The King Abdul Aziz Center for National Dialogue is hosting over 70 Saudi male and female intellectuals in the National Cultural Dialogue Meeting today and tomorrow June 1 and 2 to discuss “Identity and Globalization in Saudi Cultural Discourse.” The meeting, according to Faisal Bin Mu'ammar, Secretary General of the Center, follows on from the first which was held at the beginning of the year in Al-Ahsa under the headline “National Cultural Discourse and its Future Prospects”. “The meeting will begin with an opening gathering in the evening and two sessions, the first on the special characteristics of Saudi society and a second on citizenship in Saudi cultural discourse,” Bin Mu'ammar said. The third and fourth sessions on Wednesday will look at globalization, the challenges it presents and Saudi society's interaction with it, and the future of Saudi cultural discourse. Five of the many women attending the sessions gave Okaz their insights into how discussions might proceed, particularly on the problematic nature of defining cultural specific identity and how to match it with a world moving towards globalization. Haya Al-Munee', assistant professor of Social Planning at Princess Noura University, described the special nature of Saudi society as an issue of particular concern and “part of our responsibility towards the Islamic Ummah in the service of the Two Holy Mosques”. “We are spectators of a world marching rapidly towards the modern age not through the acquisition of material technology but through the comprehension of the requirements of that technology in a culture transporting society as a whole from one of responding to events to one of producing events and formulating a position, including the formulation of cultural discourse in all its details,” Al-Munee' said. Writer Umaima Al-Khamis was concerned that the concept of a society's special nature remained “obscure”. “Sometimes the concept is employed to mean one of the ingredients of national identity, culture and heritage, and that's a legitimate right for people's in the preservation of their special cultural features,” Al-Khamis said. “On the other hand, what is a slippery concept can be turned into a something of a red traffic light halting projects of an enlightening and progressive nature. Consequently it becomes charged with an evasive significance whose goals are difficult to identify.” Al-Khamis said that her faith in the concept resided in the national priority for “dozens of successful national projects whose material is people and whose construction is the land”. “From here particularly do we achieve understanding of the nature of society through culture rising to the fore on a global level, and not through being wrapped up in the perpetual fear of the world around us,” she said. Noura Al-Marri, a specialist in literature and modern criticism, said that globalization can only be achieved through the realization of the peculiarities of one's culture. Citing Goethe, Al-Marri said that a nation can “only have culture that has emerged from within itself”, and recalled Nobel prize winner Naghuib Mahfouz's remark that he achieved international success through his portrayals of traditional Egyptian life. She also expressed her fear that future generations may lose their identity which “has begun to disappear and melt away with the effects of globalization” and which requires “saving, especially through education”. “How can we formulate the peculiarities of culture for the generations?” Al-Marri asked. “It's a question that requires all of us to work towards answering, hence these meetings that need to produce recommendations that can be put into effect in reality.” Writer Susan Al-Mashadi said that a definition of the qualities of cultural specificity was required in a way that “preserves our Islamic values derived from a profound understanding of the religion relying more on the essence rather than on forms and appearances in such a way that it does not hold up society from keeping apace with globalization, the rewards of development and modern science.” “Focusing on the principle of respect for differences and other people's ideas is important, to not pigeonhole them just because they don't follow the prevailing views of society that are clearly based on convention, custom and tradition and not on the religion given that they are narrow-viewed and interconnected with each other,” Al-Mashadi said. Al-Mashadi also emphasized the importance of ingraining attitudes of dialogue and understanding in schools from childhood to produce “generations that employ calm and productive discussion”, and to “teach them to listen to other opinions without rushing to reject them in the name of preserving some undefined culturally-specific identity”. “We need to learn from other countries or be left behind,” Al-Mashadi said. According to Maha Al-Jurais, a lecturer at Imam Muhammad Bin Saud University, the defining of the peculiar identity of a culture is a task for “every society, not just Saudis”. “It's a part of identity that doesn't prevent cultural interaction or sharing in the achievements of the world,” Al-Jurais said. “It derives from the values on which each society is built, and includes its geography, as Saudi society is the carer in its land of the Two Holy Mosques and the direction in which Muslims pray, something which has many ramifications for its special nature.”
