The Uncouth Arts

Lucky Fatima writes about a political conversation she had with her friend. I want to comment on this part:

She said that Bengalis were bad Muslims because they called maulvis to come and teach their kids Quran and then right after a Quran lesson they called music and dance teachers for their children. I knew what she meant. As opposed to Pakistan, in Bangladesh on a mainstream level, more encouragement is given to children in terms of learning traditional South Asian music and dance forms. I just said that I agreed that Bengalis have a great appreciation for the arts. What is wrong with this, I asked, because there is room for both religion and art in life. She became irritated with me and retorted “Dancing and singing is NOT art.” I told her that dancing and singing were indeed art, and art isn’t limited to being visual. I said that it was good that Bengalis appreciate these things and that the Mullahs haven’t managed to completely obliterate the reputation of traditional art forms in Bangladesh--- yet, I should say---the mullah culture has been on the rise in Bengal as well, and we will see that story unfold with time.

The "acceptable" fields of study for Asian Muslims are mostly: Religion (Islam, of course), Science (end result is to become a doctor), Engineering, and anything related to computers.

That's it.

Most Muslims are nudged, and often pushed, towards these professions. Other fields such as History, Language, Arts are considered "useless". Singing and dancing are especially frowned upon. It's one thing to have that as a hobby and do it at parties, quite another to spend money and learn it. I have eight Bangladeshi acquaintances at my university and, if my memory serves me correct, all but one are studying to become engineers.

Mind you, I don't think there is anything wrong with engineering. It's just that these seven guys likely weren't exposed to, or encouraged to look at, other fields of study. Those "useless" degrees do not bring much status but then, who knows, some of these Bangladeshis might have enjoyed them more.

Comments

[Laura(southernxyl)]

You know, I thought it was Puritans who were afraid that somewhere, someone was having fun. Come to think of it, since 9/11 and Afghanistan and Iraq, when Muslim culture started being discussed on the internet, I haven't seen that statement about Puritans.