dinsdag 25 augustus 2015

Who's world is this?

Salam ailekum!

"The older you get, the wiser you become", I believe that starting my blog with this sentence is the proper way to express my feelings at this moment. Some people, unfortunately, don't get wiser the older they become. I have always said that one of the best ways to give people more 'acknowledgment' to the world and its people is to book them a flight to an unknown destination and wish them good luck. Travelling opens the mind and forces people to communicate with each other, and therefore makes them understand each other more and more.

But of course I know that not everyone is able to travel around the world or to travel to an unfamiliar country.1 Therefore I am grateful that I am granted an opportunity to participate in the summer school 'passions of tourism' in Jordan from the Honours College of the University of Groningen, led by dr. Dorina Buda. As the name already states, the summer school is about tourism. I know what people are thinking right now: "what is there to teach on tourism?". Well, enough! Tourism has a huge impact on the social and economical aspects of a region and maybe even a whole country.2 You can ask yourself for example what the difference is between begin a tourist and being a traveler.

As part of the summer school program I will write a blog about my tourist encounters and some aspects of tourism connected to the taught theories. The focus of this particular blog is actually on something else: the difference and equality between Morocco and Jordan. "Why Morocco?" Al tough I have lived in the Netherlands my whole live my roots lay in Morocco and I have been there many many times. I find my current trip to Jordan the ideal opportunity to lay down the differences and similarities between these two countries. Especially because there was just a week between my trips. Therefore I chose 'difference in equality' as my blog title. The title may sound a bit strange but I translated it directly from Arabic. A language these two countries share.

I hope that you will enjoy reading my short blog posts on this subject that I will try to post trough out my journey in Jordan. I am actually writing this post in Jordan and after my first day in this lovely country I am realizing (again) how important and fun travelling to an 'unknown' destination can be. Want to know more about my adventures in the Levant? Then follow my blog and let me reveal to you the beauty of Morocco and Jordan.

"Who's world is this? it's yours, the world is yours!"  - N.A.S.


a typical "I have been to Jordan" picture



1. Edenstor, T. (2009). Tourism. Elsevierp.301-303
2. Idem, p.303


4 opmerkingen:

  1. Why do you use the French term Levant and not the more local one Bilad al Sham? Just curious!

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    Reacties
    1. Good question! I actually wanted to use ' al Sham' but I think the French term is more 'common' for my readers.

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    2. Wouldn't you want to introduce your readers to terms coming out of this (Bilad al Sham) region rather than perpetuate the use of post/colonial attitude and terms?

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  2. Thank you for your feedback! I will definitely try to introduce my readers to Arabic terms!

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