The Deviant in Space

I happen to be a Freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University, Qatar, and had to take a Foundation class called Space Research. For our final project for that class, we were asked to design prostheses for our own bodies to enhance a certain function, or to make our body perform an action that it normally would not. An Attachment with two mirrors to see the back of your head, for example.

Now prosthetics normally are primarily meant for those people in the society who are given the social status of disabled.  Yet, we were made to think of our own fully capable bodies as imperfect. I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that, but, regardless, it was deviant thinking for the sake of good design.

I took a good look at myself and came up with this idea: finger extensions with wheels on the ends. Here's a picture!

Seemingly, a ridiculous thing, but it served my purpose well. Why? Because, whenever I am around someone I am close with, my hands tend to want to play or touch them or tug at their clothes – a terrible habit that usually ends with me the other person screaming and giving me horrified looks (unless they’re used to it). Sociology would very formally refer to this as informal negative sanctions. 

The prosthesis I would design would enable me to…well…not touch anyone by being too busy trying to keep control of the contraption on my left hand. Win-win situation for everyone, yes?

I took my half-constructed prosthesis to a mall once just to see people’s reactions, but surprisingly, I only received a few looks now and again in spite of the deviant nature of the object. No sanctions from security, nor anyone coming up to me to ask what that is, or trying to take pictures. It is possible that the shoppers were already used to seeing deviants inside of malls. We’ve experienced that a few times in and around Doha.

...Or it could have been that I was just ignoring everybody too well.

However, at VCUQ, it was quite different. Many times, when I would walk by wearing them, people would stop me to ask me about the project. I’m thinking the difference between the reactions of the two groups was two things--

First off, they were different groups with different interests. One was larger, and mainly focused on their shopping, while the other was comparatively smaller and an active participant in ‘deviant design’ and in engaging with whoever was involved.

Second, it was the space/environment they were in. The mall was a large, open space surrounded by many attractive, luxury items. Also, it was what people had come to look at, primarily. My project didn’t fit the bill, even if it did make a few heads turn. It just wasn’t enough.

The university, on the other hand, is full of projects like mine on display, and the social group in there typically strives to make their work as deviant as they can manage. They were able to recognize my project and offered me more curiosity because the prosthesis was more uhh ‘involved’ with the space. In other words, it made perfect sense for it to be there.

It was definitely very interesting to see what placing one object in two different spaces would do to people. Now I only wish I could try and interchange those two groups by putting them in each other’s environment. Would it give me the same results?


I'm sure most of the regular readers have seen the video of the flash mob at the City Centre Mall that appeared out of the crowd and started dancing to Maroon 5's Moves Like Jagger. So I'll leave you with a different flash mob video clip from July last year at Villaggio Mall:

Loving how they melt from the crowd and gradually grow in number~ Till next time!

Doha Tribeca Film Festival

The third Doha Tribeca Film Festival finally began this October after a long highly anticipated wait by people living in Doha. The festival usually goes on for about five days and showcases films and holds various events for each day. The whole purpose of bringing the Tribeca fIlm Festival to Qatar is to introduce people to the film culture by cultural diffusion. The festival brings together directors and actors from both the western and middle-eastern parts of the world, allowing the people of Qatar to learn from both sides and potentially inspires them to make their own films. The introduction of Doha Tribeca Film Festival was to encourage its citizens to start their own projects while receiving support from Doha Film Institute. The films are screened in Katara and at the city center.

This year there were many films that were based in the Middle East but a lot of them had western actors as part of the cast. There has been a lot of criticism around these films, such as Black Gold, as people believe the Middle East is not being portrayed in the correct way and that the only reason some of the films had western actors was to secure its distribution in the western and European parts of the world.

A very recent incident that occurred a few days ago at the red carpet has stirred quite some controversy. The Egyptian actor Omar Sharif was caught on camera slapping a woman while he was posing for pictures on the red carpet.

