Summary of the Edward T. Hall article
Edward T. Hall discusses, in the article “Proxemics in the Arab World,” how Arabs and
Westerners should try to understand different types of communications between those
cultures. Without proper understanding, their communication and non-verbal speech could
be possibly misunderstood and lead to strange situations. Mr. Hall describes how
Americans are confronted with two conflict sensations in the Arab world. Firstly, the
Americans are exposed to smells, crowding and a high noise level. Secondly, their
perception of the usual American home is confronted with the large and spacey Arab
homes. Mr. Hall explains those conflicts with a few examples, starting with “Behavior in
Public” and ending his article with “Boundaries in the Arab World.”
According to Mr. Hall, there are big differences between public behavior and the Arab
concept of privacy. Americans think that the Arab world is pushy and without a private
zone. However, as Mr. Hall says, “Paradoxically, Arabs consider northern Europeans and
Americans pushy, too. “
He explains that there is a major difference between perceptions of private space in those
cultures. Usually, people have around them some kind of a bubble, where the size of the
bubble can differ depending on the age, sex, and importance of the individual. Anyone
who enters into this imaginary zone is immediately considered intruder. He also explains
that Arabs do not recognize this personal zone. As Mr. Hall gives as an example, the
French may consider other people touching their clothes as an attack. Conversely, Hall
explains, Arabs are not insulted by this because they have their “ego” hidden inside their
