AHC: Iraqi/Fertile Crescent Culture Leaves Deep Impact on US Culture

Pesigalam

Banned
Post WW2, the US saw the rise of the Tiki bar trend as US soldiers and sailors, returning from far-off voyages returned with souvenirs and tales of distant, "exotic" lands.

By contras, despite me reading about some correlated increase in the interests towards the Gilgamesh legend, neither the 1991 Gulf War nor the 2003 invasion of Iraq has led to any deep cultural permeation or absorption of Iraqi culture into the US mainstream.

How could one get something like the "Tiki bar trend" in USA associated with the Iraq War?
 
I'm wondering what does Iraq (and I suppose Afghanistan) have that is marketable? Something I'll be interested in hearing about, but nothing actually comes to mind. I suppose the shararma market has room to grow in the United States, but it's often competing with the kebab and Greek resturants. The atmosphere most people imagine when thinking of contemporary Iraq isn't something that really works for wanting to deliberately emulate to either the general public or returning soldiers.

Second, I think this might be a side effect of the military being for most intents and purposes a nearly entirely different world from the mainstream ever since the all-volunteer army (or earlier, since Vietnam). So there has been a cultural shift with the public and media becoming more aware of military culture and practices. On the other hand, that serves as a blocking factor in distracting from the exchange of actual Iraqi culture and makes the two synonymous with Iraq War culture. With the focus being on our boys of course.

That said, still curious about what ideas could be considered marketable.
 

Pesigalam

Banned
I'm wondering what does Iraq (and I suppose Afghanistan) have that is marketable? Something I'll be interested in hearing about, but nothing actually comes to mind.
Really? No-one answered this yet? AH.com is turning out to be far less multicultural than I thought.

Hookah Bars
Erotic Bacha bazi dances (the Pashtun ones use prepubescent boys but presumably an "Americanised" version would involve 18+ year old women)
Arab Coffee Culture (& other drinks)
Bedouin "BBQ"
 
I think your problem is that, unlike with the Tiki Bar which was vaguely Polynesian, an Iraqi import would be much more "the culture of the enemy" - being a harder barrier to cross.

That said, I like a challenge, and having lived in an arab country for four years I've had a few ideas:

* Arab sweets (often very sugary and homemade) often seem right up the taste buds of Americans - maybe a vogue for "Persian" or "Eastern" treats? You would need to avoid connotations of Arab or Muslim given the heated climate since 9/11 though.

* Arab soap operas are ridiculously close to American ones in terms of plots, settings, and "aspirational" lifestyles - maybe a cross-over soap about a hospital or a hotel complex set somewhere vaguely arab? That could be sold in both cultures?

* Arab coffee would seem an easy one given the vogue for "artisan" coffees in the states. "Kuwaiti Roast", "Eastern Blend", or "Tigris Dusk" anyone?

I think, given the Iraq=enemy (and now ISIS) you would need to rely more on vague terms or allied countries (like Kuwait in 1991) to avoid a "Freedom Fries" incident.
 

cpip

Gone Fishin'
Really? No-one answered this yet? AH.com is turning out to be far less multicultural than I thought.

Hookah Bars
Erotic Bacha bazi dances (the Pashtun ones use prepubescent boys but presumably an "Americanised" version would involve 18+ year old women)
Arab Coffee Culture (& other drinks)
Bedouin "BBQ"

Well, there's hookah bars already in the States (just search near any college campus of nearly any size), and their numbers are definitely rising since the 1991 war; coffee culture already exists here (and you can buy Arabic coffees already); et cetera. So what does Iraq have, particularly, that isn't already around from some of the limited penetration of Arabic culture into American culture?

Presumably the best way to get it back, of course, would be to have it brought back by American military personnel overseas, which might entail military personnel able to spend more off-duty time in Iraqi civilian areas, acquire some particularly Iraqi cultural practice, and bring it home (presumably best via Reserve and National Guardsmen).

It's also worth noting that Tiki bars were never associated with any of the forces that the US military were fighting against, being associated with a bucolic image of the natives of the South Pacific islands where fighting occurred; so presumably you'd have to have to find a way for there to be a clearer distinction in the popular culture between the forces the US military was fighting against and the Arab culture we're looking to diffuse in.

The easiest way to get to all this would be to somehow prevent the insurgencies, but that's a much larger challenge.
 
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