More than a lost dream

One of the structures I have always dreamed of visiting but fully realize that, chances are, I'd never would is the iconic Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu, Mali. A minaret rises above the shifting sands, unlike any others in northern African countries--wooden crossbeams, dozens of them, jut out from the four sides, and the dirt facade looks like it could crumble at a mere touch.  It's not very tall either, unlike the "Arabian Nights"-like visions of others, but one can argue that it's very striking and memorable for these same reasons.

(The minaret at Djinguereber
Mosque, unesco.org)

Built in 1327 out of mud and organic plant materiel, the mosque still serves as one of the learning centers in the country and holds thousands of manuscripts dating back to the construction of the building, on a variety of subjects including Islam, astronomy, history, and mathematics.  Additionally, the Djinguereber Mosque serves as one of the major madrassas in Mali, and really the entire sub-Saharan Africa region--it is a historical focal point of the early Islamification of the continent.  The fact that it still stands today, amid encroachment of the Saharan desert, blistering heat, punishing sandstorms, and the coming and passing of empires and colonial masters is a testament to the grandeur of what Timbuktu was.

But all this history and culture is now under attack, literally. What began as a rebellion in January by ethnic Tuareg has been usurped by Islamist militant groups who have taken advantage of a coup of the central government and imposed Sharia in most of the key towns in the northern Mali, including Timbuktu.  In the name of radical Islam, Ansar Dine and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have since destroyed half of the tombs of early Muslim saints in Djinguereber because Malians don't practice the "right" type of (radical) Islam.

(Most Malians practice Sufi Islam, which is viewed as more tolerant with an intellectual interpretation of the religion.  Mixed with chanting, mysticism, and hypnotic prayers, perhaps it is blended with the regional culture that existed there before the spread of Islam.)

(Before and after, the taller of
the two statues, wikipedia.org)

It really is heart-breaking to see unique buildings and  historical importance be lost to time and the elements, but doubly so when they are destroyed by hands of men. These are things that can never be recovered, whether lost to time, encroaching sands, or madness and intolerance.  Northern Mali is called the "Afghanistan of western Africa," and the description is true on many fronts.  The destruction of the shrines--and possibly of the entire Djinguereber Mosque itself--is a stark reminder of the loss of the Buddhas of Bamiyam at the hands (and dynamite) of the Taliban in 2001.

It is more than my dreams and hopes that were lost. An important facet of this world and our civilization's history will soon be gone.

Bourdain actually listens to my advice!

Why? Because after my post calling for him to return to Malaysia to eat real Malaysian food instead of the weak-sauce version found in Singapore, Tony went to Penang. (He didn't heed my request to hit up my mother-in-law to show him around the food courts, though). Alright, alright, in all seriousness, I doubt Tony even knows about my blog and it's fairly certain that the episode was shot during Chinese New Year and planned some months before that, at least.

Here is a link to a video recap of his trip.

The hawker center he was at, gorging on snails, was the one I also similarly gorged at while in Georgetown. (See said hawker center on the left.) Or maybe I'm just grasping at whatever vapid, ephemeral connections possible to associate myself with Tony, the Man when it comes to wondrous travel, kooky left-wing politics and exotic eating.

Whatever the case, one thing we do share is our love for assam laksa. (See said dish to the right.)

Here are a few more links to clips of the No Reservations Penang episode:

Monkey Island (no, not the game, nerd.)
Bah kuh teh
Um ... random, obscene comments about monkeys
Snake Temple (this one is pretty damn funny)

Brain circulation

I wanted to share this article from the New York Times. It's about second generation children of US immigrants that move back to their parents' home country to start new and innovative businesses. The profiles several young people, all from BRIC countries (minus the "R"--Russia), that have traveled back and created "Creative Class" type companies, those that we more often than not associate with Silicone Valley, Austin, San Diego, or Boston.

The article introduced a term that was new to me: brain circulation. This concept moves us beyond a world that is globalized for manufactured products and ideas. People and networks are globalized. It's not merely about the brain drain of young, ambitious, well-educated away from other countries into the US anymore, but the free movement of people and their ideas (and entrepreneurial spirit) around different countries, continuously circulating back and forth and all around. Pretty powerful stuff.

Some of my friends have gone this route of back-migration, to Hong Kong, Vietnam and elsewhere. Will they ever be back to the US? Who knows; to be frank, I don't think they know either. This quote from the article sums it up:

"Ms. Tran said she did not know how long she would remain abroad. She said she was open to various possibilities, including moving to another foreign country, living a life straddling China and the United States or remaining permanently in China. "

Perhaps this says something more about the condition of innovation and opportunity in the US more than anything else. The recession in the US is casting a long shadow across the the country, in more ways than one. For young, global-minded people for whom borders are only the creation of political machinations, there is less reason to stay in the US now. And with the recovery--if you can call it that--trudging ever so slowly along, it is hard to blame them.

Upending art and culture in Qatar

Here is an interesting article about Sheikha Mayassa Al Thani's effort to basically overthrow all conventions of art and culture in socially conservative Qatar.

The stark and striking MIA
(Bloomberg News)

I won't repeat too much of what's already in the article, but to summarize, she is the 29-year-old daughter of the Qatari emir and is considered one of the most influential people in the art world. The sheikha was granted immense leeway by her father to develop the country into the cultural hub of the Middle East. This includes purchasing art from across the world and bringing in exhibits from artists globally renowned. They are to be displayed at the Museum of Islamic Art (or MIA, but not MIA--equally intriguing in their own rights but vastly different from one another ... ) though obviously not all the pieces are anywhere close to being Islamic or Arabic--Murakami, Cezanne, Bacon, or Warhol, anyone?

I.M. Pei's pyramid, at the Louvre
(www.wikipedia.org)

As with all great architecture, the building itself is a piece of art. The museum was designed by I.M. Pei of the Musee de Louvre pyramid fame (or infamy) in a modernist/Arabic style. Perhaps emblematic of the transition we are seeing in Qatar on so many levels and that Sheikha Mayassa herself is pushing.

For me, the article raises two integral points that I think will dictate the direction of life and culture in Qatar in the future. No doubt the sheikha is a moderate in a country that is--for all intents and purposes--still deeply conservative both religiously and socially (but on some levels more moderate than some of its Middle Eastern neighbors). She spent her undergraduate and graduate schooling at Duke and Columbia, respectively, and I truly believe that studying abroad in the US (though not necessarily because it was in the US specifically) influenced her views on culture, both Arabic and Western and how they are not mutually exclusive. As Rick Steves wrote in his editorial on the primacy of traveling and studying abroad: "Learning in a different culture and place allows us to see our own challenges in sharp contrast, and with more clarity, as we observe smart people in other lands dealing with similar issues."

How then can this drive toward more cultural openness that the sheikha and the royal family is apparently pushing be balanced with the conservative tenants of the country and religious leaders? Granted, it's an emirate and what the emir says goes. But that does not mean he does not need to take concerns seriously. Perhaps all that is needed is time and effort applied. Qatar (and other nations like Dubai) are already looking toward a fossil fuel-depleted future, and I think even the most conservative imam understands the realities of what that means. The broad, general goal of transitioning the country away from fossil fuels is already happening and the MIA (and all that it represents and tries to do) is a cog in that moving machine, as is hosting of the World Cup of football in 2022.

Changing a country from the inside out is all about the slow steady footsteps in the shifting sands.