'Why Do Americans Hate Us''

When Kareema Dauod (GRD ’10) traveled to the Middle East last month, she witnessed the Bush administration’s efforts to rehabilitate America’s image in the Arab world — and she found that cultural tensions ran in both directions.

“Why do Americans hate us?” she was frequently asked.

Dauod encountered the question in all three cities that she visited from Arabs of all walks of life. She said that she approached the question by describing American attitudes in the post-Sept. 11 world.

“I told them we were a country dealing with a great tragedy, and that we did not hate them,” she said.

Dauod was one of two “pioneer citizen ambassadors” on the trip, led by Karen Hughes, U.S. undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. Intended to foster dialogue between Americans and majority-Muslim countries, the six-day “international listening tour” was sponsored by the State Department and made stops in Istanbul, Cairo and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Dauod said that a perception of anti-Muslim sentiment by Americans was a recurring topic of conversation at the places she visited, including Dar El Hekma, a women’s college in Jeddah.

The ongoing U.S. military operation in Iraq was also foremost in the minds of many people Dauod spoke to, and attitudes toward the war were mostly negative.

“No one likes waking up to death,” Dauod said. “Everyone agreed that the war should end.”

The trip was a good way to break down common stereotypes of Arab countries as overrun by oppression and Islamic terrorism, Dauod said. She added that it was normal “to see women with hijabs [scarfs] walk side by side with women who did not wear them.”

Dauod recounted the question one woman asked Hughes about the reasons Americans think Muslim women are unhappy. Hughes replied that Americans are accustomed to equal rights in areas like voting and driving for women and men.

Dauod said that, despite such cultural misunderstandings, the Arabs with whom she spoke were hopeful about the chances for bridging the intercultural divide.

“The [Arab] people are very optimistic about relations with America,” she said. “In each country I was told of how happy people were to meet and talk with us. They appreciated the interaction. It gave you hope that with proper education, tolerance is a thing of the future.”

Dauod said the three cities she visited were distinct from one another, but also showed unexpected similarities with American cities.

According to Dauod, Jeddah’s streets were lined with artists and sculptors, and few cars frequented the roads, which were kept very clean.

By contrast, Cairo, much like New York, was characterized by heavy traffic and a diverse population made of people from all backgrounds and in all types of dress, she said.

While visiting the Topkapi Palace, which lies in the European part of Istanbul, Dauod discovered that one can see all the way across the Bosporus Strait to the side of the city lying in Asia.

Dauod also said she gained a different perspective on the American media in the Arab world. American journalists often show a very negative view of the Middle East and portray Muslim women as spoiled and unintelligent, she said.

Though herself a Muslim, she admitted going into the trip with mixed ideas of what to expect.

Dauod, who speaks Arabic and works at the State Department, said she could not only communicate with the population but she could also relate to both women and students.

“I went with an open ear and an open heart,” Dauod said.

Dauod said she hopes her trip will help encourage a string of student exchange trips between the U.S. and the Middle East. She said she believes that diplomatic progress can be made through increased cultural exchange.

“Personal contact, looking into someone’s eyes, is what is important,” she said.