Birdlife in Oman
Panorama
The Hidden World of Cross-cultural Communication
Mind Over Matter
SQU Celebrates 40th Anniversary of the Blessed Renaissance
News Update
Predicting Tropical
Cyclone Tracks
Department of Public
Relations and Information
Sultan Qaboos University
Issue 203
View Point
Real Research
Oman has more than eight million date palm trees and a worldwide market
acceptance for dates. The total date production of the country exceeds 250000
metric tonnes. The rachis and leaves of date palm are generally considered as a
waste material even though the wood is sometimes used as beams and rafters,
leaves are used as a raw material for many of the rural industries.
Khamis Rajab Al Busaidi
Editorial Supervision
Humaid Al Adwani
Editor -in-chief
M.K. Santhosh
Senior Editor
Younis Al Harrasi
Editor & Translator
Ahlam Al Wahaibi
Design & Layout
Rashad Al Wahaibi
& Photography Dept., CET
However, an SQU student has come up with the idea of producing paper pulp
from the leaves and rachis of date palms. The date palm population of the
GCC countries is around 100 million which is capable of producing around 3
million tonnes of palm leaves annually. It is expected that the process of producing paper pulp from palm leaves will be economically viable. Implementing this project in the Gulf region can contribute to about one percent of the
worlds total production of paper. It will be sufficient to fulfil about half of the
local requirement of paper.
Actually, the rachis are reported to give a good yield of pulp (40%) with satisfactory strength properties by pulp production technologies. The yield from
the leaves is around 30%. The fibre of date palm rachis is close to that of hardwoods. Abandoning date palm leaves can lead to several environmental risks
as decomposition of leaves can result in the emission of carbon dioxide and
other harmful gases into the atmosphere. This factor further enhances the importance of commercialising the pulp extraction from date palm wastes.
The raw material for paper production is wood. Demand for wood fibre is a
major cause of deforestation. Since 1960 more than one-fifth of the world’s entire tropical forest cover has been removed. If current patterns are not changed,
pressure of demand will result in supplies being drawn from the world’s last
remaining frontier forests. Hence if the Gulf region can be partly self sufficient
in terms of paper production by using date palm leaves as raw material, it will
be a big achievement. The idea of producing paper from date palm waste is a
real research that began with a question: why not utilize date palm waste to
produce something useful and to save the environment?
Photography
Horizon invites contributions from SQU members of staff and faculty. Contributions in the form of articles, news, travelogues, stories of unique and interesting experiences, encounters, etc., are welcome. Contributions may be edited
for the sake of clarity and length. Please send your contributions to horizon@squ.edu.om preferably, as MSWord attachments. Authors will be suitably credited.
Horizon is published three times a month by the Department of Public Relations and Information,
Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 50, P.C. 123, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.
Phone: +968 24141045
E-mail: horizon@squ.edu.om
30 November 2010
P2
Fax: +968 24413 391
Website: www.squ.edu.om
News Update
SQU Celebrates 40th Anniversary of the Blessed Renaissance
The 40th national day commemorates all-round enviable development
that the Sultanate witnessed since His Majesty assumed power 40 years
ago. The four decades witnessed Oman’s transformation from a simple
less developed country into a modern, industrialised, and knowledgebased economy. With the dawn of the Blessed Renaissance 40 years ago,
hope and optimism came to Oman and its citizens. Four core values,
namely stability, security, tolerance and welfare, have since characterised Oman’s development plans.
Sultan Qaboos University, the pioneer higher educational institution in the
Sultanate that is named after His Majesty, celebrated the 40th anniversary of
the Blessed Renaissance. Through an array of activities held on November 22
afternoon, SQU saluted and congratulated His Majesty Sultan Qaboos on this
great occasion.
Al Busaidi to Attend
Graduation Ceremony
HH Sayyid Bader
Bin Saud Bin
Hareb Al Busaidi,
Minister
Responsible of
Defence Affairs,
will preside over
the graduation
ceremony of Sultan Qaboos to be
held on December 6 and 12 in
which 2601 students will receive
their graduation
certificates.