He broke social norms when he did that and now he is receiving negative sanctions for his behavior, as they are many articles being written about the incident criticizing his actions. In the actual video taken, it is unclear whether the actor actually slapped the woman or not, but he did appear quite rude when he was talking to her as he basically called her stupid when he said, “put something in your brain” in Arabic. After he finished posing for his solo pictures he calls over the woman and takes a picture with her. The woman did not look the least bit annoyed or angry as she smiles and takes the picture with him with without causing a scene. Despite the fact there have been some negative occurrences at the festival, it still remains a vital medium to transfer film culture into the Arab world.

Negative Sanctioning Of Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD)

One of my favorite TV shows, the American comedy-drama “Monk” is about a detective who suffers from a variety of different phobias and has an extreme case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I love the show because despite how people treat and view this detective, he still manages to crack tough investigations and his determination triumphs over everything else.

In this show the detective, Adrian Monk, experiences mainly negative informal sanctions. Sanctions can be negative, positive, formal and informal. Sanctions are basically how people react towards someone’s behavior or appearance either approvingly or disapprovingly, representing the positive and negative. Rules, laws or regulations back formal sanctions and an individual can either be punished or rewarded. Informal sanctions are the ways in which people spontaneously react towards an individual’s appearance or behavior, and this is what can be generally applied to Detective Monk.

Detective Monk, also known as Mr. Monk, has over 300 different phobias, of course this is exaggerated, but it shows how different people handle different scenarios and what people regard as normal and abnormal. Overall Mr. Monk is a “neat freak” and a “perfectionist” and cannot bear to see a painting askew or a speck of dust on a glass surface. People usually stare at his incredulous behavior or if he continually does the same thing the negative sanctions generally increase.

People tend to get even more annoyed when an individual continues to carry out their abnormal behavior. However this is entertaining for people watching the show, in reality it is far from amusing.

Although for Mr. Monk there is a reason for his OCD, the murder of his wife, people neither understand nor empathize with him, and still continue to treat him negatively. This just shows that no matter what circumstance an individual is facing, people will still continue to sanction them.


The show “Monk” completed its eighth season in December 2009, much to my dismay. I will still remain a fan of Monk, even though it has stopped airing on TV. “Monk” provided a good example of the way people sanction deviant behavior, despite whatever made them act deviant.

Following the Rules

When someone asks me where I'm from, my response is always the same. I say that I am Sudanese. I never lived in my home country, but I have visited several times. Despite living abroad my whole life, I never really had an identity or culture crisis because I was raised in a Sudanese household by my parents who both taught me everything I need to know about Sudanese culture and tradition. However, simply knowing about a culture was never enough to fit in with the people. I needed to obey the social norms of the society itself or else I would be labeled as a deviant.




The way I act, speak and dress is socially acceptable in Qatar, but all of this changes when I visit Sudan. I have to alter all of these social norms with the conformity of the culture, otherwise it would be regarded as deviance. In sociology, these types of norms that are known as folkways which are the "regular" ways to handle everyday habits. In Qatar my folkways are very different from when I am in Sudan. For example, I'm used to speaking English most of the time with my friends, but as soon as I'm around my family or other Sudanese I switch to my own colloquial Arabic. I also tend to dress differently and modestly by wearing a headscarf to abide with the culture and the people. Seldom would you find a Sudanese woman in Sudan not wearing a scarf. The headscarf is a symbol of religion, but the role of religion is so significant that it has influenced culture which makes it hard to distinguish between the two. What's interesting is that even women that are not Muslim wear the headscarf just so they can fit in because it's something that is expected of you as a woman. Here you can observe how people of a certain group that have a certain mentality, social belief and culture have used social control -methods that influence and indirectly force both "members and non-members, to comply with and not deviate from its norms and expectations." If anyone was found to violate any of these social rules, sanctions would be implemented. These can be formal sanctions that are supported by the law, or informal meaning that they can be given anyone in that society and are not supported by the law. Both these forms of sanctions can be negative or positive. An example of a negative informal sanction is when my grandmother giving me a long lecture about speaking Arabic more often because it's my mother tongue and that I'm becoming more of a western and less of an Arab. Dressing conservatively is required in Sudanese law; therefore if a someone is caught not dressed appropriately they would be dealt with the religious police.




