Customer Reviews

Understanding Arabs: A Guide for Westerners (Interact Series, 5)

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Interest has suddenly peaked, reviews are more numerous, and I want to say something about how the book is intended. It is a handbook, not a scholarly academic product, written to help people with personal interactions, and to explain differences and reasons for differences. I made every effort to have many Arabs and Muslims read it, checking for anything false or negative, and by this time, to my knowledge, everybody approves. I urge Arab readers not to assume that this is yet another negative evaluation of their society and culture. I speak Arabic, and collected information over the years from many people who do not speak English; I traveled and lived in the Arab World for over thirty years. The publisher gave the book its title; it does sound Orientalist, how "we" understand "the Arabs," but... I keep looking for anything in Arabic written by an Arab to help Arabs/Muslims/Mideasterners understand some of the behavior they observe in the West ("Understanding Americans/ Understanding Westerners"). I have never heard of anything like this, to date. There are so may misperceptions on both sides, we need anything we can find to explain, explain, explain. I welcome any comments about points which readers think need to be changed or modified, added or subtracted. My entire career has been devoted to writing Arabic-language materials, and directing Arabic-language classes, hoping to get as many Westerners as possible interested in the Arabic language and the Arab way of life. I hope there is nothing in the book that can be taken as gratuitous criticism or a value judgment as to whose way is better in any aspect. Having lived among Arabs my entire adult life, I do not think it impossible to have a genuine feeling for both Arabs and Westerners, how both groups think, live, what they care about, what they believe. We certainly need mutual understanding right now -- too many people are forming conclusions based on very wrong perceptions.

This book is two books into one. The first book is essentially how to get along in Arabic countries. The second book is on geopolitics.

When the author writes about Arabic social customs and misunderstanding between Arabs and Westerners, she is more often than not right on the mark. The two populations are obviously very different in their overall behavior and approach to many aspects of life. In a sense it is an extrapolation of the North/South behavioral axis you find in many countries. If you meet a Northern French or Italian, he typically will be more reserved, more serious, and somewhat introverted than his Southern counterpart who will be more joyful, louder, extrovert. The North/South behavioral axis is not so pronounced in the U.S., as it is in many European countries. In any case, take this North/South axis and compound it several times, and you get an idea of the gulf between the typical Western behavior and the Arabic one. The author does an excellent job at explaining the differences between these two cultures. And, the information she imparts on this subject is truly useful for anyone traveling, working, or living in Arabic countries.

When the author shares her opinion about geopolitics, she is on quick sand. Her views on this subject are full of fallacies, contradictions, and errors. The author has no credentials and knowledge to support any of her subjective opinions. After all, her academic background is as an Arabic teacher. She has no academic degree in political science, international economics, demographics, or any other relevant discipline. And, it really shows. Had she stuck to Arabic customs, her book would have been so much better.

There are many authors who will shed much light on the subjects of Arabs, Islam, and their relationship to the Western World. Some of the luminaries in this field include Bernard Lewis, Samuel Huntington, Thomas Friedman, and Robert Kaplan.

The title of this book could easily be changed to "Appreciating the Culture of Arabs." I have never been to an Arab country and before reading this book had no interest in going to one. Now I hope very much to get the chance to visit one some day.

I read this book mostly because I wanted a better understanding of a part of the world that is not being adequately explained in the Western popular press. The book makes generalizations, but I don't know how anyone could attempt to describe the behavior patterns and values of 150 million different people in less than 150 pages without doing so. I, like most Americans, am abysmally ignorant of Middle Eastern cultures. How many Americans know, for example, that polygamy is illegal in Iraq, that job opportunities for women are much better in Iraq than in the Arabian Peninsula, and that the Koran does not prescribe that women wear veils? I didn't know these and many other basic things about this vitally important region of the world until I read this book.

The generalizations made in the book are ones that make me want to become acquainted with Arabs. The values the author says people in the Middle East place on piety, friendships, and family are ones that I share. I am sure the next time I meet an Arab I will be much more likely to want to become his friend.

With the very general impression of the peoples of the Middle East provided by Dr Nydell, I am inspired to read a more in-depth study. This simple book has whet my appetite and given me a hunger to learn more about Arabic speaking people.

An American supervisor in Tunisia reprimands a local employee for habitually arriving late for work, and does so in front of the Tunisians subordinates. To which the employee replies in anger, I am from a good family! I know myself and my position in society! To which, no doubt, most Americans would respond with incredulity: whos talking about family or social status? But to Nydell, an Arabic language specialist with long experience in the Middle East, theres no mystery: the Tunisian felt his honor had been threatened and was not at all concerned with addressing the issue at hand.

