Project

Oman / Arabic Language Study

An immersive Arabic study program based in Manah, Oman, in the summer of 2023 — daily language work paired with the landscape, craft, and everyday life of the country's interior.

A small group stands on the overhanging rim of Jebel Shams at dusk — the highest peak in Oman — above the haze of the Wadi Ghul canyon. — Jebel Shams, Oman — the rim of the Wadi Ghul canyon at dusk, during a 2023 Arabic study program based in Manah.

My role, areas & skills

Role
Arabic language student and intercultural learner
Areas
Teaching & Learning / Public Scholarship
Skills
Arabic, Oman, Language immersion, Intercultural work

The objective

Deepen Arabic through an immersive language-study program in Oman.

What I did

Studied Arabic in Manah and used the language in everyday interactions.
Documented learning and field trips through writing and photography.

Deliverables

Written dispatches and field photographs from Oman.

Result

Extended Arabic learning into a Gulf setting, adding a further cross-cultural context to the later Morocco research and teaching.

In motion

One of the long-haired goats of Jebel Shams — the mountain interior where the program's field trips ran.

Overview

In the summer of 2023, Reese studied Arabic through an immersive program based in Manah, a town in Oman's Ad Dakhiliyah interior — pairing daily formal language work with travel across the country.

The title of that summer’s photo album — منح... وسط لا مكان, "Manah… in the middle of nowhere" — captures the setting: a small interior town as the base for full immersion in Gulf Arabic and everyday Omani life.

What to notice

Language study here was not confined to a classroom. It ran through markets, mountain villages, and the country's dramatic interior — from the Wadi Ghul canyon at Jebel Shams to the date-palm towns of the Dakhiliyah.

Oman extended a long arc of Arabic study, adding a Gulf dialect region alongside the Modern Standard Arabic, Moroccan Darija, and French behind the rest of Reese's work.

A long-haired goat with curved horns stands among the pale rocks of Jebel Shams, Oman. — Place / Jebel Shams The long-haired goats of Jebel Shams — a small detail of the mountain interior where the program's field trips ran.

Why it matters

The Oman program deepened Reese’s Arabic across a second dialect region and reinforced a habit of learning a language by living inside it — the same approach behind his teaching and Huruf Lab.