Word: barakat
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...English-speaking world, to talk with one's hands is a sign of poor breeding. For Arabs of all social levels, however, gestures are an indispensable part of any conversation. "To tie an Arab's hands while he is speaking," writes Robert A. Barakat in the Journal of Popular Culture, "is tantamount to tying his tongue." To prove his point...
...Barakat, an anthropologist at Newfoundland's Memorial University, recently gathered a dictionary of gestures from throughout the Arab world and was able to give specific definitions to no fewer than...
Body Language. Many of the gestures collected by Barakat are tacit tools of flirtation. Northern Syrians blow smoke in a woman's face to show that they desire her. In Lebanon, the same message is conveyed by punching the left palm with a closed right fist...
...Arabs, according to Barakat, share a certain basic vocabulary of body language. They stand close together and frequently touch each other in a conversation, and they look each other in the eye constantly, instead of letting their gaze drift to the side as Americans do. Gesturing is done with the right hand, not the "unclean" left...
Looking at "the dysfunctioning of Arab society," Beirut Social Psychologist Halim Barakat says: "Men alienated from established orders have alternatives." Barakat suggests three alternatives-revolution, withdrawal and resignation-and notes that only the second and third are acceptable in Arab culture. Revolution against a government is one thing; against the traditional structure of society, it is quite another...