Orientalism on Campus - Controversial Election for New Mascot and Hymn

When the Menton campus was originally founded 15 years ago in 2005, the Mentonese ummah consisted of a mere 34 students, most of whom were of Middle Eastern or Arab descent. Today, the campus measures a total of 426 students, most of whom are non-MENA white or of European descent. It was in this context that the administration recently emailed its student body calling for submissions of mascot designs and hymn ideas; they named the “evolving” nature of the student body as a reason to reconsider our campus symbols.

What the email failed to mention is that we already have a campus mascot and hymn: Loulou the camel and the Mentonnaise — a readaptation of France’s national anthem, the Marseillaise, with a satirical twist centered on Islamic stereotypes. Both of these campus symbols have been recently called into question amid talks about orientalism and cultural appropriation — thus prompting the director’s call to replace the mascot — however, the topic remains controversial among students. (For those who have not yet studied the works of scholar Edward Said, orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world — especially the Middle East and North Africa — by those in the West).

Among the student body, there seems to be a general consensus on these symbols: Loulou the camel is supported as a mascot, but the Mentonnaise hymn is widely considered orientalist and politically incorrect.

An anonymous student called the Mentonnaise a “readaptation of the Marseillaise but with just about every cliché about Arabs you can possibly imagine.” The student explained that the lyrics include the following lines: “don’t forget your burka;” “application of the sharia law;” “ramadan new national holiday;” and calls for Jihad.

“Some people say it’s offensive and, even though it’s supposed to be ironic and exaggerated on purpose, I agree [with the former belief] because… so many of the people that come to Menton are in no position to make such jokes,” said the student. “It is not white people's place to reclaim these clichés just because we study the Middle East for two years.”

On the other hand, some students are calling these aspects of our campus, the mascot in particular, “traditional,” and associating discussions such as these with the campus becoming white-washed and less Middle-Eastern.

It is true that the camel has a lot of support as our mascot; of the 24 uploads in the administration’s folder for mascot ideas, 22 are photos of camels, including depictions of Loulou and his Facebook page. But does this mean that a re-evaluation of our campus symbols should be considered “white-washing?”

An anonymous student argued that the campus is not becoming less Middle Eastern, but less orientalist, and the people pushing for these discussions about rethinking our traditions are not white people “white-washing” the campus, but individuals engaged in anti-racism. “In my opinion, [these symbols] are just a lot of orientalism,” the student said.

This brings about another series of questions: are symbols like the camel and the Mentonnaise true celebrations of Middle Eastern culture, or are they merely orientalist ideas that some students are willing to defend? To what extent is the camel really representative of the Middle East? I do not know if these are questions that even have objectively correct answers.

Personally, as someone who is completely Lebanese and Arab but was raised for the most part in the United States, I do not take issue with the camel as our mascot, although I acknowledge its orientalist history. Even though I am okay with the camel as our mascot, I am a big believer that we should constantly re-evaluate the symbols that we choose to use on campus as a representation of our Middle Eastern appreciation.We must be sensitive to the fact that the majority of people on this campus are white and European, and above all, we must value the opinions of Arab and MENA students.

To that end, I sent an anonymous survey to gauge the student opinion and heard back from 23 Arab/MENA students. The results were incredibly mixed: while the majority of students felt represented by (43.5%) or indifferent (39.1%) to the camel, there were a handful of students (17.4%) who found the camel to be an orientalist representation of their culture.

In a question about how the students felt about the election for a new mascot, the results were still mixed, but a little less so. Most students were opposed to the election of a new mascot (57.1%), some were indifferent (28.6%), and a minority supported the election (14.3%). These results can be interpreted to mean that, even as the status of the camel as a representative of Arab/MENA culture is unclear, support for the camel as our mascot remains relatively strong.

Yet some of the respondents were actively annoyed about the proposal to change the mascot. “In my opinion, we must stop considering everything as orientalist: the mascot is above all an object of fun, a way of representing the campus with an animal with wacky characteristics and which inspires sympathy…. I do not feel at all offended in my Arabness when I see that it is used to represent the campus,” said the student.

They went on to discuss the pride they felt towards the camel, saying, “it is a noble animal with characteristics that make us Arabs proud… let's stop creating problems from the slightest subjects, and long live Loulou the camel!”

Other students took a more tolerant stance and addressed the diversity of opinions, even among the Arab/MENA community. “Although I would like to keep the camel as a mascot, if some students from the MENA region feel offended by this symbol, I would not be shocked to have it changed,” said one student. Another student did not seem to mind changing the mascot at all, saying that we should change the mascot “if we find something better than the camel.”

However, there was one opinion that stood out to me, and it is that opinion on which I would like to focus the remainder of this article: we are never going to agree on a mascot that works for all of us.

“I don't see how all of the MENA can be represented by one camel, or one new mascot,” said a student, reflecting this belief. Another student said, “I don't think that the mascot of the school has to represent the entire identity of the student body, that would be an impossible expectation, but as the MENA campus, I also think there's nothing wrong with our campus mascot being an animal that is prominent in the region due to its climate and geographical location.”

I couldn’t agree more — I do not expect every Arab student to feel the same way that I do about these symbols, nor do I expect us to find a symbol that everyone will feel represented by.

It is undeniably true that the camel is an animal that historically has a strong presence in the MENA region, and countries like Saudi Arabia and Tunisia even use it as their national symbols — it is a point of pride for some. But to speak for myself, I do not view the camel as a celebration of Middle Eastern culture at all because, to me, it doesn’t represent anything — there are no camels in Lebanon.

In sum, not everyone from the MENA region will feel the same way about controversial symbols like the camel: some may strongly associate it with their Middle Eastern-ness, and yet others may find it to be an offensive symbol assigned to us by the West. All that I can say for sure is that we should be able to have conversations like this one on our campus without the narrative being censored by students who value “tradition” over a reflection of our representations, and without being overrun by non-MENA or non-Arab students who think their opinions matter more. At the end of the day, we are all here to learn and appreciate Middle Eastern and North African culture — respect is non-negotiable.

- Celeste Abourjeili