Habibi Book Discussion

I felt that out book discussion about Habibi was very beneficial. There were issues brought up within my group which I had not paid much attention to. I realized how little I knew about problems between the two groups of people, Jewish and Arab, in this particular part of the world (Palestine/Israel). One of my group members addressed this issue in her questioning the text paper and it made me think about different ways in which this book could be read. Our group came to the conclusion that when thinking about this book one needs to realize that it is only one perspective, the Arab perspective and that the Jewish side of the story is not really addressed. I thought it was interesting to hear that some felt that the fact that this story was one sided meant that it was not necessarily "good" multicultural literature. However, after thinking about this situation I feel that no how good of a writer an author is, there will always be some type and level of bias and that it would be difficult to cover both sides of a story equally from an insider perspective. I actually feel that when different sides of a debate are outlined and separated, we can learn more because the full argument is presented together and more completely. Also, as for being authentic, it would make more sense to explain how one culture, the culture of focus, feels about a particular topic and that we as readers need to be able to recognize each side and respect each side of an argument. If we focus too much on always being equal, we may not have books that are as thought provoking which can diminish discussion and ways of determining what classifies "good" literature.

My group also spent a lot of time determining how to label Liyana and how to determine why she was able to act the way that she did. We felt that Liyana was an outsider to her father's Arab culture and then when she was in that culture she acted more as a tourist than as a member of the society. She didn't seem to make the attempt to become a part of the culture, she was happy with the way she used to live and she applied her old way of living to her new situation. Liyana was acting as an American in Palestine/Israel, she was not embracing the culture. We saw this when Liyana hesitated to stay in the Palestinian Village and also when she proceeded to ask for Omer to visit for dinner even though she was told of the differences and tension between the Arab and Jewish cultures. However, even though Liyana did not embrace the culture, the author was still able to represent a thorough explanation of cultural practices. We were able to see the interaction and emphasis of and on family as well as other relationships within the culture but we did not necessarily see the religious aspect. If this book were to be used to express the religions differences specifically and not that there were difference present I feel that this book would not do a good job. However, in representing that there are tensions in the area between different groups of people I believe that this book was a good representation.