Jul 25

Learning to Bow…in Iraq?

Books, Japan Trends, Translating/Interpreting, Writers Comments Off on Learning to Bow…in Iraq?

Just heard an NPR interview with Wesley Gray, the fluent-in-Arabic author of Embedded:  A Marine Corps Advisor in the Iraqi Army, and it struck me that it might be the Learning to Bow:  Inside the Heart of Japan for current day Iraq.  Learning to Bow by best-selling author Bruce Feiler (Tottori-ken, 1989-90) was the original “JET book,” describing the experience of living in Japan and making sense of the cultural differences.

I think it would be interesting to hear some JET perspectives on the book, perhaps contrasting Gray’s experience with their own cross-cultural experience in Japan.  Please feel free to post your comments below.  Also, if anyone wants to write a review of the book, just get in touch.

Here’s a summary of the book from Amazon:

From Publishers Weekly
In this illuminating memoir, Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Gray recounts his eight-month tour as part of a Military Transition Team, working as an advisor to the Iraqi Army on location. Gray was fluent in Arabic prior to deployment, giving him enormous insight into the culture and worldview of Iraqis as citizens and soldiers and obvious advantages over colleagues (and competing memoirists) relying on translantors On many occasions, Gray encounters an Insh’ Allah philosophy, a mantra of “If God wills it” or “God willing” can strike Americans as lazy or unmotivated. Among other startling lessons, Gray discovered that loyalty to tribe supersedes duty to the state; the Iraqi Army soldiers he was training were spending their monthly leave in the ranks of local tribal militias. Gray details the cultural nuances and interpersonal relationships of occupied Iraq with such care and clarity, it’s a must-read for anyone interested in the the reconstruction, especially those set to deploy.