Briefing Note

The Power Within: Preserving Arabic Culture and Heritage

We have carefully selected and invited you to join a special group of female leaders from across a diverse breadth of industry sectors to openly and honestly discuss the power challenges facing women in corporate today.

Introduction

Arabic is a language that is deeply intertwined with an ancient culture and Islamic heritage, and without a strong understanding of the language, many young Arabs may struggle to connect with their cultural heritage and traditions.

Teaching Arabic as a second language is a challenging task due to the language's unique structure, lack of standardisation, and different writing system. Additionally, the declining use and understanding of Arabic can have a negative impact on the uptake of religion and culture amongst new generations, leading to a loss of cultural identity and understanding. 

This project is to explore the challenges and opportunities that face educators and communities and to promote the study and understanding of Arabic in order to preserve the culture and traditions for future generations.

 

Discussions with Purpose

The Arabic language, once a major cultural and intellectual force, has experienced a decline in recent times due to various factors such as war, revolutions, and other social-political challenges. These factors have contributed to a decline in both usage and preservation of the language.

War has led to the displacement of millions of people, causing a loss of cultural identity and language. In addition, many schools and universities have been destroyed, making it difficult for individuals to learn and study the language.

Another contributing factor is the increasing influence of Western languages and cultures. Many Arabic-speaking countries have adopted policies of westernisation for international opportunities of betterment. The younger generation is more interested in learning English, French, and other European languages, which they perceive as the language of globalisation, technology, international trade as well as better job prospects.

The three key areas for our discussions are:

  1. Preserving Arabic Culture and Heritage
  2. Healthy Identification with Being Arab
  3. Inspiring Celebration of Culture, Creative Curriculums, Education Solutions
  4. Living the Joy: Traditional Crafts, Cuisines, Storytelling and Reading
  5. Successful Models, Global Networks and Ethical Considerations

 

More Than Words

Welcome to "The Power Within." Our goal is to discuss and unpack real issues that face our communities and hinder them from realising their full potential. We believe that by engaging in meaningful conversations, we can inspire positive change and empower individuals from within.

In these discussions, we will explore how the many young Arabs who grow up in non-Arabic speaking countries may not have access to resources and education that would allow them to learn and understand their culture, heritage and religion. With insights, we hope to shed light on the challenges faced by these communities and identify actionable steps towards positive transformation.

Moreover, we aim to unite individuals from across a broad yet related segments, who can partner and collaborate to magnify our collective impact by bringing new actions into their communities. We hope this collaboration will create a ripple effect of positive change through new connections and expanded professional networks and impact channels.

 

Preparing for the Roundtable

We have identified five questions (please feel free to contribute and suggest changes) to prepare and commence discussions about defining power, power dynamics and impact of change as experienced by women in the workplace today.

  • What is the self-perception of a young Arab navigating the globalisation?
  • What are the social benefits when Arabs are empowered with accessibility to strong cultural identification?
  • What systemic structures are needed to embed positive cultural change and empower long term international cultural growth?
  • How can the learning goals and obstacles be defined, become explicit and overcome taboos?
  • What collective mind shifts are needed to move towards a more generative future?

 

Making Your Contribution Matter

After reviewing the discussion, our next step is to create a report that will be published on warc.com. Before we proceed, we will kindly request your confirmation that you are comfortable with your comments from the roundtable being included in the report. Additionally, we will provide you with a copy of the report for review before it is made publicly available.

 

Moderators

Hend Saeed

Founder, The Bridge Literary & CulturalConsultancy, Curator and presenter of The Salon – Culture & Literature, Mindfulness Consultant

Hend Saeed is a literary agent, consultant, translator, program curator, writer, editor, moderator, and interviewer. She is also the primary agent for a number of Arabic and Western publishers and writers. Hend has published collections of short stories and regularly contributes to a number of publications in Arabic and English through articles, literary translations, interviews, and book reviews.

Although she was born in Iraq, she lived in a number of places across the globe – including Jordan, Yemen, New Zealand, Australia and the UAE.

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Moustafa Seddick

IT Consultant, digital transformation consultant, app developer, arabic facilitator and trainer

With over two decades in IT and digital innovation, Moustafa extends his impact to his client communities, supporting their growth and capacity to thrive. An innovation coach and trainer, he empowers tech enthusiasts, enriching the evolving IT landscape. Fluent and passionate about Arabic, Moustafa's unwavering dedication to technology and mentoring reflects his commitment to driving positive change in underserved areas, embodying a lifelong passion for IT, innovation and education.

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Dr. Abeer Tayeb

Founder Graviteams

Nataliya Wiedemeyer PMP ACC is an ICF Professional and Team Coach. Her vision is a connected world, where people work together on making it a little better every day. She helps teams to develop and improve their engagement, performance, and productivity.

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Rania Laing FCIM PCC

CEO and Founder PI and your neuro coach, executive coach

Rania believes in empowering healthier people everywhere reaching into all sectors to accelerate sustainable transformation. Since founding PI, She has been working to build strong collaborative partnerships that support the PI mission using latest research and a scientific approach. She is an Ashridge Hult Executive Coach, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, a PCC Credentialed ICF Coach and sits on the global Board of Trustees for the ICF Foundation.

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"In today’s world, which is driven by globalization, technology, and the rapid exchange of goods, services, and ideas, one language stands out: English. More precisely, it is oen referred to as global English. English today is not just a language to be learned for furthering education or job prospects; it has gone beyond that to stand out as the sole lingua franca of our rapidly globalizing world. For better or for worse, it is English that has taken centre stage in the quest for a language that can unite the world’s multilingual people in order to meet the need for a common communication tool."

Source: 'Global English and endangered Arabic in the United Arab Emirates.' January 2011 by Ahmad Al-Issa and Leila S. Dahan