Friday, September 11, 2015

"True or False?" The Case of Mount Nebo

The view from top

The theme of today's visit is "religious tour", in which the destinations are Umm Rassass, Madaba and Mount Nebo, however, the most intriguing experience I found in Mount Nebo. Mount Nebo is famous as a destination for religious tour, specifically the Christian pilgrimage. In the Bible it was mentioned that Mount Nebo is the place where Moses was granted a view of the Promised Land. This place is also considered as the place where Moses was buried. This fact is, nevertheless, true according to the Christian belief. It is interesting to question, whether this fact is "true" for all people? As an example, because I was brought up with a Muslim belief, I did not recognize Mount Nebo as part of the Prophet Moses's journey; only the story of the Sinai hill is regarded as important. The two perspectives might have the same root, however the details become different. This shows that there are certain "facts" that are "true" for some people, but not for the others. This idea reminds me of the concept explained by Urry (2002), the "postmodernism" concept. Postmodernism approach suggests that there is no single truth regarding an instance. Rather, the truth is composed of pieces of information gathered from different perspectives, to create a bigger picture. Contrary to previous beliefs, the postmodernism approach is skeptical to the grand  narratives. It believes that knowledge is produced by human, and thus it is socially constructed. Of course, if we relate back to the previous example, a fundamental difference is present as it is related to people’s beliefs. However,  the postmodernism approach is useful to better understand the process in which one story can have so many different versions and details, even according to the same belief. It shows that facts and knowledge are produced in particular social and historical context.



References:

  • Urry, J. (2002). The tourist gaze. Sage.

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