Job Discussion Forums

just noel · Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 168

Hi,

I've done a search and nothing came up on the topic of books on current Saudi culture and society. Maybe I didn't do the search correctly.)

Does anyone have any current recommendation for good, informative books on Saudi society, culture and trends?

rogan · Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Posts: 416 Location: at home, in France

Difficult to find books on something that doesn't exist, I would have thought.

a_ibrahim · Joined: 31 May 2006 Posts: 54 Location: ohio, usa

I sent you a pm, just noel.

But, while you aren't likely to find any books you can find some basic info on the culture on the embassy's website.

http://www.saudiembassy.net

Nothing to write home about but it'll give you an idea.

Amal

Cleopatra · Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 9:21 pm Post subject:

The first poster is a tad harsh, but it is nonetheless true that, if by "culture" you mean high art, there is little of that to speak of in Saudi Arabia. If you are interested in books on contemporary Saudi society, there are a few, but not that many. This may be because very few non-Arabs (and not that many of them) manage to get more than a rather superficial idea of Saudi society, no matter how many years they spend in KSA.

One recent book which generated much debate on this site a year or so ago is John Bradley's "Inside Saudi Arabia." I haven't read it, but the author claims to have explored many facets of SAudi Arabian society, insofar as this is possible for an English-speaking, non-Muslim outsider. There are also quite a few books on the modern history of KSA, some of them rather better than others, but I'm not sure if that is what you are interested in.

mouse5 · Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 142

Saudi what?????

just noel · Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 168

e_ibrahim thanks for the info. I'll check it out.

also, Cleo thanks for the book title, I reviewd it on amazon.

Bebsi · Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958

When you post on a site like this looking for useful information, and you get trite responses from people like Rogan and Mouse 5, it may not give give a very deep insight into Saudi culture, but speaks volumes about some aspects of Saudi expat "culture".

There are some books on life in Saudi Arabia, but I cannot name them right now. I assume that a search online would yield some results. If you broaden your search to Arabian culture (by which I presume you mean life and society on the Arabian peninsula as opposed to high art in the European sense, as Cleopatra points out) as opposed to SAUDI Arabian culture, you may do better. Try looking on Wilfred Thesiger, the most famous Arabian explorer, tho I should add that his travelogues were written in the 30s. The basic culture has remained the same, but of course, technology has made its indelible mark over the last 30 years.

No book can compensate for actually living in Saudi Arabia, which is indeed fascinating, partly for its stark contrasts between the ancient and the modern, and the inherent struggle between the millennia-old legacy of desert feudalism and the lure of cyberspace.

I presume the OP was seeking info on life OUTSIDE the western compounds, within which, generally speaking, the only culture one is likely to find is at the bottom of an old yoghurt tub. Laughing

crookedcrow · Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 10 Location: USA

Read "Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia" by Jean Sasson

Cleopatra · Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 8:11 am Post subject:

crookedcrow · Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 10 Location: USA

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

crookedcrow · Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 10 Location: USA

Please tell me more about why you dislike the Sasson books. I ask because I don't know what is true and is not true in those books. Yes, stylistically they are juvenile, but the events could be real for all I know.

Cleopatra · Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 9:18 pm Post subject:

crookedcrow · Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 10 Location: USA

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Cleopatra. Sasson also excuses her terrible writing by implying that she is simply transcribing the words of a Princess -- not writing the book herself. Something that seemed extremely unbelievable in "Princess," is the part where the narrator flees KSA with her three children by forging her husband's signature, agrees to come back once her husband pledges not to have more than one wife (she has him sign a contract!), and, once she gets back to KSA, she receives no punishment . . . At that point, Sasson has already talked about women being stoned to death for being raped, locked up for having relationships with foreigners, but her narrator gets away with kidnapping? Give me a break . . .

Cleopatra · Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:55 am Post subject:

Yeah - she does go on about her husband being "relatively liberal" but there are limits. And yes - the infantile writing style of the books did nothing to prevent them becoming best-sellers. But then, we shouldn't be surprised - anything which features a "seductively" veiled woman on the cover, and deals with the "plight" of forlorn Muslim women in "mysterious" desert kingdoms, is bound to fly off the shelves.