Diversity

We all share diverse cultures and traditions, come from a different race or ethnicity and communicate through assorted languages. Last Thursday, I went to the cultural village, Katara, with my friends Rana and Ola to see an African band from Nigeria perform. Although I didn’t know exactly where the band was from, I knew they were African because their physical features indicated their race. They were obviously distinct from everyone else because of the language they spoke, the way they dressed and the way they looked.





I didn't understand any of the words they were singing, but I was into it because I could sense their passion. Their music was lively and vibrant and captured a big audience. The band was playing with enthusiasm and they were breaking it down with their dance moves. The audience was a mixture of different races. I saw Qataris, Indians, Filipinos, Americans and other Arab nationalities. It was easy to distinguish the ethnicity of all these people because of their social factors such as language, dress and physical appearances. The majority of the people were appreciative of the art they were performing, however others were more critical and showed prejudice towards it. For instance, there was a group of rowdy Qatari teen boys that were flocking around the main vocalist and being rude to him and mocking him when he was introducing his band. They made racial comments and were making fun of their dancing, singing and clothing. This lack of respect is a result of ignorance regarding another person's culture and traditions.




After we enjoyed their music, we spoke to them they asked were we from and they guessed that Ola was Brazilian. Although both Ola and I are Sudanese, he thought she was Brazilian because she had a lighter skin tone than him and curly light hair. When he found out that we were both Sudanese, he said to us, "You are my sisters." Being Africans, he believed we had the same ethnicity, deeming that "share national origin; a common ancestry; a place of birth; distinctive concrete traits; or socially important physical characteristics." This really got me thinking of my own identity and what I view myself as. The physical and social characteristics that I inherit from my parents and family are by chance. I very much consider myself as African, but only in terms of context meaning the only thing that I believe makes me African is geography. I regard myself to be culturally and ethnically Arab; therefore I am Arab by choice , culture and ethnicity.