The American University in Dubai offers a multicultural experience Americans might ponder. “We live under a very hypocritical Shariah,” Tram Nguyen, a student there, said at the Modern Language Association (MLA) 2013 meeting in Boston. “For instance, Muslims are not supposed to drink alcohol but alcohol is widely available.”
“It’s very lax. Only now are women starting to wear the head scarf.” At that, the watered down version may be preferable to what is on offer elsewhere in the Middle East.
“Women in Egypt are angry,” Nguyen said. They have “equivalent but not equal rights,” she avers. “Honor killings” occur.
There are 1,000 women’s organizations across Egypt, she claims.
Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.
If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail mal.kline@academia.org.
