Reading, Internet, and Family Communication: Study of Cultural Globalization Challenges

Heyam Hayek Unit Head/ Cultural Programs and Activities Qattan Centre for the Child September 23, 2011

Reading, Internet, and Family Communication: Study of Cultural Globalization Challenges

Heyam Hayek Unit Head/ Cultural Programs and Activities Qattan Centre for the Child September 23, 2011

Reading, Internet, and Family Communication: a Study of Cultural Globalization Challenges

Abstract: Applied science and technology has changed rapidly over the past four decades, particularly in the field of information technology and telecommunications. This series of changes is considered to be the third revolution in human civilization. The world has become, therefore, as a small village that reduces distances between people and accelerates the time wheel. Millions of people in different cultures, knowledge levels, languages, and locations are now able to communicate and interact in real time (audio and video). Hence, this technology might interfere with the users culture and privacy by promoting diversity of, for instance, culture, behaviour, and/or daily lifestyle. This might make the relationship between the generations weaker or more complex. The emergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) could have a negative social impact on family relations, especially in the Arab world. ICT could undoubtedly affect Arabic culture, which has inherited specific themes and characteristics over thousands of years. Cultural globalisation via the Internet tends to exclude or homogenise local heritages. Today we are, therefore, obliged to study changes in attitudes about communication within Arab families, and specifically Palestinian families. First, we must figure out the role of cultural and social institutions in facing and responding to the emergence of ICT. Second, how can the narrative of grandparents and parents be developed in its historical context? Third, how can reading be integrated into social activities to maintain a coherent society in light of cultural globalisation? And finally, what are the methods to conduct this integration in light of technological changes such as e-reading? Therefore, this study attempts to answer the previous questions. An exploration research will be implemented to figure out the current activities by Palestinians' institutions for enhancing reading and its skills in the studied society.

Introduction Millions of people go online daily.. Some dedicate most of their lives to the online community. Rather than other forms of social life which cause isolating users in a virtual world. These strange phenomena in Arab culture which is based on dialogue and communication between society and families members, which known as the extended family, where the father and the son, and grandfather, all in the same house. Children no longer feel the kindness and the warm feelings of their mother and father, they get while reading stories to them. Grandpa and
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Grandma no longer have important role in the lives of children. Father and mother on the Internet chatting with friends from other worlds, or they browse the Web sites. Children playing on the internet and browsing lots of sites that may contain good and bad contents. They become addicted to their presence on the Internet, which causes a state of alienation from reality. Grandmother or grandfather living in a world of memories because of a lack of communication with them, there is no longer family meetings attended by different generations who enjoy reading whether written or oral. The existence of the Internet and the consequences of cultural globalization reduce the opportunities of society and people communication. They have lost their solidarity and collaboration, which was linked by sitting together and practice many activities like reading and listening to stories and news. Reading Like other language skills, an essential skill for human communication, this communication that convey the culture and heritage from generation to generation, and promote warm relations that are based on love, brotherhood and solidarity. Palestinian Generations A generation being defined as an identifiable group that shares birth years, age, location, and significant life events at critical developmental stages (Kupperschmidt, 2000)i In this paper we divide Palestinian generation into three ``generations'', each with unique Policy components, related to the social, economic and political characteristics of its period in history. Palestinians who were Palestinians who were born Palestinians who were born born before and in the from(1957- 1977) from (1978- 1995) first years of 54- 34 years old in 2011 33_16 years old in 2011 Nakba(1938-1956) 73- 55 years old in 2011 General Between 600,000 and Lived through the period of Palestinians born and raised view 700,000 Palestinians were struggle and the Palestinian under Israeli occupation: jil almade refugees by the commando operations intifada, the intifada summer of 1949. jil al-thawrathe generation. This was a jil alnakba revolutionary generation generation composed of as having failed to resist teenagers as much as it was of the Zionist conquest.ii children (some as young as nine-years-old), who confronted Israeli soldiers openly despite the imbalance of power atfal al-hijara or the children of the stones Hero Jamal abd el naser and Yasser Arafat, Hawatmeh Shaheed(a religious term in &symbol Islam, meaning both "witness" Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni and George Habash, who who were heroes for them were heroes for them and "martyr
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"Return Key" The key symbolizes the right of return for Palestinian refugees worldwide

