Shajaa3ah
06-06-2005, 01:50 AM
Native speakers of Arabic have long claimed that Arabic is far more than a language; rather, the language of Islam, the language chosen by God to speak to mankind, influences how a person perceives the world and expresses reality. This, in turn, has a profound impact on a society's outlook. Thus, Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi, a former Algerian minister of education, declares that "a people that changes language is a people that changes its soul and its view on the world." Abdelkader Yefsah, a sociologist, recently wrote that use of the Arabic language "leads straight to . . . the primacy of the religious over all other activity."
WHY ARABIC ENCOURAGES ISLAM
Four explanations most likely account for my finding that Arabized education results in increased Islamization.
Arabic's different symbolic order.
"Why is it so hard for a teenager to tell his girlfriend `I love you' in Arabic?" asks Mohamed Talbi, a linguist. "In French, it's so easy." To which his colleague Amina Zaoui replies, "The Arabic language has a memory that atrophies it: it has gone through the funnel of Islamic thought. . . . Arabic is a prisoner of Islam . . . sacred, it remains the language of modesty." The particular structure of the Arabic language and its allusions mean that a child who studies and thinks in Arabic will develop distinct historical and cultural references, cognitive approaches, attitudes, and styles of reasoning.
Arabic and Islam are complementary and mutually reinforcing. Arabization and Islamization are inseparable parts of a single cultural ideal that now pervades the Arab world. In Ann Swidler's terms, their cultural "tool kits" of cognitive and symbolic thinking differ from those imparted to earlier bilingual cohorts. The Arabized students prefer the Arabic-language press and radio, which differ in ideological orientation from the Francophone media. The Arabic-language media clearly have a more Islamic and anti-Western approach to political and social issues; and the radio stations' choice of music is Arab, in contrast to the Western music on French-language radio. During the current period of great social upheaval and uncertainty, these students tend to gravitate toward movements and activities more in harmony with their Arabophone references. As the ideological crisis deepens, individuals choose their camp by how well they understand and associate with its message. Arabized individuals find the Islamic groups' symbols, linguistic style, and cultural referents more familiar and persuasive.
This explanation fits with the views of such linguists as Jerome Bruner, Joseph Glick, R. Jakobson, Edward Sapir, and Benjamin Whorf, who argue that language inevitably imposes cognitive categories that force an individual into a particular symbolic order in thinking, communicating, and the ordering of his experience. Arabic's highly charged sacred character increases its coercive power, making it what Benedict Anderson calls a "truth-language." It is an emanation of reality and thus the only access to that reality. This has made Arabic particularly resistant to change and accretions.
It is worth noting here that while the Arabic language is perfectly capable of serving as a medium of modernity, it does not do so, because it serves as a highly charged religious symbol. Understanding the dynamics at work, Islamist leaders in Algeria make Arabization of the school system a primary goal.
Less competence in French.
Arabized students soon realize that even in the Arabized university faculties (Islamic studies aside), French holds an undeniable prestige as the key to quality reading material and instructors. And they know that the large state companies of the economic sector function almost entirely in French. As Clement Henry Moore and Arlie R. Hochschild demonstrated in Morocco, these students, unable to share in the veneer of French culture that pervades the modern sector, are the most likely to become politicized. Fifteen years ago in Algeria, this discontent led to student strikes; today, it is channeled toward Islamist opposition.
A poorer quality of instruction.
Using Arabic in the schools implies much about teachers, textbooks, and pedagogical approaches. As the primary and secondary levels adopted Arabic, many of the most qualified and experienced teachers, unable to teach in Arabic, were let go, then replaced with poorly qualified Arabic-speaking teachers who also brought more traditional and pro-Islamic attitudes. Textbooks in Arabic do not match the technical quality, sophistication, and diversity of French textbooks--a fact usually acknowledged by teachers. As for pedagogy, while the West emphasizes a child's observation, critical awakening, and active participation, Arab pedagogy builds on memorization of the Qur'an, a text never to be questioned. From this base, the child learns to be less active or critical in acquiring knowledge than his Western counterpart. Knowledge for him is less an object of discovery than a corpus to be deposited in the child through rote learning.
Graduates of such a system tend to have a weaker mastery of subject matter, are less able to express themselves, and have less developed critical, analytical, and creative skills. Also, these less analytical students, say many (and I agree), are more easily swayed -- especially during periods of social crisis -- by the authoritarian nature of Islamist discourse, which demands unquestioning obedience to a dogmatic belief system.
Strengthened links with the Middle East.
Just as young Algerians in the 1960s voraciously read leftist political literature in French, many of today's university students consume large quantities of Islamist works in Arabic, something made possible by their strong grounding in classical Arabic language and literature. Greater contact with the Middle East, with its Arabist and Islamist culture, has spawned sophisticated writings, debates, and discussions on Islam in Algeria. As Dale Eickelman points out, this relatively new intellectual discussion of Islam on a wide scale has done much to transform Islam from a lived tradition into a conscious ideology.
