File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_2002/postcolonial.0204, message 155


Date: Mon, 8 Apr 2002 23:02:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: "S. w." <chemicalis-AT-yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Ludicrous assumptions - as usual!


"Abd" is sometimes used in morrocco to connotate a
"black". 



--- "Dr. Salwa Ghaly" <sghaly-AT-sharjah.ac.ae> wrote:
> > Let me second this point. I have never, ever heard
> of
> > 'abd' being associated with 'black'. As a matter
> of
> > fact, many North African Arabs (and i'm assuming
> other
> > Arabs) who are non-Black are called 'Abdou',
> > 'Abd-something' like Abd-Errahman. The reason is
> that
> > 'abd' also has another meaning, which is of in
> literal
> > translation 'slave to God', but more accurately
> means
> > 'servant to God'. In that sense, according to
> certain
> > Muslim beliefs (and other religions, actually),
> such a
> > term has a positive connotation.
> 
> Having lived for extended periods of time in  four
> different Arab countries, I can say that the only
> place in which "Abd" is used by a small minority of
> people to mean "black" is Lebanon.  If my memory
> serves me correctly, minor characters in Hanan
> al-Shaykh's _Story of Zahra_ do employ the word
> "abd" in contexts that betray the racist attitudes
> some Lebanese businessmen in West Africa harbor.  It
> is an unfortunate fact that many of those born out
> of mixed Lebanese and African marriages have trouble
> getting accepted in Lebanese society.  That last
> point is also picked up by Al-Skaykh in _Beirut
> Blues_.
> 
> Salwa Ghaly
> 
> 
> 
> 
>      --- from list
> postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---


====SW

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