A Fez of the Heart Discussion Questions

a. Choose one passage from the reading that you found particularly interesting. Why was this interesting?

The passage which I found the most interesting was on page 3, in which Seal describes the census that is meant to take place in Pomegranate. I found this part interesting because of Seal's subtle wittiness. I did not understand this paragraph until I re-read it a couple of times. In the passage, Seal talks about the confusion when everyone was told to stay indoors, and how the census was a failure because the only thing which came out of it was a large number of babies born nine months later with the newly-popular first name meaning  "census."




b. Use examples from this reading to illustrate the interaction between economics and culture.

In the reading, the most notable event taking place which Seal describes in Pomegranate is the overpowering of economics over culture. The traditional culture of the Turkish people is rapidly lost as the presence of tourism becomes more abundant. Seal describes how the traditional clothing style becomes less modest until it is completely lax (which goes against traditional Turkish custom and most religion in the area). Additionally, the foods and activities which used to make up the cultural scene in Pomegranate all disintegrated into whatever the tourists wanted and were willing to pay for. Restaurants and shops did away with the cuisine and items that people from the area used to buy/enjoy, and replaced them with American goods (spelled horribly wrong) such as hamburgers and baseball caps and sunglasses. The music became almost completely Euro-pop, and even the language began to change as most people were expected to know English so that they could communicate with the American and European tourists. These examples and more in the reading show that the interaction between economics and culture is close: a shift in one often causes a shift in the other.




c. Beyond the specific example of this town in Turkey, what connections or conflicts do you see between tourism and economics or tourism and culture?

In other areas of the world it is easily noticeable that tourism usually dominates culture when the two go up against each other. From what I have seen in Italy, the landmarks which meant so much to Italian history are often places of worship: The Vatican, St. Francis' cathedral, St. Peter's Basilica, etc. (Of course there are other non-religion-affiliated historical sites as well). In these places, it is considered disrespectful to enter while wearing revealing clothing (such as shorts or skirts that do not cover the knees, blouses which expose the shoulders and collarbone, etc.) however at this point in time, the rules regarding this have become very relaxed because it is extremely difficult to get visiting American tourists to follow this dress code, and if they are asked to dress more modestly before entering a church, they are known to pitch a fit. In other places, there are similar issues in that tourism brings a country so much revenue that people abandon their old occupations (agriculture, crafting, smithing, etc) and slowly all of these specialized jobs are lost in favor of working at tourism sites. People who used to make a place unique because of their work have disappeared among the workers at souvenir shops, restaurants, amusement parks and tour guides.