Amman, Jordan - Last week, I had the chance to speak to comedians Dean Obeidallah, Maysoon Zayid, Aron Kader, and actor and producer Waleed Zuaiter. We spoke about humanizing the Arab\Muslim “Other” to Western audiences and promoting comedy and self-expression in the Middle East.
The visiting celebrities were eager to talk about their experience at a workshop in Jordan’s SAE Institute, a media technology training institute, pointing out that the country has a lot of local talent just waiting to take off.
One SAE student later told me that he personally wasn’t impressed with the workshop at all, though I immediately wondered how much of the negativity stemmed from simple inertia: the lingering idea that nothing with artistic or entertainment value could possibly be created in Jordan, ever (the same student told me he despises the recent Jordanian film “Captain Abu Raed,” a ground-breaking movie I adored).
I have heard repeated statements that Jordan in particular is an “anti-intellectual” environment, as opposed to, say, Lebanon or Egypt. I asked Waleed Zuaiter, whose parents divide their time between Amman and Ramallah, what he thought about said claims of anti-intellectualism:
Waleed, who co-produces the New York Arab American Comedy Festival besides working as an actor, told me: Read More