Koffiyeh, symbol of the fight and the struggle

Patriotic songs and poems glorifying the atfal al-hijara were produced with gusto , symbols of struggle and sacrifice

Fashion

Traditional clothing

Keep Palestinian traditional costumes beside modern fashion for young people, such as shirt & pants and short dresses for girls Relief and international aid, Work within the Israeli territories, Relations of the camp associated with the differences of Refugees

Islamic clothes. Hejjab in addition to the latest fashion

Lifestyle

Agricultural Community Extended family characterized by solidarity and integration.

Multitaskers , they dont focus as theyre more distractible Disintegrated relations as a result of Ideological extremism

Value System

Social participation, bravery, and uncertainty, freedom, power of selfesteem, Domination, and responsibility Have high affiliation for home and land The opening of Arab College in Jerusalem and cinema in Jaffa Return back to their land one day

Solidarity, sacrifice, Commando revolutionary work

contradictory value systems: the most liberal and democratic and the most extremist Islamic, sometimes existing inside one and the same person

Cultural icons

Palestinian universities such as Birzeit University and AnNajah National University Double vision; some have as optimistic view on return, and others possessed a pessimistic view on return

e- learning Virtual app. (24/7 on internet). Pessimistic vision, Tomorrow is a dark tunnel

View of the Future

These generations that the Palestinian table shows, indicates some features of living together in the same family within the Palestinian community adding another important factor represented in the return of the Palestinians from abroad. After years and for some, decades of living in foreign countries and cultures, these Palestinian Returnees bring with them not only their desire to contribute to the new state, but also new ideas and values from abroad. Many of these new ideas are really Western ideas that are clashing with Palestinian-Arab cultural traditions and beliefs. This mode of living, and this difference of intellectual and cultural enhance to deepen the gap between the generations which appears in many forms of disagreement, contradiction and divergence in certain matters regarding their attitudes, values, closeness, and communication. This lack of understanding of social, moral, political, musical, sartorial or religious opinions leads to lack of acceptance, which is the primary reason why families break and why all this gap between the Palestinian generation . Models for institutional efforts to frame the reading as a link between the generations One concept of the generation gap is that parents and offspring have different values and beliefs. As a result, many parents fear that they will lose influence on their children when peer pressure becomes too highly valued. Parents and their children find it hard to learn from each other, so they point their fingers at each other instead. In Palestine there are few contributions for cultural institutions and organizations to link between Palestinian generations like: Qattan Center for the child Tamer Institute for Community Education Cultural gatherings such as Salon "NOON

Qattan Centre for the Child in Gaza City, which boasts over 100,000 volumes and a variety of other library and information services, was established to compensate for the lack of incentives and opportunities, both socially and in the traditional educational system, for children to nurture their curiosity, expand their knowledge and facilitate their access to outside cultures. It also aims to cultivate children intellectually, emotionally and socially in order to enable them to become active and effective social beings within the context of an increasingly globalised world. How Qattan Centre for Child bridges the gap between generations? Qattan Centre for Child have many efforts to improve links between the young and older generations, through intergenerational programs as deliberate attempts to connect the old and young through program activities that have shown to produce desirable outcome and increasingly recognized as an effective tool to close the generation gap

Qattan Centre for the child bridging the Gap generation through a variety of activities, involving adults and children, for example Hekayat Jady( My Grandfather tales) Family Literacy Qattan clubs Reading workshops Computer Literacy Open days ( all community share in this events ) ... etc. Here we will introduce a simple explanation for some activities in order to acquire insight into the nature of these activities designed to reduce the gap between generations:

