Rooted in the Body by Lisa White

Below, please read selected parts of the interview with Lisa White, author of Rooted in the Body.

What happened that you decided to write Rooted in the Body book?

Well, I think it’s been a journey. Rooted in the Body is the product of my lifelong fascination with languages in general and with Arabic in particular. And it’s also the product of my collaboration with Egyptian comic artist and professor of public health, Mahmood Shaltout.

I like puzzles. I felt learning a language was like working on a puzzle, just a nicer puzzle, more delicious, I guess.

After studying Arabic in the United States, France, and Egypt, I began teaching it at the American University in Cairo. And 40 years this year of living and working in Egypt has been a cultural apprenticeship as well.

The main reason that brought Rooted in the Body into being was that I wanted to help my adult students understand Arabic structure more quickly and easily than I had. And I also wanted them to learn and retain vocabulary more efficiently.

Arabic has a very big vocabulary. It’s really impressive. And when you’re learning as an adult, it takes extra effort to upload this vocabulary in your mind. So, when I became aware of the surprising prevalence of the body in Arabic vocabulary and a lot of derivatives, I understood that it would be a really good teaching strategy. So that’s what’s behind the book.

What are the major differences between Arabic and English grammar?

Arabic is from the Semitic branch of languages. What I’m particularly interested in is the structure of the language. And especially about how roots are so powerful in Arabic. So English has roots too. But it’s a bit different and not as pervasive as in Arabic.

So one root in Arabic, you get a lot of mileage out of it, especially out of “body roots” because they’re so old and they are primal. They are loaded with psychic power and also with cultural power. They’ve been around for so long because the language of the body doesn’t expire. It’s, it’s very old and very culturally hefty and sometimes very funny.

For example, “head” and the vocabulary derived from the head will be president, Rais and Raisi principle

and Riaz presidency, and Ratsum alaiya capitalism. So this vocabulary will suggest that you perhaps illustrated with a president or in our case

No, no, we did not actually, which is rather surprising for a three-year collaboration.

When we learn a new language. What do we learn?

It depends, I guess you can say that at first in learning a language, the most practical thing one needs to do is meet and greet people. So of course, there are some basics that in any language, one would hope to be able to do, to manage survival, that kind of thing, but especially at first meeting and greeting like  “Who am I?” “What do you do?” “What do I do?”, and so forth.

But as you move on and you begin, you cannot separate language from culture, they are wrapped up in one. For instance, to say a salamu alaikum … there’s a long cultural history behind that. And the more you understand the better.

At first, of course, baby steps. And then, as soon as you can move on to use that culture to make the language that you produce more meaningful.

What happened? Why did you get interested in Arabic?

Okay, well, so I love languages. I thought I was intrigued [by language itself]. The first language course I took was Latin. In fact, in Latin, there was really no meeting and greeting that I recall. I still loved it. It was so helpful to know Latin to understand where English roots are coming from. So that for me was very intriguing. And it ended up being a really nice foundation for me.

The Arabic script is just beautiful. That’s how I started … with a fascination with the script.

Then, in high school, I enjoyed the discovery process. And I think I’m someone who likes puzzles. And so it felt like learning a language was like working on a puzzle, just a nicer puzzle, more delicious, I guess.

Then, I was really curious about going outside of the Latin language family. I didn’t think my ear was good enough to try something like Chinese.

So I thought some more, and I thought, Okay, maybe I’ll do Hebrew. I signed up for it. I was going on a spring term abroad in France. So I had to sign up early for the following senior year. I went to France and I met many, many, many North African students. They spoke Arabic. It had never occurred to me before that I could also do Arabic.

When I went back to Penn State, where I was studying, I asked if I could enroll in Arabic language. I asked if they taught Arabic there. And they said, Well, yes, we do. But only one year. And it was my senior year. It was my last year. And I said, fine, that’s fine. I’ll do Arabic.

I just loved the Arabic language. I just loved it. I knew that within a couple of months of beginning, I was where I wanted to go. Arabic was endlessly fascinating to me. And yeah, it was the cat’s meow. So to speak, it was something I wanted to pursue. And I from that time that was in 1975. And I never looked back.

How about writing Arabic?

The Arabic script is just beautiful. And I thought, Well, if I could ever learn it, wouldn’t that be fun? I and then it was all you know, so that’s how I started with a fascination with the script. And I was also annoyed at myself for never having considered it in the first place.

Tell us about peace and compassion.

Okay, so I will say that language is the best vehicle for peace. If you can speak someone else’s language, you have the hope of communicating with them. And it’s a kind of I think for me, anyway, language is an addiction, but it’s the best kind of addiction.

Arabic is a never-ending open buffet, but nonfattening. That’s like this. It is delicious. Yes, it is. And there’s always something new on the menu.

So my feeling about it is that there’s an Uber chef. And then there are people like you and me, the little sous chefs who are adding their pieces, their little bits, onto the menu, and together somehow it gets mixed in and creates this amazing vehicle for our feelings and our hopes, and our desires.

And certainly, I think, desire a more peaceful world, and a truer focus on the deep meaning of culture, and the things that people share, but not the things that separate them.

The Raw Footage of the Interview with Lisa White