Much in this fine survey of Arab mores will surprise the novice; old hands might find explanations for recognizable but somewhat inscrutable patterns. Some highlights: Doing favors is much more a part of friendship among Arabs than Westerners. A good personal relationship is the most important single factor in doing business successfully with Arabs. To Arabs, honor is more important than facts. People are more important than rules. Good manners are the most salient factor in evaluating character. Nydell rightly points out that Westerners resident in Arab countries automatically belong to the upper class, with all the benefits (social prestige) and obligations (good grooming, no manual work in public) that that implies. Family loyalty and obligations take precedence over loyalty to friends or the demands of a job. Nothing path-breaking here, but true and useful insights.

Middle East Quarterly, June 1997

I recently spent 7 months living in the Gulf and am heading back again shortly. I found it very frustrating dealing wiht the cultural differences until a friend gave me this book to read. It was very helpful in understanding the traditions, customs, etc of the Arab world. I should not be taken as on offense as one reviewer (who hadn't even read the book did, but rather as a means to understanding each other. While I don't think of Arab people as "alien" we do come from two different worlds. Many of the Westren people I met while living in the Gulf had negative views towards the Arab people which I felt was largely due to ignorance. All people need to understand each other in order to live harmonously and this book is a helpful first step!

Without stereotyping, author Margaret Nydell explains some of the major assumptions that undergird Arab beliefs and behaviors. Included are insights into characteristic gestures, expectations regarding male-female relations, religious attitudes, eating, socializing, and family life, among other things.

Margaret K. Nydell has recast this cross-cultural guide to getting along with Arabs in a new light in the midst of the war on terror. In so doing, she navigates sensitive territory, a no-man's land stuck between understanding another culture, and becoming an apologist for its negative behaviors. Properly executed, cross-cultural guides enhance one's awareness of the vast cultural gap between social norms and customs. Occasionally this volume lapses into cultural generalities, but that's inevitable when you're trying to explain norms of some 20 diverse Arab countries. Understanding Arabs will help you do just that, and although it may not shed a lot of light on the current conflict, it's very timely. We from getAbstract highly recommend it to anyone who wants a better understanding of Islam and Arabs. As Nydell says in her introduction, seeking understanding should not be confused with appeasement.

This work has refreshingly few stereotypes. Its one greatest mistake is the statement that Arab children are taught not to do things wrong because it is shameful rather than objectively "wrong." This is an absured statement to make about an Islam-based society. Still, it is a better cutlural guide than TV and movies with their terrorist-bellydancer-billionaire stereotypes.

I first learned to fall in love with the Arab people through this book. As I delved into Islamic and Arabic culture studies, I came across Understanding Arabs, and was fascinated by what I found. A culture that put the group over the individual, that valued honor so highly, that had no word or concept for privacy (not as it is defined in American culture) . . . The more I read, the more God put them on my heart, and the more my heart became one with the Arab people, for here I found a culture so like my own. Over the years, in further reading and further experience, I've learned a lot more beyond Nydell's terse etic generalization of Arabic culture, but most of what she shares is accurate, and limited enough to be a very easy read, while making you pant for more. She writes with a Semitic style, sharing stories which illuminates the people far more than dry text. Come and read this book, and see for yourself the beginnings of a love affair with the Arab people.

I came to this book hoping to receive insight into the mindset of those responsible for 9/11. In a way, it was billed that way to me. But the closest UNDERSTANDING ARABS comes to answering the question Why? is that many Arabs feel the US backing of Israeli boarders is in direct conflict with US reasoning behind going into Iraq in 1991 to enforce the boarders of Kuwait. According to UA, a 2001 poll of various Middle Eastern countries indicate 90% of residents feel the Palestinian issue is among their top three concerns. Unfortunately, this issue is not looked at in depth, no doubt because the author is not qualified to comment.

According to the author, "Arabs will rarely admit to errors if doing so will cause them to lose face. To Arabs, honor is more important than facts." Additionally, "In arguing the Palestine issue...they (Arabs) often placed the greatest emphasis on the suffering of individuals rather than on points of law or recital of historical events." For someone who is trying to assist the lay person in understanding Arabs, this does not do much to portray Arabs as rational. Much of what I've mentioned was sprinkled in between Arab complaints that they are maligned and vilified in the media.

By contrast Arabs do not like being judged by Westerners. However, whereas the US makes a big deal of separating church and state, Arabs, fundamentally believe the two cannot be separated, and the religion of choice is Islam.

I found the section that describes the current socioeconomic conditions to be the most informative. Many of the Arab nations suffer severe poverty. The richest countries tend to be the most authoritarian. (Saudi Arabia and Iraq.) Surprisingly, the author found Iraq to be the most progressive, until recently. (Saddam, progressive?) However, nothing is made of some of the fascist regimes in power in many of the Middle Eastern countries. And there is no mention of the generous US aid heaped on many of these ungrateful countries.

Generally, there is a sense that if there is to be peace in the Middle East, the United States is going to have to do the lions share of the work. But overall, I was left with a sense that the vast majority of Arabs are good and decent people just looking to make a life for themselves and their families. In spite of some of my comments, this book left me with a positive view of the Arab condition.