Students from the
College of Arts & Social Sciences, the College of Education and the College of Law
will receive their degrees on the first phase graduation ceremony to be held on
December 6. Students from the College of Commerce & Economics, the College
of Nursing, the College of Medicine & Health Sciences, the College of Science,
the College of Agricultural & Marine Sciences and the College of Engineering will
receive degrees on the second day of the graduation ceremony scheduled for
December 12.
In terms of number of students, the College of Arts & Social Sciences comes
first with 540 students. The number of students to be graduated from each
college is as follows: the College of Arts and Social Sciences 540 (512 bachelors’, 28 masters’); the College of Commerce & Economics 334 (307 bachelors’, 27 masters’); the College of Education 527 (477 bachelors’, 50 masters’); the College of Nursing 53 (all bachelors’); the College of Law 133 (105
bachelors’, 28 masters’); the College of Medicine & Health Sciences 120 (109
bachelors’, 11 masters’); the College of Science 309 (290 bachelors’, 19 masters’); the College of Agricultural & Marine Sciences 181 (162 bachelors’, 19
masters’); the College of Engineering 404 (391 bachelors’, 13 masters’).
On the occasion of the graduation ceremony, the Public Relations & Information Department of SQU has launched a website in Arabic. The URL is
www.squ.edu.om/grad2010
The events organized by SQU started with the Loyalty March attributed
to His Majesty. The march commenced from the area between the College of Science and the Conference Hall at 3.00 pm. HE Dr. Ali bin Saud
Al Bimani, the Deputy Vice Chancellors, other senior academics and
administrators led the SQU community in the Loyalty March that proceeded up to the University Clock Tower premises. Thereafter, the largest national flag in the Sultanate, that measures 70 meters in length and
40 meters in width, was unfurled near the University’s open air theatre.
This was followed by a function in which selected students delivered
messages of gratitude and appreciation to His Majesty. At 6 pm, the celebrations resumed at the open air theatre. The Deanship of Student Affairs organised poetic and musical events to celebrate the national day.
Free and Open Source Software
Society Launched
SQU organized a function under the patronage of Dr. Salim bin Sultan al Ruzaiqi, CEO of the Information Technology Authority (ITA),
to launch the Free and Open Source Software Society. The ceremony
was attended by Prof. Amer Al Rawas, SQU Deputy Vice Chancellor
for Post Graduate Studies and Research.
Prof. Hadj Bourdoucen, Director of the Information & Communication Research Centre at SQU delivered a speech where he said that
SQU has been a pioneer in contributing to the national initiative for
the support of the free and open source softwares implemented by
ITA. Dr. Yaqub al Farsi, Director of the National Initiative for Free
Software delivered a speech in which he said that the launch comes
within the framework of joint cooperation between SQU and ITA in
a bid to support the national programmes for the free software which
is part of the e-Oman strategy.
Khalil bin Ibrahim al Ma’awali, Head of the Free and Open Source
Software Society said the group aims at promoting the cooperation
spirit and innovation among SQU students and the Omani society
in general and spread awareness of the free and open source softwares.
The first Omani pilot computer system based on GNU/Linux called
Omanix Intilaqah was unveiled during the function. At the end of the
ceremony, certificates were distributed on the first batch of graduates
from the training programme for trainers on GNU/Linux, first level,
which was implemented in cooperation with Linux Professional Institute (LPI).
30 November 2010 P3
Insight
Predicting Tropical Cyclone Tracks
Dr. Y.V.B. Sarma
Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons are intense tropical weather systems with
maximum sustained wind speed exceeding 119 km per hour, and every year responsible of thousands of victims. Although loss of lives from tropical cyclones
has significantly decreased over the last decades, economic losses have increased substantially. The decrease in fatalities is, to a large extent, attributed to
the improvement in the tropical cyclones forecasting and early warning systems.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Tropical Cyclone Programme is
aimed to establish national and regionally coordinated systems to ensure that
the loss of lives and damage caused by tropical cyclones are reduced to a minimum. The cyclone track forecasting is more important to mobilize the disaster
management infrastructure. The landfall point of the cyclone is critical issue in
cyclone forecasting. The cyclone track is predicted using a Qasi-Legrangian Model (QLM) which relies on mid-troposhperic pressure and wind distribution.
