Ok, well to be fair I don't just twiddle my thumbs between trips to, say, Turkey. This Critical Language Enrichment Award (CLEA) precursor period (September-December) to my Fulbright research grant (January-August '08) is in full swing. You can consider this entry the "It's Your Money" post. Here is what your tax dollars are paying for--beyond that sweet bachelor pad from a few posts ago...
Media Arabic
5 days / week ; 3 hours / session
Because my research will eventually be devoted to Arabic and specifically Jordanian news media, my daily language class covers all the vocabulary, grammar, idioms, and such and such associated with that focus. Luckily for me, there are no other Americans at Yarmouk University this semester at my level of Arabic, so I enjoy a one-on-one tutorial. The daily session is divided into three hour-long lectures: First, an hour of reading newspaper or magazine articles and digesting new words and pesky media-specific phrases. Then an hour of listening to Al Jazeera news broadcasts and, more often, news analysis ("talking heads") programs, taped a day or two beforehand. It's always fun when the guests on the analysis shows get into heated arguments and start talking a mile a minute. Meaning, it's always fun. Finally, we wrap up the morning with an hour of conversation, usually in an interview format that involves me tackling foreign policy questions on current events in the Middle East. Although it's a bit difficult sometimes to reconcile how I went from being a second-semester fourth-year (err "senior") with class 3.5 days a week to waking up at 7:45 everyday, the subject material and variety in the Media Arabic class keeps me pretty engaged.
Journalism
2 days / week ; 1.5 hours / lecture
With the help of the Yarmouk U Language Center, I finagled my way into a undergraduate Journalism class that meets two afternoons a week. I enjoy being able to disengage from the tutorial language classes where, like it or not, I am always on the spot, and simply listen and take in an authentic lecture in Arabic. Technically I am auditing the class, so I am not graded on participation or assignments, but I do write and sumbit articles that the regular students are assigned. I'm also clearly the token American in the class and, if all the students weren't immediately clued in to that fact, our professor gives a little smile or glance my way every time American culture or journalism is brought up. Of course, aside from topics like obesity and Paris Hilton (yes, she came up even in Jordan), most of these asides are pretty positive in nature--whether it is glorifying the American tradition of solid investigative journalism or noting the cross-cultural phenomenon of nagging (namima) in marriages. ِAnd of course, the students are all nice and chummy to me, especially after I turned in the first assignment and they were surprised that--despite the occasional error--I could give a good effort in writing in Arabic.
Dialect Arabic
24 / 7
Hmm, noting that time commitment, it is unfortunate I am not better at the spoken (~slang) Arabic. Although it is not a focus of either the CLEA or my Yarmouk language class, becoming conversant in 'Ammiyyah is obviously essential to daily life in Jordan. While I've got the taxi ride, restaurant, my brief life story, and etc. down pat, I still need to get faster in casual conversation. Extended conversations with my friend Mohammad from downtown or with the students on campus between classes is the best practice, but it will probably require hiring a tutor during the Fulbright research grant period in Amman to really improve my 'Ammiyyah. Part of the problem is fighting the tendency to use Fusha I hav to use in the Media Arabic class, because the dialect differs in grammar and almost every vocabulary word. It's not exactly like learning two languages, but it's a lot further than distinguishing between British and American English. The up side is that, unlike the language classes, what I pick up is exactly what I remember so it's relatively easy to learn (and put to use) the most useful phrases and vocab. And I get some extra practice in the Journalism lecture, were the prof uses a nice mix of the two versions of Arabic.
So...I am doing my small part not to waste the government's money over here. Posted below, in fact, is an example of the articles I write every two weeks or so for the Journalism lecture. It's on a topic close to my heart, coffee. The pun in the post title? Oh, very intentional.
*And there's a rough English equivalent below the Arabic copy, although keep in mind the intended audience...
ثقافة القهوة:
تاريخ و مستقبل كأس القهوة الأردنية و الأمريكية
كتب آندرو دوم
يعود أصل القهوة العربية التقليدية الى الميناء التاريخي اليمني و مركز التجاري لمنطقة افريقيا الشرقية مدينة الموخة في القرن الخامس عشر، و أصبحت القهوة ركنا مهما في تقالييد البدو قبل انتشارها في كل أنحاء العالم العربي تحت السلطة العثمانية. غالبا ما تكون القهوة العربية مختلطة بالهال ثم تغلي مرتين في الدلة الصغيرة
و المفتوحة و يسكب خليطا لبن و هال في كأس صغيرة تسمي الفنجان.
