Raphael Patai (1910–1996)

I actively sought out a book on this subject, as I was fascinated by the stark cultural differences between Arab families and Western people in a book I read last year.

A book with a title such as The Arab Mind raises immediate questions of stereotyping, but Patai - who was an anthropologist, historian and biblical scholar - goes to pains to explain that in this book he's looking at inherent traits in many areas of Arabic life which strongly influence thoughts and actions in adulthood. Clearly there is scope for individualism within this, with this influence likely significantly diluted amongst Arabs living in the West. Patai's focus is on the Arab mindset of those living in North Africa and the Middle East.

It's a dense book, clearly written originally for use in academia, and in certain chapters a few pages rather than 50 would have been sufficient for my more casual interest, but overall it's incredibly interesting, with Patai supporting his arguments with plenty of evidence. One of the chapters which grabbed me most was an early chapter on the commonality of child-rearing approaches amongst Arabs which Patai links to strong, repeatable traits in adulthood. Boys are very much coddled by their mothers and the other adult females in the family, breast-fed for almost twice as long as girls and typically fed on demand, whereas girls are treated more harshly and typically do not enjoy the same level of adoration due to the reverence that is placed on male offspring. Around the age of 4 or 5 father's typically begin to take more interest in their sons and there is a sharp change from the warm, loving environment enjoyed with mothers to the harsher world of the males of the family, where sons begin at the bottom of the hierarchy of respect and are disciplined harshly by not only their fathers but also older male cousins and uncles. This male upbringing, Patai argues, shapes the personalities of adult men who learn to treat inferior males harshly (but not to the same level of inferiority as women are typically treated).

Other particularly interesting themes were around the continued influence of Bedouin culture and values on work ethic (i.e. an aversion to manual labour), the practice of mediation (which is still widely practised from neighbourly disputes to at a leadership level between Arabic countries) and a dichotomy between outbursts of activity and passivity, geniality and aggression. Patai argues that the passivity aspect has led to long decades of stagnation amongst Arab nations, resulting in most of the Arab countries being significantly left behind in terms of development in comparison with the West. That leads on to another very interesting chapter on the general hatred felt for the West which Patai puts down mainly to two things; firstly, rather than blaming lack of Arab advancement on these traits of stagnation and work-ethic, there is a tendency to blame instead the West for being responsible for this disparity and actively working to keep the Arab nations down. Secondly, much less there being tensions between Islam and Christianity, the tensions arising from increased Westernised influences in Arabic countries are argued as being more down to the secular influences of the West, where religion is now much less important and morals hence considerably looser. Arab countries, Patai writes, struggle greatly with how to adapt Western-influenced advancements without impacting on the strict moral code of Islam. For example, how to keep women ignorant and subversive to men in a world of mobile phones and internet.

The biggest negative of this book is that it was written 50 years ago. Patai wrote a postscript chapter in 1983, looking at recent Arab conflicts and developments (particularly the huge impact that the development of the oil industry has had on the likes of Saudi Arabia), and argues strongly in this chapter that these changes are still heavily shaped by his earlier arguments of the aspects which shape the Arab mentality. In his more recent forward, Norvell B. de Atkine, a retired US army colonel, writes post 9/11 but also strongly supports Patai's works and it's continued relevancy despite the passage of time. It's a great shame not to have more recent considerations of this in the context of ISIS, the Arab Spring and more recent conflicts, but sadly Patai is no longer with us.

Going back to my original reason for reading this book, I found in incredibly useful in lifting the lid a little on what drives some of the behaviours I noticed strongly in the other memoir I read, such as the huge importance of family honour. Of course Patai's book is one person's opinion and no doubt many Arabs would disagree with a number of his points, but it reads credibly and still respectfully towards Arab people.

3.5 stars - removing half a star simply due to the age of the text, but an important and interesting book nonetheless.… (mer)