A handshake or lack of! A non-shaky encounter ends in tears! A story about handshake in the Arab world.

rajrouj

I am a college professor and a world citizen. I am also the Founder and Director of the Center for Acquisition of Language, Literacy And Culture (CALLAC). I love all people, and strongly believe that all people are the same, regardless gender, race, color, religion, ethnicity, history, geography, culture, language, intellect, background or wealth. I am against inequality in all forms and shapes, firmly a pro women issues, fight against violence and harassment to women, everywhere, at home, at work, and on the streets. I want to see all peoples of this world become one. Perhaps through communicating with each other we can achieve this.

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We all as a human species even of different nations, ethnicity, color and race use our hands while communicating. Hands are used to signify happiness, sadness, queries and more. It’s said that the hand is one of the most sensitive parts of the body and it has direct connections to the brain. Could that be the reason why we often greet people with a handshake? But is handshake universal, and the default way of greeting? Does lack of a handshake mean rudeness on the part of the person who denies it. Is there a difference between and across gender in handshake in some cultures?

Researchers in cultural differences between the Arab world and the West advice travelers and business people to be aware that in some Arab countries it is a cultural taboo to shake hands between men and women. They add that when a western man is introduced to an Arab woman, he should wait for the woman to extend her hand, as it is the woman’s choice whether to shake hands or not. Being a native of the Arab society I concur with what the researchers have advised. But in my blog “When a handshake or lack off, ends in tears!” I go deeper than listing what to do or not to do.

Read my blog on handshake “When a handshake or lack off, ends in tears!” it is a story about absence of a handshake between two Arabs, a man and a woman, and the hidden meaning behind it.