Page 8 - Aisha Stoby News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Understood sits at the top of the indian ocean rim. the empire once stretched from pakistan to east africa, with important trade routes that reached from southern africa all the way to the china straits, indonesia and deep into east asia. modern oman is a fraction of that size now, but its dna, culture, cuisine, and to some extent, attitude toward the outside world is a reflection of that history. muttrah is a port town in the capital of muscat. for centuries a central hub of commerce and trade. >> anthony: one of the first things i noticed about the city is its very low slung. it seems like a...

Certain height it's generally frowned upon because the idea is to keep sort of a traditional omani vernacular. >> anthony: aisha stoby is a curator and a phd student focused on middle eastern art history. she is like many young people here, patriotic to the point of being nerdy as she puts it. >> aisha: we have such an old history and i think muttrah is a really great example of that, you know? this is something that functions in our daily life, it functions very similarly to, say, how it would've functioned if you were coming into muttrah and going into the souq, say 200 years ago. and now we...

>> aisha: i think people discuss, like, fears of multiculturalism but within oman, because of our sacred history it's a traditional reality. it's our background, it's who we are. so, if anyone has a reason that these two should not be wed,

Office. ♪ ♪ >> zahara: [ speaking in arabic ] i was the only one here to cook for a living. the women here used to think that it's embarrassing to cook and get paid. but when they saw me, cooking and successful, they changed their minds and saw it as normal. and now, there are almost 12 women like me in alhamra. >> anthony: zahara al awfi, daughters aseila and aisha and friend samiha al harty. four extraordinary women. what started as a way for zahara to fund her charity work spawned a lucrative cottage industry of catering for events. now rather than using her family money, her business i...