The Arab World Edward T. Hall Summary

The Arab World Different people around the world have different standards and personalities. The same thing applies to different cultures in which every culture has its own way in dealing with things. An example of totally two different cultures is the Western culture and the Arab culture. Many differences can be easily recognized between these two different cultures. An author named Edward T. Hall wrote an article that shows how these two cultures behave differently under the same conditions. Edward T. Hall was more than just a writer; he was an American anthropologist, and had researched and written on cross-cultural issues for many years. Hall received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1942 and taught in many American colleges such as the University of Denver and Harvard Business School. Hall also worked in many areas and field work throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Edward T. Hall had many other books such as “The Silent Language”, “The Hidden Dimension”, “Beyond Culture”, and “Understanding Cultural Differences-Germans, French and Americans”. Having so much experience and knowledge in this field gave Hall the authority and credibility to write about such a topic. Although Hall had the credibility to write about such topic, he failed academically to convey his message to the audience because of the language he used, insufficient support, and the presence of many logical fallacies.

d), Edward T. Hall discusses how the American culture and the Arab culture act differently in the same conditions, such as behavior in public, concepts of privacy, involvement, personal distances, facing between each other, feelings about enclosed spaces, and boundaries. Hall also discusses how the Arab culture and Americans see each other as “pushy”, and this is a “paradox” and a controversy. Hall uses his personal experience and incidents that he faced to help him in sending his message to the