PASSION FOR DIVERSITY: PBS GLOBAL VOICES
Having a passion for diversity is a key component of developing global psychological capital. While I am already quite fond of learning about cultures and customs that are different from my own, I wanted to take the opportunity to further develop my passion for diversity by exploring the culture of a region with which I am not very familiar. I "watched videos about another country to see what intrigued me" by viewing documentary. I selected a film from the framework's suggested PBS's Global Voices series.
The video I watched was a 2013 film called Not Another Word, written and directed by Cherien Dabis. In the film, which is set in Jordan, a family arranges a meeting between 26-year old Lama and a potential suitor. Upon hearing the news, Lama tries to explain to her mother, aunt and grandmother that she is interested in neither the suitor nor the concept of marriage in general. As she argues with her family members, Lama makes clear her resistance to typical gender roles. Rather than marrying and starting a family, as is expected of her, Lama wishes to have a career, travel and live her own life. After a verbal sparring match, Lama's traditional grandmother, who cannot fathom the idea that Lema would not desire to be a wife and a mother, faints. Lama's mother, disgusted by her daughter's disrespect and lack of deference, tells her daughter to leave the house.
"You can't just say whatever you want," the mother says.
"I can lie. But it's never going to change who I am. I can't change the fact that I'm..." Lama tries to explain.
"Not another word!" the mother interjects (alluding to the film's title), before angrily telling her daughter to leave her sight.
Lama lives the house and heads into the city to go to "work". In the next scene, Lema and a fellow organizer meet with two men to share details of the Jordanian Internet Freedom Campaign they are spearheading. They are collecting signatures for a petition to send and organizing an internet blackout. As the two women continue to explain their efforts, the credits begin rolling and the screen eventually fades to black.
The Takeaways
As I enjoy foreign films, I appreciated this clip. In addition to providing an enjoyable viewing experience, this film also educated me on Middle Eastern culture and current issues. As shown in the film by the conflict between Lama and her family, there are certain expectations of Jordanian women concerning marriage and a family-centered lifestyle. "Society is anxious about late marriage for women because of the spectre of spinsterhood. An unmarried woman is seen as someone to be pitied," I learned through further research. The tension in the film comes from Lama's rejection of this idea and desire to pursue a different lifestyle.
While I had a general familiarity with gender roles in the Middle East (though I do understand that this is a broad region and norms likely vary from country to country), I was more ignorant to the film's other theme, government-imposed censorship. The film providided little context for this issue, but through some research I learned that in June 2013, the Jordanian governement blocked access to some 300 news sites in an attempt to silence criticism of the country's leader, King Abdullah II. By juxtaposing the conflict between Lama and her family with Lama's meeting to discuss her internet freedom campaign, writer-director Dabis draws parallels between the silencing of women by their families and the silencing of controversial opinions by the government. Lama fights for freedom of expression on both fronts, trying to assert her wishes, dreams and desires to her family, and organizing in the community against censorship.
As my research and further class sessions demonstrated, internet censorship is not only an issue in Jordan, but also in many other nation's around the world. Our class where we watched a video on Jack Ma and Alibaba discussed the challenges of operating web based businesses in China amidst strong internet censorship.
This film not only was entertaining, but it also opened my eyes to important cultural and sociopolitical issues in a region of the world with which I am not very familiar. It encouraged me to do research in these subject areas and expand my knowledge of gender roles in Jordan and internet censorship around the world. Now that I have gained a level of understanding, especially in the latter, I know these are issues I will want to continue to follow. In following this issue, I will be increasing my global intellectual capital.
