So in the bar that I frequent multiple times a week, I saw a
Muslim man from Yemen wearing his traditional
dress. That got my attention and I hit up a conversation with him. He told me
that he was doing his masters in Architecture from Humbolt University. When he
heard that I was from Pakistan, he greeted me with an “Asalam-Alikum” (he
assumed that I must be Muslim). I asked him about the recent situation in Yemen and what he thought about Pakistan’s
involvement within it. He told me that he
had lived in Berlin for the past 3 years, did not care about politics at home and didn't wish to speak
about it with me.
He spoke German (he didn’t speak English at all) with an
extremely Arabic accent, had a beard, and on his head he wore the traditional
head cover. Coupled with the dress, it was quite stereo-typically Arabic. I thought
to myself that maybe during the three years that he has lived here, his old
Arabic clothes might have worn out, but here he was, carrying his Arabness and
Yemenness proudly in this bar. But what amazed me was this. I wondered why a
man who looks like in his late 20s, thinks he should represent a certain
culture. I mean no one asked him if we wanted to be born in Yemen. This
decision was entrusted upon him by where he was born. His culture, like his religion is nothing he
chose but something he just inherited. I wonder how much reason he thinks he
has to claim that it is his.
I see this happening a lot, people from the Middle East
would be Arab and Muslim, and dress in a certain way. I say this not from an observer’s
point of view, but from the point of view of people who wear their culture in foreign
countries. Why do they feel the need to represent their culture? Why do people
even think their culture is the culture of the place they were born and raised
into? Couldn't they just choose something that they like? Say could this guy start acting all Argentinean or say Russian? And if he does, would he become representative of that other culture? I know people can change
religions, but can they also change their cultures? I guess not. But what if
they HAVE to change it because maybe they don’t fit into their own culture?
The reason I ask this is because there might be people who are
just forced to live a certain way because they are born into it. (Women in Saudi Arabia?) Also imagine transgender
people who claim to be in the body of the other gender. Like transgender people
claim they don’t belong in the body they have currently posses, people might
also argue that they don’t belong in the culture they currently have let alone feel
the need to flaunt it.
This guy then asked me about my plans for the coming
Ramadan, and that where do I pray in Berlin (he continued to assume that I was
Muslim and that too a practicing one). However, while he asked me this, he
sipped the beer that he was carrying all the while that we were talking to each
other, so I guess he follows religion selectively, but does he also do the same when it comes to culture?