و اليمن، و وفقا لدراسة من الموقف الألكتروني للبحث كنانة أونلاين، يستهلك الأردني 1.3 كيلوغرام من البن كل سنة.
وهويمثل أيضا اختلافا عن المقهى الأوروبي من خلال تقديم عدد كبير من مشروبات القهوة الخاصة المتميزة بطعمها و أكثر تفضيلا، مع ما تقدمه من قهوة خاصة بسفر.
و(مقهى باريس)، أن هناك سوق ناشئة لمشروبات القهوة الخاصة و لبن من أصول جغرافية متنوعة. والى حاد كبير، تخلط هذه المقاهي العصرية عناصرا تقليدية من ثقافة المقهى الأردنية بتفضيلا متزايدا بالمشروبات الخاصة و القهوة السفري.
Coffee has been called the universal beverage. From the Istanbul coffee house and quaint Parisian cafe to the trendy Starbucks branch around the corner to the kitchen table, coffee transcends nearly all national and cultural boundaries. Whether taken black, with cream and/or sugar, or reincarnated in a specialty drink, coffee continues to occupy a place in morning and working routines and form the heart of social gatherings in daily lives on every continent.
A closer look at the historic and traditional place of coffee in Jordanian and American society, however, yields some obvious distinctions in general between eastern and western tastes and basic conceptions of the beverage. A Jordanian would be hesitant to trade his small vinjaan of thick, strong Arabic coffee for an American’s hefty mug of drip-brewed Maxwell House, and vice e versa. They might not even consider their counterpart’s beverage to be coffee, in the strictest and most traditional sense of the word.
But has the trickle down effect of globalization already placed these two coffee drinkers on the path to the same “cup of joe?” A look at current trends and the future of the Jordanian and American coffee cultures may indicate just that.
Qahwa Arabia
Traditional Arabic coffee traces its origins to the historic Yemeni port and East African trading hub of Mocha in the fifteenth century, and became an important pillar in the traditions of the Bedouin of the Arabian Peninsula before spreading throughout the Arab world under the Ottoman Empire. The coffee grounds in Arabic coffee are often mixed with cardamom and twice boiled in the small, open, long-handled dalla pot. The mixture, with coffee grounds settling to the bottom, is then poured into small glass or ceramic cups called vinjaans.
Arabic coffee is traditionally served black but today is often sweetened with varying amounts of sugar, either wasat (sweet) or hilu (very sweet). Coffee still occupies an important place in Arab traditions as a sign of hospitality to guests and a facilitator for arrangements like marriage or social problem solving. Most of the coffee beans used in Arabic coffee come from Ethiopia and Yemen, and according to a Kanaana Online study, the average Jordanian consumes 1.3 kg of the stuff every year.
The American Cup O’ Joe
Coffee did not gain real traction in America until the early twentieth century, when rapid industrialization created a niche market for a populist drink to fuel the long working hours in factories and businesses. Thus the origins of widespread coffee consumption in America are tied to its role in the workforce, a tradition that continues today. American offices often provide a communal coffee machine in a break room, giving rise to the term “coffee break” for social gathering points during the workday.
Like Jordanians, Americans also enjoy coffee as part of the morning routine, waking up to automatic machine-brewed pots of coffee to accompany their breakfast. Most popular American brands of ground coffee such as Folgers and Maxwell House use beans from Columbia and South America. Unlike coffee culture in Jordan, most Americans add milk or cream and/or sugar to their coffee, and it is much more common to serve coffee with food.
Besides the morning meal coffee is often paired with dessert, when American coffee’s social role most resembles its Jordanian counterpart. According to the National Coffee Association, when served outside the home in coffee shops and restaurants, the average cup of plain coffee sells for $1.38.
Statistics from the NCA show 80% of Americans drink coffee, and of the 50% who drink it regularly, Americans consume an average of 3.1 cups a day. Adding these numbers to a comparison between the 9 ounce average mug of American coffee to the roughly 2 ounce vinjaan of Jordanian coffee, it is not surprising that Americans consume more coffee than anyone in the world.
Café Cultures
Coffee drinking in Jordan is typically a sit-down affair, and cafes are commonly filled into the early morning as Jordanians share cups with their friends during the nightly sahar. Unlike the Western café, Jordanian coffee is not normally enjoyed with food, but can often be paired with an argeelah in Jordanian café culture. A vinjaan of Arabic coffee sells in most cafes for a half to 1 JD, or .85 to 1.75 US dollars. .