‘Hurricane’, ‘cyclone’ and ‘typhoon’ are different terms for the same weather phenomenon which is accompanied by torrential rain and maximum sustained wind
speeds exceeding 119 kilometers per hour. In the western North Atlantic, central
and eastern North Pacific, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, such weather phenomenon is called “hurricanes”. In the western North Pacific, it is called ‘typhoons’.
In the Indian Ocean, it is called ‘cyclones’. In western South Pacific and southeast
India Ocean, it is called ‘severe tropical cyclones’. In the southwest India Ocean,
it is called “tropical cyclones.” Depending on the intensity of the weather system,
it will be categorized in to “depression”, “deep depression”, “cyclone”, “cyclonic
storm”, “severe cyclonic storm” in our region.
change their course due to various atmospheric and oceanographic reasons.
However, meteorologists use state-of-art technologies and develop modern
techniques such as numerical weather prediction models to predict how a tropical cyclone evolves, including its movement and change of intensity; when and
where one will hit land and at what speed. Official warnings are then issued by
the National Meteorological Services of the countries concerned.
The WMO framework allows the timely and widespread dissemination of information about tropical cyclones. As a result of international cooperation and coordination, tropical cyclones are increasingly being monitored from their early
stages of formation.
SQU’s Efforts in Predicting Tropical Cyclone Track
Dr. Y.V.B. Sarma, Assistant Professor in the Department of Marine Sciences & Fisheries at SQU has investigated a few case studies on how the sea surface temperature influences tropical cyclones. For this work, three cases of the tropical cyclone
paths in the northern Indian Ocean from 2003 to 2008 have been investigated.
The tropical cyclones, T01B (2003) and Nargis (2008) in Bay of Bengal and Gonu
(2007) contravened the predictions of their landfall points by standard models. In
this study, the scientists led by Dr. Sarma, have carried out an analysis of available
in situ, satellite observations and model results during the periods of the above
tropical cyclones.
In the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, tropical cyclones usually occur from April
to June, and September to November. The East Coast of Africa normally experiences tropical cyclones from November to April. Tropical cyclones can be hundreds of kilometers wide and can bring destructive high winds, torrential rain,
storm surge and occasional tornadoes.
The impact of a tropical cyclone and the expected damage depend not just on
wind speed, but also on factors such as the landfall point, moving speed, duration of strong wind and accumulated rainfall during and after landfall, sudden
change of moving direction and intensity, the structure (e.g. size and intensity) of
the tropical cyclone, as well as human response to tropical cyclone disasters.
The case study found that the anomalously warm (more than 32°C) sea surface
temperature over large part of south-central Bay of Bengal apparently held the
cyclone “T10B” stationary for four days between 12 and 16 May, 2003 and rapidly
veered eastwards to strike Myanmar on 19 May 2003. In 2007, the tropical cyclone “Gonu” developed in the South East Arabian Sea, moved northwestwards
over anomalous sea surface temperature corridor to strike northern tip of Oman
failing all the predictions of a landfall along central east coast of Oman. After
causing destruction along northeastern coast of Oman, Gonu strengthened
again over warm Sea of Oman to hit Makaran coast of Iran. Similarly in 2008, the
movement of the tropical cyclone “Nargis” also appeared to have been controlled by the sea surface temperature distribution in the Bay of Bengal. This cyclone
was initially predicted to strike east coast of India but it deflected eastwards to
strike the Myanmar coast.
Tropical cyclones can last for a week or more; therefore there can be more than
one cyclone at a time. Weather forecasters give each tropical cyclone a name for
identification purpose. Each year, tropical cyclones receive names in alphabetical order. Women and men’s names are alternated. The name list is proposed by
the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services of WMO members of a
specific region, and approved by the respective tropical cyclone regional bodies
at their annual/bi-annual sessions. One such session was held in Muscat in the
year 2000. The nations in the western North Pacific began using a new system
for naming tropical cyclones in 2000. Each of the fourteen nations affected by typhoons submitted a list of names totaling 141. The names include animals, flowers, astrological signs; a few personal names are used in pre-set order. In 2010,
the first hurricane in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic
region will be called Alex, and in Eastern North Pacific, it will be Agatha.
