SOCIAL, POLITICAL CLIMATE AND ANTI COLONIALISM IN THE

ALIEN FARMER BY ABD AL-HAMEED AHMAD

Maya Aspia Azzahra

Asfiazahra01@gmail.com

Abstrack
As we know, literary work can represent many things, one of which is about human
life itself which is always filled with various kinds of problems such as social issues
and political issues. Writers around the world, especially in Arab lands, have written
many literary works in the form of novels, short stories, or poems that reflect it all.
One of the best works of Arab writers whose works can represent social and political
issues is "The Alien Farmer" by Abd Al-Hameed Ahmad. This short story from the
contemporary era is closely related to social and political issues that tells how
modernization as a result of political agreements can have an impact on people's
frustration and the loss of one's job, resulting in an increase in unemployment. This
research will be analyzed through structural literary theory so that later the important
message of this short story will be known and we can take lessons from it.
Keywords: Literature, Arabic, Social, Modernism
 CHAPTER I
A. INTRODUCTION

Arabic literature is the body of works produced in the Arabic language, both
prose and poetry. The Arabic word used for literature is "Adab = ‫أدب‬," which is
derived from a meaning of etiquette, and which implies politeness, culture and
enrichment. The tradition of Arabic literature stretches back to unrecorded
beginnings in the Arabian Peninsula, but with only fragments of the written
language appearing before the 5th century. It does not usually include works
written using the Arabic alphabet but not in the Arabic language such as Persian
literature and Urdu literature. The Qur'an, widely regarded as the finest piece of
literature in the Arabic language, would have the greatest lasting effect on Arabic
culture and its literature

Throughout the 20th century, Arabic writers in both poetry, prose and theatre
plays have reflected the changing political and social climate of the Arab world.
Anti-colonial themes were prominent early in the 20th century, with writers
continuing to explore the region's relationship with the West. Internal political
upheaval has also been a challenge, with writers suffering censorship or
persecution. There are many contemporary Arabic writers, such as Mahmoud
Saeed (Iraq) who wrote Bin Barka Ally, and I Am The One Who Saw (Saddam
City). Other contemporary writers include Sonallah Ibrahim and Abdul Rahman
Munif, who were imprisoned by the government for their critical opinions. At the
same time, others who had written works supporting or praising governments,
were promoted to positions of authority within cultural bodies. Nonfiction writers
and academics have also produced political polemics and criticisms aiming to re-
shape Arabic politics. Some of the best known are Taha Hussein's The Future of
Culture in Egypt, which was an important work of Egyptian nationalism, and the
works of Nawal el-Saadawi, who campaigned for women's rights. Tayeb Salih
from Sudan and Ghassan Kanafani from Palestine are two other writers who
explored identity in relationship to foreign and domestic powers, the former
writing about colonial/post-colonial relationships, and the latter on the
repercussions of the Palestinian struggle.

B. THEORY
 The theory used in the research on social and political issues as well as anti-
colonialism in the short story The Alien Farmer by abd al-hameed Ahmad is a
sociological theory of literature.

According to Damono (1984:6) sociology is an objective and scientific study

of humans in society, the study of social institutions and processes. In line with
that, Semi (1989: 52), says that sociology studies how society grows and
develops. By studying social institutions and all the problems of the economy,
religion, politics and others, we get an idea of the ways in which humans adapt to
their environment, social mechanisms, and the process of civilizing. Sociology of
literature is a study of literature by considering social aspects, has a broad, diverse
and complex scope, which concerns the author, his work, and the reader (Semi,
1989:54). Ratna (2003:2) provides a number of definitions of the sociology of
literature in order to find the objectivity of the relationship between literary works
and society, including: (1) understanding of literary works by considering social
aspects, (2) understanding of the totality of works accompanied by the social
aspects contained in it, (3) understanding of literary works as well as the
relationship with the society behind it, (4) bidirectional (dialectical) relationship
between literature and society.

C. METHODS

Qualitative research is a research method to explore and understand the

meaning that some individuals or groups of people think come from social or
human problems (Creswell, 2013).  The perspective used in this study is inductive
style, focuses on individual meanings, and translates the complexity of a problem.
qualitative research has the objective of describing the process of educational
activities based on what is in the field as study material to find shortcomings and
weaknesses so that efforts can be determined to improve them; analyzing a
symptom, facts, and educational events in the field; compile a hypothesis related
to the concepts and principles of education based on information and data that
occur in the field.

This research aims to investigate the two important things are political
changing and social climate, and anti-colonialism contain in the Arabian literature
works that is The Alien Farmer by ‘Abd al-Hameed Ahmad. This literature is
analysis using method qualitative based on data or document in a sources like
political changing and social climate, and anti-colonialism. By the data, those are
literacy works will be analyzed and identify the two important point within the
text literature.

