I have unfortunately not been posting a lot lately. I have been writing so much at work that I come home not wanting to look at words. But these past couple of days have been eye opening for me and I wanted to reflect on it.
I did not have wifi these past three days because I was in a very rural and conservative part of Jordan. Our group stayed in home stays in a town called Om Rasass in the Middle Badia. We were told this part of Jordan was not the most well off area and did not have the majority of resources that the cities had. This part of Jordan was very much connected to its generations of traditions. We were told that some people live in tents, but not your ordinary tents that you would go camping in. These were carefully built tents that were comfortable during any season.
When I told people in Amman I was going to the Badia, people laughed. It immediately made me think about how Indians who live in cities view Indians who were from the villages. City people always looked down upon rural communities, which I think is because city people are generally more wealthy and therefore see themselves as better. I just sensed that what I was told was going to be widely different from what I would experience.
I did not have wifi these past three days because I was in a very rural and conservative part of Jordan. Our group stayed in home stays in a town called Om Rasass in the Middle Badia. We were told this part of Jordan was not the most well off area and did not have the majority of resources that the cities had. This part of Jordan was very much connected to its generations of traditions. We were told that some people live in tents, but not your ordinary tents that you would go camping in. These were carefully built tents that were comfortable during any season.
When I told people in Amman I was going to the Badia, people laughed. It immediately made me think about how Indians who live in cities view Indians who were from the villages. City people always looked down upon rural communities, which I think is because city people are generally more wealthy and therefore see themselves as better. I just sensed that what I was told was going to be widely different from what I would experience.
There was a wedding the day we reached our homestay families in the Badia, which the entire village was invited to. We were told by our SIT staff in Amman that wearing a hijab and an outfit called a thob would show that we are respecting the village's culture and that it would be appropriate to wear it to the wedding. Most of us wore our thobs on the van ride to the village, and I would have probably done the same if I was not borrowing my host mother's white thob, which I would get dirty fast. When we got to the village, I felt conflicted about wearing the hijab. It wasn't that I was against wearing the hijab, but I was worried about how it looked to the people there if they saw a bunch of Westerners wearing a hijab. I wasn't sure if it was showing respect or if we were assuming something about their culture. By the end of the second day, I truly felt that there were these huge assumptions made about these people both from our end and from what we heard from the people of Amman.
My host family in the Badia consisted of a mother, a father, four girls, and two boys. There were two older girls, 14 and 17, who were at the age to wear a hijab. They wore hijabs when they wanted to, they were never forced to; in fact, from looking at the pictures they shared of their travels to Amman, it seemed that the hijab was more of a fashion statement for them than anything else. Even when they wore the hijab outside of the house it wasn't in the intricate form that my host mother and sister in Amman wore it. They draped it over their head in a very casual manner, exposing bits and pieces of hair. The hijab, I personally believe, is a complex garment because of the stereotypes around it, the oppression that someone women face by being forced to wear it, as well as the power that a woman has to choose to wear it. Seeing women have the choice in such a conservative area of Jordan made me realize even more of the complexities of the hijab.
That evening when we went to the wedding, the only people wearing thobs were the girls in my group and the elder women of the village. No one else. Needless to say we looked like idiots. Everyone else was wearing a a nice dress that a girl would wear to prom, homecoming, or even out clubbing. Since in weddings, men and women celebrate separately, the women were wearing very revealing and sometimes scandalous clothing. Most of our host families were asking why we even wanted to wear the thobs or hijabs. We thought we were respecting their culture, but I completely felt like we were assuming a conservative nature of their culture that did not exist. I did not feel that we were respecting the culture, rather we were trying too hard to fit in when they were trying to welcome us just as we were.
My host family in the Badia consisted of a mother, a father, four girls, and two boys. There were two older girls, 14 and 17, who were at the age to wear a hijab. They wore hijabs when they wanted to, they were never forced to; in fact, from looking at the pictures they shared of their travels to Amman, it seemed that the hijab was more of a fashion statement for them than anything else. Even when they wore the hijab outside of the house it wasn't in the intricate form that my host mother and sister in Amman wore it. They draped it over their head in a very casual manner, exposing bits and pieces of hair. The hijab, I personally believe, is a complex garment because of the stereotypes around it, the oppression that someone women face by being forced to wear it, as well as the power that a woman has to choose to wear it. Seeing women have the choice in such a conservative area of Jordan made me realize even more of the complexities of the hijab.
That evening when we went to the wedding, the only people wearing thobs were the girls in my group and the elder women of the village. No one else. Needless to say we looked like idiots. Everyone else was wearing a a nice dress that a girl would wear to prom, homecoming, or even out clubbing. Since in weddings, men and women celebrate separately, the women were wearing very revealing and sometimes scandalous clothing. Most of our host families were asking why we even wanted to wear the thobs or hijabs. We thought we were respecting their culture, but I completely felt like we were assuming a conservative nature of their culture that did not exist. I did not feel that we were respecting the culture, rather we were trying too hard to fit in when they were trying to welcome us just as we were.
One of our SIT staff members is from the Badia and we were told by him as well that it would be a sign of respect by wearing the conservative clothing. He was not from the Middle Badia from what I know and certainly was not from the village we went to, but he was from a similar conservative culture that the people of Om Rassass were from. I did not blame the SIT staff members for bringing these assumptions to our head because they were certainly not the ones to blame. It was obvious by the end of our trip that there was a strange disconnect of people in these regions. Jordan being such a small country had diverse traditions and cultures that apparently vastly changed from village to village.
There was no doubt that the city people definitely had a different view of the Badia. I came back from the Badia and my host family started asking me what we ate and if we ate with spoons or with our hands. I was so confused by the question. Then I realized they certainly saw the Badia as people in big cities of India would view small villages.
One of our expectations was met and that was that the women usually stayed indoors and did not do much. There is not much to do in the Badia expect visit family members. Similar to what you might see in rural America. The boys in our group, went to a different village and they were out and about the majority of the time. The girls in the group spent the majority of the time playing with children indoors and relaxing when we could.
I will say that staying two days in the Badia was a great way for people who wanted to try the hijab or try traditional clothing to wear it as one of my friends Sarah pointed out. It was great because it's not every day that we could get the chance to wear the hijab and feel at ease. By the end of it, I did not wear the hijab once because I did not feel the need to or want to. That was just my choice.
There was no doubt that the city people definitely had a different view of the Badia. I came back from the Badia and my host family started asking me what we ate and if we ate with spoons or with our hands. I was so confused by the question. Then I realized they certainly saw the Badia as people in big cities of India would view small villages.
One of our expectations was met and that was that the women usually stayed indoors and did not do much. There is not much to do in the Badia expect visit family members. Similar to what you might see in rural America. The boys in our group, went to a different village and they were out and about the majority of the time. The girls in the group spent the majority of the time playing with children indoors and relaxing when we could.
I will say that staying two days in the Badia was a great way for people who wanted to try the hijab or try traditional clothing to wear it as one of my friends Sarah pointed out. It was great because it's not every day that we could get the chance to wear the hijab and feel at ease. By the end of it, I did not wear the hijab once because I did not feel the need to or want to. That was just my choice.