Dr. Sarma said that in all the above cases, anomalously warm sea surface temperatures developed and persisted before and during the cyclone passage. The
cyclones appeared to have been towed along the high sea surface temperature
corridor. The anomalous sea surface temperature pools have even retarded their
movement for as many as four days and changed their paths. Commenting on
the significance of this work, Dr. Sarma said that since the damages due to the
tropical cyclones are high in terms of life and property, monitoring and forecasting of anomalous sea surface temperature development may improve the accuracy of track prediction. The accuracy of track prediction is very critical for planning the disaster management.
Predicting Tropical Cyclones
Meteorologists around the world use modern technology such as satellites,
weather radars and computers etc. to track tropical cyclones as they develop.
Tropical cyclones are often difficult to predict, as they can suddenly weaken or
30 November 2010
P4
Mind Over Matter
By: Dr. Viktoriya Dauletova
Business Communication Unit
College of Commerce & Economics
The Hidden World of Cross-cultural Communication
The College of Commerce and Economics in SQU has recently launched a new
elective course “Cross-cultural Communication in the Workplace”. The timing of
this decision reflects a shift in focus of the communication matrix due to the
emergence of the global economy.
Within the afore-mentioned communication matrix, Sultan Qaboos University
has a multicultural staff, both academic and administrative. Students find themselves involved in interaction with the representatives of various ethnicities on
an every-day basis in and out of the classroom. On the surface, conversations
which occur between students and their international instructors and advisors
appear to be simple exchanges of verbal and non-verbal signals. They use English as a communication medium and assume that by sharing the same linguistic
code, they achieve complete understanding between each other. However, this
assumption might be detrimental to the outcome of conversations. If you start
bringing awareness into the nature and principles of these human interactions,
you will see that the interactants never simply exchange messages, but, along
with these messages, they communicate their culture-determined expectations, beliefs and attitudes. The domain inhabited by these powerful abstract
constructs is a very tricky territory. Interlocutors hear words organized in a discourse and accompanied by a certain tone of voice, intonation, facial expression
and gestures, but they cannot observe somebody’s values and assumptions. The
only way to get access to them is through conscious analysis, which most people
prefer not to concern themselves with. They are convinced that communication
is easy.
In order to break the vicious circle of re-occurring communication breakdowns
and faux pas, which communicators might get into, it is advisable to keep in
mind that, when dealing with other nationalities, it is crucial to be prepared for
this sort of interaction. It is therefore very helpful, if not crucial, to have knowledge about your counterpart’s cultural norms, expectations, communication
style, non-verbal behavioural patterns, beliefs, values and assumptions. The social science which studies communication across cultures and can equip communicators with essential, research- based insights into the core of cross-border
interaction is called cross-cultural communication. Its aim is to bridge the gaps
between cultures which operate on their own terms and follow their own agendas. It makes people aware of how to avoid communication pitfalls, how to reach
understanding and respect for “the other”, how to appreciate similarities and reconcile differences. As a bonus, making the effort and studying other cultures, an
individual develops self-awareness. This, in turns, triggers introspection and an
urge to understand causes underlying his/her own behaviour and mentality.
The scope of cross-cultural communication incorporates various aspects. One of
them is value orientations or dimensions. They give order to multiple manifestations of culture and its attributes. They are useful for clustering countries and
granting sense to diverse cultural representations of the world. Knowing, for example, if your interlocutor’s motherland is a high or low power distance country
can be useful for the selection of the appropriate code of behaviour with his/her.
Middle Eastern countries have a very high power distance index. This requires
taking into consideration your counterpart’s status, showing him due respect,
using honorific names and following a formal style of communication with an
abundance of indirect speech acts. North America, on the other hand, shows a
low power distance orientation, which means that a communicator can be more
informal and direct, you can call your counterpart by his first name (if suggested
by the later) and feel free to contribute to the decision-making process.