Read Full Article (http://www.meforum.org/article/276)
WHY ARABIC ENCOURAGES ISLAM
Four explanations most likely account for my finding that Arabized education results in increased Islamization.
Arabic's different symbolic order.
"Why is it so hard for a teenager to tell his girlfriend `I love you' in Arabic?" asks Mohamed Talbi, a linguist. "In French, it's so easy." To which his colleague Amina Zaoui replies, "The Arabic language has a memory that atrophies it: it has gone through the funnel of Islamic thought. . . . Arabic is a prisoner of Islam . . . sacred, it remains the language of modesty." The particular structure of the Arabic language and its allusions mean that a child who studies and thinks in Arabic will develop distinct historical and cultural references, cognitive approaches, attitudes, and styles of reasoning.
Arabic and Islam are complementary and mutually reinforcing. Arabization and Islamization are inseparable parts of a single cultural ideal that now pervades the Arab world. In Ann Swidler's terms, their cultural "tool kits" of cognitive and symbolic thinking differ from those imparted to earlier bilingual cohorts. The Arabized students prefer the Arabic-language press and radio, which differ in ideological orientation from the Francophone media. The Arabic-language media clearly have a more Islamic and anti-Western approach to political and social issues; and the radio stations' choice of music is Arab, in contrast to the Western music on French-language radio. During the current period of great social upheaval and uncertainty, these students tend to gravitate toward movements and activities more in harmony with their Arabophone references. As the ideological crisis deepens, individuals choose their camp by how well they understand and associate with its message. Arabized individuals find the Islamic groups' symbols, linguistic style, and cultural referents more familiar and persuasive.
This explanation fits with the views of such linguists as Jerome Bruner, Joseph Glick, R. Jakobson, Edward Sapir, and Benjamin Whorf, who argue that language inevitably imposes cognitive categories that force an individual into a particular symbolic order in thinking, communicating, and the ordering of his experience. Arabic's highly charged sacred character increases its coercive power, making it what Benedict Anderson calls a "truth-language." It is an emanation of reality and thus the only access to that reality. This has made Arabic particularly resistant to change and accretions.
It is worth noting here that while the Arabic language is perfectly capable of serving as a medium of modernity, it does not do so, because it serves as a highly charged religious symbol. Understanding the dynamics at work, Islamist leaders in Algeria make Arabization of the school system a primary goal.
Less competence in French.
Arabized students soon realize that even in the Arabized university faculties (Islamic studies aside), French holds an undeniable prestige as the key to quality reading material and instructors. And they know that the large state companies of the economic sector function almost entirely in French. As Clement Henry Moore and Arlie R. Hochschild demonstrated in Morocco, these students, unable to share in the veneer of French culture that pervades the modern sector, are the most likely to become politicized. Fifteen years ago in Algeria, this discontent led to student strikes; today, it is channeled toward Islamist opposition.
A poorer quality of instruction.
Using Arabic in the schools implies much about teachers, textbooks, and pedagogical approaches. As the primary and secondary levels adopted Arabic, many of the most qualified and experienced teachers, unable to teach in Arabic, were let go, then replaced with poorly qualified Arabic-speaking teachers who also brought more traditional and pro-Islamic attitudes. Textbooks in Arabic do not match the technical quality, sophistication, and diversity of French textbooks--a fact usually acknowledged by teachers. As for pedagogy, while the West emphasizes a child's observation, critical awakening, and active participation, Arab pedagogy builds on memorization of the Qur'an, a text never to be questioned. From this base, the child learns to be less active or critical in acquiring knowledge than his Western counterpart. Knowledge for him is less an object of discovery than a corpus to be deposited in the child through rote learning.
Graduates of such a system tend to have a weaker mastery of subject matter, are less able to express themselves, and have less developed critical, analytical, and creative skills. Also, these less analytical students, say many (and I agree), are more easily swayed -- especially during periods of social crisis -- by the authoritarian nature of Islamist discourse, which demands unquestioning obedience to a dogmatic belief system.
Strengthened links with the Middle East.
Just as young Algerians in the 1960s voraciously read leftist political literature in French, many of today's university students consume large quantities of Islamist works in Arabic, something made possible by their strong grounding in classical Arabic language and literature. Greater contact with the Middle East, with its Arabist and Islamist culture, has spawned sophisticated writings, debates, and discussions on Islam in Algeria. As Dale Eickelman points out, this relatively new intellectual discussion of Islam on a wide scale has done much to transform Islam from a lived tradition into a conscious ideology.
Read Full Article (http://www.meforum.org/article/276)