Hekayat Jady In Qattan Center for the child , we can no more assume that strong bonding will certainly exist between the generations, even when three generations live under the same roof. Grandparents who are alone the whole day may feel isolated in a three-generational household; even when their children and grandchildren are at home in the evening, For this, It was necessary for cultural and community centers in Palestine to adapt the activities of these elderly people which help them return to normal life and give them the sense that they have value in society and can provide useful services to others. From this point Hekayat Jady program was released. Older generations in Hekayat Jady program tell stories and tales for children about the history of Palestine, the customs and traditions of the Palestinian cities, Use narrative speech and story reading to enhance children's knowledge of Palestinian culture and veer a child towards values that can become principles for life. Hekayat Jady program offer a high-impact experience for the new generations. Senior citizens in Palestine will contribute mightily to the nurturing, mentoring, and academic success of Palestinian children who are struggling with the effects of: Israeli wars Division between the two parts of the country (Gaza - West Bank) Internal conflict (Hamas - Fatah) Different affiliations and poverty.

Computer literacy program Computer literacy is a great way to bridge generation Gap, Reduce the technology gap between generations involved in the Qattan Center is a strategic matter for the institution, For this there were technology programs for the elderly to enable them to interact with the younger generation, like My Child and Computer program, In this activity, fathers, mothers and children in joint activities combine fun and education

Family Literacy Among the various social institutions, the family is probably the only institution that is truly age integrated (Hagestad and Uhlenber, 2005, 2006), Family literacy is a powerful way to support parents with few skills and show them how they can help their children become more confident and effective communicators. Qattan center for the child runs 2 parents clubs, empowering the parent-child relationship. a) Kindergartens Family Literacy: Empowering the parents role as the first teacher to their preschool children, through: Capacity building through a Family Literacy Program targeting the staff of 24 kindergartens (KGs) in Gaza Establishing 24 parents clubs in the participant 24 KGs

(b) QCC Parents Club: Established in Nov. 2008. 40 members (Fathers and Mothers).

Offers workshops, where parents can receive ideas about how to strengthen their childs literacy skills.

Qattan center for the child promote initiatives from the young where youth/children provide a service for the elderly, such as children visits to old folks homes to serve as volunteers and provide companionship to the older residents, Tamer Institute for Community Education An educational non-governmental non-profit organization established in 1989 as a natural and necessary response to uregent needs in the Palestinian community. The library is the Tamer Institutes resource centre and functions as the hub of a large network of local childrens libraries, currently more than seventy, which also work with each other. In addition to distributing books, the Tamer Institute coordinates and initiates various activities such as storytelling and reading aloud, workshops for authors and illustrators and psychosocial literary activities for children and their families traumatized by the experience of war. Daddy, Read to Me is one of the most successful program in tamer institution. This program reconnects incarcerated fathers to their children in meaningful ways. It also provides the child with the opportunity to re-connect to the parent to be loved and nurtured. For its exceptional reading promotion work, the Tamer Institute for Community Education has been awarded the 2009 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award

Salon "NOON" bridge the gap between generations Like Salon, "" May Ziade " the famous Lebanese-Palestinian poet. Salon "NOON" holds discussion meetings every first Tuesday of each month. Salon "NOON" was founded in 2002 to focus on the role of intellectual women and to create a climate of feminist, but this objective has expanded to become the home of all Palestinians, regardless of sex and age. For each generation there are particular experiences that mold specific preferences.

Conclusion It is clear that the current Palestinian experience has a range of important local initiatives that can serve as a layout for a new development process, and have initial requirement emphasizes the need to mainstream the idea of reading and make it a habit of community-based rehabilitation to communicate through reading.

1- Fatahs early magazine, Filastinuna (Our Palestine), published from 1959 to 1964 regularly referred to the Palestinians as children of the catastrophe who had been reduced to nothing but jetsam and flotsam dispersed in every corner. Cited in Yezid Sayigh, The Armed Struggle and Palestinian Nationalism, in The PLO and Israel: From Armed Conflict to Political Solution, 1964-1994, ed. Avraham Sela and Moshe Maoz, 26 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997).
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Kupperschmidt, B. R. (2000), Multigenerational employees: Strategies for effective management. The Health ii Care Manager, 19, 65-76.

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