Jordan Times
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Queen Rania urges students to
bridge cultural divide
AMMAN (JT) — Her Majesty Queen Rania warned of the growing rift between East and
West and urged students to concentrate their efforts on bridging the cultural
gap, in a speech at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government last week.
“The gulf between narratives is wide — and only getting wider,” she said, “and
as a result, I fear a creeping affliction on both sides of what the philosopher
William James called ‘the blindness in human beings’ that prevents us from
understanding the feelings of those ‘different from ourselves’.”
“No matter where we come from, what we look like, how we dress, or to whom we
pray, when it comes to what makes us laugh or cry, when it comes to what we
dream of for ourselves and for our children, when it comes to how hard we work
each day, we are usually more alike than we are different, “ said the Queen.
In reference to Martin Luther King Jr.’s description of a great “world house,”
Her Majesty referred to the world community as neighbours in a row of bunkers.
“The East has occupied one room and the West is in another. And though the
landscape outside their windows is the same, they see it very differently
because the windows themselves are tinted by each side’s experience and
perspective,” she said.
Acknowledging that different points of view exist, specifically on issues
relating to Palestine and Iraq, the Queen said there is a “gap in perceptions of
the Middle East — where mutual failure to appreciate the other side’s point of
view is a greater barrier to communication than speaking different languages.”
“On the issue of Palestine, for example, looking out an American window, the
first thing you might see is terrorist attacks against Israelis, and Israel’s
paramount obligation to protect its people from harm,” she said.
“But looking through an Arab window, the image in the foreground is generations
of Palestinian boys and girls growing up with no country, no rights, and no
future — and that image has not changed for 50 years.”
During the talk, the Queen also addressed issues relating to women’s rights in
the Arab world and how perceptions of Islam differ from East to West.
Other differences in perception include the status of Arab women and the way
each side views Islam, she said.
“Through Western windows, Arab women may look passive and oppressed — from the
way they dress to the role they play in the home and family unit,” she said.
“Eastern eyes, however, see Arab women taking an ever greater role in society –
as doctors, lawyers, teachers, journalists, politicians and entrepreneurs and,
at the same time, because Arab culture venerates the family, a woman’s
predominant role in the household is seen as a source of strength.”
Meanwhile, during her last day in Boston on Friday, the Queen visited the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where the faculty briefed her on
several successful initiatives and touched on the upcoming MIT Learning
International Networks Consortium (LINC), which seeks to provide quality
education to all the world’s children, regardless of geographic hindrances, by
using ICT technologies. Queen Rania will soon be hosting the fourth MIT LINC at
the Dead Sea.
During the visit, the Queen toured the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab,
the Media Laboratory and the Ray and Maria Stata Centre, and learned more about
the MIT International Development Initiative and the One Laptop per Child
Initiative.
She also met several Jordanian undergraduates and graduates currently attending
MIT.