[oman-l] Survival of this list ...

[Michael F. Davie]

>Having seen the exchange created by the Hussani article which I had posted
>fewdays ago I thought I should write to clarify some points.

>. I appreciate that discussing politics is not everyone's cup-of-tea, so as to
>speak, but we do not all need to participate.There could be more than one
>topic posted that concern Oman (art, culture,history, tourism, sports,
>economics, science, politics etc., etc.) for us to pick and choose.
>
>Does this sound totally out of order?
>
>Oman is a progressive, tolerant, peace-loving country... It's also
>beautiful and the charm of its people make it very special. Could we make
>this list the same? Could we also have other suggestions/postings to make
>the list more active and medium to exchange views and ideas, instead of
>just unsubscribing at the sight of the first article/posting that we
>didi not like and/or agree with? or is it just futile to ask?
>

I totally agree with this point, and I do not feel that what was posted was
out of place.
I would certainly like to see more debate on this site, and would really be
sorry if it was limited to the experiences of hikers, divers or sailors.
:-)

As an academic having visited the Sultanate, and having links with SQU
through research projects and exchanges of students and teaching staff, my
particular interests are, naturally, elsewhere. Tourism or the activities
of ex-pats on the beach or the inland range make me more jealous than
interested (the cold Atlantic is 300 km to the West of here, and the
nearest warm water is the Mediterranean, 600km to the South. Even there, it
isn't warm enough for me... Give me good ol'Beiruti polluted waves any
time!). As for trecking, etc. with ICB, here we're still on hot soup at the
end of the day.

SO. How about starting a more serious debate.

For starters here are a few questions :
1) What research and mapping is there on spatial segregation in the greater
Musqat metropolitan area ? What analyses have been done on the
socio-economic variables that could explain the differences in the various
quarters of the capital?

2) What can be said on the current and projected world-vision of the
Sultanate, and especially the cities, in the context ofthe  Globalization
of the economy?
How does the Sultanate see itself fitting in to the World Economy,
especially in the context of fierce competition of the Gulf States?

3) What can be said about the effects of the decline of the date-palm oases
on the family structures of the inhabitants of the Sultanate. Are we seeing
the emergence of a new type of family structure, with different loyalties,
with different ambitions?

4) What can be said about the cosmopolitan identity of the Omani
city-dwellers, in contact with all sorts of influences, fron the Gulf to
Eastern Africa, etc. What makes the Omani cities fundamentally different
from those elsewhere?

I'm sure other questions will crop up and we will have the opportunity to
discuss them on this list.

Regards
Michael Davie







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Michael F. DAVIE    davie@droit.univ-tours.fr
UMR "URBAMA" (Urbanisation dans le Monde Arabe)
Tél : (33) 02 47 36 84 67    Fax : (33) 02 47 36 84 71
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