George Sand and Islam

On the 28 Sptember the AEC had a lecture on George Sand and also about the influence Islam has on Somali society.

Sand lived at a time when Europe was living the Romantic Era.

She was a controversial figure at the time as she used a man's name and dressed in mens clothing. Obviously these days no one would pay any attention to this side of her personality.

Sand was critical of the fact that it was all right for men to have lovers but not women. She fought this double standard by having lovers while married.

Sand's career can be divided into three parts:
1. 1830s was her Romantic period.
2. 1840s saw her as a social commentator on various themes.
3. From 1840s until her death she wrote about life in the countryside.

The lecturer on Islam told that it is difficult to cover all sides of a religion in one lecture, and he was right. So here are only some interesting bits.

Apparetly the Quran in Arabic is memorised even though few people in Somalia understand Arabic. This leads to the situation where people can recite Quran but they have no idea what they are talking about. In mosques there are people who have a better understanding of Quran and actually know what the book says.

The Somali state had a tight control over religion. When the civil war began, Somalis started to move into countries that have freedom of religion. That is why Somalis seem to be more religious outside Somalia than they were when living in Somalia, according to the lecturer.

Pushkin and Somalia

Last night there were lectures at the AEC about Pushkin and Somalia.

The lecture on Pushkin was more an overview of the times he lived in. It covered the intellectual climate of the time and what the political situation was. The lecturer admitted he is not a literature critic and is not familiar with everything Pushkin wrote.

Pushkin was not a great thinker nor did he create any grand philosophical ideas. However, his use of language was exceptional and he brought original ideas into poetry. Pushkin is also known to have written naughty texts which were popular among gentlemen. But these are not popular these days as Pushkin has a special place among the giants of literature and naughty texts do not fit into this image.

Pushkin got into trouble because of his womanizing and he was not popular with the powers that be. He was not allowed to travel outside Russia. However, Pushkin was not against a strong central government and he was skeptical of liberal ideas which were popular in Western Europe. He certainly was no dissident.

After the above lecture there was the third lecture on Somalia. This time the lecturer covered the period after 1960.

Like many parts of Africa, Somalia was the scene of Cold War action. It was the usual story of both superpowers supplying an unlimited amount of weapons to the area.
Then in the early 1990s the proverbial manure really hit the fan with the well-known consequences. Of the neighboring countries Ethiopia has been the keenest to get involved in the internal affairs of Somalia. The lecturer was optimistic that the current political developments might yield positive results. In his opinion at least some advancement in the political sphere is better than nothing at all.

Because of the civil war there is no functioning central government in Somalia. This has been a great opportunity for the private sector. Apparently it is easy to get a telephone line in a house and there is good internet coverage in the country. There are TV-channels and newspapers. If one has the financial means one can choose an airline from the fifteen available and do some traveling.

Among the audience there was one eager civil servant from the Finnish Immigration Service who wanted to impress others with his knowledge of Somalia. He had these long monologues which were focused on the topic but he wasn’t the main speaker. Why couldn’t he just wait until the lecture ends and then have a conversation with the lecturer? But no, he had to have his moment in the spotlight.

Khaijam and Somalia

Public lectures have once again started at the Adult Education Centre of the City of Helsinki. As always there is a wide selection of lectures to satisfy curious minds.

The first lecture where yours truly went discussed Omar Khaijam, a Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer. The lecture was given by Juha Olavinen who apparently has lectured at the AEC many times. He knew what he was talking about and this ensured that it was easy to listen to him.

The lecture gave a good overview of the life and achievements of Omar Khaijam (1048-1131). During his long life Khaijam achieved many things in different fields. He is best remembered as a poet. His poems were brought to public knowledge in the West by Edward Fitzgerald. In 1850 Fitzgerald published a collection of Khaijam’s works. Though some of the poems are erotic love poems, which explain their popularity, there are also philosophical poems. Khaijam’s relaxed views on wine drinking and views on religion have made him unpopular among those who take the teachings of Quran seriously.

In the field of science Khaijam also achieved a lot. One of his achievements was the invention of ‘x’ in mathematics to describe an unknown factor. Khaijam spent a lot time working in mathematics and he had an important role in the development of the field. Another achievement was the creation of an almanac based on his careful astronomical observations. Apparently it is very accurate and can be used even today.

The other lecture’s topic was Somalia. This was the first lecture in a series of lectures about Somalia. The AEC made a good choice in their selection of the speaker. It would have been terrible had they chose some 22 year old second year university student who had backpacked for three months in Africa and now considers him/herself an expert on Africa. In fact AEC had asked Finland-Somalia society to give the lectures and the first lecture was given by the chairman Yusuf M. Mubarak.

The first lecture was a general overview of Somalia’s history and society. It covered the time before Somalia’s independence and the events after 1960 when Somalia became independent. A recurring theme was the fact that most of its history Somalia has suffered from internal squabbles between different segments of the society. Interesting detail regarding society in general is the fact that the old poetry tradition has suffered as the young have scattered around the world and the old cannot pass on the ancient tradition.

For a more detailed account of Somali history the chairman recommended a book called ‘The scramble in the Horn of Africa’ by Mohamed Osman Omar.