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British History and Culture Celebrated at NYUAD
NYU Abu Dhabi students celebrated Britain's culture and history at the Downtown Campus on April 11. This was the first time that British Night had been ...
Apr 12, 2014
[slideshow]Photo by Moonie Sohn/The Gazelle;Photo by Moonie Sohn/The Gazelle;Photo by Moonie Sohn/The Gazelle;Photo by Moonie Sohn/The Gazelle;Photo by Moonie Sohn/The Gazelle;
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NYU Abu Dhabi students celebrated Britain's culture and history at the Downtown Campus on April 11. This was the first time that British Night had been celebrated at NYUAD. The hosts welcomed guests with cups of classic British tea, and the night commenced with the British national anthem, "God Save the Queen."
DTC was decorated with Union Jacks, and there were stalls dedicated to showcasing Britain's literature — from Shakespeare's Othello to Rowling's Harry Potter — a family tree of the British royals up to Prince George of Cambridge and British sport. Footballs, wands and broomsticks littered the stalls. Performances included highland dancing with performers wearing kilts and skirts. Also featured were renditions of Elton John's "Your Song," The Beatles' "Hey Jude" and a dance routine to the music of the Spice Girls.
British staples were served, including fish and chips and shepherd's pie.
Freshman Xinyi Wei enjoyed the event.
“I really loved it. Especially the Harry Potter stand and the Spice Girls. People are always talking about how we are ‘Americanized.’ British night really reminded me that British culture is also playing a huge role in my life in terms of music and literature,” she said.
Freshman Liza Tait-Bailey said that the organizers were initially hesitant about celebrating British Night because of Britain's history.
"We were really nervous because, it's kind of awkward, but when you think about how many colonies — or ex-British colonies — are [represented] at the school; we were worried that there would be some kind of hatred," said Tait-Bailey.
Whilst students participated in the event, some of them expressed the concern that Britain should not have been allocated an entire cultural night. Freshman Guillaume Sylvain did have some reservations about the idea behind the event and its presentation.
“It was inappropriate to reserve a whole night for the British while there is an Africa night … I [think] that as we move to Saadiyat we should have stricter rules and parameters that would insure the schedule isn't bombarded with such events. I also deplored the lack of informative/educational elements,” he wrote to The Gazelle.
Tait-Bailey wrote to The Gazelle, responding to this criticism:
“We weren't trying to exclude other countries, and if someone had wanted a European Night, we would have been really keen for that as well. Also, in fairness, there is a Russian night coming up, and America and Canada were combined, but we were technically celebrating four constituent countries [England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland] which all have a uniqueness of culture, so we didn't want to include too many countries at the risk of marginalizing one's culture — I don't think we could have done justice to many more.”
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