{"id":289187,"date":"2021-02-25T09:59:38","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T12:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=289187"},"modified":"2021-02-25T09:59:38","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T12:59:38","slug":"researcher-brings-the-middle-east-closer-to-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/researcher-brings-the-middle-east-closer-to-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"Researcher brings the Middle East closer to Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 A doctor in History and Literary Theory from the University of Campinas (Unicamp), Muna Omran is the daughter of a Syrian father and a Lebanese mother. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she co-founded the Group of Studies and Research on the Middle East (GEPOM<\/a>) and has pursued a long academic path, focusing on breaking stereotypes on the Middle East, Arab countries, Islam, and Arab and Muslim women. Omran gave a phone interview to ANBA on Wednesday (24).<\/p>\n

Researching and spreading the Arab culture has always been a priority for Omran. She graduated in Portuguese and English and learned to read and write in Arabic. \u201cMy grandfather lived almost 70 years in Brazil and only spoke Arabic. We read the Quran in Arabic. This was the basis of my education,\u201d she reminisced. At the time of September 11, 2001, Omran saw the need to show and stand up for her culture as an Arab Muslim woman.<\/p>\n

She told she used to spend holidays in Lebanon and watches online Arab newscasts from several countries in the region. She\u2019s an enthusiast of Arab movies, soap operas, and books, too. \u201cThere\u2019s an Arab saying, \u2018everyone goes back to their roots,\u201d she said. Omran believes the cuisine is a link between cultures, but stresses the Arab culture goes way beyond sfihas and kibbehs.<\/p>\n

Omran follows her family\u2019s religion, the Islamism but doesn\u2019t use a hijab, a veil on her head. \u201cNobody uses it in my family, neither here nor in Lebanon, except for older women. That\u2019s common in Lebanon. Not using a hijab doesn\u2019t make me less Muslim, it doesn\u2019t take me the right to speak about Islam,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The scholar loves books by Milton Hatoum and Raduan Nassar, who, she says, changed how the diaspora was represented in Brazilian literature. \u201cThey are children of the diaspora and, from the 80s on, you see this change, as the Arabs had usually been misrepresented before, even in works by Machado de Assis. Tale Of A Certain Orient<\/em> by Milton Hatoum is a masterpiece on immigration, an unparalleled aesthetics. I really admire his work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Enthusiasts of the Middle East<\/strong><\/p>\n

The GEPOM group was created last April by Omran, professor Monique Sochaczewski and economist Najad Khouri. \u201cIt was our way of working at the moment were everyone was going mad at home [due to the pandemic and social distancing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

One month after it was created, some online courses<\/a> were implemented. \u201cWe noticed a non-academic audience that was eager for this knowledge, so we left the university premises to go online. Our students include businesspeople, military reserves, researchers, diplomats, professors, and socialites,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Omran says the lay audience struggles to understand the Middle East. \u201cWe started by meeting this demand for clarification. In Brazil, there\u2019s a very negative stereotype on Arab culture, particularly on Islam issues. We aim at breaking this stereotype,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Another feature of GEPOM, she says, is bringing current topics on the Middle East, including politics, history, entertaining and culture. \u201cAll courses, even those involving historical issues, bring current issues to be reflected upon,\u201d she said. The courses offer quotas for an inclusive education.<\/p>\n

The Beirut Port blast last August made Omran see a demand from students about what\u2019s going on in Lebanon. \u201cThen we did a live streaming, which was packed with people, then we started doing a regular free live streaming,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Find out more about GEPOM\u2019s courses:<\/em><\/p>\n