Leisure in the Middle East: Tradition, Taste, and Equal Access

Much of leisure in the Arab/Iranian Middle East may be accounted for by the forces of tradition and taste in free-time activity as these two have evolved across the centuries since the birth of Islam (c. AD610). Tradition and taste have become the cultural foundation forscores of leisure activities,which are preferred by one sex or the other, are coordinated with the Islamic calendar, appeal to particular age groups, among other differentiating principles. This paper, using a variety of library resources, examinesthe traditional and contemporary leisure activities in the Middle East, pointing out where equal access to them is an issue. Most Arabs and Iranians with deep family roots in this culture seem satisfied with their traditional leisure tastes. Differentiation according to the aforementioned principles is not generally problematic, not considered “unequal” in the social scientific sense of the word. What are considered unequal by some participants in the region, however,arecertain “new” leisure activities, this new leisure beingadopted (and often adapted) from outside the region, usually the West. These new activities range from imported European fine arts (e.g., classical music, ballet) to imported popular culture (e.g., rock music, stand-up comedy). Here, inequality is evident, for example, in differential monetary and geographic access to the fine arts.Adherence to Islamic values and traditional gender roles number among the factors generating inequality in popular culture.