Another vital element of cross-cultural communication is language. Sepir-Whorf
theory suggests that language influences and conveys the way people think.
Those hidden mechanisms of the language dictate the structure of the discourse
(inductive versus. deductive), the choice of vocabulary (flowery or business-like),
the selection of argumentation and persuasion strategies (emotions versus. facts
and figures), type of reasoning (linear versus. circular), etc. So, being aware of the
rules your interlocutor follows to verbalize his/her thoughts and intentions as
well as the logic he pursues, can assist you in better understanding the purpose
of conversation and its pragmatic intentions.
Non-verbal communication also falls under the focus of cross-cultural communication. Every culture has a similar set of gestures. But the meanings attached
to them vary from culture to culture. Body language is the best known component of non-verbal behavior. However, there are other constituents that have to
be considered such as time, space and silence. For example, silence often falls
victim to misinterpretations. In Finland, for instance, silence is regarded as an
opportunity to think and a sign of respect, while in Oman it indicates a lack of
interest and communicative incompetence.
In view of the various aspects surrounding effective communication mentioned
above and taking into consideration students’ concerns for their future employment with multinational organizations, institutions and companies, the College
of Commerce and Economics made a decision to assist students from other faculties with the acquisition of necessary knowledge and skills in the field of crosscultural communication by means of an elective course.
The course has an interactive format which operates on the principle of projectbased learning, when students, working in teams, participate either in research
or a project dealing with aspects of intercultural communication. Thanks to this
learning approach, students get an opportunity to develop their cross-cultural
communication skills in real-life situations by meeting professional people from
different cultural backgrounds. Course participants are engaged in interviewing
expatriate and local employees, observing their intercultural relationships and
their organizational culture, making and keeping contacts with their respondents by email, phone and video conferencing. One of the requirements of the
course is to keep a reflective diary and actively participate in all classroom activities such as discussions, debates, role-plays, simulations, problem-solving and
decision making. Students receive support from the instructor through video/
audio materials and workshops.
In conclusion, expertise in the hitherto hidden world of cross-cultural communication is an essential pre-requisite for successful professional practices in the
global economy of the 21st century. The time to acquire this expertise is now.
30 November 2010
P5
News Round Up
SQU Observes World Food Day
The Food Science & Nutrition Department of the College of Agricultural & Marine Sciences (CAMS) at SQU observed World Food Day
2010 recently by holding a symposium on the importance of food
security and storage and the role of food in combating nutrition related health problems. The Food Science and Nutrition Department
had four speakers discussing various aspects of foods including
availability, hunger, health, storage and malnutrition.
The theme of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United
Nations this year is ‘United against Hunger’. The theme has been
chosen to recognize the efforts made in fighting against hunger at
the national, regional and international levels. Dr. Mostafa Waly,
Assistant Professor in the Department Food Science & Nutrition at
CAMS said that uniting against hunger becomes real when the state
and civil society organizations and the private sector work in partnership at all levels to defeat hunger , poverty and malnutrition.
In the symposium organised at SQU, Dr. Ann Mothershaw, Assistant Professor in the Food Sciences and Nutrition Department, dwelt
on food spoilage and wastage. Dr. Slim Zekri, Associate Professor in
the Natural Resources Economics Department at CAMS addressed
the issue of world food insecurity and the challenges ahead. Dr. Mohamed Essa, Assistant Professor in the Food Sciences and Nutrition
Department discussed the role of foods as neuroprotectors.
Outstanding Paper Award for SQU
Engineering Researchers
Prof. Dr. Ibrahim A. Metawally and Dr. Abdullah H. Al-Badi from the
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering of the College of Engineering at SQU have won outstanding paper award for their research
paper published in The Journal of Anti-Corrotion Methods and Materials
in the United Kingdom. The research paper deals with cathodic protection for deep oil well casings and was published in this reputed journal
in July 2009.
Increased oil exploration in the seas and oceans has increased the demand for the establishment of more deep wells (up to a depth of 3 km).