Similarly to Sudan, Qatar is a Muslim and Arab country, but I don't apply these social norms because in the end it is not my culture. For example Qatari women wear the abaya in their home country but not necessarily when they travel. However, if I don't wear accordingly to tradition no one would care simply because I'm not Qatari and therefore these unwritten social rules do not apply to me. That is why when I'm not in Sudan I don't feel the need to follow the rules. This social pressure that I experience is a form of social control that forces me to dress accordingly modestly according to my culture, religion and family. In the end it is hard to agree on what is considered to be deviant behavior because each society establishes its own conformity that differ from each other, so what might be regarded as deviant in one society could be considered normal in another.

Can We Pause the Norms?

Can we ever say that it is “fine” to break the rules once a year in Doha? Probably yes. On the 18th of December, a maseera takes place annually in Doha, as a celebration to Qatar National Day. A maseera is a name given to the celebration of any big national event, and is usually held alongside the Corniche of Doha. Even though there are very strict rules and regulations regarding traffic violation, this day is considered open to the public. People would do what they normally wouldn’t do on the streets as it deviates away from the norms.



Let’s go back to last year’s maseera. A bunch of friends and I decided that we would actually join the people, and see for ourselves how the place looked like. So we all covered up very well, barely showing our faces, since you know, Qatar is a very small country, and people tend to talk a lot. The whole place around the corniche was decorated with the Qatari flag, representing nationalism.



There were those that showed some level of conformity when it came to road behavior, and others that completely deviated away from it. For instance, after picking up one of the girls, the driver forgot to lock the car doors. While we were stuck in the maseera celebrating inside the car, a random guy wearing a mask runs in the middle of the road heading towards our car, and just opens the door. This is an example of a deviated behavior, and obviously he got very negative sanctions from us. Some were screaming inside the car, and others represented an informal sanction; they just laughed. We did not expect such a behavior since it normally wouldn’t happen if it weren’t for the maseera.



Along with the car shows, some men decided that they would stop their car in the middle of the road, or have someone in the driver’s seat, put their music up loud, and start dancing in front of the car. To anyone, that wouldn’t seem as though it is following a culture’s norm. However, they got informal sanctions from the people around them, and they started laughing. They also got positive sanctions from the people, some even were video taping it. The only reason this is allowed is because this day is open to everyone, and they would usually not get violated for such acts, unless it is more than just a folkway.

Are You Gaga For Pop Culture?

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Lady GaGa. No introduction needed. Just hearing her name brings to any reader’s mind garish images of her outlandish fashion choices, “Raw meat anyone?” After your mind gets over those recollections you are probably also beginning to hear echoes of all her catchy hits in your ears. Well, having gone through that archive of memories you’re probably not going to be shocked that she has created a pop culture wave teeming with opportunities for so

ciological interpretations.

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Alone, she has created a massive subculture of what she calls her "Little Monsters". These loyal fans come take admiration up to the brink of worship (young people are prone to overdoing it with infatuations). This adoration is expressed outwardly through clothing, as many social phenomena tend to be. They show up to her concerts dressed like her and have every song memorized to the letter. When these fans, or "little monsters" attend Lady GaGa's events, they tend to mimic her way of dressing - which is, to say the least, eccentric and peculiar.

The way in which her fans dress can be seen as a cultural symbol, because it means that they belong to the same subculture which GaGa has created. Their fashion sense screams out "Hey! I'm a Little Monster too!" It is a symbol of rebellion and anti-conformity; an ironic notion since they are all uniform within the same subculture. However, individual fans persist on thinking that they are oh-so-daring just because people do not usually dress in this way.

For the subculture she created, dressing this way is a cultural norm. However, in the pre-GaGa days, which believe it or not was less than three years ago, it would be considered a negative sanction. Okay, maybe if you wore the things she wears now in the pre-GaGa days you won’t get punished, but people would definitely look at you weirdly and consider calling the local police to possibly send you to the looney bin.

Max Weber, who is a well-known and well-respected German sociologist, stated that people look up to prophets and philosophers because they have the power to influence people into behaving a certain way and thus creating a culture, or subculture. This is exactly what Lady GaGa’s fans have done, they look up to her and she herself, can be said to be a cultural symbol of freedom and resistance to dominant cultural values.