CHAPTER II

REFLECTION ON POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CLIMATE

AND ANTI COLONIALISM IN THE ALIEN FARMER

A. DEFINITION
1. Political and Social climate
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the base climate comes from the
Middle French climat, which was first used to describe a region's prevailing
weather conditions around 1314. One of the first recorded uses of climate as a
description of prevailing political attitudes was in The Vanity of Dogmatizing by
Joseph Glanvill in 1661 where he mentions "divers Climates of Opinions". Then
the word Political. The word politic comes originally from the ancient Greek
noun polis which referred to both a Greek city state, and the ideal state or
government. Over time, this evolved through the Latin noun politicus which is
defined as the civil government, to the Middle French adjective politique which is
the state of government, or relating to government.

Social climate (psychological climate, social context) is typically defined as

the perceptions of a social environment that tend to be shared by a group of
people. Climate is rooted in perception (“how I see the way things are done or
how people treat each other around here”). Culture refers more to the beliefs,
values, and norms that comprise the interdependent experiences and practices of
larger collectives (“what we—as a group—should do and why and how we do it”)
(Deninson, 1996; Schneider, 1990). Like meteorological or atmospheric climate,
social climate is relatively distinctive across groups (as the tropics differ from the
Himalayas), is dynamic or changeable within groups (like the seasons), and can
influence behavior (like an individual's choice of clothing). Social climate
research has grown considerably since White and Lippitt's (1960) early
experiments comparing democratic, autocratic, and laissez-faire leadership in
small groups of children. The concept and measurement of social climate have
since been applied across widely diverse disciplines both within and outside the
field of psychology.

2. Anti -Colonialism
Anticolonialism in the twentieth and twenty-first century refers to two
interconnected concepts: a historical event and a critical analytic. As a historical
event, anticolonialism means the struggle against imperial rule in colonized
countries, mostly during the first half of the twentieth century. As a philosophical
movement and critical analytic, anticolonialism is the under-acknowledged
predecessor to postcolonial theory. In addition to agitating for national
independence and postcolonial nationalism, anticolonial thinkers and activists
debated the necessity of political solidarity as well as international cooperation –
from Afro-Asian Solidarity to the Non-Aligned Movement (both of which were
debated, together, at the 1955 Afro-Asian Conference at Bandung, Indonesia).
Consequently, the history of anticolonialism as a theoretical and political practice
illuminates an historical and analytical trajectory between the colonized world,
the Third World, and the contemporary Global South.

B. LITERARY WORKS ANALYSIS

1. The Alien Farmer
a. Abd al-Hameed Ahmad
Abd al-Hameed Ahmad (b. 1957) A short-story writer from the United
Arab Emirates, ‘Abd al-Hameed Ahmad studied up to secondary level, then
acquired a wide literary knowledge through his own reading. He began writing in
1973 and has shown great concern over the immense and irreversible changes that
have taken place in the Arabian Gulf area as a result of the oil boom and the
sudden wealth it brought to the region. He has a poignant sensibility for the
pathos and tragedies that have resulted from this new life and delineates his
impressions sometimes directly in the tragic mode but at others with a comic
apprehension of experience. He now works in journalism in the Emirates and,
having served for several years as head of the Union of the Writers of the United
Arab Emirates, serves as deputy head. He has gained a distinguished status in
journalism and is now editor-in-chief of the prestigious English-language weekly
Gulf News. His first collection of short stories, Swimming in the Eye of a Savage
Gulf, appeared in 1982, and his second, The Alien Farmer, in 1987.
b. Analysis of The Alien Farmers
The alien farmer is tragic short story written in 1987 , concerning an
omani farmer (Marish) whose way of life becomes outmoded. Other pieces
highlighted unhappiness arising from the growing presence of corporation of
technology (oftent represent by The west). This short story consists of 7 parts, and
uses a third person point of view.

Then a question appeared, why does this short story entitled “The Alien
Farmer’’? actually the word Alien here doesn’t mean ‘alien’ as described in many
fantasy-genre movies like extraterrestrial beings etc, but the word alien here can
be translated as “asing” in bahasa Indonesia while in oxford dictionary, the word
alien can described as a foreigner, especially one who is not a naturalized citizen
of the country where they are living and this is in line with the content of the story
presented because marish “sang petani asing” was originally from Oman but live
illegally in UAE as a farmer, no passport and no citizenship :

“To work nowadays, you need an identity, citizenship, a

passport. No one will hire me.”

Furthermore, why does marish called as an alien farmer, Because in some

chapters, there are scenes where a child asks his mother, who is Marish Mother?
And his mother never gave an answer.

“The child again asked his mother,

“Who is Marish, Mother?” But his voice was lost in the hubbub.”

It was only in chapter 5 that the child's question was answered by his
father, that Marish is a farmer from Oman who migrated to UAE, has no family,
lives alone and very poor.

