Home and Away Traditional Tourists and the Thoroughly Modern Bedouin
Lead Research Organisation:
The Open University
Department Name: Geography
Abstract
A documentary film that takes an innovative look at the stereotypical 'romantic' images of the desert and Bedouin life. Focusing on the south Sinai, this film explores the problems that arise from tensions between the demands of the tourist/industry for Bedouin to maintain an image of 'tradition' and 'timelessness' yet also work within a very modern tourist industry. Made in a simple minimalist style to complement the Bedouin lifestyle- this film will follow Bedouin as they travel from one area of contested space to another and provide insights to a process of modernity rarely seen.
Organisations
| Title | A five-minute film De-Signing Tourist Space |
| Description | This is a compilation of clips from a larger collaborative documentary film project that looks at the connections between the practices of contemporary travel and the lifestyle and livelihood of southern Sinai Bedouin. The region, especially sites such as Sharm el-Sheikh and Dahab, have become geographical and cultural destinations for travelers who consume an array of touristic paraphernalia; the sun and sea, Bedouin hospitality and culture, history, Nature, and the beauty of the area, i.e. the collective environment. The piece is a collection of signs from the region. In situ their purpose and function is to guide and inform. Removed from this larger context, they begin to reveal visual clues as to the construction of representation and the production of space. Furthermore, by shortening (and manipulating) the distance between the signs, a narrative of this space suggests itself. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2006 |
| Impact | Part of an exhibition - installation - at University of Philadelphia 2006. |
| Title | Bedouin Feature Film - Screenplay development. |
| Description | Looking for Gold A coming of age story, interweaving an ancient mystery with the present-day adventures of a young Egyptian woman who comes to the Sinai to escape the Cairo crowds. Dahlia is a young woman drawn to the wilderness of Sinai in her quest to escape from the crowded streets of Cairo. When she arrives she meets Freij and Emma and an array of other strange and wonderful characters also escaping from their past in some way, and all seeking something from the ancient land of Musa. One day she encounters Ramadan, an elderly Bedouin with a secret. He entrusts Dahlia with a quest, to find an ancient book said to contain all Bedouin history last seen in the now derelict monastery of El Tur. This film weaves fact and fiction, mixing the sacred with the vernacular to present a series of creative stories about the saints and sinners of the Sinai, alongside a quest to find the missing document. Stories to be created via a series of workshops among local communities. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2014 |
| Impact | In submission for development currently. |
| Title | DVD - presented at Open University Geography seminar, UK Universities and film festivals. |
| Description | There are few images of the Middle East as iconic as the Bedouin nomad. Yet their iconic status as camel-riding natives is increasingly being transfigured as a marketing tool for the Sinai's tourist industry - offering tourists a way in to the romance and magic of the desert landscape. Images used to fix and stereotype people can also be used to upset and rework these stereotypes. Made with local Bedouins, this exploratory film looks at the impact of tourism on local Bedouin communities and explores the tensions between demands on Bedouin to maintain a tradition of timelessness in a modern tourist industry. Sinai Sun, a film by Jessica Jacobs. Made with Alexa Firat and Hussein Abu Ahmed, funded by a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2006 |
| Impact | Used for teaching in courses on tourism and geography in the UK, Germany and the US. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/21521292 |
| Description | The main output of this research project was a collaborative film made with members of the Bedouin community in the Sinai. My main discovery was that film is an excellent, undervalued and underexplored vehicle for academic research that can be used to examine any subject. At the time of the research most academic research that uses film tends to approach film as a video data output. Format is constrained and used rather conservatively, particularly in relation to development issues. This project set out to push the boundaries a bit further and discover what other aspects of film (i.e. not just 'video') can contribute to the research and publication of research process. The research was designed from the outset to reflect generally on some of the crucial issues facing people from 'developing' modernities who are engaged in the presentation of a 'traditional' culture for touristic/economic purposes. It never set out to examine changes within so-called traditional society because the research premise was that societies are always in flux, never static. The process of making a film was found to be an excellent way to actively consider how fixity and stereotypes are made through the practice of tourism and visual representation in the media. As a film output, the research has successfully created a visual exploration of these practices of contemporary travel and tourism and connected it visually and tangibly to its supposed (absract) precursor - 'nomadism'. The collaborative element to this film was crucial and based on many years of working with the local community. In this film the Bedouin are not rendered passive and nameless. They chose many of the locations to film, selected what was filmed and also sometimes directed the interviews. They also participated in the filming and acted as performers - but crucially they decided what to say. In this film the voices of the Bedouin are not silent. The film also included images of Bedouin that upset normative imaginations - Bedouins in jeans, in bars, in government provided apartments, rather than solely in the tent and on the camel. By focusing on the 'protagonists' - following Bedouins like Hussein Abu Ahmed and Jebeli B'harbi and allowing them to direct what is filmed, this film I believe has achieved the objective to 'find out what they have to say.' The film showed this by focusing on local perceptions of what is being 'captured'/contained and preserved (and sold for tourist consumption) and found that 'tradition' itself was being actively remade every day. Through a romantic historicised image of beauty of the Sinai, made accessible by primarily male Bedouin gatekeepers. The film has been made accessible by being uploaded to view online. It has also been presented in conferences such as the Annual Association of Geographers conference. It was also selected as one of the films to participate in the Margaret Mead Travelling Film Festival as part of the Ethnographic Film Festival (University of Manitoba, Canada). |
| Exploitation Route | This film has led to further research projects since, all based on the collaborative use of film to explore western encounters with 'others' in tourist space. However the approach and methods used can be applied to a far wider area of research particularly in development studies and in areas where visual ethnography is being considered. The collaborative approach first developed here and taken further in the ESRC 'Rebranding the Levant' project 2008-2011 in Jordan and Syria (RES-062-23-324). Further research award has been given in Catherine's Monastery. Awarded by British Academy Leverhulme. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Environment,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Other |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/21521292 |
| Description | My findings have been used in an educational context teaching courses on tourism and development studies in universities in the UK and the US. The film has been taught to undergraduates and postgraduates In a range of disciplines including Anthropology, Geography, Development Studies and Tourism and Travel. The film itself is also viewable online directly so has reached a very diverse audience of policy-makers, those working in the tourism and cultural heritage industry, fillmmakers and academics |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Title | Bedouin music CD |
| Description | This is an important resource of music from the south Sinai region. This kind of music is increasingly becoming harder to find as local Bedouins are becoming less interested in learning these skillls from older members of the community. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The music collected here is being developed and used to promote interest among the local community. It has also been accessed by and influenced people in the music industry in the UK. |
| Title | DVD of film |
| Description | A DVD output of the film made by the grant. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2006 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This research database has gone on to inform further major research projects on tourism and cultural heritage in the Middle East. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/21521292 |