Letters

A cocktail of nationalities

June 19 - 25, 2013
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So, where are you from? ‘Umm, well..’ tends to be how I begin my answer to that question; as I’m sure is the case for most multi-nationality teenagers living in the kingdom.
 
As a result of my upbringing in an infinitely diverse country such as Bahrain; the answer to a question regarding my nationality, has always neither been here nor there.

Coming from a person such as myself, that statement is remarkable, as I am painfully logical and strictly black and white in my outlook. However, categorising nationality has always been a grey area.

I’m sure that you can all agree that Bahrain is very much an international melting pot where categorising race and nationality does not matter.

Therefore, you can imagine my surprise as I stumble across intrusive university applications that require you to classify your race. At first, the need to provide such information bemused me.
As I constantly thought ‘Why? Why does this matter? This doesn’t usually matter’ because in Bahrain it doesn’t usually matter.

My bewildered eyes then settle upon the checkbox named ‘Other’ followed by a measly, painfully short, dotted line, placed there for me to explain myself; and I sigh cynically as I know I need more than one line.

It seems that our small country is a microcosm for what seems to be a new international race, because in a setting as intimate as Bahrain you become peppered with every single nationality that you come into contact with.

Which draws me to the conclusion that: we are all cocktails here in Bahrain. Non-alcoholic ones, of course.







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