Respect and acceptance of other cultures was a topic of discussion at the Saudi Arabian culture exchange Wednesday, where one student shared his native culture and social ideas.
The Rinker Center for International Programs’s first weekly culture exchange program of the semester was held on Saudi Arabia in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center.
About 35 students attended the presentation, given by doctorate student in special education Fahad Aseery.
Aseery, who has traveled to more than 25 countries, has spoken at a number of cultural exchanges in the past. This time he wanted to steer the conversation to correct misrepresentations in Western ideas of Saudi Arabian culture.
He said people that grow up with different languages and cultures have different ideas, and this is the reason for the differing attitudes between Western and Saudi Arabian culture.
“Saudis have different cultural values based on Islamic law,” Aseery said. “[A lesson that needs to be learned is] to respect other cultures – not just accept, but to respect.”
Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia were a topic which he wanted to correct false assumptions.
He said women choose to cover themselves in the hijab because of their religion and cultural values, not because the government or men force it on them.
“Saudi women choose that,” he said. “It’s their choice, it’s something Western people do not know. Nothing is forced on them, they are not oppressed at all.”
Aseery acknowledged that from a Western perspective, it seems like oppression, but he said in his country they respect Western perspective but do not try and change it or intervene.
He said in Saudi Arabia family and religion are the most important things in a person’s life and when people make decisions for themselves, they rely heavily on the opinions of their family, which comes over the individual.
“If you say something bad about me, I will take it and maybe even laugh about it,” Aseery said. “But if you say anything about Muhammad, I will be so angry. Whenever [people] do that, it is so offensive.”
He shared that once someone told him it was not Halloween as a joke when they saw him in his traditional Saudi Arabian clothing in the United States.
Aseery hopes people in the United States will respect his culture instead of fearing it or making fun of it.
“I hear a lot about the fear of Sharia Law,” he said. “It is quite ridiculous because we respect our culture and love to have our own practices in our countries [but] we wouldn’t go to another country and try to apply our perspectives there. One thing that I think Americans need to know is to start to accept and respect other cultures because people are different.”
For interior design major Ryanne Wheeler, it was her first cultural exchange program but she attends international conversation hour every Tuesday night.
She said she will plan to attend more cultural exchanges in the future because it helped her come to an understanding, especially on women’s issues.
“I find other cultures really interesting and I like knowing about other cultures so I can be more respectful towards them and not arrogant about my own,” she said. “I didn’t know a lot about Saudi Arabia [before this].”
