Reflection

I, Lama Sewidan was born and raised in Cairo thus i’m fully Egyptian in terms of the traditions i’m used to and the way I act. However, i’ve been told that my grandparents are Turkish which is likely why my sisters and I don’t look fully Egyptian. I think AUC is a place where cultures clash, more specifically the Egyptian and western culture because it is a university where there are many nationalities however it still exists in Egypt. Also, many of the Egyptians that go to AUC are from the upper class of Egypt which I believe tend to drift away from their Egyptian roots and more towards the western lifestyle. Therefore, I think that even the people who are fully Egyptians tend to lose some of this identity on AUC campus and replace it with a more western lifestyle in terms of the way they dress, the language they speak and their social interactions. I however try my best not to fall into this. Since I have started going to AUC I have tried my best to maintain speaking in Arabic and sticking to the lifestyle I had before being an AUCian.

I knew what the word “Bias” was before taking this class however I did not know what it meant in the context of identity and race. I wasn’t aware of the existence of such thing as “being biased because of who you are or where you live”. Even if I was unconsciously aware, I would think some people are biased and some are simply not. And those who are biased, are ignorant rude people. However, my knowledge on that matter was broadened as I learned that everyone has even a tiny bit of bias in them. You dont have to be a bad person to be Biased, you only have to be human. I learned that we as humans unconsciously tend to be biased because of who we are; our race, where we grew up, and maybe even the social media views that might affect our views.

I was once staying at an hotel in 6th of October with my elder sister. I was going down the elevator to visit the spa and as I came out there was a Nigerian football team in the lobby. As I walked through them I got the most disgusting and harassing looks from multiple team members. I was very uncomfortable. I as someone who doesn’t interact with Nigerians at all on a daily basis consider this the only interaction I had with Nigerians in my life. Thus, I unconsciously hate them although im aware that this football team comes from a nation that has over 100,000 Nigerians.

I think there are many biases that exist around us in our daily life; against woman, against dark skinned people, against people from the lower class of Egypt. I think the major bias that exists right now is that against Asians because of the Corrona virus. I have encountered and heard of multiple situations happen where they are mistreated because of their race. The most recent one was in a super market where people would instantly empty the aisles where the Chinese people walked in.

The quizzes results stated that i’m more of a happy person and that I more calm than anxious. I honestly don’t believe that is completely true because I believe we all have our times of anxiety and calmness so this is very broad to describe me with being “Calm than anxious”. Also, I tend to be more anxious than calm. The questions in the test were not very detailed in order to determine such a thing. None of them asked about my daily experiences or how I act in certain situations.