01. On Dialogue
So, we start the conversation once again.
القراءة باللغة العربية
If you have been following Nuqat recently, you may have noticed a few changes. As we go through this journey of reflection, exploration, and construction, we would like to share some of our findings — our little insights — with you!
In just under ten years, Nuqat has initiated, assembled, and set in motion hundreds of conversations. From public conference lectures to small workshops to roundtable ‘exploration’ sessions, we have heard from and contributed to dialogues on what we care about most: open expression of ideas and building on, as well as developing, each other’s’ creative potentials and capacities. So much of what we’ve seen and heard since 2009 is still in the archives, so to speak, and as this is our first edition of Insights, we felt there was no better place to look back on the ‘conversations’ we’ve had in the past and share them as a possible way to look ahead.
We will be delivering Insights to you — a Nuqat newsletter covering various themes (from cultivating creative expression, the future of collective action to rethinking CSR programs) alongside community updates and links to what we have been reading, watching, exploring!
Hope you enjoy the read. We welcome any new ideas, comments and suggestions.
What Does it Mean to Exchange?
After all, there is no community without conversation.
As we began as an organization based on dialogue and the exchange of knowledge — or ‘hiwar’ in Arabic — it’s only fitting for our first insight to be on the power of dialogue.
When working in cultural development, there is a certain level of awareness and understanding that can only be reached by engaging in constant communication and dialogue with one another, within and between different communities. Our work in the activities we host and participate in revolve around dialogue as a means of expressing, debating, developing, and executing ideas.
Dialogue through Arts and Culture
Although difficult to fully define, art and culture can be agents of development by giving individuals a space to question, reflect and change. As Saudi artist Manal AlDowayan put it in her talk “A Journey of Belonging”:
“When there is a dialogue, that means there is a hope for change” (Executing Culture Shock Conference, 2013).
Talking about her I AM series (2005), Manal invited women from her community in Saudi Arabia to respond to the media coverage regarding jobs deemed ‘suitable’ to a woman’s nature as part of a larger conversation that was happening at the time. At times when spaces for verbal dialogue are limited, different mediums prove their ability to become channels for debate and mediation.
Currently, Gulf countries are experiencing large shifts in cultural, economic, and social policies. On one hand, there is the possibility for art to be used as an instrument in encouraging divisiveness and propaganda during such rapidly changing times. On the other hand, art has the potential to transform for the better, both a tool for nurturing dialogue and understanding. Culture Runners is an excellent example of the latter, an organization that works with a network of artists to create a dialogue between the Middle East and the US in efforts to bridge the gap of cultural understanding.
We saw another powerful example this year closer to home, when Dr. Ghazi Al-Mulaifi gave a talk about the fluidity and embedded dialogue in Kuwaiti sea music, he mentions that:
“Ethnography is about interview, to give voice to those who do not have a voice” (The Human Capital Forum, 2018).
With rapid pace of change brought on by modernisation and globalisation and its obstruction to the organic progress of culture (if such a thing exists) — Ghazi alongside the Mayouf Mejally Ensemble call for the revival of dynamism and conversation in sea music, perhaps as a kind of interview with ourselves as well as with others.
What We’ve Been Reading…
Munir Fasheh’s Essay “Over 68 Years with Mathematics: My Story of Healing from Modern Superstitions and Reclaiming my Sense of Being and Well-being”
In this essay, Munir Fasheh frames the critical thinking as ‘thinking within context’. What this refers to is a “mujaawarah” — a movement by individuals who gather in their communities to learn, understand, and take action outside the reach of controlling and, at times, passive institutions. This type of dialogue is rooted deeply in the observable surroundings and situation.
Closely linked with this idea is the organization Campus in Camp, or “جامعة في المخيم,” who gave a talk (Practicing the Collective Approach, 2014) demonstrating this form of communal learning that is taking place in Palestinian refugee camps. “Jame’ea” in this case isn’t translated to the standard educational format of a university; rather, it refers to a common gathering, allowing for knowledge to emerge from reflections and observations that take place over a period of time and is firmly rooted in the given social, political and environmental context. Knowledge here isn’t a result of pre-constructed facts or frameworks, it is informed — collectively, organically — from the ground up.
Spaces for Dialogue
There are constantly new spaces opening up in the region dedicated to foster dialogue, as a means of encouraging more creative problem-solving, initiating conversations on new or sensitive issues, or simply bring communities together. Local platforms such as HIKMA and the Cross-Cultural Diwaniya (and many more!), showcase the grassroots effort to congregate and discuss a variety of issues ranging from environmental preservation, cryptocurrencies, censorship and technology, to citizenship rights, and so on. We need to continuously be aware of the ways in which we converse, the use of different mediums, and the level of engagement they allow for. With that being said, we’ll leave you with the following quote from Munir Fasheh himself:
“We need to spend more time in conversations face-to-face with one another, in doing things together, in dreaming beautiful dreams, and in building shared visions. In short, we need to reclaim our lives and regain our cultural spaces.”[1]
Thank you for reading through our first Insights. As always, please share with us any thoughts, comments, or any insights you may have yourself! We also want to hear from you and would love to know what you’d like to see and hear from us in what we hope will be a regular series.