Café culture in America is a relatively recent phenomenon. The Seattle coffee chain Starbucks pioneered the model of a successful American café, which like its European archetype provides a comfortable atmosphere for leisurely coffee drinking outside the office and home. The Starbucks model, now reproduced with great success by a variety of chains, represents a divergence from the European café however, by offering more elaborate gourmet coffee drinks and specializing in coffee to go.
The Nescafe Phenomenon
Café culture in Jordan has witnessed some important changes in only the last five years or so. Offering a western and instant alternative to the more traditional and labor-intensive Arabic coffee, the Swiss coffee beverage Nescafe has made great strides in the Jordanian market. Nescafe also dominates the non-dairy creamer market with its Coffeemate, usually paired with sugar to create the mug of Nescafe now served alongside Arabic coffee at cafes.
More than making inroads on café menus, however, the rising popularity of Nescafe has also led to the appearance of stand-alone Nescafe venues along the streets. The stands also offer traditional coffee, but specialize in various Nescafe coffee drinks, including a variety mimicking American coffee.
The owner of one Nescafe stand notes an increasing preference for the Nescafe drink over traditional Arabic coffee, particularly among young Jordanians. A Yarmouk University professor explains that for the college crowd, opting for Nescafe is as much a reflection of changing tastes as an attempt to adopt an element of Western culture break with the norms of their parents’ generation.
The Nescafe phenomenon has not only changed coffee tastes in Jordan, but has also affected consumption patterns. While once confined to the home or the café, the advent of street side stands has led to a coffee-on-the-go lifestyle. Cab drivers and groups of young Jordanians alike enjoy the convenience of a disposable cup of Nescafe. Arabic coffee has also adapted to the change and Styrofoam vinjaans of Arabic coffee are readily available from small portable coffee carts at night.
Looking Ahead
The Nescafe phenomenon may well prove to be an intermediary transition to more gourmet coffee offerings in Jordan in the future. The appearance of three Starbucks branches in Amman, as well as gourmet coffee shops like Broadway, Wakim, or Paris Café, indicates an emerging market for specialty coffee drinks and more diverse geographic origins for the standard cup. In many ways these trendy cafes successfully blend traditional elements of Jordanian café culture and an increasing preference for specialty drinks and take-away coffee.
The clear limit to the popularity of gourmet coffee shops in Jordan is price. Until income levels and the standard of living can increase to make a cup of Starbucks coffee sufficiently competitive with traditional Arabic coffee or Nescafe, gourmet coffee will remain limited to the middle and upper classes or the occasional customer, as the current distribution of these cafes in Amman’s more developed commercial districts demonstrates.
The future of American coffee in gourmet café chains, on the other hand, is very much already a current reality. NCA studies show that specialty coffee drink sales in the U.S. are increasing a whopping 20% a year. While the coffee maker at work or home may still remain the primary source of American coffee, more Americans are opting to grab a to-go cup from café chains on the way to work or on coffee and lunch breaks at the office. And when the coffee is machine-brewed, it is increasingly likely to be from beans of more “exotic” origins like Indonesia or approximate the taste of Arabic coffee by using coffee beans from Yemen.
The Universal Cup of Coffee?
The trends in coffee culture in Jordan and America seem to indicate the effects of a globalized marketplace are trickling all the way down to the standard cup of coffee. While Americans have begun to catch up to the traditional café culture in places like Jordan and increasingly elect to buy their coffee by the cup outside the home and office, Jordanians are just beginning to catch up to the coffee-to-go phenomenon. It may well be a decade or more before gourmet café chains on the American model replace Nescafe and coffee stands as the source of take away coffee in Jordan, but the intersection of these two coffee cultures, grounded in a shared love of the drink, seems to be merely a matter of time.
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***Next post on some observations of Jordanian Parliamentary Elections (going on tomorrow)...
1 comment:
in my view coffee culture is directly tied to cafe culture -- which i think can only exist in the context of efficient urban planning (the city core and the town center). Because the efficiency (as in density) of the average American city suffered greatly as a result of an infancy during the automobile age, we've precluded the foundation of a cafe culture through our love for sprawl.
as a sidebar -- the automobile wrecked the city and similatenously provided those factory jobs that you write about hastening the rise of coffee culture, which i guess is where coffee culture and cafe culture diverge ...
so i think your essay is as much about cafe culture as it is coffee culture. Because there is no place to stay (the cafe), most of the US will take their coffee to go. When Americans choose to live efficiently (in towns and cities), the cafes will spring up on every main street USA, and then i'll be able to order a cup of vingaan and sit down to enjoy it.
just hold the cardamom. that shit's gross.
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