前途: A Year in Morocco

The subject of questions has come up more than once in the past few weeks, in multiple ways, and it has proved to be a really fascinating study in cultural mentality.

“George Bush is a Satanist,” one of my students tells me.

I pause a moment, blinking to absorb this crazy piece of information, then cautiously reply, “No, he’s a Christian.”

His counterattack? “I read it…”

At this point, I interrupt. “Where? Who wrote that?” (He cannot tell me).

I continue, “How does that person know? Have they ever been to the U.S.? Do they know George W. Bush? Because, Bush definitely claims to be a Christian, as does Obama, and both attend church.” I was subsequently informed Obama is really a Muslim, since his father was Muslim (actually raised as a Muslim and became an atheist, but let’s not go there today). In Muslim societies, a person is assigned whatever religion her/his father had, which probably explains why Muslim men can marry Christian or Jewish women, but Muslim women cannot marry Christian or Jewish men.

Le sigh. Isn’t it a person’s choice which counts? Doesn’t each individual get a say in “what” they are? And isn’t it most important to be a good person, regardless of how you practice religion?

So we then had a long discussion about trustworthiness of sources, manufacturing evidence, photoshopping, creating stories, so on and so forth. What I wanted them to get from it is the importance of knowing the source and checking its authenticity and also its biases and motives—and I also questioned them as to how they could claim to “know” something if they are not inside another person’s head, or the White House, or in the U.S. I’m not sure they got my point, but they were quick to point out well-known examples of manufactured evidence and media screw-ups.

As a foreigner, I get questioned all the time, understandably, and I’ve come to look at it as a way of helping me accomplish my purpose of being a “cultural ambassador.” Who am I? Why am I here? How do I know Arabic? Am I Moroccan? Where is my family? Do I live alone? Am I married? Do I like Obama? What religion do I follow?

The last question especially makes me feel uncomfortable. I’m not a religious person, so I tend to claim Buddhism in front of my students, which either leads to questions about rules/practices (Is alcohol permitted? Do I pray and how?) or someone getting upset about Buddhist statues, since idols are bad news in Islam.

In the U.S., it’s not a question which is polite to ask when you first meet someone nor is it really an acceptable topic for discussion, unless you know the person very well.

The U.S. Culture professor tried to explain this a few weeks ago. If religion was truly a private thing, people should not be asking people about their beliefs all the time. The students got very upset and argued that it was, indeed, a legitimate question, and that there was nothing wrong with asking.

Maybe in Morocco it is societally acceptable to ask someone what their religion is the first time you meet them. But, as a Moroccan person, it’s also pretty much only societally acceptable to be Muslim. Jews have mostly disappeared from Morocco, and most people don’t know one personally, although this would not have been true a generation or two ago when they were a part of the fabric of Moroccan life. Proselytizing is illegal, and foreign Christians have been deported from Morocco in the past for it. Moroccan converts must live in secrecy and atheists also must keep their beliefs to themselves; both groups face harsh social judgment.  Clearly, religion is not just a private matter.

I think Americans consider religion a mostly private matter, except when it is used to inform people’s political positions on topics like the death penalty or abortion or gay marriage. Some (most?) of us consider it rude to be questioned about our private, personal religious beliefs beyond their application to these issues. This helps us manage the day-to-day challenges of living in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, diverse and free society, where not everyone agrees, nor do we expect everyone to agree.

Knowing what questions are okay to ask and what questions are rude where, and what certain questions can connote or imply, can reveal a lot about a societies. In some Muslim societies, men should not ask about other men’s female relatives because it shows inappropriate interest. Moroccans frequently ask me how much I pay for things, and I definitely feel American-ly squeamish about discussing money, even though they just want to make sure I haven’t been ripped off. I don’t like being asked about “my” religion, and I definitely don’t like being asked to explain everything about it, or being attacked because of misunderstandings about the purpose of Buddha statues.

Now that I’m used to being questioned, I will probably go home and feel strange. Like, “Where are all the questions? Doesn’t anyone care?” :P

Looking back, I think this has been one of the more subtle culture shocks I’ve experienced: a process of getting used to what questions are frequently asked and what questions are acceptable to ask, and how to answer those questions effectively and appropriately for my environment.