Friday made a big impact on me as well as my group (Green). What kind of stroke me, after todays subjects, was how prejudices produced by cultural differences could lead to “under the surface” conflicts or just conflicts in general. So to broaden our horizon we chosed to interview two Yemen girls…

Name: Nawal and Amani

Age: 23 and 24

Country: Yemen

How did you react on the Abigale story considering you are Abigale?

N and A:Would place the mother as one of the worst in the story, just after Sinbad, because she doesn’t react at all, to the problems of her daughter. A mother needs to listen and respond to her daughters issues, afterwards the daughter could make up an opinion.

If A and N where put in Abigales situation, she would not even consider Sinbad as a solution to her problem, she would start thinking alternatives right away, and if that means she would be able to see her love, then that must be her decision.

So something inside you already helps you decide!?

N:The mind. The mind is her logical thinking, but the logical thinking is based on her culture such as her family, religion etc. In this way she think her choices rely on a somewhat more save fundament.

And also believes and the protection of the family according to Armani.

So Nawal, if know you’ll regard me as Abigale – how would I react according to the situation?

N:Abigale would have a mind as well, but it would work in another way, regarding Abigales, now western, culture. Her mind would be more logic in the sentence of rational choice. She would, if the mother would have reacted, have listened to her, but her final decision would be founded on her individuality. This means that she weighs good and bad considering the problem with Sinbad, and choose wether see would sleep with him or not to see her love.

Why are we dealing with two different persons? How do you know the reaction of the “western” Abigale, if you haven’t met her?

N:This is Nawals first time outside Yemen ever. So a lot of these thaugths are relied on what see have heard in the Yemen medias about our part of the world, but now she is here she starts to change her view on the people living here. They have all been so kind and open to her. So when she comes home she would tell her friends all her new experiences.

TV have a huge impact on our prejudice Armani points out.

Our comments

So to sum up, we meet each other and judge each other according to prejudices whether they are good or bad. The first thing you know about another person is how they look, so before even speaking to them you already build up a set of expectations of how they would react to different issues according to their look, f.ex. do they wear baggy-pants, expensive dresses, scarfs, are they white, brown, yellow, blue etc…