The pulse cathodic protection of deep well casings is one of the modern
technological applications in the petroleum industry. The corrosion of
these well casings leads to reducing oil production (“oil deferment”) and
the rig mobilization, which costs millions of dollars. The study of Prof.
Metawally and Dr. Al-Badi was to compare the conventional cathodic
protection and the pulse cathodic protection (PCP) so as to indicate their
behaviour under different operating conditions and access to important
recommendations for optimal operation of these systems.
According to a communiqué issued by the journal, the paper by SQU
researchers provides a sound basis on which oil producers can take decisions about the future application of the PCP systems, optimize their performance, and introduce application restrictions by studying all factors
that affect PCP performance. The Journal of Anti-Corrotion Methods and
Materials is published by Emerald, a leading publisher of global research
with impact in business, society, public policy and education.
SQU Student Earns Kudos at Middle East Invention Fair
Commenting on his innovative idea, Mustafa said that the date palm
population in the GCC countries is around 100 million which is capable
of producing three million tonnes of palm leaves annually. “The process
of paper making from palm Leaves is techno-economically more acceptable. Applying this project in the GCC region can contribute to about 1
% of the world production of paper which is considered as a good share
and it will be enough to supply about half of our local need of paper”,
he said.
A student participant form Sultan Qaboos University was awarded
silver medal certificate for his presentation on producing paper from
date palm leaves at the Third International Innovation Fair of the Middle East, hosted by the Kuwait Science Club from 7 to 9 of November
2010. Mustafa Salim Abdullah Barami, an undergraduate student in the
Chemistry Department of the College of Science at SQU came up with
the innovation of using date palm leaves, which is generally avoided as
a waste material, for producing paper pulp.
30 November 2010
P6
Abandoning date palm leaves causes several environmental issues as
decomposition of the leaves results in the emission of carbon dioxide
and other unwanted gases into the atmosphere. The idea of Mustafa is
to utilise this waste material for producing a useful thing such as paper
products including printing paper, tissue paper, envelopes, paper bags
and even cartons. Replacing plastic bags with paper bags helps reduce
plastic pollution. Mustafa said that date palm leaf, a sustainable agriresidue is an excellent raw material for making pulp and paper of various grades due to the presence of cellulose content in it. “We have done
laboratory tests producing different qualities of paper from date palms.
Our plan is to do the economical study and scale it up to take it up for
commercialisation. I would extent my thanks to Dr. El-Said El-Shafey
of SQU Chemistry Department who supervised me in this project”, he
said.
Panorama
Birdlife in Oman
Sultanate of Oman is known across the
world for its abundant birdlife, attracting avid bird watchers and ornithologists from different continents. According to the Oman Bird Records Committee, more than 460 different bird species have been recorded in Oman, out
of which 80 species have been classified
as resident, while the rest are migrant
and seasonal species. This is an impressive number considering Oman is an
arid country with no real forests and
vast areas of deserts.
Oman and eastern Arabia form a bridge between the two great land masses of Africa
and Asia. What makes Oman unique in terms
of bird watching is that the country offers the
opportunity to watch birds from Europe, Africa and Asia in one spot. During annual migrations of birds in spring and autumn, hundreds of thousands of of birds pass across the
length and breath of Oman. The migratory
periods coincide with the cooler weather
between October and April, the best time to
watch birds in the Sultanate of Oman.
Some of the common resident species one
expects to see in and around the capital area
of Muscat include herons (Striated and Western Reef ), Ospreys, Swift Terns, Laughing
Doves, Egyptian Vultures, and Indian Rollers. Common migrant and seasonal species
include Cattle Egret, Little Stint, Greater Flamingos, Caspian Gulls, Spotted Flycatchers,
Grey Heron, Dunlins, Sandwich Terns, Red
and Green shanks, Ruff and White Wagtails.
