import/export.

the other night we journeyed on down to the souqs of kuwait. at the souqs you buy scarves, fruits/vegetables, perfume, prayer beads, gold--a traditional market, of sorts. the souqs are an interesting place. first, competition is steep. there really is little variety in what is being sold, yet so many vendors vying for your dollar. second, there are specific areas of the souq just dominated by men. seriously. on our way home we passed a street where there wasn't a woman in sight (except us in the taxi). but third, what i really want to talk about is this. so, in kuwait, as you know, there's shopping malls galore. and within said shopping malls, no matter how 'high end' they may be, american fast food abounds--mcdonalds, kfc, burger king, nathan's--you want it, i'm sure they've probably got it. but, what i was really shocked, and actually, rather appalled to see last night was in the middle of the traditional souqs of kuwait, there they were, peering through the narrow aisles of the souqs--those infamous golden arches. seriously!? in the one area of kuwait where it seems there still is some semblance of traditional arabic culture, freakin mcdonalds!? oh, but look to the right meredith, there's a dunkin' donuts too.

all this has actually got me thinking a lot. in class the other day we talked about the rise of religious fundamentalism in kuwait. it's really important for you to know, if you already don't, that the rise in religious fundamentalism is a relatively recent development. the return to conservative dress, moral laws, and fundamentalist interpretation of the koran is not how kuwait, nor much of the middle east, has always been. and when might you ask did this change? post iraqi-invasion. brief history. iraq invades kuwait. united states comes to aid of kuwait. many years of war. iraq finally leaves kuwait. american culture, including fast food, establishes prominence in kuwait. many kuwaitis embrace it. many religious conservatives reject it. in an effort to resist western cultural infiltration there is a return to fundamentalist rhetoric and governance. insert your understanding of the middle east today.

and on a final tangent, here's some scarves now appropriated for fashion. i was trying to explain my concern for cultural appropriation, or as one of my favorite professors calls 'cultural canibalism' yesterday but seemed to fall short in my explanation. just so interesting, to say the least, that a symbol once associated with the 'other' is now a source of hip. i guess we've seen this pattern before though.