Cancun, spring break.  She said believes this fairly blatantly shows what the people in this photograph value as beauty.

   Miss Universe.

Being a feminist, I found her statement on male versus female standards of beauty to be most profound.  She collected picture form many different cultures, some continents away, where men alter their appearance in ways that perceive them as being strong, bigger, or more masculine.  

   

Woman, however, are often mutilated through their 'beauty seeking methods.'  The neck rings, she says, traditionally have a hook on the back.  So while it is said the rings are for beauty, or protection from animals, it is speculated they make also have been used as collars.

 

Ending the presentation on a lighter note, Jodi Cobb showed pictures she took for her own personal use.  While in some cities, she said she would stop and take pictures of reflections off of water, cars, and random things.  It would annoy the people she would be working with, constantly making them pause for her pictures, and she said she was told it was a waste of time because those pictures would never actually be used professionally.  Cobb said she didn't care however, because those pictures were for her.  I believe it, because it is near impossible to find any of the ones she showed us on the internet, unlike the photographs clearly used professionally.  

Showing these photographs, while ending the presentation on a lighter note, also showed that she enjoys what she does, and it is important to take the time to indulge beauty wherever you see it.