Apart from the migrating migrant and seasonal birds there are just over 85 resident
birds living in Oman all year round. In Muscat,
Indian Rollers, Little Green Bee-eaters, YellowVented Bulbuls, Graceful Prinias and the Purple Sunbirds can be seen at any time of the
year. Muscat is also one of the best places in
the world to study the Steppe Eagle and one
may see up to 100 at any one time. Bird lovers
can go for a travel by boat to the Daymaniyat
Islands nature reserve. The birds that visit the
islands to breed in summer include the Sooty
Gull, Roseate Tern, White Cheeked Tern, Bridled Tern and the Western Reef Heron.
The Batinah Plain stretching between the
mountains of the Western Hajar and the
Gulf of Oman from Muscat to the UAE border holds farmlands that attracts birds flying
high during migrations. There are several important bird sites in this region: the offshore
Sawadi Islands have breeding Sooty Falcons
in summer, and the Daymaniyat Islands in
the Gulf of Oman have breeding Ospreys in
winter and thousands of Bridled Terns and
other tern species in summer.
The most productive bird watching site in the
capital area is the sewage treatment ponds
at Al Ansab Lagoons. Al Ansab Lagoons lie
about 30kms west of Muscat. In summer
hardly any water can be spared for the ponds
and water-level drops dramatically, exposing
large muddy areas - ideal for waders. During
the winter months when less water is needed
for irrigation, the ponds fill up again. The lagoons have turned into the most interesting
site for birds in the capital area. From early
autumn, waders from their high Arctic breeding grounds start to arrive at Al Ansab. Little
Stint, Temminck’s Stint, Dunlin and Curlew
Sandpiper are there in good numbers. The
noisy Wood - and Green Sandpipers are easy
to find and even the two uncommon Spotted
Redshank and Marsh Sandpiper usually put
in an appearance.
spectacular scenery. Spring migrants included Lesser Kestrel, various species of shrikes,
warblers and buntings. Cuckoos may breed.
The area is not well studied and important
discoveries could be made during autumn,
winter and spring.
Most of the central part of Oman is a vast
desert plain bordering the Arabian Sean in
the east and the sand desert of Rub Al Khali
in the west. Event in this arid land, there are
several important bird sites. The most famous of these is Jaaluni, the field camp of
the Arabian Oryx Project. In addition to the
Oryx and Arabian Gazelles, the camp is an excellent place fo typical desert species such as
Crowned and Chestnut bellied Sandgrouse,
Hoope-Lark and Brown necked Raven. During migration, many birds are attracted to
the man-made water pools. Another hotspot
of birds in Oman is Masirah Island, which can
be reached by car ferried running at high
tide from Barr al Hikman. Masirah and Barr al
Hikman are home to hundreds of thousands
of birds during the winter months, mainly
Greater Flamingos, herons, waders, gulls and
terns. Great Knots are known to winter here.
Contributions of SQU
As a complement to the visiting and resident
bird lovers of the nation, the Centre for Environmental Studies & Research (CESAR) at
SQU has published the book Oman Bird List,
the sixth edition of the which lists all the
482 bird species that are officially accepted
by the Oman Bird Records Committee up to
15 October 2003. This is an official list of the
birds of the Sultanate of Oman. The authors
are Jens Eriksen (former academic at SQU),
Dave E. Sargeant (PDO) and Prof. Reginald
Victor, Dean of Research at SQU. This comprehensive directory of birds in Oman gives
all essential scientific details of the birds listed. The information includes species number
and taxonomy, status (vagrant, rare, uncommon, fairly common, common, abundant), regions where each specie is found, histograms
for all migratory species, breeding maps for
all breeding species.
Al Jabal Al Akhdar, a unique ecosystem in
northern Oman, is a hotspot of different
types of birds. The book “The Birds of Al Jabal
Al Akhdar”, written by Jens Eriksen and published by CESAR, deals with several species
of birds such as Hume’s Wheatear and Indian
Roller, found in these mountain ranges. The
book also elaborates on the impact on the
bird life and biodiversity in this region caused
by increasing development and tourism.
According to information from the Ministry of
Tourism, Musandam offers bird watching in a
30 November 2010
P7
Straight Talk
Prof. Barbara Stowasser
Prof. Barabara R.F. Stowasser is the Sultanate
of Oman Chair in Arabic & Islamic Literature
at the Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies
in Georgetown University in Washington. Prof.