As we were waiting in the shade of the garden wall I asked my father, “What
does Marish do?”

“He is a farmer, my son.”

“Has he any children?”

“He lives alone in his shack, no wife, no family.”

“Why doesn’t he get married?”

 “He is Omani and very poor. Who would take him for a husband?”

Marish The alien farmer was found dead in his hut, then Marish's death
became a mystery.

“For a whole month the place was preoccupied with the story of what had
happened to Marish.”

Many people speculate about the cause of his death, some of his neighbor
think that Marish was murdered, another speculation suspected that Marish died
by suicide and I think it is make sense because a few days before marish death,
one of his neighbor saw Marish sitting under his palm tree, he looked frustrated
and very desperate :

The man replied, “But I myself saw him four days ago sitting in the shadow of
a palm tree. He seemed to be despondent.”

Therefore, most of the people speculated that marish was commited

suicide and it is his frustration who has killed him.

“Did he commit suicide?”

She questioned fearfully, placing her hand on her cheek. Then she let go a
sigh and said, “Alas, Marish! It is frustration and grief that have killed you! You died
lonely, no family and no wife.”

The root cause of Marish's death and frustration according to me can

actually be found in chapter 4 where at that time he told his friends with tears

“No one cares about palm

trees any more, and lambs are now slaughtered in special slaughterhouses in the

markets."

From that statement we can conclude that the cause of Marish's

frustration is that he lost his job both as farmer and lambs slaughtered.
According to research that have been conducted by Stress Management,
Whether you’ve been laid off, downsized, forced to take early retirement, or
seen contract work dry up, losing your employment is one of life’s most
stressful experiences. Aside from the obvious financial anguish it can cause,
the stress of losing a job can also take a heavy toll on your mood,
relationships, and overall mental and emotional health.

That kind of frustration is also felt by Marish. As a farmer who still

use traditioanal way in doing his work, his job was now being replaced by
machines, so that no one uses his service anymore. This is due to the flow of
modernization to the United Arab Emirates, where a lot of jobs that are
normally done by humans are now being taken over by machines.

The situation that happened to Marish is closely related to social Issue

namely unemployement. This case is also often caused a problem in the
economy, because with unemployment, people's productivity and income will
decrease, so that it can cause poverty and other social problems like suicide.

Marish’s job that have been taken by machines is also signed a

political and social conditions back then which resulted in the anti-colonial
movement in Arabia. These technologies will not enter the country if there is
no political cooperation between the countries concerned, in this case the
politics of trade. Political trade is the government's policy to hold free trade
between countries. For example, the United Arab Emirates establishes trade
cooperation with America, as a result there will be imports and exports, the
UAE exports oil to America and America imports sophisticated machines to
Arabia. Of course, things like this caused social changes/climate. The poor
people like marish who work as a farmer and laborers lose their jobs, and as a
result the unemployment rate increases.

In my opinion, This is what inspired Abdul Hamid Ahmad to make

this short story. He highlighted the negative effect of modernization this work
also as representation of an anti-colonial movement, indeed not colonialism in
the sense of war but in the sense of modernization or technologies which
indirectly colonizes small communities in maintaining their jobs. In
conclusion, this work “the alien farmer” represents literature related to
politics, social and anti-colonial movements in Arabia.
 CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

The research is to indentify the changing political and social climate,

and anti-colonialism which contain in short story and poetry. The word politic
comes originally from the ancient Greek noun polis which referred to both a
Greek city state, and the ideal state or government. Then, Social climate
(psychological climate, social context) is typically defined as the perceptions
of a social environment that tend to be shared by a group of people. Climate is
rooted in perception (“how I see the way things are done or how people treat
each other around here”). Culture refers more to the beliefs, values, and norms
that comprise the interdependent experiences and practices of larger
collectives (“what we—as a group—should do and why and how we do it”).
Then, anticolonialism means the struggle against imperial rule in colonized
countries, mostly during the first half of the twentieth century.

From the short story that have been explained above, it can be
concluded that social issue like unemployment or the stressfulness which
leads to suicide is something that must be highlighted by the people especially
the government. It is true that we can’t deny modernization but it will better if
the government or the people who has responsibility to the employee give
them a new job so that they will not be jobless and we will not find the other
Marish.
 REFERECES

Elam, J. Daniel. December 27, 2017. “Anti-Colonialism.” Global South

Studies : A Collective Publication with The Global South. Accessed
on September 25, 2021

J.B. Bennett. 2010. Social Climate, the Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology.

Wiley online Library. Accessed on September 25, 2021.

Jayyusi, Salma Khadra. 1893. Modern Arabic Fiction an Anthology. New

York Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-
231-13254-9. Pg. 166 - 173

Jayyusi, Salma Khadra. 1893. Modern Arabic Fiction an Anthology. New

York Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-
231-13254-9. Pg. 210 – 214