I love this scenario question. Although, considering any period of history that felt like it would be fun to time travel back to had me thinking I would not want to be a woman then! This still applies but I think I would like to time travel back to the 1950s and 60s as a teenager in the UK or US with the advent of rock’n’roll music, and the Beatles etc and how exciting it would have been to have been part of all that. 🎶
Thanks Jane! I have a feeling my mom may answer similarly to you as she is a huge Beatles fan and she had studied in the UK. Part of me would like to go back to a time before modern-day nationalism became a thing. Though I recognize there were many challenges back then, I also would like to experience what that was like.
I believe that the concept of "Belonging" is a subset of identity. In our region, we are clearly experiencing an identity crisis across various domains, including religion, politics, and history. Addressing these chronic conflicts might begin with the introduction of the concept of renewal ( Tajdeed ). Renewal involves more than just overcoming the past and heritage , akin to change; it also seeks to preserve and revitalize the past. It is not merely about alteration but includes a dimension that respects and rejuvenates our heritage ( linguistically it has these two opposite significations ). In other words, renewal can be understood as a dialectical process, in the Hegelian sense, where change and preservation combined .and whereby we kill the past and yet resurrect it
What you shared on "tajdeed" reminds me of when my brother was pursuing his masters degree in architecture and for his thesis project he proposed a way to renew the Dubai Creek using concepts from vernacular architecture where it's not about copy-pasting the old nor copy-pasting ideas of modernity from the West but embracing heritage and change together.
It’s good to see you back Reema 👋
I love this scenario question. Although, considering any period of history that felt like it would be fun to time travel back to had me thinking I would not want to be a woman then! This still applies but I think I would like to time travel back to the 1950s and 60s as a teenager in the UK or US with the advent of rock’n’roll music, and the Beatles etc and how exciting it would have been to have been part of all that. 🎶
How about you?
Thanks Jane! I have a feeling my mom may answer similarly to you as she is a huge Beatles fan and she had studied in the UK. Part of me would like to go back to a time before modern-day nationalism became a thing. Though I recognize there were many challenges back then, I also would like to experience what that was like.
I believe that the concept of "Belonging" is a subset of identity. In our region, we are clearly experiencing an identity crisis across various domains, including religion, politics, and history. Addressing these chronic conflicts might begin with the introduction of the concept of renewal ( Tajdeed ). Renewal involves more than just overcoming the past and heritage , akin to change; it also seeks to preserve and revitalize the past. It is not merely about alteration but includes a dimension that respects and rejuvenates our heritage ( linguistically it has these two opposite significations ). In other words, renewal can be understood as a dialectical process, in the Hegelian sense, where change and preservation combined .and whereby we kill the past and yet resurrect it
What you shared on "tajdeed" reminds me of when my brother was pursuing his masters degree in architecture and for his thesis project he proposed a way to renew the Dubai Creek using concepts from vernacular architecture where it's not about copy-pasting the old nor copy-pasting ideas of modernity from the West but embracing heritage and change together.