Stowasser holds an M.A. in Near East Studies
from UCLA and a Ph.D. in Comparative Semitic and Islamic Studies from the University of
Munster, Germany. At present, Dr. Stowasser
is working on a book on Gender Discourses in
the Tafsir and Fatwa Literatures, a textbook on
the Islamic Tafsir, and a book on Islam and Time.
She spoke to Horizon during her visit to SQU to
participate in the Symposium on His Majesty’s
Academic Chairs.
Horizon: You are a German by origin. How you developed interest in Islamic
studies and Arabic language?
Prof. Stowasser: In the 1950s, my family accompanied my father who went
to Turkey to teach at Ankara University. At that time, when I was young, I had a
tutor there who was supposed to teach me Turkish. However, he was a Sufi who
was conversant with the inner mystical dimensions of Islam. Through him I learned
more about Sufism which gradually developed my interest in Islamic studies.
Horizon:
Your presentation in the symposium was about the aspects of time
management in the Islamic culture. Why did you select this topic?
Prof. Stowasser: Time is essential to the very structure of Muslim communal
life. Time of ritual and worship of Muslim obligation are regulated according to
celestial events – both lunar and solar. The hours of the five daily prayers of Sunni
Islam are controlled by the movement of the Sun as well as its absence, and these
rituals have been reconfigured in today’s globalized world of regimented timekeeping. In order to calculate prayer times in the pre-modern era, it was common
to use “time sticks.” These are simple astronomical technologies that use shadowlength to measure daylight hours.
Horizon: How do you explain the difference between standardization of the
time in the modern era and the old concept of time in which man is standardized
with the season?
Prof. Stowasser:
In a world where the day is divided into abstract, standardized, and equal hours, the five Islamic ritual prayers endow the day with a specific pulse that remains a vital sign of time perception in Muslim societies as these
prayers are pegged to the older tradition of seasonal time and unequal hours. For
millennia, other than those who resided on the equator, human patterns of living
and working were organized around local astronomical time that differed along
shorter and longer hours of daylight throughout the year. In the Islamic world, the
beginning of a new day started at dusk, and so was in keeping with the mechanisms of the lunar calendar. With the advent of the mechanical clock in the fourteenth century, time gradually became standardized across the nations. In the
modern era, in order to coordinate regional time for the establishment of railroad
and telegraph systems, longitudinal calculation was required to organize different
time zones separated by geographic distances. The new form of clock-based time
is producing a new form of global psychology where time equals punctuality, efficiency, and economic rationality.
Horizon:
Could you elaborate on your academic experience at Georgetown
University?
Prof. Stowasser: During the past decades, my research and publications
have focused on Islam and gender. Among her publications is Women in the
Qur’an, Traditions and Interpretation and I have co-edited and contributed to the
volume Islamic Law and the Challenges of Modernity. At Georgetown, I have developed and taught all the graduate courses on Qur’anic tafsir and introduced the
study of Islam and gender into the curriculum.
Horizon: “Women and Islam” is an area of expertise for you. Could you elaborate?
Prof. Stowasser: I have written a book titled “Women in the Quran, Traditions and Interpretation” which presents the Qur’anic revelations on female figures
associated with God’s prophets from Adam to Muhammad. I took the women from
Quran and studied what the Quran says about them, what the traditions (hadit)
say about them and what the interpretations (tafsir) say about them. I think the
interpretations were relatively identical all the way up to the 19th century of the
western calendar. Then they varies with the onset of issues like human rights and
family protection. The interpretations were more open in the beginning; then they
became pretty closed. After the 19th century, the interpretations tend to be more
open. All the feminist movements that began in the West and the Arab world, of
course influence what is going on. Women’s issues are always a very good parameter as to what goes on culturally. If you talk to someone about women’s issues,
people start talking and they tell you very quickly what their ideological position
is. People have very definite position about women’s issues. We can hear many
voices in this regard. Personally, I am interested in how many of these voices belong to women.