- Joined
- Jan 4, 2015
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- Germany, native Israeli
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Good morning!
I'm writing a book about a young Christian Arab man and his life in a post-gonetothedogs Israel. While my grandparents were proud Arabs, I have not been raised as anything other than a single mom's phenotypically and culturally white only child in Europe. The opposite of the traditional Arab family. I don't have a lot of personal experience to work with.
So I have a few questions about specific bits in my project. The last thing I want, is to reinforce the horrid stereotypes. Hope you'd like to help No offense is intended, on the contrary, I'm asking for help to avoid it!
1. The protagonist often recalls his childhood. Part of it is Spiderman, the other part is his mother abusing him with a shoe. Mostly I'm using the shoe-slapping for humorous bits. I've seen Arabs joke about mothers and shoe brutality, so I guessed it's inoffensive to use that within reasonable limits, yes? I understand that shoe violence is considered rather offensive when not used affectionately. Affectionate shoe violence, I have to write that down...
2. I have often read that Arabs tend to be racist towards black people. I have personally not observed such a thing, but then again, I haven't had many opportunities. Now, my protagonist lives with his black wife in an Arab village in Israel. What would their experiences likely be?
3. Are, or aren't Christian Arab men generally circumcised? Yeah, it comes up. Google gives me conflicting intel on this.
4. How do you stop the western reader from misinterpreting some natural jealousy/possessiveness that every person scared for their relationship feels, as the stereotypical domestic-abuse-Arab?
5. What is a typically Arab sense of humor? Personally, I love merciless sarcasm and pitch-black humor, and of course, the "Your mom" comeback, but would you find it in an Arab town?
6. What are typical customs for grieving families, like condolence visits?
I'm writing a book about a young Christian Arab man and his life in a post-gonetothedogs Israel. While my grandparents were proud Arabs, I have not been raised as anything other than a single mom's phenotypically and culturally white only child in Europe. The opposite of the traditional Arab family. I don't have a lot of personal experience to work with.
So I have a few questions about specific bits in my project. The last thing I want, is to reinforce the horrid stereotypes. Hope you'd like to help No offense is intended, on the contrary, I'm asking for help to avoid it!
1. The protagonist often recalls his childhood. Part of it is Spiderman, the other part is his mother abusing him with a shoe. Mostly I'm using the shoe-slapping for humorous bits. I've seen Arabs joke about mothers and shoe brutality, so I guessed it's inoffensive to use that within reasonable limits, yes? I understand that shoe violence is considered rather offensive when not used affectionately. Affectionate shoe violence, I have to write that down...
2. I have often read that Arabs tend to be racist towards black people. I have personally not observed such a thing, but then again, I haven't had many opportunities. Now, my protagonist lives with his black wife in an Arab village in Israel. What would their experiences likely be?
3. Are, or aren't Christian Arab men generally circumcised? Yeah, it comes up. Google gives me conflicting intel on this.
4. How do you stop the western reader from misinterpreting some natural jealousy/possessiveness that every person scared for their relationship feels, as the stereotypical domestic-abuse-Arab?
5. What is a typically Arab sense of humor? Personally, I love merciless sarcasm and pitch-black humor, and of course, the "Your mom" comeback, but would you find it in an Arab town?
6. What are typical customs for grieving families, like condolence visits?